81.01 Who Am I? What Am I? Identity and Politics
(Comparative Politics or International Relations)
The Enlightenment made identity a central issue of individual and social life. How have philosophers and social scientists come to understand identity and its implications for political behavior? What should we make of the tension between Romantic notions of individual identities and goals of self-realization and the body of sociological and psychological literature that suggests that identities are largely social constructions? We will examine some of these social constructions (e.g., ethnic and national identities), and explore the reasons why they have become even more central divers of politics in the post-Cold War world. Students will also be encouraged to examine critically and rethink their own identities. Dist: SOC.
81.02 Memory, Nationalism, and War (formerly: The Politics of Memory)
(Comparative Politics or International Relations)
From Israel to the Balkans, from Germany to Japan, the ways that states and groups remember their pasts have important effects on their internal and external politics. At the core of a group or state's identity are the heroes and villains, mistakes and triumphs that it chooses to commemorate. These memories are often incompatible with or antagonistic toward the way others remember similar events. Scholars argue that memory affects domestic political stability and democratization. They also argue that memory is a potentially powerful cause of wars. This course examines the politics of memory in several different countries, including South Africa and the Balkans, as well as post-World War II Japan, Germany, Israel, France, and the United States. Dist: SOC or INT.
81.03 Economic Growth and Reform in Emerging Economies
(Comparative Politics or International Relations)
Financial and trade relations between countries and regions of the world during the last quarter century have become truly globalized. Economic problems in the industrialized and developing worlds affect each other in ways that are both unexpected and unimagined previously: crises in East Asia have ripple effects on Wall Street, while the unification of Europe has important trade ramifications for the Third World and financial implications for the United States.
This seminar investigates these new developments in the world economy, and their impact on the economic and political fate of different countries and regions of the world in the so-called developing world. What strategies can countries adapt in order to develop most efficiently in a global market-oriented economy? What are the challenges and opportunities each faces as they adopt different or converging strategies? How can a country maximize its chances for success while attempting to ensure global equity? And what will the precise role of international financial institutions and their impact on developing and transition countries be in this newly emerging global economy? Prerequisite: Government 5. Recommended: Government 58 and course work in international economics. Dist: SOC or INT; WCult: NW.
81.04 Lawyers and Public Policy
(American Government or Theory/Law)
Using historical, sociological, political, and legal sources, this seminar explores the role of lawyers in the creation of public policy in the United States. Lawyers have a professional obligation to zealously advocate the interests of their individual clients, yet also to pursue justice and the public good. How have American lawyers resolved the tension between these two obligations? What strategies have interest group lawyers used to achieve change in public policy and with what consequences? How have legal organizations (e.g., the American Bar Association, the American Trial Lawyers Association) sought to preserve or change American public policies? Readings will include studies of lawyers in the New Deal, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Right to Life lawyers, AFL-CIO lawyers, and others. Enrollment limited to 16. also listed as Public Policy 81. Prerequisite: at least one course on law or public policy. Dist: SOC; WCult: NA.
81.14 The Political Economy of Development in Asia and Southeast Asia
(Comparative Politics or International Relations)
The growth of the Southeast Asian economies since World War II -- and the more recent emergence of China and India -- raises a number of questions about distinct patterns of development in the so-called Emerging Economies of Asia and Southeast Asia. Their rapid growth also raises a number of questions about the theories traditionally used to explain development in the region. In this course we investigate not only the local patterns and processes of development over time, but also focus on the socio-political underpinnings that promoted or restrained development locally and regionally. This seminar finally investigates how the greater incorporation of the economies in a globalizing economy poses further challenges and opportunities to local political regimes and to existing social contracts that emerged since World War II. Countries covered in this course include China, India, Japan, Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, North and South Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Philippines).
81.20 Changing Narratives of Self-Interest in American Life, Politics and Foreign Policy
(American Politics or International Relations)
This course will examine the evolution away from which Tocqueville called "self-interest well-understood" to "individualism," and its consequences for American life in domains as diverse as driving, sports, business, congressional relations and foreign policy. We will read Tocqueville and contemporary studies of self-interest, and conduct individual research projects that will attempt to track changing narratives of self-interest through qualitative and quantitative analysis of particular discourses and practices. We will try to ascertain the extent to which there are diverse narratives of self-interest, how they are represented and how they have evolved. Like Tocqueville, we will ask if the changes we discover are idiosyncratic to America, or indicative of a wider transformation, in this case, among post-industrial democracies. Dist: SOC, WCult: NA
81.21 Democracy in America: Tocqueville and His Critics
(American Politics or Theory/Law)
Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America has been called both the greatest book about democracy and the greatest book about America. American Presidents, politicians, and pundits regularly invoke his authority: both liberals and conservatives consider him a patron saint. But, like so many classics, Tocqueville is often cited but rarely read. Yet anyone who seeks to understand American democracy must grapple with Tocqueville. Tocqueville predicted America's economic and political dominance in the world but he also warned about the dangers of racial conflict and the gradual loss of civic virtue and political liberty through apathy and complacence. While no one questions Tocqueville's genius and insight, many have challenged aspects of his interpretation of America. In this course, we shall read both Tocqueville and some of his leading critics: was Tocqueville right about America? About democracy? Dist. SOC, WCult NA and W
81.22 Counterfactuals and International Relations
(Comparative Politics or International Relations)
In this seminar, we will explore the meaning and utility of counterfactuals for research in international relations and for policymakers working through problems. Working collaboratively, students will design and conduct surveys or experiments that use counterfactual priming.
81.23 Research Design and Qualitative Analysis
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(New course description coming soon)
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