Political Science (POL) Other Course Descriptions 245: Model United Nations Goal: To inform students of the history and operation of the UN and to prepare them for participation in Model UN conferences through the development of oral speaking, critical analysis, and writing skills. It serves as a preparatory course for students interested in participating in Model UN conferences. Content: The course will examine to the origins, structure, and functioning of the United Nations. Students will also be taught public speaking and debating skills, and will gain important cooperation, negotiation, critical analysis, and writing skills through the writing of resolutions on key issues facing the international community. Students will also be required to participate in simulations of UN sessions. Taught: Fall Prerequisite: Permission of the instructor Credit: 1 hour; Credit/No Credit grade option only; course is mandatory for students who wish to participate in Model UN conferences, although that requirement may be waived by permission of the instructor. 300: Foundations of Political Thought. Goal: To introduce students to political theory’s treatment of central political and moral issues, such as human nature, power, community, equality, liberty, and democracy. Content: Students will read and analyze the contributions of political thinkers including Aristotle, Plato, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Mill, Rousseau, and Marx. The course will close with an analysis of treatment of some of these issues by contemporary political thinkers. Taught: Fall. Credit: 3 hours. 319: International Law
Goal: To provide students with an understanding of the role of international law in the relations between states and other actors in the international system. Content: The course addresses the history and sources of international law; the rights and duties of states; the impact of international law on domestic law; the use of force; human rights; and the new International Course of Justice. It gives special emphasis to international law and its relationship to the behavior of states in the post 9/11 era. Taught: Spring. Alternate years. Credit: 3 hours 320: American Constitutional Development.
Goal: To explore the principles and processes that have shaped America’s development as a constitutional democracy; to develop the ability to critically analyze important constitutional questions.
Content:: Examines the framing of the Constitution, judicial review, and changing approaches to constitutional interpretation; separation of powers and federalism; civil liberties and civil rights, including First Amendment rights, equal protection, privacy, and criminal due process. Taught: Fall. Alternate years. Credit: 3 hours 324: Southern Politics.
Goal: To enhance students’ understanding of the unique institutions and political culture of the South and its development in relation to the national political system.
Content: The course focuses particularly on party and factional politics in the South, with an eye to understanding the development and impact of one-party dominance after Reconstruction, the civil rights movement and the rise of the modern Republican Party Taught: Spring. Alternate years. Credit: 3 hours. 326: European Politics.
Goal: To enhance students’ ability to analyze and understand contemporary European politics. Content: The course focuses on contemporary political developments in Europe, both on the level of individual states and of the region as a whole. Topics of particular attention include the development of political institutions and modes of interest representation; the crisis of the welfare state; issues of immigration, nationalism, and identity; and the politics of regional integration in the form of the European Union. Taught: Spring. Alternate years. Credit: 3 hours.
173