FALL 2008 COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
April 24, 2008

American Politics :: Comparative Politics
International Relations :: Political Theory :: Public Policy
General, Crossfield, & Related Courses

American Politics

Professor Halper
PSC 72310 [93243] Civil Liberties
3 credits, Tuesdays, 6:30-8:30

Civil Liberties focuses on freedom of expression and privacy, each viewed from normative and constitutional perspectives.  Among the specific topics  considered are defamation, hate speech and offensive speech, broadcast regulation, obscenity and indecency, public nuisances, commercial speech, speech plus, national security, privacy as withholding information, privacy as seclusion, and privacy as bodily integrity.  Robust class discussion is encouraged.  A final examination and critiques of three articles/chapters are required.

Professor Stanley Renshon
PSC 82001 [93295] Presidential Decision-Making in Foreign Policy
4 credits, Thursdays 4:15-6:15

As Iraq and numerous other examples have demonstrated, decisions about war and peace are among the most consequential that a president can make. It would be reassuring if we knew that presidents and their advisors were able to step back and view the evidence favoring one policy over another dispassionately, with a clear understanding of their potential costs and benefits, while subjecting them to a clear assessment through the decisions lenses of the strategic, moral, national, and international considerations that ought to be weighed. 

Regrettably for this ideal, decades of political and psychological research building on empirical and case study analyses of decisions regarding war and peace leave little room for optimism. We know that there are many cognitive shoals on which such decisions can flounder, that such decisions must be made in circumstances of ambiguous (at best) information and high stakes, that presidents are imperfect “rational actors” (though some are better than others), that advisory systems can malfunction, and that there exists little agreement about the circumstances, outside of direct attack, when the use of force might be necessary. 

On the other hand, presidents and their advisors have risen to the occasion—designing and implementing policies that have avoided major wars (containment, the Cuban Missile Crisis) while preserving and even furthering American strategic interests. On occasion, when required (Bosnia, Afghanistan), they have even used force effectively, though not without costs.  

Using a combination of psychological and political theories focused on the decision to use or avoid force in American foreign policy, this course will focus on specific historical instances (Containment against the Soviet Union, The Korean War, Vietnam, Iraq Wars I and II, and the dilemma of Iran) to develop a better understanding of how and why presidents succeed or blunder in making decisions about peace and war.      

Students interested in the course should be in touch with Professor Renshon (srenshon@gc.cuny.edu) to receive a brief orienting reading assignment for the first class. 

Professor Tien
PSC 72420 [93226] Elections and Voting
3 credits, Mondays 2:00-4:00

Who votes? Why do people vote? Why do people vote the way they do? This course will focus on voting behavior and elections, particularly voting behavior in U.S. elections. We will examine major theories of voting and the evidence for these theories. Specific topics to be covered include: psychological models of voting, spatial models of voting, belief systems, retrospective and prospective economic models of voting, partisan and issue voting, voter turnout and participation, the gender gap in voting, inequality and voting, race and electoral systems, and forecasting elections. The course requirements include a major research paper.

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Comparative Politics

Professor Asher Arian
PSC 87601 [93285], Comparative Political Behavior
4 credits, Wednesdays, 2:00-4:00 pm.

Professor Markovitz
PSC 87602 [93697] Dark Side of Democracy
3 credits, Mondays 4:15-6:15

Winston Churchill famously declared: "Democracy is the worst form of government except for all those others that have been tried." The Federalist authors proclaimed that they did not want to create "an elected despotism". Clinton Rositer maintained that the American Presidency was "a matrix for dictatorship". Democracies are not supposed to go to war with each other. However, at least some democracies in modern times have been associated with extremist policies in war and peace. Among the questions this seminar will consider are: Is there an association between democracy and ethnic cleansing? Do democratic institutions facilitate genocide? Are there complex processes that push democratic constituencies in murderous directions? Is "empowerment" of the "people" always progressive? Why and when do democratic institutions and procedures appear to result in growing inequality

Professor Eva Bellin
P SC 87303 [93239], Middle East and North Africa
4 credits, Mondays, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.

This course is designed to provide graduate students with an introduction to some of the central debates in the field of Middle East politics today including: the prospects for democratic transition,  the puzzle of persistent authoritarianism, the political impact of institutions and civil society, the dynamics of  Islamic social movements, the politics of cultural change, the interaction of gender and politics, the political economy of development, and the symbolic construction of power. Students will be exposed to a variety of  methods and approaches to the study of Middle East politics including: comparative historical analysis, cases studies,  rational choice, survey research, ethnographic studies, and discourse analysis.  The course will link the study of Middle East cases to larger theoretical questions in the field of comparative politics and  practice students  in the professional skills of the discipline.

This seminar aims at a comprehensive, graduate-level introduction to the primary empirical theories, concepts, and research questions of comparative politics. Students should find it useful as preparation for the first exam in comparative politics, but its focus on identifying, analyzing, and critiquing theories should be of use to many in other disciplines as well whose research would benefit from knowledge of the literature. Class meetings emphasize intense discussion of the arguments, methods, and evidence of the readings assigned for the topic each week. Requirements including reading the assigned material prior to each class meeting, participation in class discussion, brief written essays summarizing and analyzing the literature on topics to be assigned periodically, and a final examination

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International Relations

Professor Andreopoulos
PSC 86401 [92098] Concepts and Strategies in Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs
4 credits, Thursdays 4:15-6:15
 This course will focus on key concepts in human rights and humanitarianism, and examine their analytical value in the context of varying approaches towards the promotion and protection of internationally recognized human rights and humanitarian norms. In particular, the course will examine these concepts in light of (a) the recent debates in international relations theory on the role of ideas and norms; and (b) the growing convergence between international human rights law and international humanitarian law. It will assess the impact of normative considerations, as well as the role of the relevant state and non-state actors on a whole set of critical issue areas including discrimination, accountability, human security, political membership, human development, and legal empowerment.  The course will conclude with an evaluation of recent initiatives in UN-led human rights reform.

Professor Sun
PSC 86401 [93292] International Political Economy of Emerging Asia
4 credits, Wednesdays 6:30-8:30

The course will apply the general historical and theoretical frameworks that guide the study of IPE to the global economic relations of major Asian states. Among the issues we will consider are the evolution and structure of the international economic systems in relation to Asia, government behavior in the international economy, the politics of international competitiveness, the politics of multinational corporations and FDI, and the politics of globalization.  We will pay particular attention to the two emerging giants, China and India, but will also consider the rise of Japan and the new industrialized economies that heralded the Asian resurgence in the contemporary global economy.

Professor Woodward
PSC 86402 [93234] Peace and War: A Research Seminar in International Politics
4 credits, Mondays 4:15-6:15

International order is increasingly seen as a product of the domestic order and policies of states. International norms, institutional capacity in regional and international organizations, and the foreign policies and development assistance of rich countries to transform domestic orders have developed substantially in the past 15 years. This seminar will analyze the changing concepts (e.g., good governance, failed or fragile states, “new” wars, non-traditional security threats, state-building, security and development) and institutional capacities (e.g., for crisis management, aid effectiveness, democracy promotion, peacebuilding, post-conflict “reconstruction,” policy coherence) of this growing focus of international activity and power. What is this about? What do we know? Is a regime emerging? What theories and concepts in international relations are useful in its analysis and explanation?

The purpose of this seminar is to facilitate individual student research projects on some aspect of this political and transformational project. The emphasis in seminar discussion, therefore, will be on the alternative theoretical approaches (e.g., realist, constructivist, political economy, post-colonial), existing data sets and indexes, classic case studies, and theoretical and policy debates that one can use in identifying a good research question and designing the research. Students will be graded both on their seminar participation and the final research paper.

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Political Theory

Professor Marshall Berman
P SC 80302 [93286], Marxism
4 credits,Wednesday, 4:15 – 6:15 pm

We will try to understand Marxism as a vision and a theory of the global phenomenon known as modernity: in Marx’s language, “modern bourgeois society”. All through the term, we will be looking for ways in which Marxism explains the world today, and ways in which it does not.

The course will be divided roughly into four parts:
(1) The romantic anticapitalism of Marx’s early years, his vision of “alienation”, of “the rich human being”; the gradual unfolding of his radical project;
(2 )Marx’s mature social theory, featuring the modern working class and its capacity to make history--especially the MANIFESTO and CAPITAL;
(3 )”The Marxism of Underdevelopment”, Lenin, the Russian Revolution, its traumas and its critics—I’m most interested in Rosa Luxemburg, Arthur Koestler, and George Orwell;
(4) 20th-century modes of Marxism—Lukacs, Gramsci, the Frankfurt School , Existential Marxism, Habermas, Mills, et al.

Each student will be expected to write one paper on Marx (or maybe two short ones) and one on a 20th-century Marxist (or Marxists) of his or her own choosing.

Professor Morgenstern
PSC 80602 [93910] Reinventing Freedom: Rousseau, Enlightenment, and Polity
4 credits, Mondays, 6:30-8:30 pm

Professor Wolin
PSC 80601 [93231] The Idea of Human Rights
4 credits, Mondays, 4:15-6:15 pm

The idea of human rights has been responsible for remarkable successes as well as some egregious failures. Our course will take a long-term approach to understanding human rights in order to better appreciate their contemporary significance and import.

We will begin by examining the philosophical origins of human rights in theories of modern natural law (Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau). We will then proceed to review the lively polemics surrounding the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, when Protestants, Jews, women, and slaves invoked human rights as the basis for their emancipation. Strangely, during the nineteenth century, the discourse of “human rights” virtually disappeared. (Why??). The idea was only revived in the mid-twentieth century, with the UN Charter (and the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights), as a moral and practical response to the Nazis’ genocidal imperialism. During the 1980s, the discourse of human rights played a key role in delegitimating communism. Lastly, we will examine human rights’ controversial track record in the contemporary world. Are human rights, in the last analysis, merely a cynical tool of the Great Powers or do they possess a legitimate, untapped emancipatory potential?

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Public Policy

Professor Christa Altenstetter
PSC 73700 [93240] Intro to Policy Process, (cross-listed with IDS81620)
3 credits, Tuesdays, 4:15-6: 15 p.m
This course will review the major explanatory frameworks in the study of public policy and policymaking processes, with a particular focus on policy models rooted in the American experience.  Policy is understood to mean “the sum of government activities, whether acting directly or through agents, as those actions have an influence on the lives of citizens.” This understanding includes the intentions of public policy and their intended and/or unintended consequences. Policymaking processes include problem identification and definition, agenda-setting, policy formation and adoption as well as implementation. Four broad factors are central to policy outcomes and are central to any analysis of public policy or policy processes: i) institutional arrangements, ii) policy substance/content, iii) capacities and iv) strategies. No prior knowledge of public policy is assumed but a background in the fundamentals of social science research methods and government and public administration is helpful.

Required readings:
Listed below are the readings that constitute the core of required readings (marked with an asterisk).
*Birkland, Thomas A. Introduction to Theories of the Policy Process. Theories, Concepts, and Models of Public Policy Making. Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe, 2001.2nd ed. 2005 (pb)
*Kingdon, John, Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policy, New York: Harper Collins, 2n ed. 1995 (pb)
*Lindblom, Charles E. and Edward J. Woodhouse, The Policy-Making Process, 3rd ed., Upper Saddle Rive, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1993 (pb)
*Mann, Thomas and Norman J. Ornstein. Intensive Care. How Congress Shapes          Health Policy. Washington, D.C. American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research and the Brookings Institution, 1995
*Moran, Michael, Martin Rein, and Robert E. Goodin (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Public Policy.
Oxford University Press. Estimated publication date May 2008, pb.
*Parsons, Wayne, Public Policy. An Introduction to the Analysis of Theory and Practice. Cheltenham, Edward Elgar, 1995
*Peters, B. Guy. American Public Policy. Promise and Performance. 6th Edition or later edition. Chatham House Publishers, 2004
*Rochefort, David A. & Roger W. Cobb (eds). The Politics of Problem Definition. Shaping the Policy Agenda. 1994. University of Kansas
*Sabatier, Paul A, Theories of the Policy Process, Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1999, 2nd ed. 2007 (pb).
*Stone, Deborah, Policy Paradox. The Art of Political Decision Making. New York: W.W. Norton, 2001 (revised) (pb)

Professor Christa Altenstetter
PSC 83505 [93298] Interests, Institutions and Public Policy in the European Union
4 credits, Thursdays, 4:15-6:15 pm.
This course offers a unique opportunity to examine rapidly emerging forms of transnational governance and policymaking processes and their impact on policymaking in the member states. Policymaking is being driven by extraordinarily complex, yet interconnected and mutually reinforcing developmental dynamics. We will begin with the historical foundations of European integration followed by an in-depth study of the multi-tiered EU governance system. The puzzle that needs to be addressed is the growing Europeanization of public affairs which transform national policymaking and governance combined with a limited ability of EU institutions to enforce compliance with EU goals or monitor implementation in the member states. Yet despite these opposing trends, the European Union is flourishing.

The course will be conducted as a research seminar. It is interdisciplinary in scope (political, science, law and public administration), comprehensive in subject matter, and pursues a comparative/international tenor. This course is one of two core courses of the Interdisciplinary Concentration in European Union Studies at the Graduate Center/CUNY. Students in political science can take it as part of a major or a minor field of study in the Ph.D/M.A. Program in Political Science. Upon completion of the core requirements, students will receive a Certificate of Completion issued by the Office of the Associate Provost for Instructional Technology and Dean for Interdisciplinary Studies.

This course will primarily focus on the effects of European integration on the EU and national policymaking systems. This approach provides each student the opportunity to conduct original research on new issues while applying time-tested social science methods to rapidly changing developments. Members of the seminar are encouraged to select a topic for research that eventually may become a M.A. thesis or a Ph.D. thesis.  Participants in the seminar will also have an opportunity to present their on-going research and discuss the substantive and methodological problems they encounter in their research in class.

Listed below are the readings that constitute the core of the required readings

Altenstetter, Christa. Medical Devices. European Union Policymaking and The Implementation of Health and Patient Safety in France. New Brunswick: NJ: Transaction Publishers, 2008.
Ansell, Christopher and David Vogel (eds.). What’s The Beef? Contested Governance of European Food Safety. Cambridge, Mass. MIT Press, 2006.
Baldwin, R., C. Scott and Chr. Hood. A Reader on Regulation. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.
Ginsberg, Roy H. Demystifying the European Union. The Enduring Logic of Regional Integration. Lanham: Md: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2007.Héritier, Adrienne. Common Goods, Reinventing European and International Governance.London: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2002.
Majone, G. The Politics of Regulation and European Regulatory Institutions. In J. Hayward and A. Menon (eds.). Governing Europe. Oxford University Press, 2003, pp.297-312.
McCormick, John. The European Union. Politics and Policies.Westview Press, 2008.
Scharpf, F.W. Governing in Europe. Effective and Democratic? Oxford University Press, 1998
Schmidt, Vivien A. Democracy in Europe. The EU and National Polities. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2006.
Wallace, H., Wallace, W., and M.A. Pollack. Policy-Making in the European Union. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 5th edition, 2005.
Wiener, Antje and Thomas Diez. European Integration Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.

Professor Joyce Gelb
PSC 83502 [93287] Comparative Gender Policy
4 credits, Wednesdays 6:30-8:30 pm

This course analyzes various public policies related to gender in a comparative perspective. While we will attempt to define “gender related policies” from the broadest possible vantage point, among the policies currently  to be considered are  sexual politics including  reproductive  rights and  violence against women; family policies including child care, parental leave and child support; and equal opportunity policies including anti sex discrimination as well as sexual harassment.

The scope of the course will include analysis of policies in Europe and  the US, as well as  selected Asian and Latin American nations , though  the scope will be truly international. The course will also highlight the importance of transnational impacts on national policy making. The focus is on the conditions and factors which help to  create “women friendly” policies .

There will be one major research paper and other assignments to be determined.

Professor Janet Gornick
PSC 74000 [93696] Public Policy Evaluation
3 credits, Wednesdays 6:30-8:30 pm

This course will begin with an overview of the field of public policy evaluation, from a political science perspective. The first section of the course covers lessons on evaluating the empirical aspects of public policy and provides an analytic framework for assessing the value judgments that inevitably influence policy decisions.

The second section of the course provides a survey of standard public policy evaluation techniques. In this part of the course, we will cover the common quantitative approaches, including experimental designs, quasi-experimental designs, and cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analyses. We will also explore the ways in which qualitative and quantitative methods can be combined in the field of public policy evaluation.

The third section of the course focuses on politics. Here, we will take an in-depth look at the role of think tanks and their influence on public policy; and we will assess the role of policy research on decision-making, through the lens of the American states.

In the final section of the course, we assess the potential for misuse of evaluations. We then close by analyzing the conditions under which policy lessons can be drawn across time and space.

The course will be conducted as a seminar. Each student will be required to chair one class session, either solo or with a partner. There will be a midterm examination and a final examination.

 This course will be jointly taught with Professor Michael Minkenberg, Max Weber Professor of European Studies at NYU, and will alternate meetings between the Graduate Center and NYU. After considering what fundamental organizing principles might be characteristic of cities in Europe as compared with those of the United States, the course will consider how each set of cities is responding to the challenges of the 21st century, including such topics as citizen participation and the prospects for local democracy, urban development, immigration and growing ethnic diversity, neighborhood change and gentrification, social exclusion and stresses on the local welfare state, and global economic competition and deindustrialization. Attention will also be paid to the role of cultural production and cultural projection and the special status of capital cities as hinge points between national politics and local life. Students will pick case study cities from the two settings as a venue for exploring one of these topics in depth.

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General and Crossfield

Professor Featherstone
PSC 79001 [93238] Writing Politics Seminar
3 credits, Monday 6:30-8:30

Professor Frances Fox Piven
PSC 89100 [93242] Dissertation Proposal Workshop
0 credits, Tuesdays 4:15-6:15 pm.

This workshop will be a collaborative endeavor.  It is for students who are contemplating the hurdle of writing a dissertation proposal, as well as students who are already at work on a proposal.  The group will discuss and contribute to individual projects in an effort to improve them.  No one fails.

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