PG

Students in this capstone course study major theoretical approaches to comparative politics and are required to apply those approaches to one or more writing projects. The theme of this seminar changes each year. Prospective students should check with the comparative politics faculty to determine the theoretical, substantive, and geographical focus. Students are expected to participate regularly in seminar discussions and may be responsible for leading class sessions. Students who wish to complete a senior thesis should consult the requirements to enroll in PG 490.

Students in this capstone course focus on some major concerns of U.S. politics or public law and are required to complete assignments in the topic area of the seminar. The theme or topic of the seminar changes from year to year, and prospective students should check with U.S. politics faculty to determine the theoretical and substantive focus of the upcoming offering. Students who wish to complete a senior thesis should consult the requirements to enroll in PG 490.

Students in this capstone course study major theoretical approaches to contemporary questions in politics and government. The course brings students into conversation across subfields, applying the unique perspective of each field to major questions about democracy and power around the world today. Students are expected to participate regularly in seminar discussions and may be responsible for leading class sessions and completing a major project. Students who wish to complete a senior thesis should consult the requirements to enroll in PG 490.

What is meaningful work? The vast majority of the human population will spend the bulk of their waking hours in the workplace; how do we begin to interrogate and evaluate the purpose and meaning of our own work while also attending to the historical struggle for labor's recognition? The primary objectives in this course will be to historicize and normatively evaluate the struggle of various historical labor movements and their impact on the making of the American political state.

Much of the study of international relations has been driven by questions about war. Regardless of individuals' views on any particular war, everyone agrees that war is costly. The most obvious costs are in military expenditure and human lives. However, there are many ways of calculating cost, particularly as it relates to war.

This course considers the evolution of the idea of morally justifiable warfare, primarily in the Western context. Students trace just war theory from the ancient world to the present day, with attention to both religious and secular theoretical texts. The course encourages students to think about recent and contemporary international relations through the lens of just war theory.

How do different societies weigh civil, political, social, economic, and cultural rights? Is there a "standard" approach to rights such as abortion access, non- discrimination, and free speech? Are the rights that many Americans consider "self-evident" seen as such in other societies, and what rights do other societies recognize that are curiously absent in the American legal context? This course invites you to step outside the American debate on rights to consider alternative approaches.

This course examines courts as political actors. Why do political actors create courts? Why do legislators, executives, and bureaucracies obey them? Do courts take political, economic, and social factors into account when determining how to rule? We will examine these topics through a broad-based comparative inquiry, drawing on materials from around the world: North and South America, Africa, Europe, the Middle East and South Asia, and the Asia-Pacific region.

This course begins with a brief historical review of the rise of Islam as a political structure and its impact on the region, as well as the development of the Ottoman Empire and its relationship to Europe and European foreign policies. This discussion will be followed by a focus on colonialism and its effects, in particular the development of nationalism, populism, Islamism and Zionism.

State governments are often overlooked, however, states wield tremendous power over the daily lives of citizens. A citizen's life can look very different depending on what state she lives in. The course takes a comparative approach to understand this critical level of U.S. politics. Why is marijuana legal in some states and not others? Why are the systems of public education so different?