This course provides a substantive overview of U.S. politics and an introduction to the discipline of political science. It surveys the institutional foundations of U.S. politics as well as the activities of political elites, organizations, and ordinary citizens. It explores the application of general political science concepts and analytic frameworks to specific episodes and phenomena in U.S. politics.

This series of recorded lectures on research methods in political science was developed by Professor Emily Regan Wills for the course POL 2156 Foundations of Research in Political Science at the University of Ottawa (Canada). Recorded as part of making it a blended/flipped course, topics covered in the videos include paradigms of research in political science, research ethics, relational accountability, understanding causality, research with people, research with communities, and research with numbers.

The Sierra Club has defined an issue that the Environmental Hydrogeology class will help address in this project: most of the surface waters in Memphis are under fish advisories and yet a portion of the population still subsistence fishes from these waters. Our main product we will produce for Sierra Club is a map of fishing sightings based on survey data we collect during the semester and a proposed sampling strategy to assess potential pollutants based on the knowledge the students gain in field and lab activities. We will also provide information on the percentage of survey participants that are aware of pollution issues in the local waterways and percentage that would be detered from fishing if they saw a sign. At the end of the semester, the students will hold an art contest to design better fish advisory signs, and designs will be made available to Sierra Club and the TN Dept. of Environment and Conservation.

Prior to beginning these activities, the students will have created a base map of Memphis in GIS during a previous lab and used it to consider questions of pollutant runoff from various urban spaces such as golf courses, roads, shopping centers, and City parks. (The instructions for this activity are included in the other materials section below under Creating a Base Map in GIS (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 30kB Feb7 10).) The base map will be used throughout the activities as field data and information from interviews/surveys are collected and added to the map for subsequent consideration of possible environmental justice issues.

The lab activities outlined require the students to conduct grain size analyses using samples that community members provide to them, calculate hydraulic conductivity, measure infiltration rates in the community, estimate impervious surfaces within the community, and subsequently model the transport of water within that community. Results of their work will be conveyed back to the community both through personal contact and via the Wiki page the students produce. Students will base their sampling recommendations by generalizing the concepts learned from these activities (and others during the semester) to apply the course material to the service project. The final map of sighting and recommendations for Sierra Club requires the students to apply concepts from previous activities and will be completed during the lab activity: Mapping survey results.

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The question of income inequality has become a key issue in contemporary politics. What caused the distribution of wealth in America to become so lopsided in favor of the 1%? What are the best ways to even the playing field? How can society best help its poorest? Does inequality even matter? The Institute for Humane Studies asked two professors-- Professor Steve Horwitz, economist at St. Lawrence University, and Professor Jeffrey Reiman, philosopher at American University- to answer questions about wealth, fairness, inequality in the United States. This is their debate.

The United States government has a long history of supporting energy-related research and development (RD&D). However, federal support for civilian energy RD&D has declined significantly since the creation of the Department of Energy (DOE). Recent spending decisions prioritize fossil fuels over clean energy, hindering efforts to address the carbon problem and decarbonize our society.

This course examines Israeli identity using a broad array of materials, including popular music, film, documentaries, and art, in addition to academic historical writings. Topics include Israel’s political system and society, ethnic relations, settlement projects, and the Arab minorities in the Jewish state. Students also discuss whether there is a unique Israeli culture and the struggle for Israel’s identity.
Preference is given to students in the MISTI MIT-Israel program.

Energy poverty is a significant concern in the United States, with over one in four households experiencing insecurity. Government programs like LIHEAP and WAP aim to address this issue, but funding levels often fall short of the need. A more comprehensive approach is necessary, considering the impact on well-being and addressing racial and socioeconomic disparities.

What should you do if you're lucky enough to find an artifact? In this resource, JPPM Educator Kenny walks you through a simple 4-step process for making sure your find gets taken care of. Available in video and text form, this resource also includes connections for instructors to Maryland State Social Studies Frameworks for grades 2 and 3 on Civic Engagment and Civic Virtue.

This course is designed for students seeking a fundamental understanding of Japanese history, politics, culture, and the economy. “Raw Fish 101” (as it is often labeled) combines lectures, seminar discussion, small-team case studies, and Web page construction exercises, all designed to shed light on contemporary Japan.

This course explores the ideal of social justice. What makes a society just? We will approach this question by studying three opposing theories of justice—utilitarianism, libertarianism, and egalitarian liberalism—each foundational to contemporary political thought and discourse.

Is private property just? In this lecture, Professor Chris Feiman of the College of William and Mary presents some of the major philosophical challenges to private property.

This course is an introduction to labor economics with an emphasis on applied microeconomic theory and empirical analysis. We are especially interested in the link between research and public policy. Topics to be covered include: labor supply and demand, taxes and transfers, minimum wages, immigration, human capital, education production, inequality, discrimination, unions and strikes, and unemployment.

Le phénomène terroriste perturbe aujourd’hui la paix et la sécurité internationale. L’espace sahélien est durablement touché par ce fléau qui déstabilise les États, notamment le Niger qui fait face depuis quelques années à d’importants défis sécuritaires liés au terrorisme. Pour combattre ce fléau, le Niger a adopté un dispositif pénal conformément aux recommandations des instances internationales en matière de répression des infractions de terrorisme. Ces règles sont respectueuses des droits humains et assurent la concordance des décisions rendues en la matière. Ce dispositif instaure également un régime pénal spécialisé et adapté en renforçant la prévention et la répression des actes terroristes et en faisant de la coopération internationale la clé de voute de cette lutte.Ce livre présente en détail ce dispositif juridique antiterroriste, issu de textes divers, qui a permis de mettre en place un cadre juridique complet et efficace de répression du terrorisme au Niger.

Étienne Le Roy, l'un des pères de l'anthropologie du droit dont le creuset a été la connaissance des formes de partage de la terre dans les cultures africaines, nous propose dans cet ouvrage de mettre ce savoir au service d'une compréhension des communs émergents dans nos sociétés modernes. Déroulant le fil de la juridicité des communs, l’auteur nous amène à distinguer les néo-communs, ceux qui sont produits par la société capitaliste elle-même pour en comprendre toute la complexité et dégager les implications autant politiques et juridiques que scientifiques de leur émergence. Ouvrage posthume, La révolution des communs et le droit nous transmet toute l'énergie que son auteur n'a cessé de puiser dans le dialogue interculturel et la conviction que le pluralisme normatif nous apporte des outils pour nous projeter dans la postmodernité.

This course studies the interaction between law, courts, and social movements in shaping domestic and global public policy. Examines how groups mobilize to use law to affect change and why they succeed and fail. The class uses case studies to explore the interplay between law, social movements, and public policy in current areas such as gender, race, labor, trade, environment, and human rights. Finally, it introduces the theories of public policy, social movements, law and society, and transnational studies.

This inquiry takes students through an analysis and evaluation of the Compelling Question “Is protest important in a democracy?” using the Vietnam War as a lens to approach the topic. To accomplish this, students will become more media literate through evaluating sources, biases, perspectives, and the goals of creating media. Throughout the inquiry, students will engage in activities designed to promote and develop media literacy while analzying the Compelling Question and learning about the historical protests of the Vietnam Era.This inquiry is expected to take two weeks (10 periods) to complete: one 45-minute class period to stage the question, introduce the inquiry, and to review media literacy; two 45-minute class periods for each of the three supporting questions; and then three 45-minute class periods for students to write and research their argumentative thesis. If students are as of yet less familiar with media literacy, the instructor should add at least another class period, or more, introducing them more fully to this.The full unit, along with all materials and resources, is available as a PDF attachment.

This course explores the history of the ideal of personal freedom with an eye towards contemporary debates over the pros and cons of the regulatory state. The first part of the course surveys the sociological and theological sources of the concepts of freedom and civil society, and introduces liberty’s leading relatives or competitors: property, equality, community, and republicanism. The second part consists of a series of case studies in the rise of modern liberty and libertarianism: the abolition of slavery, the struggle for religious freedom, and the twentieth-century American civil liberties movement. In the last part of the course, we take up debates over the role of libertarianism vs. the regulatory state in a variety of contexts: counter-terrorism, health care, the financial markets, and the Internet.

The Lifestyle Project is a way for students to learn about environmental alternatives by modifying their own lifestyles. It is a three-week exercise for students to reduce their impact on the environment by changing the way in which they live from day to day. The project has fairly rigid parameters, allowing students to achieve a gradual but definitive change in their everyday habits. Students choose three categories from a list of six: heat, garbage, electricity and water, driving, eating, and activism. For each category the rules are clearly defined, such as turning down the heat three degrees or eliminating the use of the car. Each week the project becomes more rigorous, because students will have to meet the requirements more frequently. They write about their experiences in journals, which are incredibly insightful, illustrating just how profoundly the project affects them.

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A variety of quantitative approaches to Congressional elections in which students learn the causes of electoral outcomes, the predictability of those outcomes, and intervening variables that produce unexpected outcomes.

Magna Carta (Latin for Great Charter) is an Angevin charter originally issued in Latin in June 1215. The
Magna Carta was the first document forced onto a King of England by a group of his subjects in an attempt to limit his powers by law and protect their rights.
The charter is widely known throughout the English speaking world as an important part of the protracted historical process that led to the rule of constitutional law in England and beyond. Read a translation into English here.