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POLITICAL SCIENCE

POL 110 POLITICAL ISSUES FOR AMERICANS

This beginners’ course in political science considers a range of political issues of concern to Americans, such as civil rights, affirmative action, race and gender questions, privacy, abortion, and U. S. interventions in foreign quarrels. In considering such issues, the course examines why the American government works the way it does and various changes advocated to improve its performance. (Fall, Spring) Staff/Three credits

POL 150-151 FOUNDATIONS: ART AND POLITICS

A two-semester interdisciplinary course in politics and art. The two semesters concentrate on the study of the worlds of politics and art in ten successive periods of Western Civilization. The first semester studies Ancient Greece through the Renaissance. The second semester studies Modern Europe through 20th century Europe and the United States. Both semesters emphasize the reading and interpretation of texts about the major political and artistic principles in each historical period, as well as the viewing and analysis of slides of the major artistic works. Students earn three credits in politics and three credits in art. (Same as ART 150-151) (Fall, Spring) Opanasets/Three credits

POL 201 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT

This course is an introduction to the principles, institutions, and processes of American government. It focuses on our political principles, such as liberty, democracy, and equality, especially as reflected in our government institutions— Congress and the Executive and Judiciary branches—and in our extra-governmental institutions, such as political parties and interest groups. Consideration will also be given to major contemporary issues—free speech, racial and sexual equality, privacy—as expressions of debates over our principles. Open to all students. (Fall, Spring) Schultz, Sorenson/Three credits

POL 203 MODERN STATES

A comparative analysis of major types of ancient and modern political systems, with an emphasis on the Western European liberal democracies of Great Britain and France. Open to all students. (Fall, Spring) Harman, Mahoney/Three credits

POL 205 POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY

An introduction to the nature and place of political philosophy in the philosophical thought and political life of Western Civilization. An examination of the basic principles of political philosophy according to thinkers, such as Plato, Aristotle, St. Augustine, Machiavelli, and Marx. Open to all students. (Spring) Schultz/Three credits

POL 207 PEACE AND WAR

This course examines the role of war in human affairs, especially during the 20th century of “total war,” and at the outset of the 21st century. It considers why no enduring peace was achieved after the two world wars, the characteristics of international politics since the end of the Cold War, and the instruments for maintaining or restoring peace. Major interpretations of world politics are evaluated. (Fall, Spring) Dobski/Three credits

POL 311 AMERICAN POLITICAL THOUGHT

Historical survey of American political thought tracing development of the principles of American politics. Major works might include Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, The Federalist Papers, Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America, writings and speeches of Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson’s Congressional Government, and writings and speeches of Franklin D. Roosevelt. (Fall) Sorenson/Three credits

POL 312 THE AMERICAN FOUNDING

An investigation into the fundamental principles that informed the founding of the American political order and have subsequently oriented the American way of life. In seeking to understand those principles, we also examine the political and philosophical tradition that preceded the founding. (Not Offered in 2006-2007) Sorenson/Three credits

POL 314 THE AMERICAN PRESIDENCY

This course examines the origin, nature, and development of the executive power in American national government. Included are comparisons with modern executive development in other forms of government. (Spring) Schultz/Three credits

POL 316 CONSTITUTIONAL LAW

The role of the Supreme Court in the American political system. Constitutional powers and limitations, with primary emphasis on judicial interpretations of the 1st and 14th amendments. (not offered in 2006-2007) Schultz/Three credits

POL 321 PUBLIC POLICY

This course examines selected major contemporary national problems of the U.S. and the federal policies designed to deal with them. Particular problems considered might include poverty, welfare, the economy, education, health, transportation, consumer protection, environmental protection, and energy. It considers the interaction between parts of the government and between government and interest groups, in formulating and executing public policy. It evaluates the thinking of those who have advocated and opposed the expansion of government responsibility for a large range of social action. (Fall) Schultz/Three credits

POL 322 POLITICAL ECONOMY

The purpose of this course is to clarify the tradition of political economy, to understand its foundations and historical permutations, and to study its relationship and pertinence to pressing public policy concerns of our time. The relationship between “political” and “economic” phenomena and analysis will be investigated. The course focuses on the origins of political economy in moral and political reflection rather than in abstract “scientific” considerations. Authors to be studied include Smith, Marx, Keynes, de Jouvenel, Hayek, and Berger. (Not offered in 2006-2007) Harmon, Mahoney/Three credits

POL 323 POLITICAL LEADERSHIP

This course is intended as an introduction to the study of democratic statesmanship, or political leadership in a democratic political regime. Although the primary emphasis will be on the study of the rhetoric and actions of some leading American presidents, some materials will also be drawn from antiquity and from modern Britain and France. (Spring) Harman, Mahoney/Three credits

POL 324 PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

This course will consider the role of bureaucracy in federal, state, and local government. It will analyze the place of administration in a constitutional system of separated powers. It will trace briefly the origins and evolution of the study and practice of public administration. The relationship of the bureaucracy to the other branches of government, the political and ethical dimensions of administration, the organization and operation of bureaucracy, and the politics of the budgetary process will all be highlighted. (Spring) Schultz/Three credits

POL 332 RUSSIAN AND POST-SOVIET POLITICS

This course examines the political life of post-communist Russia. The origin, evolution, and collapse of communist totalitarianism are studied. The efforts to construct a post- Soviet political and social order in Russia are highlighted. (Not offered in 2006-2007) Mahoney/Three credits

POL 338 NATIONALISM AND FASCISM

A survey analysis of the rise, and major manifestations of, nationalism in the 19th and 20th centuries. Distinctions will be drawn between moderate or patriotic forms (as in liberal democracies or in movements of national liberation) and that extreme form known as fascism. Primary attention will be given to the new nationalism and neo-fascist movements where multinational totalitarian empires have collapsed and where established nation-states have been weakened. (Not offered in 2006-2007) Dobski/Three credits

POL 345 POLITICAL MASS MURDER

Although the 20th is known as the century of total war, scholars who have investigated say that far more people were killed by their own governments than by foreign enemies in wars. Such terms as holocaust, genocide, Gulag, Great Leap Forward, and ethnic cleansing denote prominent events of our age. The course examines and compares selected major cases of mass political murder, including the Jewish Holocaust, great state induced famines under Stalin and Mao, the killing fields of Cambodia, genocide in Rwanda and Sudan, and ethnic cleansing in Bosnia. It considers how outside powers, especially the US and UN, have responded: when they intervene and how effectively; when and why they refrain from acting; and whether moral principles or international law permit or oblige other states to intervene. (Spring). Dobski, Mahoney/Three credits

POL 351 CLASSICAL POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY

The origin and principles of political philosophy in Plato and Aristotle, and the subsequent development of classical political philosophy in selected works of Roman philosophers. (Spring) Sorenson/Three credits

POL 352 EARLY MODERN POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY

A study of political theories from Machiavelli through Locke which have presented themselves as critical alternatives to classical political philosophy. Selected texts by Machiavelli, Bacon, Hobbes, Locke. (Not offered in 2006-2007) Sorenson/Three credits

POL 353 IDEOLOGY AND REVOLUTION

A study of modern revolutions and their connection to “ideologies” which promise a fundamental transformation of life. We examine the political history of the French and Soviet Revolutions to understand the originality of ideological revolution as distinct from traditional political revolutions which have had more limited aims. The course also compares totalitarian tyrannies with traditional forms of dictatorship. The anti-totalitarian Revolutions of 1989 in Eastern Europe are also considered. (Not Offered in 2006- 2007) Mahoney/Three credits

POL 354 CLASSIC UTOPIAS

A study of the classic works promoting or denigrating ideal societies: Thomas More’s Utopia, Francis Bacon’s New Atlantis, Marx and Engel’s Communist Manifesto, George Orwell’s 1984, and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. The course addresses such topics as what utopianism is, its various forms, its critics, and how it affects political practice. (Not offered in 2006-2007) Dobski, Mahoney/Three credits

POL 355 LATE MODERN POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY

An investigation of political theories from Rousseau through Nietzsche which have presented themselves as the successors to the liberal political philosophical tradition of early modern thought. Selected texts by Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, Marx, and Nietzsche. (Not offered in 2006-2007) Sorenson/Three credits

POL 371 FOREIGN POLICY AND DIPLOMACY

This course examines the making and character of the foreign policies of major states in the world today. This study is made against a background consideration of Thucydides’ interpretation of relations between states, the nature and development of diplomatic practice, and the impact of modern Western civilization on the contemporary world. (Not offered in 2006-2007) Mahoney/Three credits

POL 372 AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY

A study of the policy of the United States regarding important areas and problems in the contemporary world, and the development of the American involvement in foreign affairs from the Roosevelt–Truman era of World War II to the present time. Legalist, moralist, realist, and revisionist interpretations of American foreign policy are evaluated. (Not offered in 2006-2007) Dobski/Three credits

POL 375 THE STUDY OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

This course will analyze the variety of approaches to the study of international politics. Different methodological approaches, drawing on political philosophy, political history, and the social sciences, will be considered. Principal emphasis will be placed on the ethical dimensions of international relations. Prominent analysts and philosophers of international relations, such as Thucydides, Machiavelli, Waltz, and Aron will be analyzed. (Not offered in 2006-2007) Mahoney/Three credits

POL 377 THE POLITICS OF JUST WARS

An examination of those reflections on just wars that illuminate the core of the political, military, religious and philosophic traditions within Western civilization over the last 2500 years. This course will begin by examining military justifications in both classical Greek thought and Roman republicanism, moving to the origins of just war theorizing in the early Church, Judaism and Islam. It also weighs modernity’s most serious criticisms of the moral and political teachings of the classical and Christian world against that tradition’s medieval and modern advocates. The course will also draw on a respectful engagement with pacifist and “Liberal Realist” perspectives and will conclude with a consideration of the contemporary debates that shape our moral and political discourse in order to show how the “Catholic New Left,” feminist political theory, Islamic terrorism, and the allure of a world without borders invite us to reconsider the very possibility of just wars. (Fall) Dobski/Three credits

POL 381 SHAKESPEARE’S POLITICS

Perhaps transcending the distinction between theorist and poet, Shakespeare has given the world dramatic portrayals of the most enduring problems of politics. This course will focus on how Shakespeare’s political works shed light on one of those problems, namely the problem of grand ambition and statesmanship. This course seeks to clarify how Shakespeare’s dramatic works reveal the sinuous relationship between the welfare of the political community, which frequently requires outstanding individuals to save and even perfect it, and the potentially dangerous and destabilizing ambitions of the community’s most talented citizens. In this course, the professor and students, through seminar discussion, will closely read those plays representative of Shakespeare’s Roman and British histories. (Not offered in 2006-2007) Dobski/Three credits

POL 382 POLITICS AND LITERATURE: VIEWS OF DEMOCRACY

Literature, such as the epic, the novel, or tragic or comic drama, has always been central to the entertainment of a democratic people. This course studies two poets of American democracy, H. Melville and W. Faulkner, in order to understand the differences between the North and the South, and their different views of the United States of America. It includes a comparison of their views on democracy with those of other poets, both modern and ancient. (Not offered in 2006-2007) Schultz/Three credits

POL 400 INDEPENDENT STUDY

Open to highly qualified Junior and Senior Political Science majors. Permission of the Chairperson is required. Staff/Three credits

POL 409 RESEARCH SEMINAR

This course, offered in fall semesters, is required of majors in their senior year. The seminar investigates some fundamental enduring themes of political life and facilitates student planning and pursuit of projects related to these themes. Students submit a final paper demonstrating the ability to conduct research and analysis in political science. (Fall) Dobski/Three credits.

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Most Assumption Accounting majors have accepted full-time positions by December of their senior year.