PS 499

Spring 2009 All Classes

All Classes

Special Topics

Credit: 3 hours.

Selected reading and research in political science. See Schedule for current topics.

3 undergraduate hours. No graduate credit. No more than 6 hours of credit may be earned by registration in this course and in PS 495. Prerequisite: Junior or senior standing; 6 hours of political science; consent of instructor

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PS 499 class schedule data for spring 2009
CRN	Type	Section	Time	Day	Location	Instructor	Section Details
49330	Lecture-Discussion	CLP	ARRANGED	n.a.	Location Pending	Greco, D	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 01/20/09-05/06/09 Special Approval: Instructor Approval Required Section Info: Restricted to Civic Leadership Program.
39209	Lecture-Discussion	FM3	2:30PM -4:50PM	W	145 Armory	Malekafzali, F	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 01/20/09-05/06/09 Section Info: Arab-Israeli Conflict***What is called the �Arab-Israeli conflict� is made up of three related layers: 1) The Israeli -Palestinian struggle for the same land. 2) The inter-state conflict involving Israel and its neighboring Arab states that has grown out of the struggle for the control of Palestine. 3) The consequences of the Arab-Israeli conflict for the Middle East and the larger world. **In this course, understanding of the politics of Arab-Israeli conflict and it�s far reaching consequences is achieved in two ways: 1) I, using the lectures and the class discussions to help you think critically and to make judgments solely on the bases of evidence and analysis. 2) Students, setting aside any generalizations, indifference, or self defeating cynicism they may harbor and re-examining the conventional wisdom by using evidence, analysis, and compassion. I strongly believe that similar to any other part of the world and at any other period in history, peace in the Middle East will not be achieved through conquest. A just resolution of the Arab � Israeli conflict based on complete equality of Arabs and Jews and guided by the pertinent UN resolutions is the only way out of the present quagmire. Restriction(s): Restricted to students with Sophomore, Junior, or Senior class standing.
38207	Lecture-Discussion	GS1	3:30PM -4:50PM	TR	152 Henry Administration Bldg	Sin, G	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 01/20/09-05/06/09 Section Title: Bureaucratic Politics Section Info: Bureaucratic Politics***Politicians are elected to represent �the people�. However, because of the complicated nature of policy making, politicians must inevitably delegate substantial discretion to (unelected) bureaucrats, who have greater time and expertise to focus on specific issues and implement policy. The central reason for granting policy-making autonomy to bureaucrats �their technical expertise- also creates the biggest problem. Bureaucrats can use their knowledge against politicians. This issue becomes very important when we consider that bureaucracies carry out much of the day-to-day work we associate with government: cleaning streets, mailing pension checks, and regulating workplaces. Therefore, a central issue for elected representatives who seek to delegate is how to maintain a fair amount of control over the bureaucrats and their work.* This course begins by examining the origin of public agencies, the nature of public management and the behavior of individual bureaucrats. It also lays a theoretical foundation for why politicians delegate authority to bureaucracies and why bureaucratic actions may diverge from politicians� expectations. Some of the questions we will address are: (1) why do bureaucracies do what they do? (2) Why do politicians delegate authority and (often substantial) discretion over public policy to bureaucrats? (3) How much control over policy do politicians lose when they delegate to bureaucrats? What instruments (if any) can and do politicians employ to limit these losses? Can appointed bureaucrats be better representatives than elected officials? Restriction(s): Restricted to students with Sophomore, Junior, or Senior class standing.
38202	Lecture-Discussion	JB	3:00PM -4:20PM	MW	106 David Kinley Hall	Bowers, J	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 01/20/09-05/06/09 Section Info: Course Description: What can political science learn from science fiction? How can we use what we currently know about politics, society, and economics to more create plausible and compelling visions of the future? In this course we will read social science together with science fiction in an attempt to enhance the currently impoverished political, social and economic imagination of the social sciences. The students will be responsible for (and graded on) (1) writing one-page papers about the readings each week, (2) active and thoughtful participation in-class, (3) providing constructive criticism for peers' draft final papers, and (4) producing a clearly and compellingly written final paper (and draft). The final paper can be an essay imagining how politics, society, or economics (or all three) will be different in the future based on certain premises and based crucially on the academic social science literature (pointed to in class, and discovered and read outside of class as part of the preparation of the paper). Or, the final paper can reflect on the relationship between speculation, imagination, social science, and social policy in a given area.