This course provides an introduction to the field of comparative politics. Readings include both classic and recent materials. Discussions include research design and research methods, in addition to topics such as political culture, social cleavages, the state, and democratic institutions. The emphasis on each issue depends in part on the interests of the students.

How and why do we participate in public life? How do we get drawn into community and political affairs? In this course we examine the associations and networks that connect us to one another and structure our social and political interactions. Readings are drawn from a growing body of research suggesting that the social networks, community norms, and associational activities represented by the concepts of civil society and social capital can have important effects on the functioning of democracy, stability and change in political regimes, the capacity of states to carry out their objectives, and international politics.

For years I’ve wanted to write a book about racism. But after visiting Barnes and Nobles, both online and our actual bookstore here in Boise, Idaho; I realized there were already volumes of books and articles written on the subject of racism. I asked myself, could I write a book on racism that would be different than the books already available? So, I started to think about my twenty years of personal experiences, conducting courses, giving seminars, lectures, and writing articles about racism. In those seminars, lectures and articles, I always wanted to make sure my students, the attendees , and readers learned something specific; something they could take home and use immediately. After realizing what I’d been doing for all those years, I decided that teaching something very specific about racism would make my book different. In all my lectures, seminars, courses and articles, I always had a primary goal; teach people how to move from being a non-racist, to becoming an antiracist. Everything I spoke, taught and wrote was about helping people to see where they really stood regarding racism and how to take the necessary action to becoming a positive change agent.

This course introduces students to the rudiments of game theory as practiced in political science. It teaches students the basic elements of formal modeling and strategies for solving simple games. Readings draw from introductory texts on game theoretic modeling and applied articles in American politics, international relations, and comparative politics.

This course will provide students with an analytic framework to understand the roles that gender, race, and class play in defining and determining access to leadership and power in the U.S., especially in the context of the workplace. We will explore women and men in leadership positions within the corporate, political and non-profit sectors, with attention to the roles of women of color and immigrant women within this context. We will also look at specific policies such as affirmative action, parental leave, child-care policy, and working-time policies and the role they play–or could play–in achieving parity. We will further investigate ways in which these policies address gender, racial, and class inequities, and think critically about mechanisms for change. The course will be highly interactive, and will combine texts, theater, videos and visual arts.

This course explores how gender shaped the historical experiences and cultural productions in the North American West during the time it was being explored, settled, and imagined. The North American West of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries provides a fascinating case study of the shifting meanings of gender, race, citizenship, and power in border societies. As the site of migration, settlement, and displacement, it spawned contests over land, labor disputes, inter-ethnic conflicts and peaceful relations, and many kinds of cultural productions.
The Graduate Consortium in Women’s Studies (GCWS)
This course is part of the Graduate Consortium in Women’s Studies. The GCWS at MIT brings together scholars and teachers at nine degree-granting institutions in the Boston area who are devoted to graduate teaching and research in Women’s Studies and to advancing interdisciplinary Women’s Studies scholarship. Learn more about the GCWS.

This course uses theories of gender to explore sociopolitical, ethical and theological perspectives on immigration policy, with a focus on the U.S. The course begins with an overview of global developments in the feminization of migration and ethical and policy dilemmas that are specific to the current era.

Detailed exploration of contemporary debates and controversies regarding global justice. Topics include: human rights theory, the moral significance of national and cultural boundaries, the currency of distributive justice, global inequality and poverty, environmental devastation, and violence against women and children.

Tracing the evolution of international interactions, this course examines the dimensions of globalization in terms of scale and scope. It is divided into three parts; together they are intended to provide theoretical, empirical, and policy perspectives on source and consequences of globalization, focusing on emergent structures and processes, and on the implications of flows of goods and services across national boundaries – with special attention to the issue of migration, on the assumption that people matter and matter a lot. An important concern addressed pertains to the dilemmas of international policies that are shaped by the macro-level consequences of micro-level behavior. 17.411 fulfills undergraduate public policy requirement in the major and minor. Graduate students are expected to explore the subject in greater depth through reading and individual research.

Tracing the evolution of international interactions, this course examines the dimensions of globalization in terms of scale and scope. It is divided into three parts; together they are intended to provide theoretical, empirical, and policy perspectives on source and consequences of globalization, focusing on emergent structures and processes, and on the implications of flows of goods and services across national boundaries – with special attention to the issue of migration, on the assumption that people matter and matter a lot. An important concern addressed pertains to the dilemmas of international policies that are shaped by the macro-level consequences of micro-level behavior. 17.411 fulfills undergraduate public policy requirement in the major and minor. Graduate students are expected to explore the subject in greater depth through reading and individual research.

This subject examines the paradoxes of contemporary globalization. Through lectures, discussions and student presentations, we will study the cultural, linguistic, social and political impact of globalization across broad international borders.
We will pay attention to the subtle interplay of history, geography, language and cultural norms that gave rise to specific ways of life. The materials for the course include fiction, nonfiction, audio pieces, maps and visual materials.

This subject examines the paradoxes of contemporary globalization. Through lectures, discussions and student presentations, we will study the cultural, linguistic, social and political impact of globalization across broad international borders.
We will pay attention to the subtle interplay of history, geography, language and cultural norms that gave rise to specific ways of life. The materials for the course include fiction, nonfiction, audio pieces, maps and visual materials.

This volume focuses on constitutional doctrine and law in the areas of government powers and limitations. It includes excerpts of landmark cases related to the judiciary and executive, contracts and takings clauses, and due process. The excerpts include the constitutional issues in these cases that are related to government powers and limitations with other questions of law and dicta omitted.

This is the second in a sequence of two field seminars in American politics intended for graduate students in political science, in preparation for taking the general examination in American politics. The material covered in this semester focuses on American political institutions. The readings covered here are not comprehensive, but it is sufficiently broad to give students an introduction to major empirical questions and theoretical approaches that guide the study of American political institutions these days.

This graduate-level course focuses on mass political behavior within the American political system. The goal of this course is to give an introduction to some of the major questions in the study of American political behavior, and how people have gone about answering them. The background goal is to help students practice reading work critically, and thinking through the difficulties of social science research, in preparation for individual research projects. The course examines political ideology, public opinion, voting behavior, media effects, racial attitudes, mass-elite relations, and opinion-policy linkages.

This course examines systematically, and comparatively, great and middle power military interventions, and candidate military interventions, into civil wars from the 1990s to the present. These civil wars did not easily fit into the traditional category of vital interest. These interventions may therefore tell us something about broad trends in international politics including the nature of unipolarity, the erosion of sovereignty, the security implications of globalization, and the nature of modern western military power.

The half-semester graduate course in Green Supply Chain Management will focus on the fundamental strategies, tools and techniques required to analyze and design environmentally sustainable supply chain systems. Topics covered include: Closed-loop supply chains, reverse logistics systems, carbon footprinting, life-cycle analysis and supply chain sustainability strategy.
Class sessions will combine presentations, case discussions and guest speakers. All students will work on a course-long team project that critically evaluates the environmental supply chain strategy of an industry or a publicly traded company. Grades will be based on class participation, case study assignments and the team project.

Ein Buch für VordenkerInnen, MeinungsmacherInnen und Feuerherzen der stillen Revolution

Short Description:
Mit seinem neuesten Werk: “Halbzeit im Kampf gegen den Mammon” zieht der ehemalige Diplomat im Dienste Österreichs nachdenklich Bilanz über eine aus den Fugen geratenen Welt, die Geld wie einen Götzen anbetet und in der Größenwahn Systeme schafft die weder überschaubar noch beherrschbar sind. Sein neuestes Buch ist an VordenkerInnen, MeinungsmacherInnen und Feuerherzen einer bereits stattfindenden “stillen” Revolution, gerichtet. Aber auch an alle kritischen BürgerInnen, die sich eine solidarischere und menschlichere Gesellschaft wünschen und schon heute an den Umbauarbeiten beteiligt sind. In seiner digitalen Form folgt das Buch den Creative Commons (CC) und ist daher kostenlos.

Long Description:
Was Paracelsus > für die Medizin gesagt hat, gilt auch bei großen Ideen: „Alles ist Gift, entscheidend ist die Dosis“ (Leopold Kohr)

Die Aufklärung hat vergessen, der linearen Vernunft mit dem Menschlichen Maß ihre Grenzen zu setzen, und so sind nun viele „große Ideen“ ins Unmaß geraten. Die Bündelung dieser Exzesse im Zeichen der Gier ist der „Mammon“ unserer Zeit; er hat einen Neo-Feudalismus entstehen lassen, der nun in Politik-Management und Hoch-Finanz den Ton angibt. Es ist das ein Neo-Feudalismus, der sich hinter einem Panzer der Komplexität versteckt, und zu dem es angeblich keine Alternative gibt.

Diesen Panzer durchbricht man mit einem Weltbild, das sich auf Überschaubarkeit und die Kooperation der Zivilgesellschaft stützt, und das dem Resilienz-Denken folgt. In Weiterentwicklung der Ideen Leopold Kohrs, E.F. Schumachers, Martin Nowaks und Charles Eisensteins entwirft der Autor eine solche Sicht. So zeigt seine „Drei-Schritt-Methode“, wo jeweils das Menschliche Maß liegt; und wie mit strikter Regionalisierung sowie einer Reform der Geld- und Zinspolitik der Weg von alternativlosem Frust zu gelungenem Leben gelingen kann. Es ist das eine stille Revolution „von unten“, die – noch immer außerhalb medialer Aufmerksamkeit – schon weit fortgeschritten ist, und die nach vielen erfolgreichen Pilotprojekten nun vor dem Durchbruch steht. Man muss sich nur trauen, also Du, ich und unsere Nachbarn …

Word Count: 57728

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A Patrick and Alison Light Mystery

Short Description:
Settling into the routines and demands of adult life following graduation, two cousins living in downtown Ottawa have their easy and conventional lives shaken by anti-communist hysteria and the launch of Sputnik. Will ties of family and friendship survive heightened RCMP scrutiny and surveillance? Are friends what they seem? Is jazz or rock 'n' roll the coolest?

Word Count: 38241

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Existing textbooks on international relations treat history in a cursory fashion and perpetuate a Euro-centric perspective. This textbook pioneers a new approach by historicizing the material traditionally taught in International Relations courses, and by explicitly focusing on non-European cases, debates and issues.

The volume is divided into three parts. The first part focuses on the international systems that traditionally existed in Europe, East Asia, pre-Columbian Central and South America, Africa and Polynesia. The second part discusses the ways in which these international systems were brought into contact with each other through the agency of Mongols in Central Asia, Arabs in the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean, Indic and Sinic societies in South East Asia, and the Europeans through their travels and colonial expansion. The concluding section concerns contemporary issues: the processes of decolonization, neo-colonialism and globalization – and their consequences on contemporary society.

History of International Relations provides a unique textbook for undergraduate and graduate students of international relations, and anybody interested in international relations theory, history, and contemporary politics.