Courses

Why does the United States Supreme Court change law? Do elected politicians influence how the Court decides cases? How do norms and institutions influence the choices justices make? The principal purpose of this course is …

The approach of this class is dictated by its textbook, a brand new text that is very different from the others that are available. GGW is organized by historical period, rather than topic: so where …

Why are some countries are rich and others poor? To help answer this question, we examine leading theories of economic development.  In light of these theories, we then examine the development experiences of three major …

Political equality is a normative ideal, and is thought to have positive consequences on people’s socio-economic outcomes such as income, health and education.  As a result, many societies have sought to correct political inequality through …

Global governance refers to the network of international institutions and organizations that states have created to coordinate their interactions with one another.  The seminar is intended to familiarize you with some of the major international …

What makes democratic government legitimate? And how has our understanding of legitimacy developed over time in the practice of American democracy? Is it still legitimate? If so, is it still democratically legitimate? Over the course …

This course will introduce the student to the politics of nuclear weapons.   The course will cover the origins of nuclear weapons, the reasons states seek them, the strategies developed for their use, the consequences …

The purpose of this course is to provide students with an intensive introduction to the broad structures and processes of international politics and foreign policy in Africa.  Although we shall pay some attention to historical …

The course begins with the extraordinary rise of the People’s Republic of China after a new leader, Deng Xiaoping, takes power and opens China to the world market. It focuses on China’s maritime reorientation in …

This course examines the politics of global governance, also known as the study of international organizations and international law.  It focuses on the fundamental problems of cooperation among states that international organizations (IOs) are designed …