Concentrates on those socialist schools?Christian socialism, utopian socialism, Marxism, Fabianism, and anarchism?that have proved to be the most successful. Presents their major theories and examines the usefulness of such theories in helping us to understand and, in some cases, alter the world in which we live.
This course offers an introduction to contemporary African politics. Our goal is to introduce students to the most pressing problems African countries have faced since independence. Questions motivating the course include: (1) Why state institutions weaker in African than in other developing regions? (2) What explains Africa’s slow economic growth? (3) What can be done to improve political accountability on the continent? (4) Why have some African countries been plagued by high levels of political violence while others have not? (5) Can or should the West attempt to “save” Africa?
Offered every other year. 4 points. Examines legal, political, and economic issues in government regulation. Covers such classic debates and issues as the historical origins of regulation, the legal philosophy of administrative regulation, the relationship between courts and agencies, the political and social conflicts surrounding regulatory politics, and the role of law in state formation.
Provides an understanding of election processes in the United States through different theoretical approaches to the study of campaigns and elections and the testing of empirical hypotheses. Analyzes campaign strategies of political candidates, the use of polls and media in campaigns, and the effects of issues and personalities on election outcomes. Evaluates the role of presidential primaries and elections in the functioning of a democracy.
Offered every semester. 4 points. Interpretation of the Bill of Rights, the Civil War amendments, and other rights in the U.S. Constitution through the reading of Supreme Court opinions. Topics include freedom of speech and press; free exercise of religion and separation of church and state; the right of privacy; rights of the criminally accused; equal protection of the law against race, gender, and other discrimination; and the rights of franchise and citizenship. Cases are read and discussed closely for their legal and philosophical content.
This course is about using logic to think about issues of public policy and evidence to do the same thing. One way to think about this course is it is sabermetrics (logic and evidence applied to baseball, and in Moneyball) applied to vastly more important topics than baseball: making schools better, designing health policy and dealing with climate change (with tons of other policy applications possible, but we will focus on these three).
Why do we participate in politics? Who tends to participate? When are we most likely to participate? Political scientists have traditionally focused on factors such as demography, socioeconomic status, mobilization, electoral institutions, and social norms to answer these questions. However, scholars have recently begun to explore the possibility that genetic differences may, at least in part, help to explain individual differences in political participation.
Offered every year. 4 points. Theories of political strategy with emphasis on the theory of games. Uses of strategy in defense and deterrence policies of nations, guerrilla warfare of revolutionaries and terrorists, bargaining and negotiation processes, coalitions and the enforcement of collective action, and voting in committees and elections. Secrecy and deception as political strategies and uses of power, with some applications outside political science.
Detailed study of the nature, historical development, and basic principles of international organization. Emphasizes the structure and actual operation of the United Nations.
Comparative study of terrorism as a domestic political phenomenon. Examines foundational issues, economic, psychological, strategic, and social theories of terrorism as well as theories of the cessation of terrorist violence, government negotiation with terrorists, the relationship between terrorists and nonviolent political actors, and the internal political economy of terrorist organizations. Considers terror in the Middle East (especially emphasizing Hamas), nationalist terror (ETA and the IRA), and Maoist revolutionary terror (with emphasis on the Shining Path).
Prerequisite: V53.0300. Offered in the spring. 4 points. Poverty and welfare problems in the United States and the controversies aroused by them. Concentrates on the causes of poverty and dependency among the controversial working-age poor, the history of programs and policies meant to help them, and the enormous impact these issues have had on national politics.
Introduces the comparative politics of South Asia. Analyzes the politics of South Asian countries, including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal, individually and in a comparative framework. Readings are chosen from across disciplines, including political science, anthropology, economics, and history. The course also uses novels and films on South Asia to illustrate themes highlighted in the readings.
Origin, structure, functions, and dynamics of legislatures in the United States. Although some attention is given to state legislatures and municipal lawmaking bodies, the major emphasis is on the Congress. Readings include a textbook, official sources such as the Congressional Record and Congressional District Data Book, and the new behavioral studies and commentaries.
Examines the relationship between gender politics, legal theory, and social policy. Studies the role that the legal arena and certain historical conditions have played in creating, revising, and protecting particular gender identities and not others and examines the political effects of those legal constructions. Analyzes the major debates in feminist legal theory, including theories of equality, the problem of essentialism, and the relevance of standpoint epistomology. In addition to examining how the law understands sex discrimination in the workplace and the feminization of the legal profession, also addresses to what extent understandings of the gender affect how law regulates the physical body by looking at the regulation of reproduction and of consensual sexual activity. In light of all of the above, considers to what extent law is or is not an effective political resource in reforming notions of gender in law and society.
Study of American political ideas and debate from colonial times to the present. Topics include Puritanism, revolution and independence, the Constitution framing, Hamiltonian nationalism, Jeffersonian republicanism, Jacksonian democracy, pro- and antislavery thought, Civil War and Reconstruction, social Darwinism and laissez-faire, the reformist thought of populism, progressivism and socialism, legal realism, the New Deal and 20th-century liberalism, modern conservatism, civil rights, and war protest. Readings and discussion are based on original and interpretative sources.
Systematic study of the international politics of the Middle East, emphasizing the period since World War II. Emphasis on the relationship among patterns of inter-Arab, Arab-Israeli, and great-power politics, and on the relationship between domestic and external politics. Attempts to relate the Arab-Israeli conflict to interregional politics, the place and role of Turkey and Iran, and the problems in the Persian Gulf.
Prerequisite: V53.0700. Offered every year. 4 points. Starting with the traditional arena of national security and U.S. military policy, students analyze how national security decisions are made in this country, as well as the past and current military strategies used to carry out those decisions. From there, students examine the particular national security concerns and policies of Russia, China, Germany, and Japan. This course also looks at new thinking on national security, asking to what extent international trade and competition, immigration, illegal drugs, and the environment should be considered national security issues.
Analyzes the theory and practice of diplomacy, with special emphasis on bargaining strategies that nations use to try to settle their differences and avoid wars, including the use of mediators, arbitrators, and institutions like the United Nations. Applies game theory to analyze the use of exaggeration, threats, and deception in bilateral and multilateral diplomacy. Supplements case studies of international negotiation, especially in crises, with studies of domestic bargaining used in the formulation of foreign policy.
Characteristics and conditions of war and peace and the transition from one to the other from the perspective of political and social science. Examines the role and use of coercion in global affairs, with emphasis on attempts to substitute negotiation, bargaining, market forces, politics, and law for the resort to massive violence in moderating disputes.
Democracy and dictatorships have traditionally been analyzed in terms of their apparently different institutional characteristics and legal foundations. Examines these traditional interpretations but leans heavily toward ideological and contextual factors. Challenges traditional distinctions between democracy and dictatorship.
Analysis of the sources of U.S. foreign policy and the major international problems facing the United States today. Considers the role of national interest, ideology, and institutions in the making and executing of U.S. foreign policy.
Provides students with the ability systematically to evaluate ethically controversial public policy issues using concepts from normative political theory. In the first half of the course, we consider the means by which policy is implemented: Under what conditions, if any, might we permit political actors to do bad in order to do good? In the second half, we consider the ends of public policy: What is it we want the state to accomplish, and at what cost? Substantive policy topics vary from semester to semester.
New research is the most exciting and important aspect of political science: we are able to pose novel questions, construct fresh theories, and provide new evidence about the way the world works. But before we start doing research, we have to learn how it is done. With this in mind, this class will introduce students to quantitative techniques used for research in the study of politics. Part of this task is conceptual: helping students to think sensibly and systematically about research design. To this end, students will learn how data and theory fit together, and how to measure the quantities we care about. But part of the task is practical too: students will learn a `toolbox’ of methods–including statistical software–that enable them to execute their plans.
Topics: analysis of mechanisms of influence (selection of sympathetic incumbents, the provision of incentives for public officials, and the provision of information); objects of influence (voter choices, legislative behavior, bureaucratic decisions); collective action; and organizational maintenance.
Study of the politics of Britain, Ireland, France, and Germany. Compares the historical origins of these systems and analyzes their institutions as manifestations of their social and political culture and traditions. Treats each country’s current politics and political trends. Attempts to introduce the basic concepts of comparative political analysis in developing cross-cultural theory.
The course description for this Topics in Politics course varies depending on the topic taught. Please view the course descriptions in the course notes section below.
Political economy is a field of inquiry that has made great strides in recent years in explaining political and economic behavior by characterizing the incentives of actors and the context in which these actors make decisions and influence outcomes. The purpose of this course is to introduce students to these theoretical approaches and show how they can be used to address contemporary policy questions.
Introduces students to social choice theory applied to political science. It focuses on (1) individual choice, (2) group choice, (3) collective action, and (4) institutions. It looks at models of individuals’ voting behavior, the incentive structures of interest groups, and the role of institutions. The emphasis is analytical, though students are not expected to have a background in formal mathematics.
Identical to V33.0770. Prerequisite: V53.0700. Offered every other year. 4 points. The relations of and between the principal Asian national actors (e.g., China, Japan, India) and the relationship of the Asian “subsystem” to the international system. Covers the traditional Asian concepts of transnational order, the impact of external interventions, the modern ideological conflict and technological revolution, the emergent multilateral balance beyond Vietnam, the changing patterns of relations in the Asian subsystem traced to the international evolution from bipolarity to multicentrism, and the U.S. role in Asia.
This course serves as an introduction to the workings of the contemporary international political-economic system and introduces students to some of the main analytical frameworks that political economists use to understand this system. Finally, the course familiarizes students with analytical tools that serve to gain a better understanding of the current problems and opportunities facing actors in today?s international political economy.
Offered every semester. 4 points. Analysis of state behavior and international political relations; how things happen in the international state system and why. Emphasizes the issue of war and how and in what circumstances states engage in violence. Topics include different historical and possible future systems of international relations, imperialism, the Cold War, game theory and deterrents, national interests, and world organization.
Offered every semester. 4 points. Interpretation of the U.S. Constitution through the reading of Supreme Court opinions. Distribution of constitutional power among Congress, the president, and the federal courts; between the national government and the states; and among the states. Constitutional law and American political and economic development. Cases are read and discussed closely for their legal and philosophical content.
This course will introduce you to the study of local and urban politics in the U.S. Municipal governments profoundly impact the day-to-day of citizens. Cities have substantial power over policy areas from education and public safety to transportation, and they also address basic needs: making sure the trash gets taken out, the water runs, and that people are safe from crime. And yet, cities are often quite constrained in their policy choices. For example, one of the central challenges facing municipal government is how to attract and maintain a middle class tax base while providing essential services for low-income residents. This course will explore patterns of city politics against the background of American social and cultural history, including the impulse toward reform and the effects of reform efforts on the distribution of power in the community. Additional topics will include issues related to voting, race and ethnicity, gentrification, and the relationship between cities and the federal government.
Offered every semester. 4 points. Major concepts, approaches, problems, and literature in the field of comparative politics. Methodology of comparative politics, the classical theories, and the more recent behavioral revolution. Reviews personality, social structure, socialization, political culture, and political parties. Major approaches such as group theory, structural-functionalism, systems analysis, and communications theory and evaluation of the relevance of political ideology; national character; elite and class analysis; and problems of conflict, violence, and internal war.
A survey of national political institutions and behavior in the United States, which introduces students to a variety of analytical concepts and approaches useful for the study of domestic politics. Concepts typically covered include public goods and collective action; preference aggregation and the median voter theorem; delegation, representation, and accountability; agenda control; inter-branch bargaining; and the mechanisms of private influence on public policy.
Offered every semester. 4 points. Introduces students to some outstanding theories of politics. The theories treated offer alternative conceptions of political life, and they are examined from both theoretical and historical perspectives. Among the theorists included are Plato, Aristotle, Locke, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Rousseau, Mill, and Marx.
A site for IMA NY Students to find equivalent courses outside of IMA NY
For most students joining IMA in Fall 2022 and beyond, there is a new program structure that affects the categorization of courses on this site:
Any class in any IMA major elective category (ie "Art & Design") refers to the IMA program structure previous to those entering in Fall 2022. If you are in the class of 2026 (most entering Fall 2022 or later), any course in an IMA elective category are generic IMA electives in the new structure.