Peqod :: Classes - Columbia University Catalog of Classes

Why do countries go to war? What conditions foster international cooperation? How do alliances between countries function? How are countries affected by global trade and investment, and in turn how does the political economy of individual countries shape international conflict and cooperation? How do ideas and culture (including both positive ideas like human rights and negative ideas like racism) affect international politics? What role do individuals and groups play in shaping international politics? What explains the international response to the COVID-19 pandemic? Why isn’t there significant cooperation on climate change, and can a new global cooperation emerge? What issues have garnered international attention, and how has that shaped the countries’ cooperation? What causes terrorism? Is the proliferation of nuclear (or cyber) weapons a threat to peace, and if so, how should the world response? Does UN peacekeeping work?

In this course we will begin to grapple with these questions. We will use theories developed by philosophers, political scientists and policy analysts, and we will examine the historical roots of today’s problems, in order to explain and predict the patterns of international politics and the possibilities for change. Throughout the course, students will be encouraged to choose and develop their own theories to explain events.

Learning Objectives:

By the end of the semester, students will accomplish the following:

Demonstrate broad factual and causal knowledge of important current and historical issues in international relations.

Apply contending theories from the political science literature and the policy world to analyze, compare, and evaluate events and trends in international relations.

Assess the value of competing theories in explaining events.

Synthesize facts and arguments across cases in order to reason critically and argue creatively, through both oral discussions in section and written essays.

MW 11:40 a.m.-12:55 p.m.
Instructor: Jayme R Schlesinger
Info
4 points

Details

POLS UN2601

International Politics Discussion

Int'l Politics Discussion

W 2:10 p.m.-3 p.m.
W 3:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
T 11:10 a.m.-noon
T 12:10 p.m.-1 p.m.
F 10:10 a.m.-11 a.m.
T 12:10 p.m.-1 p.m.
R 12:10 p.m.-1 p.m.
R 1:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
M 5:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
F 5:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
T 1:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
R 10:10 a.m.-11 a.m.
W 10:10 a.m.-11 a.m.
M 2:10 p.m.-3 p.m.
R 2:10 p.m.-3 p.m.
R 3:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
F 11:10 a.m.-noon
F 10:10 a.m.-11 a.m.
Instructor: Yu Cheng
CULPA: 1 h-index: 3 Info
0 points

Details

POLS UN2611

Weimar: Theory of a Crisis

MW 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
Instructor: Clara Maier
Info
3 points

Details

POLS UN3128

Logic/Paradox in Social Choice

Much of politics is about combining individual preferences into collective choices. Collective choice problems are faced by society as a whole and by the smallest group: bargaining within and between the branches of government, campus elections, allocation of relief funds among victims of natural disasters, scoring of Olympic events, even sharing common space in a dorm room. How can preferences be combined? Our primary theoretical approach is called
social choice theory
, which studies how we aggregate what individuals want into what the collective “wants.” We will also touch on
game

theory
, studying how we aggregate what individuals want and do into what the group gets, given that social outcomes usually depend on the interaction of individual choices.

Our themes include the rationality of individual and group preferences, the underpinnings and implications of using majority rule, tradeoffs between aggregation methods, the fairness of group choice, the effects of institutional constraints on choice (e.g., agenda control), and the implications for democratic choice. The aggregation of preferences or choices is usually governed by some set of institutional rules, formal or informal, and we will examine some of their effects. While what we learn will be useful for thinking about many real-world problems and institutions, this class is not concerned with actual institutions in full descriptive detail, but rather with abstractable features common to collective decision making and on the abstract logic of collective choice... and the paradoxes that arise.

Students will learn how to formalize varying notions of fairness, equality, and rationality. Students will learn about tradeoffs between them—what is possible and what is not? Students will learn how different voting methods work. Students will learn how strategic anticipation helps or hurts in social choice.

TR 10:10 a.m.-11:25 a.m.
Instructor: Jeffrey R Lax
CULPA: 32 h-index: 22 Info
3 points

Details

POLS UN3220

AMERICAN POLITICAL BEHAVIOR

TR 8:40 a.m.-9:55 a.m.
Instructor: Yamil R Velez
CULPA: 1 h-index: 8 Info
3 points

Details

POLS UN3250

RACE AND THE US CARCERAL SYSTEM

Race & the US Carceral Sy

MW 4:10 p.m.-5:25 p.m.
Instructor: Andrew J McCall
Info
3 points

Details

POLS UN3255

FREEDOM OF SPEECH & PRESS

TR 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
Instructor: Lee C Bollinger
CULPA: 27 Wikipedia Info
3 points

Details

POLS UN3285

Comparative Ethnic Politics

This course will explore the politics of ethnicity and ethnic identity using the frameworks, methodologies, and approaches of the political science subfield of comparative politics. Ethnicity—and identity politics more broadly—is enormously important in understanding domestic politics in most countries around the world. While most people would acknowledge that they themselves have an ethnic identity, few would say that they purposefully chose that identity. Compared to other identity categories, ethnicity is assigned at birth without consent or consultation, and is generally thought to be beyond any one individual’s capacity to change it. Yet almost no one would say that this somewhat random assignment procedure makes ethnicity irrelevant. Not only are many people very eager to organize the political world around ethnic identities, but people also derive a sense of meaning and attachment to others as a result of their ethnicity. With the global rise in ethnonationalist populism in many places, this influence is becoming even more pronounced.

This class will explore how and why this specific type of identity has come to hold such enormous importance for the lives of so many people. At an individual level, we will ask where ethnic identities come from, and why ethnic identities at some times take on primary importance for an individual’s sense of self, while at others become less important than other identities such as religion, interest, class, social values, etc. At the group level, we will examine when ethnic identities become politicized, when ethnic communities organize politically into political parties or interest groups, and which groups get representation in the seats of political power and which do not. At the broadest societal level, we will examine how those ethnic identities influence regime type (whether democratic or authoritarian), political party systems, economic development, inequality, and stability.

While it will be helpful to have completed Introduction to Comparative Politics (POLS UN2501), it is not absolutely required to take this class. Please also note that this class is not the same as Ethnic Conflict (POLS UN 3622). While there will inevitably be some overlap between this class and that, this course focuses much more on domestic politics, ethnicity and non-violent democratic processes, and ethnicity in the politics of regime change.

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