Politics, Government, and Society

In this course we learn about the mind by looking at (1) multiple levels of analysis, from neurons to social systems, (2) multiple methodologies used in research, and (3) how multiple types of explanation (mechanism, function, ontogeny, phylogeny) shed light on each other. Using these three course objectives, we will build up a framework for understanding the full range of topics in cognitive science, and how they relate to other disciplines both within the social sciences (e.g., political science and economics) and beyond them (e.g., biology and computer science).

How do economists address the challenge of allocating scarce resources to best serve the unlimited needs and wants of those in society? The first half of this course introduces the idea that markets can work efficiently to coordinate economic activity thereby addressing the problem of scarcity. However, when markets fail to work efficiently, an argument for government intervention in the market arises as a potential solution to better serve the needs of those in society. These concepts of scarcity, efficiency, and ultimately, trade-offs are then applied to the analysis of international financial markets in the second half of the semester where the drivers of manias, bubbles, and crises are explored.

Governments greatly affect their citizens and, in turn, citizens may greatly affect government and their society. The course has four units to examine these influences. The first unit is a brief introduction to the discipline of political science. The second unit covers the rise of the modern state, seeking to understand the ideas, structural factors, and rational decisions that led to different political orders. The third unit examines how society can change the state through revolutionary and reformist social movements. We end by exploring ongoing struggles in the contemporary world to remake states and societies by critically examining case studies of both positive and negative social change. For the final project, students design a campaign to enact a specific social change (at the local, state, or federal level) and devise ways to assess its impact. Note: This course qualifies as part of the Interdisciplinary Minor in Sustainability because it provides causal frameworks for understanding the political context of sustainable design, technology, and environmental policy. These causal frameworks include structuralism, constructivism, institutionalism, and rational choice.

What makes good governance? How can governments pursue worthy public policy aims successfully? What are the most innovative ideas and best practices governments can adopt to create positive outcomes for the communities and societies they govern? This course seeks to answer those and related questions by examining governance models at the subnational, national, and international levels. We will delve into the current practices of governance at all these levels in various regions around the world in order to learn what does and does not work. As we critically examine these practices and models, we will develop our own thinking and approaches to governance. Note: This course qualifies as part of the Interdisciplinary Minor in Sustainability because sustainability is increasingly a concern in a wide array of governance matters. Using case studies, the course explores sustainability as a governance issue in a variety of contexts, from local environmental regulation to transnational cooperation on climate change.

This course examines and compares how political systems operate in practice and why they have different outcomes, such as corruption/transparency, racism, political stability/instability, low/high inequality, security/insecurity, and low/high socio-economic standards. Students will learn the ways in which institutions and structures shape the way people act individually and collectively across different countries with diverse political systems to achieve their goals. Note: This course qualifies as part of the Interdisciplinary Minor in Sustainability because it takes an in-depth look at the complex interactions that take place between political, social, cultural, and economic factors that are relevant to sustainability. In general, students also learn how to use complexity thinking to analyze and compare the interactions between institutions, structures, and human actions that affect sustainable development issues across different political systems.

This course is an overview of comparative constitution-making and implementation. What distinguishes a constitution from other types of law? What are its purposes? How should it be written, interpreted, and enforced? How do economic, social, political, and cultural context determine the process and substance of a constitution? What have been the most successful constitutional systems and why? These are the guiding questions of this course. In it, students will compare and contrast the constitutions of several different countries and critically examine the nuances of the daunting political tensions inherent to the founding of a new constitutional regime: how should one recognize the positive legacies of the past and the constraints of the present, all the while leaving room for legal development and adaptation to an uncertain future? Students will combine these lessons with their foundational knowledge early in the course to articulate their own framework for approaching constitutional design. Using this framework, they then participate in a multi-class final group project to write a constitution. By the end, the students should be able to think broadly and deeply about how institutions, rules, and structure can order complex social systems and maintain stability, efficiency and justice. (not an ABA or CBA approved law course)