course focuses on the adoption and development of policies to address poverty and inequality in the U.S. to serve three purposes for aspiring senior thesis writers. and dominant media companies (Google, FaceBook, CNN, FOX, etc.). The specific disputes under these rubrics range from abortion to affirmative action, hate speech to capital punishment, school prayer to same-sex marriage; the historical periods to be covered include the early republic, the ante-bellum era, the Civil War and Reconstruction, World Wars I and II, the Warren Court, and contemporary America. Instead of a world order marked by alliances, arms races, and wars, Wilson offered a vision of a peaceful world and the rule of international law. Topics include the founding of the American system and the primary documents (the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Federalist Papers), the primary institutions of national government then and now (Congress, the presidency, and the Supreme Court), and the politics of policy-making in the United States. The last section of the course covers contemporary policy challenges confronting the Middle East. It will not only survey the history of the nuclear age--and of individual countries' nuclear development--but also grapple with important contemporary policy dilemmas in the nuclear realm. Among other issues, we will consider the points of conflict and consensus among different racial groups, how Americans of different racial backgrounds think about other groups, and the implications of demographic change (including the growth of the Latino and Asian-American populations and the shrinking white share of the electorate) for future elections. does it mean to be an American? How does this idea about individual value liberate and entrap? Applications to the PTA program must be completed online at tulsacc.edu/ApplyPTA by December 1. Us" became a rallying cry of Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign in late 2019. Rather than treating science as a monolith, we will endeavor to understand the implications of various sciences--as practiced and envisioned in various, historically specific situations--for gender and politics. How have they tried to make cities more decent, just, and sustainable? relatively powerless interests sometimes win in American politics? We begin with examinations of these central notions and debates, and then move to investigations of the political thought of four key late modern Afro-Caribbean and African-American thinkers within the tradition: Walter Rodney, Sylvia Wynter, Cedric Robinson, and Angela Davis. As we examine the debates over inclusion, we will consider different views about the relationship among political, civil, and social rights as well as different interpretations of American identity, politics, and democracy. On the other hand, shifting ideas about science have strongly influenced the development of feminist theory and practice: for example, debates about reproductive rights are often couched in terms of a conflict between reliable scientific knowledge of embryos, STDs, etc. attack! Our focus is on rights and liberties -- freedom of speech and religion, property, criminal process, autonomy and privacy, and equality. This question is at the center of American politics today, particularly during the presidency of Barack Obama and the 2016 presidential election. We consider how this history confirms or undermines influential views about U.S. foreign relations and about international relations generally. The second half of the course challenges students to apply this toolkit to the twenty-first century, focusing on attempts to transition from industrial manufacturing to services. Electoral Politics in the Developing World. From Tocqueville to Trump: Leadership and the Making of American Democracy. But what does this mean? Please see the online catalog for up-to-date information on which courses are being offered in the current year. Finally, what are the costs of change (and of continuity)--and who pays them? For more complete course descriptions, students should consult the Williams College Online Catalog or the Williams College Bulletin. Can we get rid of politics in policy making or improve on it somehow? It entertains competing answers to central questions in the field: What are the implications of an anarchic political structure for order and justice in world politics? War, a strong bipartisan consensus emerged around the principles of liberal international internationalism and "America First" perspectives were marginalized in American politics. For instance, do the claims of individual freedom conflict with those of community? We first engage with the treaty's content and exclusions, next examine the incentives it provides states and criminals, and last assess the way that geopolitical and climate change create new opportunities and constraints for states, firms, international organizations, and activists. These and other tensions between the concept of property and that of humanity will be the focus of this course. The first part of the course focuses primarily on the Middle East's impact on the international system throughout the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, while the second part of the course examines contemporary issues. They contend that it legitimates a view of the status quo, in which such terrible things are bound to happen without real cause. Do nuclear weapons have an essentially stabilizing or destabilizing effect? Are legal citizenship and formal political rights sufficient for belonging? Why not simply claim that something is an interest rather than also a right? has been defined, who has defined it, what factions and classes have controlled its organizations, and the reasons why it has failed to achieve its goals. Does income inequality threaten the political equality necessary for a strong democracy? As large as they loom in our daily experience and our historical memory, these sorts of events--concrete, discrete things that happen in and around the political world--are often underestimated as catalysts of political change. What conditions are necessary to sustain effective leadership in the contemporary world? Can the framers' vision of deliberative, representative government meet the challenges of a polarized polity? How and why has capitalism evolved in different forms in different countries? This class will consider these questions through readings, films and artifacts that bring political theory into conversation with science fiction, popular literature on the so-called "singularity" (the merger of humans with computers), science and technology studies, evolutionary anthropology, "new materialist" philosophy, and feminist theory. [more], This is a course about war and peace. Some defenders argue that the media is a convenient scapegoat for problems that are endemic to human societies, while others claim that it actually facilitates political action aimed at addressing long-ignored injustices. This course begins with an examination of the general phenomena of nationalism and national identity and their historical development in East Asia. Political scientists and historians continue to argue vigorously about the answers to all these questions. Are these firms monopolies? We consider why and how the spread of capitalism led to the birth of democracy in some countries, but dictatorships in others? What does it say about pre-pandemic politics that we were so eager to consume stories of states falling and bands of survivors scraping together a nasty, brutish and short existence? Should they, perhaps, abandon Europe altogether and re-constitute themselves elsewhere? It is multilateral institutions ruling in peacetime that is relatively new. Does the state and its policies make the nation, as many scholars claim? Hamer, Shirley Chisholm, Safiya Bukhari, Erica Garner, Greta Thunberg, Malala Yousafzai, Marielle Franco, Winnie Mandela. Third, through ongoing, self-guided reading on students' individual topics as well as feedback from both the seminar leader and other seminar participants on their written work about that topic, it endeavors to guide students to frame a viable and meaningful research project. Are there forms of unequal social power which are morally neutral or even good? Are "religious" reasons ever legitimate reasons for laws, policies or popular political action? Critics contend that humanitarianism produces harm, provides structural incentives for people to do more or less than they need to, and deepens inequality between actors and targets. Africanist Project to Black Consciousness. How has that particular aspect of political life changed in the recent past? what type of government people believe to be acceptable and desirable, but international actors also rule directly on the legitimacy of a regime's policy or on the regime itself. Marcuse famously supported the aims of student activism, feminism, black liberation movements and Third World anti-colonialism during that period, publicly affirming their efforts to integrate ethical idealism with concrete concerns for the economic wellbeing and political freedom of oppressed groups. What is the connection between social and physical power? Classics may include John Locke's A Letter Concerning Toleration, selections from Jean-Jacques Rousseau's The Social Contract, James Madison's Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments, Immanuel Kant's Religion Within the Boundaries of Mere Reason, John Stewart Mill's Three Essays On Religion, and John Dewey's A Common Faith. We will also explore the controversies and criticisms of his work from both the right and the left because of his political stance on issues ranging from the Arab-Israeli conflict to humanitarian intervention to free speech. And how will the unfolding pandemic change how we respond to these stories? The course first briefly reviews Venezuelan post-Independence history, with an emphasis on the post-1958 democratic settlement. States. This class will involve students in close reading of, and exegetical writing about, core texts of ancient Chinese philosophy in English translation. The question, an important part of political theory at least since Socrates, has taken on renewed significance in recent years, as theorists have sought to rethink the political in response to twentieth century dictatorships and world wars; feminist, queer, anti-racist, post- and decolonial struggles; the transformations wrought by neoliberal globalization; the emergence of "algorithmic governance"; the recent resurgence of populist nationalism; and deepening recognition of climate crises. The course will begin--by focusing on the Manhattan Project--with a brief technical overview of nuclear physics, nuclear technologies, and the design and effects of nuclear weapons. At the end we briefly reconsider current U.S. policies in historical perspective. Large minorities of young adults, especially young men, are now celibate. This seminar engages some of the major attempts at rethinking produced in the 20th and 21st centuries, particularly at those that, characterizing liberalism as masking structures of subordination and elements of conflict in political life, undervaluing the importance of citizen action and public space, or being ill-suited to altered technological and ecological conditions, seek to rework or move beyond it. In particular, this course examines the relationship between political and military objectives. How are we to understand this contradiction as a matter of justice? Du Bois and the subsequent cleavages in political thought and allegiances among their respective adherents will be addressed, along with various other core issues including: the relationship between race, nation, and empire; transnationalism; the meaning of power; notions of leadership; the limitations of understanding Garveyism by the phrase "Back-to-Africa"; the moral philosophy of respect, reparation, and redemption; prophetic political theory; Pan-Africanism; the impact of Garveyism on political theological movements such as the Nation of Islam and Rastafari; women in the Garvey movement; and Garveyite strategies for forging models of political solidarity in dark times. *Please note the atypical class hours, Wed 4:45-8:30 pm* [more], The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution begins: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Finally, the course will address contemporary controversies about what it means to be a Jew in Israel, about the feasibility of a "two-state" solution to the Palestinian issue, about the prospects and implications of a "one-state" solution, and about the implications for Israel of not resolving the Palestinian issue to the mutual satisfaction of Israelis and Palestinians. Threats to the Republic: Politics in Post-Obama America. This tutorial has two main objectives. Other critics take aim at the two-party system with the claim that the major parties fail to offer meaningful choices to citizens. and discuss the causes of the rise of far-right populism, the origins of far-right ideology, and the phenomenon of successful populist voter mobilization. Or is economic crisis the key to understanding the conditions under which dictatorships fall? IGOs, whose members are sovereign states, range from the Nordic Association for Reindeer Research to NATO and the UN; INGOs, whose members are private groups and individuals, include the International Seaweed Association as well as Doctors Without Borders and Human Rights Watch. Does freedom make us happy? Our focus, then, is nothing less than the story of America -- as told by those who lived it. Topics include the politics of race; rapid urbanization, especially in the valley of Mexico; and the cultural impact of the turn toward the north, after 1990, in economic policy. Students will develop a conceptual toolkit to study the politics of capitalism based in the economic history of the rich democracies (Europe, United States) in the twentieth century. It goes back to the founding moments of an imagined white (at the beginning Christian) Europe and how the racialization of Muslim and Jewish bodies was central to this project, and how anti-Muslim racism continues to be relevant in our world today. James' famous book, Black Jacobins, about the Haitian Revolution (1791-1804). We will assess traditional theories about the weakness of the American state in light of arguments about the state as: regulator of family and "private" life, adjudicator of relations between racial and ethnic groups, manager of economic inequalities, insurer of security, and arbiter of the acceptable uses of violence and surveillance. Thus, this class is organized as a collaborative investigation with the aims of: 1) examining how whiteness and other historically dominant perspectives shape International Relations theory and research areas; 2) expanding and improving our understanding of International Relations through different lenses (e.g. The course will show how Muslims were constructed as subjects in history, politics, and society from the very beginning of the making of Europe and the Americas to the end of the Cold War to the post-9/11 era. Specifically, the seminar will address the election of Donald Trump as president, the furor around Brexit in the United Kingdom and the authority of the European Union in Europe, and challenges to the hegemony of global finance and controversies around immigration in both the United States and Europe. Are "religious" reasons ever legitimate reasons for laws, policies or popular political action? The research results must be presented to the faculty supervisor for evaluation in the form of an extended essay. This course explores the politics and practices that arise from UNCLOS. Do the mass media and political elites inform or manipulate the public? What are the social and ethical prerequisites--and consequences--of democracy? [more], Is the American party system what's wrong with American politics? It covers domestic and international factors that lead to democratization and democratic backsliding. Why a two-party system, and what role do third parties play? Who benefits from the idea of universal human rights? *Please note the atypical class hours, T. 4:45-8:30 pm* [more], Contemporary struggles to reverse environmental destruction and establish sustainable communities have prompted some political theorists to rethink longstanding assumptions about politics and its relationship to nature. What is the relationship between constitutional and political change? international system of sovereign states--the core foundation of international relations--presumes the process of dismantling systems of domination, extraction, and exclusion ended long ago. First, through a variety of readings and discussions (including, perhaps, with the assigned scholars themselves), it aims to introduce students to the challenges of original scholarly research and expose them to the range of ways political scientists approach those challenges. Attention then turns to how post-World War II authoritariansm has been understood from a variety of perspectives, including: the "transitions to democracy" approach; analysis of problems of authoritarian control and authoritarian power-sharing; and examination of "authoritarian relience," among others. To this end, the department offers two routes to completing the major, each requiring nine courses. In much of the rest of the world, however, conservatives harbor no hatred of the state and, when in power, have constructed robust systems of social welfare to support conservative values. Are environmental protections compatible with political freedom? Class will be primarily driven by discussion, often preceded by brief lectures. Our examination of intellectuals and activists, with their explicit and implicit engagements with Wynter, shall facilitate assessing the possibilities, challenges, and visions of black living. It looks at how difference works and has worked, how identities and power relationships have been grounded in lived experience, and how one might both critically and productively approach questions of difference, power, and equity. Authors read may include Schmitt, Strauss, Rawls, Arendt, Wolin, Rancire, Brown, Connolly, Hartman, Sharpe, Moten, Wynter, Sexton, Edelman, Muoz, Coulthard, Simpson, Lazzarato, Haraway, Latour. Admission to Tulsa Community College does not guarantee admission to the Physical Therapist Assistant Program. Is it possible to return to a world without nuclear weapons? The course will conclude with a consideration of the impact and legacy of the two decades of nation-building and social reform carried out by the United States since 9/11. We will then examine their experiences as strategists and policymakers during the most crucial moments of the Cold War. use tab and shift-tab to navigate once expanded, Experiential Learning & Community Engagement. Politically, the course will address changes in the role of government, what governments do and do not do, the growing influence of financial interests, the role of identities in mobilizing support for and legitimating governments, and the impact of these developments on the status of citizenship and democracy. fact has widely been deemed the 'Asian Century'. When and why do states choose to use military force? The second part of the course focuses on the Iraq War and its consequences; the rise of ISIS; the Arab Spring; Turkey's changing foreign relations; and the war in Syria. They also have produced attempts by both internal and external actors to resolve the issues. The course will be divided into three parts. We conclude the course with a look toward the future of global capitalism and of the liberal world order. Individual countries have always sought to change others, and following wars, countries have often collectively enforced peace terms. The course is based on the literature of multidisciplinary studies by leading scholars in the field, drawing from anthropology, gender studies, history, political science, religious studies, postcolonial studies, decolonial studies, and sociology.This course's goal is to show how the racialization of Islam and Muslims has been constitutive to the latter's imagination. To examine this claim, the readings will address two fundamental issues. We will engage primarily with political science, but also with scholarship in other disciplines, including sociology, history, geography, and legal studies, all of which share an interest in the questions we will be exploring. Approaching the firm as both arena and actor in a number of capitalist democracies, we will compare the politics of business across different sectors, but will focus especially on tech and finance. How does international war leave its mark on domestic politics? This course explores theories of the origins of the state, asking how myths and other speculative accounts in the Western tradition draw boundaries between past and present, as well as between self and other. Near the end of the semester, students will receive feedback on their complete draft from their advisor and two additional faculty readers selected by the workshop leader; following revisions, the final work--a roughly 35 page piece of original scholarship--will be submitted to and evaluated by a committee of faculty chosen by the department for the awarding of honors as well as presented publicly to the departmental community at an end-of-year collective symposium. attack! The structure of the course combines political science concepts and historical case studies, with the goal of generating in-depth classroom debates over key conceptual, historical, and policy questions. life? On the other hand, shifting ideas about science have strongly influenced the development of feminist theory and practice: for example, debates about reproductive rights are often couched in terms of a conflict between reliable scientific knowledge of embryos, STDs, etc. Readings are drawn from Supreme Court opinions, presidential addresses, congressional debates and statutes, political party platforms, key tracts of American political thought, and secondary scholarship on constitutional development. Tracing the path of capitalist development in the rich democracies suggests a range of responses.