comparative politics

PLSC 300C: Russian Politics
Professor Avdeyeva
MWF 9:20am / LSC

This course is designed as a detailed examination of Russia’s contemporary political system and its recent evolution. Structurally, we will focus of four areas of change – state structure regime change, economic transformation, and state and national identity, to offer a dynamic context of the for analyzing the post-Soviet era. With a consistent emphasis on the intersection of politics and economics and the tensions between the authoritarian and democratic trends, this course will guide students through the complexities and ambiguities of Russian politics today.

PLSC 300C: Catholic and Islamic Perspectives on Democratization
Professor Tezcur
M 4:15pm / LSC

This course explores how Catholic and Muslim actors become advocates of democratization and expansion of political rights. It focuses on 1) how these actors argue for and justify democracy and rights on religious grounds; 2) under what conditions these actors have historically been transformed from bastions of authoritarian status quo into supporters of progressive political change. The course has an interdisciplinary and interregional approach. The cases come from a variety of settings including Western Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. The religious actors include the Catholic Church, local bishops, Muslim clergy, Catholic and Muslim non-governmental organizations, social movements, and political parties.

PLSC 300C: The Role of Islam in Different Political Contexts
Dr. Mbengue
MWF 10:25am / LSC



PLSC 341: Comparative Politics
Ms. Sholar
MWF 11:30am / LSC

This course provides an introduction to the core concepts of comparative politics.  We will discuss variations in domestic politics around the world, and review the leading explanations for these differences.  After learning about a wide range of dominant issues in the field, including state formation, political institutions, democratization, globalization, political economy, nationalism, and political culture, we will explore these concepts within several case studies.  By the end of the course, students will possess the conceptual tools necessary to analyze and compare the domestic politics of states across the world, which will lead to a better understanding of the international political system.

PLSC 342: African Politics
Professor Schraeder
TTh 10:00am / LSC

This course introduces you to the extremely diverse and exciting world of African politics.  We will focus on the general trends affecting the 53 countries that comprise the African continent, although an emphasis will be placed on the special case studies of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Sudan, South Africa, and Tunisia.  Since an understanding of the past is crucial to our understanding of the present, we will first explore the politics of African political kingdoms during the precolonial independence era (prior to 1884), followed by an assessment of the impact that colonial rule (roughly 1884-1951) exerted on these political systems.  The primary focus of the course, however, is the nature and evolution of a wide variety of topics within African politics during the contemporary independence era (roughly 1951-present), with a particular focus on the post-9/11 era (2001-present).  Among the topics to be discussed include the relationship between ethnicity and class, gender and the evolving roles of African women, nature of Islam in modern African politics, military coups and authoritarian governance, and democratic experiments in multiparty politics. 

PLSC 362: Politics of Developing Societies
Mr. Murhula
T 7:00pm / LSC

This course is structured to investigate the politics in developing societies. One of its main goals is to provide a critical introduction to the concept, history and politics of development. It engages students to understand both the archeology of the concept and its underlying ideologies. What is the relationship between development, the West and the Third World? What does the “developing world” represent? What has been the road traveled by developing countries? To address these and other questions, students require necessary theoretical tools. We will scrutinize some assumptions taken for granted as well as the role of the West in underdeveloping the rest of the world. The goal of this course is to enable students to critically analyze and to apply IR theories as well as to assess the role of the West, the legacy of colonialism and the Cold War in developing countries. The course comprises three parts: (1) introduction to theories of development; (2) contemporary debates related to issues of development such as globalization, the state, democracy, inequality, civil society, religion, foreign aid, civil wars and conflicts and human rights; and (3) regional focus and selected case studies from Africa, Asia and Latin America.