FICTION SEMINAR
THE INTIMATE
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- Department: Writing
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Instructor:
Joanna B Hershon
CULPA: 3 Info - 3 points
FICTION SEMINAR
SPECULATIVE FICTION
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- Department: Writing
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Instructor:
Lincoln M Michel
Info - 3 points
FICTION SEMINAR
WET LAND/DRY LAND
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- Department: Writing
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Instructor:
Darcey Steinke
Wikipedia Info - 3 points
FICTION SEMINAR
BUILDING A SCENE
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- Department: Writing
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Instructor:
Lara Vapnyar
Wikipedia Info - 3 points
Russian Formalism
Twenty-first century literary studies has seen a steadily growing interest in formalist literary theory. This trend has manifested in new movements, such as New Formalism, Historical Poetics, and Quantitative Formalism. This interest in formalism has been accompanied by a widely expressed desire for a better understanding of literary form, and to find ways to connect its study with cultural and political history. The archive of Russian Formalism, a protean movement which was active in the 1910s and 1920s, is a rich source for those interested in rethinking the concept of form today. Beginning in the 1960s and ‘70s, Russian Formalism was interpreted as the precursor to French Structuralism and Post-Structuralism. In this class we seek to recontextualize Russian Formalism—not in terms of the ideas of the Cold War period—but rather in light of the cultural and political milieu of revolutionary and Civil War era Russia. By connecting theories of form with the cultural and political contexts from which they emerged, our goal is to develop an understanding of form as a concept defined not only in aesthetic or linguistic terms, but also as a construct with sociopolitical import.
- Department: Slavic Languages
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Instructor:
Jessica E Merrill
CULPA: 2 Info - 4 points
THESIS RESEARCH & WRITING
This course is intended for MA students in Religion who are writing and completing a thesis or other paper of similar length and scope. Enrolled students will work with the instructor to develop, research, and write a thesis. Preparation and prerequisites: Instructor’s permission is required to enroll. Students are strongly encouraged to discuss the feasibility of potential thesis topics with a faculty member in Religion (preferably their advisor or other suitable faculty member), and if relevant, also strive to identify key primary texts or sources, in advance of the semester.
- Department: Religion
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Instructor:
Gil Anidjar
CULPA: 22 Info - 4 points
Topics in Database Systems
TOPICS IN AGENTIC SYSTEMS
- Department: Computer Science
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Instructor:
Kostis Kaffes
Info - 3 points
Environmental Law and Policy in New York
New York City has positioned itself as a global leader in the fight against climate change, often serving as a model for other jurisdictions to follow. This course explores the development and implementation of environmental legislation and policy in New York City during the past two decades. It includes discussions about historical context, environmental policymaking considerations, political processes, outcomes, and the role of stakeholders such as advocates, business, industry, labor, government actors, and community. Students will gain broad knowledge of key legislation and policies related to sustainability, resiliency, energy, emissions, waste and the circular economy, transportation, water and air quality, and green space. Furthermore, students will consider how environmental justice and equity play a role in the development of legislation and policy, and assess best practices for providing equitable treatment and engaging all communities. While the focus of the class will be on New York City, students will also learn about environmental policies implemented in other jurisdictions.
Introduction to Environmental Law and Policy in New York City is available to students in the Graduate Program for Sustainability Management. It is designed to provide future sustainability practitioners and others with a fundamental understanding of how legislation and policy is made, what influences this development, and how legislation and policy seek to address climate change in New York City in urban environments like New York City. Students will be able to use this knowledge to help government and public and private organizations achieve more sustainable solutions.
This is a semester-long elective class that will be taught on campus. Specific competencies or prerequisites are not required. This course will be interactive and discussion-intensive, engaging students to utilize and reflect critical and analytical thinking about how environmental legislation and policy is developed and how they can create innovative environmental legislation and policy in the future. Students will participate in class discussions, think critically about policy development and assigned readings, write a reaction essay on environmental justice and equity, and present their analysis to classroom colleagues. For the final project, students will write a research report and present their report to the class, focusing on a particular environmental policy topic, identifying areas where policymaking can be improved upon and/or expande
- Department: Sustainability Management
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Instructor:
Laura Popa
Info - 3 points
Theory and Practice of American Politics
MPA Politics I Core.
This course provides an introduction to American political institutions and their role in shaping public policy. Students will examine how policy decisions, and inaction, affect critical aspects of daily life, including health care, education, public safety, and environmental protection. The course explores the structure and function of U.S. political institutions such as Congress, the presidency, courts, and federalism, and how these compare to other democracies. It also analyzes the influence of actors including interest groups, social movements, the media, and bureaucrats. Through case studies, group work, and applied analysis, students will gain a foundational understanding of the policymaking process, key trends in American politics, and the skills needed to engage with public policy in practice.
- Department: International and Public Affairs
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Instructor:
Patricia A Kirkland
Info - 1.5 points
Theory and Practice of American Politics
MPA Politics I Core.
This course provides an introduction to American political institutions and their role in shaping public policy. Students will examine how policy decisions, and inaction, affect critical aspects of daily life, including health care, education, public safety, and environmental protection. The course explores the structure and function of U.S. political institutions such as Congress, the presidency, courts, and federalism, and how these compare to other democracies. It also analyzes the influence of actors including interest groups, social movements, the media, and bureaucrats. Through case studies, group work, and applied analysis, students will gain a foundational understanding of the policymaking process, key trends in American politics, and the skills needed to engage with public policy in practice.
- Department: International and Public Affairs
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Instructor:
Patricia A Kirkland
Info -
Instructor:
Lincoln A Mitchell
Info - 1.5 points
Theory and Practice of American Politics
MPA Politics I Core.
This course provides an introduction to American political institutions and their role in shaping public policy. Students will examine how policy decisions, and inaction, affect critical aspects of daily life, including health care, education, public safety, and environmental protection. The course explores the structure and function of U.S. political institutions such as Congress, the presidency, courts, and federalism, and how these compare to other democracies. It also analyzes the influence of actors including interest groups, social movements, the media, and bureaucrats. Through case studies, group work, and applied analysis, students will gain a foundational understanding of the policymaking process, key trends in American politics, and the skills needed to engage with public policy in practice.
- Department: International and Public Affairs
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Instructor:
Lincoln A Mitchell
Info - 1.5 points
Theory and Practice of American Politics
MPA Politics I Core.
This course provides an introduction to American political institutions and their role in shaping public policy. Students will examine how policy decisions, and inaction, affect critical aspects of daily life, including health care, education, public safety, and environmental protection. The course explores the structure and function of U.S. political institutions such as Congress, the presidency, courts, and federalism, and how these compare to other democracies. It also analyzes the influence of actors including interest groups, social movements, the media, and bureaucrats. Through case studies, group work, and applied analysis, students will gain a foundational understanding of the policymaking process, key trends in American politics, and the skills needed to engage with public policy in practice.
- Department: International and Public Affairs
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Instructor:
Lincoln A Mitchell
Info - 1.5 points
PRACTICUM: RES PLANNING
- Department: Architecture, Planning and Preservation
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Instructor:
Kate Dunham
Info - 1.5 points
FASHION POLICY AND THE POLITICS OF GOVER
The fashion industry is an ideal case study on how governments, citizens and international institutions attempt to limit the environmental and social impacts of complex consumer industries with global supply chains. Historically, apparel and textiles have been at the center of some of the most consequential government actions under liberal Western democracy, including the abolition of slavery and the passage of the first workplace safety and labor laws in the United States. In recent years, fashion has returned to the center of dynamic policy debates within the sustainability and social impact space.
The $2.5 trillion global fashion industry’s social and environmental impacts often evade regulation. Major brands leverage long and opaque supply chains for raw materials and cheap manufacturing costs with very little accountability. Private regulation and voluntary commitments have policed fashion for the better part of four decades, an approach that arguably has ended in failures to protect human and environmental rights. The industry’s lack of accountability has cost lives, including the notorious Rana Plaza building collapse in 2013 where 1,132 garment makers died, and now contributes to a sizable percentage of annual climate change. Profits have been pushed to the top of the supply chain while garment makers consistently toil for poverty wages, and the pollution and environmental degradation of fashion is a burden almost exclusively carried by low-and-middle income nations and communities of color that manufacture clothing and produce raw materials.
But the tide is turning. Governments are being asked to step in and regulate the fashion industry. Can effective fashion policies police international supply chains and achieve their intended aims? Might they unleash unintended consequences and in what ways? This course is an introduction to the fast-evolving space of modern environmental and labor policy as it intersects with fashion, and which seeks to incentivize more responsible business behavior in the realm of social, environmental and governance impacts. The class will use recently passed and proposed fashion social and sustainability policies as our case studies, including the New York State Fashion Sustainability and Social Accountability Act; mandatory human rights due diligence in Europe; California’s Garment Worker Protection Act and Congress’s FABRIC Act; the FTC Green Guides and the UK CMA’s Green Claims Code; and Europe&rsquo
- Department: Sustainability Management
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Instructor:
Michelle Gabriel
Info - 3 points
Navigating Global Sustainability: Corpor
Global Sustainability Dis
This course takes a dual-pronged approach to the importance of sustainability reporting: examining both the corporate perspective on preparing sustainability disclosures and the investor perspective on how these disclosures are used to inform capital allocation, risk assessment, and stewardship decisions. At a time when the sustainability reporting landscape—both voluntary and mandatory—is rapidly evolving, focusing on the investor perspective provides clarity. This approach helps students anchor their learning in what matters most for capital markets, enabling them to organize and lead sustainability reporting processes within their own organizations. The goal of this two-sided lens is to equip students with the skills to deliver decision-useful, transparent, and consistent sustainability information that aligns with the demands of today’s regulatory and investment environments.
In the first half of the course, students will explore the evolving landscape of sustainability frameworks and regulations. Key regulatory regimes—such as California’s SB 253 and SB 261, the EU’s CSRD, and the CSDDD and GRI, Sustainability Reports, ISSB —will serve as anchors for case discussions. These discussions will play a crucial role in helping students understand how to administer sustainability reporting as a strategic organizational function, and in emphasizing the organizational capacity and management practices needed to comply with these frameworks. By the end of the course, students will be able to design, manage, and implement the internal processes required to respond to mandatory and evolving ESG disclosure expectations.
The second half of the course will adopt the lens of the investor, exploring how ESG disclosures are integrated into decision-making across three asset classes: public equity, private equity/alternatives, and fixed income. Students will engage in structured modules for each asset class, assuming the role of institutional investors tasked with interpreting disclosures, engaging with companies, and making recommendations. Each module will feature live engagements with real-world investors, offering students direct insight into market practices and expectations.
- Department: Sustainability Management
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Instructor:
Carolyn Allwin
Info - 3 points
WAR & SOCIAL THEORY
WAR AND SOCIAL THEORY
In this class, we will think about the various ways in which philosophers, social theorists, historians and anthropologists have thought about war. More specifically, the course focuses on a set of key themes and questions that have been central to such writings: the nature of violence and the question of responsibility or accountability, shifting technologies of warfare (including, technologies of representation), and the phenomenology and aftermath of warfare, for civilians and for combatants. The questions that drive this seminar are theoretical and historical, as well as ethical and political. For example, how do shifting understandings of the trauma of soldiers shape ethical questions and political conversations regarding perpetration and the question of responsibility? Or, when we think warfare through new technologies (cinematic, action at a distance) from whose perspective are we theorizing or trying to understand the experience of war? How might we analyze the very different affective responses that different forms of violence-or of perpetration -elicit?
- Department: Anthropology
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Instructor:
Nadia Abu El-Haj
CULPA: 13
Wikipedia
Info
- 4 points
SUMA PS6135 Art & Sustainability
Since the first Earth Day in 1970, artists have increasingly addressed ecological issues in their work. This trend has magnified greatly in the past two decades. Around the globe, artists are creating artwork that addresses the impact of loss of biodiversity, rising sea levels, extreme weather events, plastic pollution, and the fragility of our shared ecosystems. Their art raises awareness of the need to act collectively, suggesting frameworks for replacing anthropocentric and colonial approaches to nature, and amplifying the urgent need for environmental justice. In this pivotal moment of climate change, artists inspire by cultivating new narratives and giving form to the invisible or unimaginable, demonstrating how art can help awaken resolve and shape our next steps. They invite viewer participation and action, and suggest ways to make a difference. In the process, they expand our potential for empathy and agency.
The cultural sector has an important role to play in shifting attitudes that would lead to developing more sustainable and equitable global futures. Artists focus on both local and global environmental issues, expanding the field of climate change communication and at times offering out-of-the-box solutions. The artists covered in the course are cognizant of the need for systemic social change in order to achieve policy change. Blurring the boundaries between art and activism, many are working collaboratively across disciplines and with various communities to address both the physical and ethical dimensions of sustainability. Others work independently to provide new visions for the future. The course is designed for people who are interested in the contribution that art can play in creating fresh paradigms.
- Department: Sustainability Management
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Instructor:
Julie Reiss
Info - 3 points
Community Based Program Development & Gr
CBPD Grantwriting
- Department: Rehabilitation Medicine (RMED)
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Instructor:
Danielle J Mahoney
Info - 1 points
Modernism, Dance, and Diaspora
How do dancers, poets, and novelists use the resources of their genres to imagine new forms of embodiment and belonging? This graduate seminar brings together recent work in the fields of modernism, dance, and diaspora studies to explore the relationship between theories of movement, space, and dwelling in the literature and drama of global modernity. We will study representations of modern dance in literary works, as well as performances by modern dancers and choreographers, to consider the reciprocity and continuity of forms long associated with expressivity and social change. At the same time, we will chart how such texts become invested in strategic withholding and inexpression, or what performance scholar Tina Post has called “deadpan” aesthetics. Can there be a kind of revelation in concealment—or, conversely, a concealment in the guise of outward projection? At the level of form, how might we understand phenomena that seem to cross disciplinary lines, such as choreographic narration, kinaesthetic empathy, self-talk as social dress rehearsal, or theatrically-populated interior monologue? And how might these insights be brought to bear on the embodied and psychic experience of diaspora, that conundrum of enforced movement that can so often feel like stuckness-in-place?
Weekly readings will include a work of literature and/or dance, critical social theory, and recent literary criticism. In addition to offering students a broad introduction to critical approaches in modernism, performance and Black studies, the course has the larger aim of demonstrating innovative methods at the
intersection
of these disciplines. Primary authors will include Jessie Redmon Fauset, Nella Larsen, Zelda Fitzgerald, Langston Hughes, Mina Loy, Zadie Smith, and James Joyce alongside the performances of Serge Diaghilev, Josephine Baker, Pearl Primus, Ruth Page, Katherine Dunham and Bill T. Jones. Secondary criticism will include works by Toni Morrison, Martin Heidegger, Michel de Certeau, Gaston Bachelard, Anne Anlin Cheng, Katherine McKittrick and Sianne Ngai.
- Department: English and Comparative Literature
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Instructor:
Zoe L Henry
Info - 4 points
ANALYSIS & PROBABILITY I
Prerequisites: the instructor's written permission. This is a course for Ph.D. students, and for majors in Mathematics. Measure theory; elements of probability; elements of Fourier analysis; Brownian motion.
- Department: Mathematics
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Instructor:
Ioannis Karatzas
CULPA: 7 h-index: 58 Info - 4.5 points
Debates in World Politics
MIA and MPA Politics II Core.
This seven-week course introduces students to some of the central concepts, theories, and analytical tools used in contemporary social science to understand and explain world politics. The theoretical literature is drawn from different fields in the social sciences, including comparative politics, international relations, political sociology and economics. The course introduces students to debates around race and international relations, state-making and state-failing, authoritarianism and democratization, inequality and models of globalization, America primacy and the “rise of the Asia.”
- Department: International and Public Affairs
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Instructor:
Hisham Aidi
Wikipedia Info - 1.5 points
Debates in World Politics
MIA and MPA Politics II Core.
This seven-week course introduces students to some of the central concepts, theories, and analytical tools used in contemporary social science to understand and explain world politics. The theoretical literature is drawn from different fields in the social sciences, including comparative politics, international relations, political sociology and economics. The course introduces students to debates around race and international relations, state-making and state-failing, authoritarianism and democratization, inequality and models of globalization, America primacy and the “rise of the Asia.”
- Department: International and Public Affairs
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Instructor:
Hisham Aidi
Wikipedia Info - 1.5 points
Debates in World Politics
MIA and MPA Politics II Core.
This seven-week course introduces students to some of the central concepts, theories, and analytical tools used in contemporary social science to understand and explain world politics. The theoretical literature is drawn from different fields in the social sciences, including comparative politics, international relations, political sociology and economics. The course introduces students to debates around race and international relations, state-making and state-failing, authoritarianism and democratization, inequality and models of globalization, America primacy and the “rise of the Asia.”
- Department: International and Public Affairs
-
Instructor:
Hisham Aidi
Wikipedia Info - 1.5 points
Democracy and Democratic Erosion in the
Democracy & Erosion in AI
MIA and MPA Politics II Core.
This course examines the causes of democratic erosion and the emerging challenges posed by artificial intelligence and digital technologies. Students will explore foundational theories of democracy, analyze factors such as polarization and corruption, and assess how AI, misinformation, and digital surveillance shape democratic decline. Through case studies and group projects, the course also considers strategies to strengthen democratic institutions in an age of technological disruption.
- Department: International and Public Affairs
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Instructor:
Tamar Mitts
h-index: 5 Info - 1.5 points
Democracy and Democratic Erosion in the
Democracy & Erosion in AI
MIA and MPA Politics II Core.
This course examines the causes of democratic erosion and the emerging challenges posed by artificial intelligence and digital technologies. Students will explore foundational theories of democracy, analyze factors such as polarization and corruption, and assess how AI, misinformation, and digital surveillance shape democratic decline. Through case studies and group projects, the course also considers strategies to strengthen democratic institutions in an age of technological disruption.
- Department: International and Public Affairs
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Instructor:
Tamar Mitts
h-index: 5 Info - 1.5 points
Global Politics and International Organi
Global Politics & Int'l O
MIA and MPA Politics II Core.
Global Politics & International Organizations
introduces the actors, coalitions, institutions, and processes of global politics. It creates the conceptual foundations for understanding the role of international organizations in today’s multipolar and complex (or, ‘multiplex’) world. It sheds light on how states, non-state actors, and international bureaucracies act within international organizations and how they negotiate international agreements. The discussions will focus on formal and informal decision-making processes, working methods, and power in international relations. It will highlight processes within Bretton Woods institutions (the World Bank and the IMF), as well as at the United Nations, including bargaining processes at the UN Security Council. As a spillover from global politics, the course will also explore the role of international organizations in domestic policymaking processes.
In addition to critical scholarship on international organizations and global governance, the course relies on students’ analysis of relevant proceedings and debates at the UN, original policy documents, as well as expert testimony from a range of guest speakers, who share their extensive first-hand observations as actors of global governance processes. By these means,
Global Politics & International Organizations
offers insights into the processes, challenges, and impacts of activities by international organizations to make global governance regimes stronger, more effective, and hold actors more accountable.
- Department: International and Public Affairs
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Instructor:
Daniel Naujoks
Info - 1.5 points
American Foreign Policy in Global Perspe
American Foreign Policy-G
MIA and MPA Politics II Core.
This course examines the evolution of American foreign policy within the context of U.S. political institutions, domestic dynamics, and historical experiences. It emphasizes the interplay between foreign and domestic policy, considering how American identity, political culture, and internal debates have shaped international engagement. While grounded in key moments in U.S. history, the course also addresses recent shifts in America's global role and examines the strategic, ideological, and institutional forces that continue to influence foreign policy decisions.
- Department: International and Public Affairs
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Instructor:
Lincoln A Mitchell
Info - 1.5 points
Mass Spectrometry
This course offers a comprehensive introduction to mass spectrometry (MS), a state-of-the-art technique widely used in modern chemical and biological research. Students will learn the theoretical principles, practical applications, and data interpretation across various MS techniques. Key topics include ionization methods, mass analyzers, and applications in organic and bio-organic compound analysis.
By the end of the course, students will develop both the theoretical understanding and practical skills needed to design and interpret MS experiments effectively.
- Department: Chemistry
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Instructor:
Fereshteh Zandkarimi
Info - 3 points
Political Parties and Elections in the U
Political Parties & Elect
MIA and MPA Politics II Core.
This course examines the development and dynamics of political parties in the United States, with a focus on the evolution of the two-party system and its influence on American politics and policymaking. Students will explore the historical foundations of party formation, ideological shifts over time, and the distinct roles parties play at national and subnational levels. The course also analyzes the structure and impact of party primaries, as well as recent technological and communication changes that have transformed modern electoral strategy and campaign practices.
- Department: International and Public Affairs
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Instructor:
Lincoln A Mitchell
Info - 1.5 points
Politics of Policymaking: A Comparative
Comparative Policymaking
MIA and MPA Politics II Core.
This course examines the unique challenges and opportunities of the Global South, integrating theoretical frameworks, historical analysis, and contemporary case studies to develop a thorough understanding of how the region confronts and navigates some of the most significant issues shaping its politics and policies. By analyzing diverse political and policy dynamics in the Global South, it encourages students to think globally and recognize interconnectedness across political systems. Over seven weeks, we examine various challenges posed by institutional legacies of colonialism, the rise of populism, democratic backsliding, corruption, and political violence, while also highlighting innovative responses emerging from the Global South through contemporary case studies.
- Department: International and Public Affairs
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Instructor:
Rumela Sen
CULPA: 1 Info - 1.5 points
Politics of Policymaking: A Comparative
Comparative Policymaking
MIA and MPA Politics II Core.
This course examines the unique challenges and opportunities of the Global South, integrating theoretical frameworks, historical analysis, and contemporary case studies to develop a thorough understanding of how the region confronts and navigates some of the most significant issues shaping its politics and policies. By analyzing diverse political and policy dynamics in the Global South, it encourages students to think globally and recognize interconnectedness across political systems. Over seven weeks, we examine various challenges posed by institutional legacies of colonialism, the rise of populism, democratic backsliding, corruption, and political violence, while also highlighting innovative responses emerging from the Global South through contemporary case studies.
- Department: International and Public Affairs
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Instructor:
Rumela Sen
CULPA: 1 Info - 1.5 points
IDEA OF A BL RADICAL TRADITION
This course will seek to raise and think through the following questions: What does it mean to talk today about a black radical tradition? What has it meant in the past to speak in these (or cognate) terms? And if we take the debate in part at least to inhabit a normative discursive space, an argumentative space in which to make claims on the moral-political present, what ought it to mean to talk about a black radical tradition?
- Department: Anthropology
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Instructor:
David Scott
CULPA: 6
h-index: 72
Info
- 3 points
Cyberspace for Policymakers
MIA and MPA Politics II Core.
This course offers an introduction to foundational policy topics related to cyberspace, with a focus on how and why cyberspace matters for policymaking more broadly, especially in an international relations context. Over the past several decades, cyberspace has emerged as a critical, crosscutting policy arena, offering challenges and opportunities for practitioners beyond those solely focused on policymaking for cyberspace itself. Therefore, it is important for students preparing for a diverse set of policy careers to develop a basic understanding of core cyber policy issues and how they relate to longstanding policy concerns. In this course, we will examine the implications of cyberspace across a wide range of policy topics, largely through the lens of international politics, covering areas such as the role of cyberspace in diplomacy and global governance, cyber conflict and strategy, the implications of cyberspace for human security, state and local policymaking for cyberspace, and the role of the private sector in cyber policy. In exploring these topics, the course will also illuminate how cyber policy issues relate to a number of SIPA’s global policy challenges—not only technology and innovation. This course also aims to bridge academic and practical understandings of cyberspace. For each topic, we will study the relevant academic literature and debates, while also leveraging real-world case studies to unpack and understand how these issues materialized in policymaking contexts.
- Department: International and Public Affairs
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Instructor:
Erica D Lonergan
Info - 1.5 points
Cyberspace for Policymakers
MIA and MPA Politics II Core.
This course offers an introduction to foundational policy topics related to cyberspace, with a focus on how and why cyberspace matters for policymaking more broadly, especially in an international relations context. Over the past several decades, cyberspace has emerged as a critical, crosscutting policy arena, offering challenges and opportunities for practitioners beyond those solely focused on policymaking for cyberspace itself. Therefore, it is important for students preparing for a diverse set of policy careers to develop a basic understanding of core cyber policy issues and how they relate to longstanding policy concerns. In this course, we will examine the implications of cyberspace across a wide range of policy topics, largely through the lens of international politics, covering areas such as the role of cyberspace in diplomacy and global governance, cyber conflict and strategy, the implications of cyberspace for human security, state and local policymaking for cyberspace, and the role of the private sector in cyber policy. In exploring these topics, the course will also illuminate how cyber policy issues relate to a number of SIPA’s global policy challenges—not only technology and innovation. This course also aims to bridge academic and practical understandings of cyberspace. For each topic, we will study the relevant academic literature and debates, while also leveraging real-world case studies to unpack and understand how these issues materialized in policymaking contexts.
- Department: International and Public Affairs
-
Instructor:
Erica D Lonergan
Info - 1.5 points
Popular Sovereignty and Balance of Power
MIA and MPA Politics II Core.
This course explores the foundational principles of constitutional democracy in the United States, with a focus on the separation of powers and the evolving balance among the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches. Through close readings of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, students will examine the revolutionary premise that sovereign power is delegated by the people and limited by design. The course analyzes the structure of checks and balances, the expansion of executive authority, particularly during emergencies, and the role of legislative and judicial oversight. Comparative perspectives on democratic governance in other countries will also be considered.
Classroom simulations will test the limits of authority among the branches, encouraging students to engage in legal and policy reasoning under constitutional constraints. A final policy memo will require students to analyze a contemporary issue, assess institutional powers, and develop grounded recommendations despite imperfect conditions for resolution.
- Department: International and Public Affairs
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Instructor:
Jacob J Lew
Info - 1.5 points
LAW & INTERNET SOCIETY
This is a Law School course. For more detailed course information, please go to the Law School Curriculum Guide at: http://www.law.columbia.edu/courses/search
- Department: Law
- 2 points
Dynamics of the Israeli-Palestinian Conf
The seminar will explore the Israeli-Palestinian (and Israeli-Arab) conflict from the beginning of the 20th century until today. The first part of the seminar will focus on the historical background informing the conflict and leading to the Palestinian refugee problem and the establishment of a Jewish, but not Palestinian, state in 1948. The second part of the seminar focuses on Palestinian-Arab citizens in Israel, Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, the settlement project, and possible political solutions, as well as the USA's role and its impact on the conflict, the occupation, and the current Gaza war.
- Department: Sociology
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Instructor:
Yinon Cohen
CULPA: 4 Wikipedia h-index: 33 Info - 4 points
History of Archaeology Theory
This seminar examines the history of archaeological thought from its antiquarian beginnings in the 19th century, through archaeology’s professionalization and redefinition as an anthropological science during the mid-20th century, to the emergence of archaeology as a critically self-reflexive discipline during the late-20th century, defined by complicated intellectual ties across the sciences, social sciences, and humanities. Our driving questions are epistemological. How have archaeologists understood the project of interpretation? How have they articulated their relationship to data? What has come to count as evidence and what has not? How have archaeologists organized material remains in the present to make claims about the past? What questions have been posed about past cultures, and how were these “cultures” constructed as objects of study in the first place? Is archaeology best understood as a generalizing science, a historically oriented humanity, or both—and how and why has the discipline’s answer to this question evolved over time? How do the situated positions of archaeologists within contemporary society impact the claims they make about the past?
- Department: Anthropology
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Instructor:
Zoe Crossland
CULPA: 9 h-index: 17 Info - 4 points