Courses

• CAS PO 560: Politics and Society in North Africa and the Middle East
  An investigation of contemporary North Africa and the Middle East, with emphasis on current socioeconomic and political trends and tensions.
• 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
  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 567: Latin American Politics
  (Meets with CAS IR 567.) The nature and evolution of politics in the region, with emphasis on twentieth-century patterns in specific countries. Considers the physical, historical, social, and economic constraints that have affected political development and the various explanations available to advance our understanding.
• 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 574: Ethics and International Relations
  (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?
• CAS PO 576: Decision Making in U.S. Foreign Policy
  Examination of international crises from the perspective of the individual decision maker. Critical analysis and testing of the theoretical frameworks used to explain how states and statesmen behave in a crisis situation.
• CAS PO 577: Negotiation in World Affairs
  What makes for success/failure in negotiation? Examines how international actors use negotiations to advance their interests, resolve disputes, and mediate others. Case studies are drawn from crisis management, arms control, environmental controversies, and third-party interventions.
• CAS PO 578: The Foreign Policy of the People's Republic of China
  (Meets with CAS IR 577.) Explores China's perception of its role in the world, its evolution from a regional to a world power, and its security and economic relationships within the international system. Relationships with the superpowers, Third World, and world economy, focusing on technology and capital transfers.
• CAS PO 579: Japan in International Politics
  (Meets with CAS IR 579.) International and domestic influences on Japan's international behavior in the past as a predictor of Japan's future role in international politics. Covers Japan's role in the Cold War, post-war Asia, and the management of the global economy. Examines viability of the post-Cold War U.S.-Japan relationship.
• CAS PO 580: Democracy in Latin America and Its Challenges
  (Meets with CAS IR 566.) Provides an overview of democracy's achievements and challenges in Latin America. Draws comparisons between stable and unstable democracies in the region, and analyzes the reasons for, and implications of, these differences.
• CAS PO 581: National Development and International Politics
  An examination of North-South relations in the postwar era, with emphasis on the connections between internal and external dimensions of national and international development. Develops theoretical implications relevant for students of comparative politics, foreign policy, and international relations.
• CAS PO 586: Nationalism in Post-Soviet Eurasia
  Nationalism as a force for conflict and integration in the former USSR and the emerging states of central Eurasia. Origins, characteristics, and interactions of these lands. Is it possible to reconcile human rights, nationalist demands, and international peace?
• CAS PO 587: International Human Rights
  Studies the growing international influence on politics of human rights principles, documents, and organizations, drawing especially on African cases such as Congo, Zimbabwe, and Sudan. Topics include universality vs. cultural relativism, individual vs. group rights, and issues in human rights enforcement.
• CAS PO 599: Freedom
  Seminar on ideas of freedom--political, economic, religious, moral, intellectual, and educational--focusing on works published during the eighteenth through twentieth centuries in Europe and America.
• CAS PO 610: Research Seminar in American Politics
  Concepts and methods of research, writing, and analysis in the social sciences. Prepares students for post-graduate work, and includes a semester-long research project on a topic of individual interest in American politics, subject to instructor's approval.
• CAS PO 621: Seminar: The Political Economy of Advanced Industrialized Societies
  Surveys forces contributing to national differences in social and economic policy; identifies current challenges to state sovereignty, such as globalization and immigration; and examines how nations from different welfare state regimes are coping with these threats to the nation state.
• CAS PO 625: Political Movements in America
  Study of historical and current political movements in United States, including populism, environmentalism, civil rights, peace, and welfare. Why movements arise, why they fail, or why and how they are transformed; what role strategies, values, and leaders play; and what impact these movements have on political institutions and public policy.

Note that this information may change at any time.

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