This seminar is taught in Washington D.C. for students enrolled in the Washington Semester Program. It includes an orientation to observation and research in the Washington Community and a major independent research project on the politics of governance.

Individual research to be taken under direction of faculty member. Students wishing to complete work on a pre-honors paper should contact the Political Science Department.

Consult department for detailed descriptions. More than one course may be taken in a given semester. Recent titles have included: Leadership & Democracy; Conservative Regimes.

This course is an idea generating, research focused seminar on the question of how to assess the contributions of universities to democratic education and democratic political development. It is an interdisciplinary seminar with the participation of faculty from around the university. The primary assignments will be data analyses and written reports on research done both individually and in research groups. Students will be taught to use appropriate software programs. The results of the seminar will be disseminated to faculty/student seminars in other countries that are collaborating in a global rsearch program on Universities as Sites of Citizenship. This research program is also involved with the Council of Europe and has collected pilot data in Australia, Korea, and South Africa as well as 15 university sites in Council of Europe countries and in the United State.

This course explores the role of the U.S. Supreme Court in political struggles over the distribution and uses of power in the American constitutional system. Issues include the division of powers between state and national governments, and the branches of the federal government; economic powers of private actors and governmental regulators; the authority of governments to enforce or transform racial and gender hierarchies; and the powers of individuals to make basic choices, such as a woman's power to have an abortion. We will pay special attention to how the tasks of justifying the Supreme Court's own power, and constitutionalism more broadly, contribute to logically debatable, but politically powerful constitutional arguments. Readings include Supreme Court decisions and background materials on their historical and political context.

This course explores the role of the U.S. Supreme Court in political struggles over the distribution and uses of power in the American constitutional system. Issues include the division of powers between state and national governments, and the branches of the federal government; economic powers of private actors and governmental regulators; the authority of governments to enforce or transform racial and gender hierarchies; and the powers of individuals to make basic choices, such as a woman's power to have an abortion. We will pay special attention to how the tasks of justifying the Supreme Court's own power, and constitutionalism more broadly, contribute to logically debatable, but politically powerful constitutional arguments. Readings include Supreme Court decisions and background materials on their historical and political context.

This course explores the role of the U.S. Supreme Court in political struggles over the distribution and uses of power in the American constitutional system. Issues include the division of powers between state and national governments, and the branches of the federal government; economic powers of private actors and governmental regulators; the authority of governments to enforce or transform racial and gender hierarchies; and the powers of individuals to make basic choices, such as a woman's power to have an abortion. We will pay special attention to how the tasks of justifying the Supreme Court's own power, and constitutionalism more broadly, contribute to logically debatable, but politically powerful constitutional arguments. Readings include Supreme Court decisions and background materials on their historical and political context.

This course explores the role of the U.S. Supreme Court in political struggles over the distribution and uses of power in the American constitutional system. Issues include the division of powers between state and national governments, and the branches of the federal government; economic powers of private actors and governmental regulators; the authority of governments to enforce or transform racial and gender hierarchies; and the powers of individuals to make basic choices, such as a woman's power to have an abortion. We will pay special attention to how the tasks of justifying the Supreme Court's own power, and constitutionalism more broadly, contribute to logically debatable, but politically powerful constitutional arguments. Readings include Supreme Court decisions and background materials on their historical and political context.

This course explores the role of the U.S. Supreme Court in political struggles over the distribution and uses of power in the American constitutional system. Issues include the division of powers between state and national governments, and the branches of the federal government; economic powers of private actors and governmental regulators; the authority of governments to enforce or transform racial and gender hierarchies; and the powers of individuals to make basic choices, such as a woman's power to have an abortion. We will pay special attention to how the tasks of justifying the Supreme Court's own power, and constitutionalism more broadly, contribute to logically debatable, but politically powerful constitutional arguments. Readings include Supreme Court decisions and background materials on their historical and political context.