Political Science

• CAS PO 544: Interest Groups, Public Opinion, and the Policy Process
  Graduate Prerequisites: CAS PO 211; or consent of instructor.
  Focuses on public opinion and interest group activities as they affect the policy-making process in the United States. Attention is paid to the role of the media, of lobbying, of litigation, and of the electoral process.
• CAS PO 546: Bureaucracy and Governance: A Comparative Inquiry
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: junior standing or consent of instructor.
  (Meets with CAS IR 513.) Bureaucracy is not only credited with underpinning economic development but also blamed for corruption and inefficiency. Exploring both theory and comparative development, this course looks at some of the most basic and important issues informing our understanding of governance.
• CAS PO 548: The Politics of Education
  Overview of the origins of public schooling, the purpose of public education, and controversial educational policies and research.
• CAS PO 550: Political Economy of Latin America
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: CAS EC 101 and CAS EC 102; recommended: CAS EC 369.
  (Meets with CAS IR 590.) Historical and contemporary issues in Latin American political economy. Uses case studies and cross-regional comparisons to assess competing explanations. Analyzes the current political and economic situation facing Latin America in its quest for economic growth and development.
• CAS PO 551: Comparative Political Development
  Meets with CAS IR 533. An investigation of contemporary debates on democracy and the state, with implications for contemporary American society as well as societies of developing nations.
• CAS PO 553: Political Economy of Mexico and NAFTA
  (Meets with CAS IR 575.) Explores the dynamics of contemporary Mexicans' political economy and Mexico's participation in the North American Trade Agreement to understand the causes and effects of the profound transformation of Mexico in recent years. Addresses challenges that lie ahead.
• CAS PO 556: The Reemergence of Russia
  Disintegration of the old Soviet system and signs of reemerging Russia; careers of Gorbachev and Yeltsin and their attack on the foundations of Stalinism; Moscow's role in the 1989 revolutions; and the August 1991 coup d'etat. The legacy of communism in the present medical and ecological crises; current political developments.
• CAS PO 557: The Changing Face of Eastern Europe
  (Meets with CAS IR 543.) Domestic and foreign policies of Eastern European states, their relations with the former Soviet Union and with each other. Emphasis is on the period 1989-92, but recent events are presented with the historical contexts. Analysis of the formation and subsequent implosion of the Soviet sphere in Europe. The collapse of communism in Poland, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria, and its impact on the Soviet crisis, the Western alliance, and international relations.
• CAS PO 558: Problems and Issues in Post-Mao China
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: junior standing.
  (Meets with CAS IR 585.) An in-depth examination of politics in post-Mao China, this course focuses on several critical issues, uses various conceptual frameworks to try to understand why the reform process broke down and examines prospects for the future.
• CAS PO 559: Reckoning with the Past: Reparations and Justice in Comparative Perspective
  Meets with CAS AA 559 and IR 559. The debate about reparations for slavery and Jim Crow segregation in the United States examined critically as conversation about, and movement for, retrospective justice. Includes discussion of war crimes tribunals and truth commissions.
• CAS PO 560: Politics and Society in North Africa and the Middle East
  Meets with CAS IR 569. An investigation of contemporary North Africa and the Middle East, with emphasis on current socioeconomic and political trends and tensions.
• CAS PO 561: Seminar on European Politics
  Selected topics in European Politics: the political development of European states, the changing dynamics of European party systems, the rise of the Radical Right, the politics of immigration, and questions of nationalism, European identity and the future of the European Union.
• CAS PO 562: The State and Public Purpose in Asia
  (Meets with CAS IR 520.) Explores how noncommunist Asian governments have attempted to advance public purpose, and how organizational factors in countries' governments affect their ability to do so. These questions are addressed in a comparative framework, considering theory and cases.
• CAS PO 564: From Slavery to Freedom: Abolition in Comparative Perspective
  (Meets with CAS AA 564.) How did legalized slavery, a world-wide practice for thousands of years, end? The process of abolition in the Americas, Africa, and elsewhere is examined and compared to the later regulation of forced labor and to contemporary slavery.
• CAS PO 565: Government and Politics of Contemporary Africa
  Meets with CAS IR 534. Analysis of independent black Africa; factors of continuity and change in modern Africa, problems of political order, ambiguities of independence. Case studies of individual countries selected for additional emphasis on specific issues and problems of the developing countries.
• CAS PO 566: Political Systems of Southern Africa
  Analysis of the balance of political forces in the multiracial societies of southern Africa; emphasis on the problems of governmental stability, the prospects for integration and disintegration, the range of responses to interracial tensions, and their international repercussions.
• CAS PO 568: U.S.-Latin American Relations
  (Meets with CAS IR 568.) The international context within which Latin American countries operate, with primary emphasis on U.S. policy toward the region. Includes historical overview, the policymaking process itself, and case studies of specific policy issues.
• CAS PO 570: The U.S. in the Middle East
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: senior standing.
  (Meets with CAS IR 503.) Examines the historical development and present status of the United States' association with the Middle East: American commercial, economic, political, military, and humanitarian interests in the area and their interaction.
• CAS PO 573: Islam in Middle East Politics
  (Meets with CAS IR 509.) Analysis of Islam in the classical and popular forms; examination of the role of the Muslim religion in the internal politics of the modern Middle East, especially Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Libya; their interrelationships and their attitudes toward the West.
• CAS PO 574: Ethics and International Relations
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: junior standing or consent of instructor.
  (Meets with CAS IR 574.) Examines important ethical approaches to normative controversies of contemporary world politics. Such questions as: Is my nation always right? Can war be justified? Is terrorism always wrong? What is the place of human rights in foreign policy?