ENROLL

Paul Petzschmann

"Ideology" is perhaps one of the most-used (and overused) terms of modern political life. This course will introduce students to important political ideologies and traditions of modern Europe and their role in the development of political systems and institutional practices from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. We will read central texts by conservatives, liberals, socialists, anarchists and nationalists while also considering ideological outliers such as Fascism and Green Political Thought. In addition the course will introduce students to the different ways in which ideas can be studied systematically and the methodologies available.

Seungjoo Yoon

Melanie Freeze

Christina Farhart

Why do people believe in conspiracy theories, hold on to misinformed beliefs even in the face of mounting evidence to the contrary, and/or spread political and social rumors that may have little basis in fact? Who is most vulnerable to these various forms of misinformation? What are the normative and political consequences of misperceptions (if any)? This course explores the psychological, political, and philosophical approaches to the study of the causes, consequences, and tenacity of conspiracy beliefs, misinformation, and political rumors, as well as possible approaches that journalists could employ to combat misperceptions.

Christina Farhart

Why do people believe in conspiracy theories, hold on to misinformed beliefs even in the face of mounting evidence to the contrary, and/or spread political and social rumors that may have little basis in fact? Who is most vulnerable to these various forms of misinformation? What are the normative and political consequences of misperceptions (if any)? This course explores the psychological, political, and philosophical approaches to the study of the causes, consequences, and tenacity of conspiracy beliefs, misinformation, and political rumors, as well as possible approaches that journalists could employ to combat misperceptions.

Held for Junior and seniors

Melanie Freeze

This course explores the political psychology of individual judgment and choice. We will examine the role of cognition, emotions, values, predispositions, and social identities on judgment and choice. From this approach, we will address the larger debate regarding the quality of democratic citizenship.

Eric S Mosinger

Greg Marfleet

Prerequisite: Political Science 122, AP American Government, or AP U.S. History is highly recommended

Kent Freeze

The "Rise of China" over the past thirty-five years presents challenges and opportunities for the United States and other countries around the world. This course examines China's growing and changing influence in the world. The course starts by exploring historical Chinese foreign policy, from Imperial China through the Cold War. The course then examines a variety of different theories and factors explaining the general nature of China's foreign policy. The course concludes by detailing China's current bilateral relationships with specific countries and regions around the world.

Laurence Cooper

Cross-listed with POSC 350. In this course we will study what Rousseau considered his greatest and best book: Emile. Emile is a philosophic novel. It uses a thought experiment--the rearing of a child from infancy to adulthood--to explore human nature and the human condition, including their political dimensions. Among Emile's themes are natural goodness and the origins of evil; self-love and sociability; the differences and relations between the sexes; citizenship; and the principles of political right. The book also addresses the question of how one might live naturally and happily amid an unnatural and unhappy civilization.

Cross-listed with POSC 350.00

Charisse Burden-Stelly

This course examines the history of Black radical political thought in the United States between 1919 and 1969. It also explores internationalist and diasporic linkages that shaped, and were shaped by, the U.S. context. "Black Radicalism" refers to the forms of politics and thought that have challenged, nationally and globally, economic exploitation, social inequality, political marginalization, and private and state-sanctioned anti-blackness. The political ideologies and practices we will consider include: Black nationalism, pan-Africanism, socialism and communism, and Black feminisms. The course will also pay special attention to the socio-historical and political economic contexts that give rise to different forms of Black radicalism.

Christina Farhart

How do social and political groups interact? How do we understand these interactions in relation to power? This course will introduce the basic approaches and debates in the study of prejudice, racial attitudes, and intergroup relations. We will focus on three main questions. First, how do we understand and study prejudice and racism as they relate to U.S. politics? Second, how do group identities, stereotyping, and other factors help us understand the legitimation of discrimination, group hierarchy, and social domination? Third, what are the political and social challenges associated with reducing prejudice?

Kimberly Smith

Students in this course will create a podcast to consider proposed amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Proposed amendments will be developed by students in other courses at Carleton, St. Olaf, and other participating institutions. Students will review and select proposals to be debated, and each proposal will be voted on at the end of the course. This advanced seminar will include work outside of class, independently and in collaboration with other students.

Prerequisite: Political Science 271, 272 or 313 or instructor permission

NOTE: This course was originally offered as a 5-week course meeting twice a week.In order to adapt it to remote instruction, it is now a 10-week course meeting once a week, on Tuesdays.

Summer Forester

How are women (and gender more broadly) shaping and shaped by war and conflict in the Middle East? Far from the trope of the subjugated, veiled, and abused Middle Eastern woman, women in the Middle East are active social and political agents. In wars and conflicts in the Middle East region, women have, for example, been combatants, soldiers, activists, spies, homemakers, writers, and political leaders. This course surveys conflicts involving Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Israel, Jordan, and Iraq--along with Western powers like the U.S., UK, and Australia--through the wartime experiences of women.

Mihaela Czobor-Lupp

Laurence Cooper

Cross-listed with Political Science 260. In this course we will study what Rousseau considered his greatest and best book: Emile. Emile is a philosophic novel. It uses a thought experiment–the rearing of a child from infancy to adulthood–to explore human nature and the human condition, including their political dimensions. Among Emile‘s themes are natural goodness and the origins of evil; self-love and sociability; the differences and relations between the sexes; citizenship; and the principles of political right. The book also addresses the question of how one might live naturally and happily amid an unnatural and unhappy civilization.

Candace Moore

We will explore feminist and queer debates about changing the world using a historical framework to situate these theories in the context of the philosophical and political thought of specific time periods and cultures. Thus, we will follow feminist and queer theories as they challenged, critiqued, subverted and revised liberalism, Marxism, critical race theories, multiculturalism, postmodernism and post-colonialism. We will focus on how theory emerges from and informs matters of practice. We will ask: What counts as theory? Who does it? How is it institutionalized? Who gets to ask the questions and to provide the answers?