POL 380 - Global Politics Seminar

FDR: SS2
Credits: 3
Planned Offering: Offered when interest is expressed and departmental resources permit.

Prerequisite: POL 105 or permission of the instructor.Examination of selected topics dealing with international and comparative politics. May be repeated for degree credit with permission and if the topics are different.

Topics for Winter 2011:

POL 380A: Seminar: Urban Minority Politics (3). This class introduces students to urban-minority politics. Specifically, this course invites students to learn about the nature of the conditions of persisting social, religious, ethnic and/or racial tensions between majorities and minorities in different cities around the world. Using the lens of urban space itself, students explore the nature of ethnic, religious, racial, or socio-political conflict, which continues to divide cities and the people who live within them. In exploring the conflicts within different cities around the globe, we examine not only the conflicts themselves and their connection to urban space but also study the way that state and local policies have had positive and negative impacts. Students learn about the interconnectedness of social realities, urban planning, and politics in the communal, urban, and state policy apparatus, while being provided with a theoretical lens for understanding conflicts in the city. (SS2) Hinze.

POL 380B: Seminar: Political Games. (3). No prerequisites. Open to majors and non-majors. Meets the global politics field requirement or elective credit in the major. Recommended for students interested in environmental studies, law, literary theory, military science, public / foreign policy or social science graduate study. We derive political outcomes from introductory game theory which emphasizes coordinated strategies, expected payoffs, two or more players, decision-making under risk, signaling, and a time horizon. Cases cover comparative, international, and fictional politics. (SS2) McCaughrin.

POL 380C: Energy and Global Politics (3).POL 105 helpful but not required. An intensive seminar on the geopolitics of energy. We closely examine the political, diplomatic, strategic, economic, and commercial aspects of world oil and natural gas supply and resource development. The course includes readings, student presentations, class discussion, and a major research paper. (SS2) Kiracofe.