This First-Year Writing Seminar is devoted to the study of political power and the interaction of citizens and governments and provides the opportunity to write extensively about these issues. Topics vary by term. Fall: FWS: Democracy and Representation in the USA, D. Bateman; FWS: The Past, Present, and Future of US Democracy, A. Childree ; FWS: Social Movements and the American State, E. Nizalowska. Spring: FWS: The Politics of Class and the Workplace, T. Brown; FWS: Culture and Politics, H. Crusius; FWS: Papa, what did you do in Algeria? On colonial past and present, S. Le Penne; FWS: Theories of Political Founding, R. Nidumolu; FWS: Russia, B. Rosenfeld.

Full details for GOVT 1101 - FWS: Power and Politics

Disagreement is at the heart of the university and at the heart of democracies. In universities, scholars in every discipline engage in disagreement every day, from the nature of the outer reaches of the galaxy, to the value and meaning of different works of literature, to the ideal forms of government. Similarly, democracies confront disagreement as often as they do agreement: for example, how should wealth be distributed? How do we balance rights with responsibilities? How fast should speed limits be? Effective scholars and effective citizens alike need to wrestle with how to disagree. This course addresses this challenge head on. First, it will expose students to compelling points of disagreement in the academy, crossing the physical sciences, the social sciences, and the humanities. Students will observe and engage with leading academics debating questions and issues like “There is life on other planets”, “We do not need to read Shakespeare”, or “Progress is an overrated concept.” These debates will be held live on campus, giving students a chance to experience them collectively, and then engaging in a moderated discussion about them afterwards. Second, students will undertake seminar discussions about these topics, and then complete various writing assignments that engage with the questions in the debates. This will happen under the supervision of a faculty member, who can engage students in the material from their own disciplinary perspective. Third, students will complete a set of common writing assignments online that are also linked into the course content, further reinforcing both their instruction in writing and their appreciation of the importance of disagreement.

Full details for GOVT 1109 - Disagreement

This course will introduce students to comparative politics-the study of the political institutions, identities, and organized interests in countries around the world. Emphasis is on how to make meaningful comparisons between systems in different countries. Towards that goal, we will be looking at a dozen countries with different histories, political systems, and from various regions around the world. We will also use a comparative framework to use our knowledge of these (and other) countries to examine questions about democracies and democratization, electoral systems and political parties, authoritarian regimes, political mobilization and change, economic development and globalization, nationalism and identity politics, among other topics. The meta theme of this course is the comparative method as a unique way of leveraging our understanding about social and political phenomena.

Full details for GOVT 1313 - Introduction to Comparative Government and Politics

At the inception of this department at Cornell University in 1969, the Africana Studies and Research Center became the birthplace of the field Africana studies. Africana studies emphasizes comparative and interdisciplinary studies of Africa, the U.S., the Caribbean and other diasporas. In this course, we will look at the diverse contours of the discipline. We will explore contexts ranging from modernity and the Trans-Atlantic slave trade and plantation complex in the New World to processes of decolonization and globalization in the contemporary digital age. This course offers an introduction to the study of Africa, the U.S., the Caribbean and other diasporas. This course will examine, through a range of disciplines, among them literature, history, politics, philosophy, the themes - including race/racism, the Middle Passage, sexuality, colonialism, and culture - that have dominated Africana Studies since its inception in the late-1960s. We will explore these issues in an attempt to understand how black lives have been shaped in a historical sense; and, of course, the effects of these issues in the contemporary moment. This course seeks to introduce these themes, investigate through one or more of the disciplines relevant to the question, and provide a broad understanding of the themes so as to enable the kind of intellectual reflection critical to Africana Studies.

Full details for GOVT 1503 - Introduction to Africana Studies

This course introduces students to political theory as a distinctive mode of political inquiry. By surveying the wide range of forms through which political theory has been practiced-such as treatises, dialogues, plays, aphorisms, novels, manifestos, letters, speeches, illustrations, and films-we explore the ways in which political theory reflects upon, criticizes, and reshapes the basic concepts, habits of perception, and modes of feeling through which people make sense of the political world, from big events like wars and revolutions to everyday experiences of felt injustice or alienation. Our approach will be both historical and conceptual, attending to the force of each theoretical intervention in its context, while also drawing out the broader philosophical and political questions it continues to pose to us now.

Full details for GOVT 1615 - Introduction to Political Theory

In 1868, samurai revolutionaries and their allies seized the reins of power and established a new capital they called Tokyo. Against all odds, this fragile regime survived and made Tokyo a center of power that would transform both Japan and the world. This survey of Japanese history explores the rise and fall of Japan as a modern imperial power; its foreign relations; its economic and scientific development from feudalism to futuristic technologies; and Japan's many modern revolutions, from the rule of the samurai to Westernization and democracy, from democratic collapse to fascism and World War II, and from Japan's postwar rebirth to the present. We will examine not only big events but also everyday life, including gender and sexuality, family and schools, and art and popular culture. (SC)

Full details for GOVT 1623 - From Samurai to Superpower: Japan in World History II

As a country, we are what we remember. But who decides what facts and stories about the past are important enough to memorialize? What does that decision tell us about power and truth? This class will discuss how the attacks of September 11 are remembered in the United States and the rest of the world.

Full details for GOVT 2011 - September 11 and the Politics of Memory

This course provides an overview of public opinion in the United States. We will learn how opinions affect and are affected by politics. This course is divided into two sections where we will answer two questions. First, what is public opinion and how is it reported in the news? Students will learn how the design and implementation of surveys affects survey outcomes, and why this means we sometimes see different statistics about the public's opinion across news sources. Second, what shapes public opinion? In the second half of the course, we will turn to the different political and personal forces that shape how the public thinks about different issues. For example, how do our friends, family, and elected officials change how we think about current events?

Full details for GOVT 2162 - US Public Opinion

Even through different countries may adopt similar economic strategies, their industrial relations system are generally quite unique, based on the particular institutional histories in each nation. This course is focused on understanding industrial relations systems around the world. Structured on a regional basis (Europe, Middle East and North Africa, Latin America, and Asia), students will appreciate the similarities and differences in industrial relations within each region, and in particular the impact of the design of each national industrial relations system on outcomes for workers, employers, and national governments.

Full details for GOVT 2303 - Introduction to International and Comparative Labor

This course explores trends in democracy around the world as both a product of public policy (which policies support and bolster democratic transitions and endurance), and as a factor that shapes representation, public policy and governance outcomes. How citizen interests translate into public policy outcomes is a key question of democratic practice. The course will identify variation across the world and use empirical analysis to identify patterns. It provides an opportunity to investigate the complex ways that regime politics (whether democratic or autocratic), public policies, and social inequalities shape one another.

Full details for GOVT 2323 - Global Democracy and Public Policy

This course provides an introduction to politics in South Asia by exploring select topics: modern political institutions, colonial legacies, gender, religion and caste politics, and subnational conflicts. It primarily draws on evidence from Pakistan and India, and secondarily from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal.

Full details for GOVT 2444 - Politics of South Asia

What is Central Asia? How have religion and culture shaped the region’s modern identity? What are the lasting impacts of colonialism and empire on contemporary Central Asian politics? How is climate change influencing migration patterns? And how have energy resources shaped the economies of Central Asian countries and their roles in international politics? This course invites students to explore these critical questions through an examination of Central Asia’s history, society, politics, and international relations.

Full details for GOVT 2543 - Politics in Central Asia

This course examines major trends in the evolution of the Middle East in the modern era. Focusing on the 19th and 20th centuries and ending with the Arab Spring, we will consider Middle East history with an emphasis on five themes: imperialism, nationalism, modernization, Islam, and revolution. Readings will be supplemented with translated primary sources, which will form the backbone of class discussions.

Full details for GOVT 2747 - History of the Modern Middle East

This course examines controversies in the theory and history of civil disobedience. Do citizens have obligations to obey unjust laws? Can law breaking ever be civil rather than criminal? Do disruptive protests endanger democracy or strengthen the rule of law? How do acts of protest influence public opinion and policy? How is the distinction between violence and nonviolence politically constructed and contested? We will study classical writings and contemporary scholarship in pursuit of answers to these questions and related debates concerning the rule of law, conscientious objection, the uses of civility and incivility, punishment and responsibility, as well as whistleblowing, direct action, strikes, sabotage, hacktivism, and rioting.

Full details for GOVT 2785 - Civil Disobedience

This course presents a cultural and historical perspective on ideas of agency, responsibility, and punishment through foundational texts of western law. We will primarily focus on three main areas of law: (1) slavery and (2) family (both governed by the Roman law of persons), and (3) civil wrongs (the law of delict or culpable harm). Through an examination of the legal sources (in translation) and the study of the reasoning of the Roman jurists, this course will examine the evolution of jurisprudence: the development of the laws concerning power over slaves and women, and changes in the laws concerning penalties for crimes. No specific prior knowledge needed.

Full details for GOVT 2806 - Roman Law

Is Afghanistan part of Central Asia, South Asia, or the Middle East? Is it truly the 'graveyard of empires'? Why are great powers so interested in intervening in this country? Why did Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States fail to maintain their presence there? How does Afghan society and politics function? In this course, students will have the opportunity to explore answers to these and other questions.

Full details for GOVT 2847 - Political History of Modern Afghanistan

This seminar, using faculty-directed research projects, is intended to survey China's transformation through revolution and reform since 1949, and to examine major issues under the themes of modernity and sustainability in the reform era.

Full details for GOVT 3007 - China in Transition

This course, offered by faculty members of Peking University's School of International Studies, provides Chinese perspectives on contemporary China's international relations.

Full details for GOVT 3017 - Chinese Perspectives on International and Global Affairs

This course will introduce students to the law and practice of international human rights. Students will think critically about the effectiveness of the international human rights system by examining its successes, failures, and dilemmas in preventing and responding to human rights abuse. Topics covered include the origins of international human rights; the role of international, regional, and domestic institutions and actors in enforcing human rights; critiques of the human rights movement; challenges encountered in human rights advocacy; and the relationship of the United States to the international system for the protection of human rights. The course will also explore issues such as the immigration, the death penalty, gender justice, climate change, global poverty, racism and xenophobia, and responses to mass atrocities. Throughout this interactive course, students will have frequent opportunities to step into the shoes of a human rights advocate and work individually and with their classmates to address simulated human rights problems.

Full details for GOVT 3087 - International Human Rights Law and Advocacy

A general-education course to acquaint students with how our legal system pursues the goals of society. The course introduces students to various perspectives on the nature of law, what functions it ought to serve in society, and what it can and cannot accomplish. The course proceeds in the belief that such matters constitute a valuable and necessary part of a general education, not only for pre-law students but especially for students in other fields. Assigned readings comprise legal materials and also secondary sources on the legal process and the role of law in society. The classes include discussion and debate about current legal and social issues, including equality, safety, the environment, punishment, and autonomy.

Full details for GOVT 3131 - The Nature, Functions, and Limits of Law

Contemporary commentary and scholarship is rife with warnings of Democratic decline in the United States and around the world. This course addresses similar themes through a very different lens by examining the factors that contributed to the collapse of the Roman Republic and the establishment of the principate. Students will engage with primary source material, secondary historical analyses of this period, and political science scholarship on democratic decline and political revolution to better understand this pivotal period in Roman history.

Full details for GOVT 3172 - How "Democracies" Die: The Collapse of the Roman Republic

At the conclusion of World War II, the United States ushered in a new international order based on the principles of the Atlantic Charter, which became the basis for the United Nations Charter: including but not limited to the right to self-determination and global economic cooperation. All this changed when Henry Kissinger proclaimed that The whites are (in Africa) to stay and the only way that constructive change can come about is through them. There is no hope for the blacks to gain the political rights they seek through violence, which will only lead to chaos and increased opportunities for the communists. This course examines how US Foreign policy toward Africa has been formulated and executed since the Nixon years.

Full details for GOVT 3211 - The Whites are Here to Stay: US-Africa Policy from Nixon to Date

In this course, we will examine one of the most important documents in American history - our Constitution. Course topics will include the historical background of the document from the Magna Carta to the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation. We will look at the creation of the Constitution, including the conflict between strong supporters of this proposed new Constitution (Federalists) and their opponents (Anti-Federalists). How did the Founders resolve their differences and what led the States to adopt a document limiting and balancing the powers of the President, Congress, and the Judiciary? We shall look at the constant tension (from the beginning to the present) over the balance of power between the three co-equal branches. We shall discuss the role of the Constitution from both empirical and theoretical perspectives and look at how it has evolved from 1788 to the present day. Special attention will be paid to the use of Amendments, particularly the Bill of Rights, to address events/circumstances unforeseen by the drafters. Finally, the course will discuss critical cases where the Supreme Court defined and redefined what the Constitution meant.

Full details for GOVT 3271 - Constitutional Law: An Introduction

This course is designed as an introduction to political, economic, and social issues in 20th century Latin America. Topics are organized chronologically, beginning with the crisis of agro-export economies and oligarchic rule in the 1930s, the onset of state-led development and mass politics in the 1930s and 40s, the military takeovers and revolutionary struggles of the 1960s and 70s, patterns of democratization and market liberalization in the 1980s and 90s, and the recent experience with populist and leftist governments in much of the region. Among the main issues covered are populism and corporatism, dependency theory and import-substitution industrialization, different patterns of authoritarian rule, social movements and revolution, democratic breakdowns and transitions, the debt crisis and market reforms, and U.S.-Latin American relations. Throughout the semester, we will draw on examples from the entire region, but focus on paradigmatic national cases. Knowledge of Spanish or Portuguese is not required.

Full details for GOVT 3293 - Comparative Politics of Latin America

From a perspective based on comparative political economy, this course examines pressing contemporary issues such as the politics of growing inequality. We consider conflicts around markets, democracy, economic and social justice, including the efforts of actors such as governments and labor unions aimed at economic recovery, reducing inequality, and the reform of national and global economic policy and institutions. We also look at distinctive types of political and economic organization, especially in Europe and the United States, and the capacities of these societies to meet current economic, political, and social challenges, both domestic and international.

Full details for GOVT 3303 - Politics of the Global North

Social Justice highlights refugee-led organizing and its intersections with un/documented and Indigenous beyond borders activism. We will work with and learn from refugee and asylum seekers led organizations that are started by and run by members of formerly displaced groups. These organizations build collectives and coalitions to organize communities across identities and legal categories and advocate for access to mobility and social justice. We will closely collaborate with these organizations and work on joint research projects.

Full details for GOVT 3401 - Social Justice: Special Topics

Why do some countries offer universal health care coverage, free higher education, or personal financial security, while others do not? What explains the alternative national approaches to similar global challenges, such as those posed by climate change, the gig economy, or migration? This course explores how the public policy strategies adopted in the United States compare to those adopted in other affluent democracies - through the lens of socio-economic inequality. Examining how different countries confront the same issue allows us to identify the policies that redress it, how their content can vary, and why so. The course therefore underscores the reason for these differences: politics and government. Together, we will examine the multiple political pathways to creating public policy across these societies, as well as their effects on the people that live in them.

Full details for GOVT 3583 - Comparative Public Policy: Political Pathways to Equality

This course examines the stories, literary examples, and metaphors at work in elaborating capitalist society and its “hero,” the modern economic subject: the so-called “homo oeconomicus.” We will examine the classic liberal tradition (e.g., Locke, Smith, Mill) alongside its later critiques (e.g., Marx, Nietzsche, Weber, Brecht) as well as more recent feminist, Black, and indigenous interventions (e.g., Federici, Davis, “land-grab university” research). Throughout we will create a dialogue between texts, both across centuries (e.g., Locke on Property with Indigenous Dispossession; Balzac’s Pere Goriot with Piketty’s Capital in the 21st Century) as well as across genres (e.g., Nomadland with Geissler’s Seasonal Associate). At stake are the narrative and figurative moments in theoretical texts as well as crucial literary sources (novels, novellas, and plays) as they collectively develop the modern economic paradigms of industry, exchange, credit-debt, and interest – as well as the people they often leave out: women, people of color, the working class. The seminar will include working with an archive, collection, or museum at Cornell. Taught in English.

Full details for GOVT 3606 - Fables of Capitalism

An introduction (without prerequisites) to fundamental problems of current political theory, filmmaking, and film analysis, along with their interrelationship. Particular emphasis on comparing and contrasting European and alternative cinema with Hollywood in terms of post-Marxist, psychoanalytic, postmodernist, and postcolonial types of interpretation. Filmmakers/theorists might include: David Cronenberg, Michael Curtiz, Kathryn Bigelow, Gilles Deleuze, Rainer Fassbinder, John Ford, Jean-Luc Godard, Marleen Gorris, Werner Herzog, Alfred Hitchcock, Allen & Albert Hughes, Stanley Kubrick, Fredric Jameson, Chris Marker, Pier-Paolo Pasolini, Gillo Pontecorvo, Robert Ray, Martin Scorsese, Ridley Scott, Oliver Stone, George Romero, Steven Shaviro, Kidlat Tahimik, Maurizio Viano, Slavoj Zizek. Although this is a lecture course, there will be ample time for class discussions. Weekly film screening, TBA. Taught in English.

Full details for GOVT 3705 - Political Theory and Cinema

Whereas human rights find legal expression in visionary documents like the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the many principles tied to human rights have long been debated by philosophers, artists, theologians, and writers. This course studies the evolution of human rights as cultural artifacts, examining how ideas about rights and humanitarianism were fashioned within literature, philosophy, film, public debate, and various international legal forums over history. Through readings covering large topics like crimes against humanity, immigration, abolitionism, and universal suffrage, we will ask: how did the world assent to a global culture of human rights? What hopes and dreams have human rights embodied? Conversely, what recurring critiques have been raised about the norms informing human rights?

Full details for GOVT 3781 - Human Rights in Law and Culture

Major seminars in the Government department are small, advanced courses that cover an important theme or topic in contemporary politics in depth. Courses place particular emphasis on careful reading and classroom discussion, and students can expect to write a significant research paper. These courses are open to all Cornell students, but preference in admissions is given to seniors over juniors, and to Government majors over other students. Topics vary by semester and section. Fall 2025 Topics include: Power and Politics in Russia; Causes of Interstate War; Analysis of Natural Experiments. Spring 2026 Topics include: Criminal Justice in Comparative Perspective; Democracy's Global Retreat; Gandhi's Politics; Politics of Public Policy.

Full details for GOVT 4000 - Major Seminar

This seminar will explore the relationship between diversity and democracy in American political thought and in the social sciences more broadly. In the US, understandings of what “diversity” means have fundamentally revolved around ideologies and ideas about “racial difference,” ie. racism. Diversity has at various points been constructed as a limit to democracy’s extensiveness, as an enriching and even necessary feature of democratic life, or as a source of friction that should be dampened through regulations and management. The course will explore historical and contemporary debates about diversity and democracy, treating as contributors to these debates social scientific studies that have sought to empirically assess the relationship.

Full details for GOVT 4011 - Diversity, Racism, Democracy

American conservative thought rests on assumptions that are strikingly different from those made by mainstream American liberals. However, conservative thinkers are themselves committed to principles that are both quite varied and sometimes contradictory. This course examines the assumptions upon which rest the libertarian, market/economic, and cultural/traditional strains of American conservatism and asks whether the tensions between them weaken or strengthen conservative thought as an alternative to mainstream liberalism.

Full details for GOVT 4021 - American Conservative Thought

This course serves as a survey of major issues within Chinese politics and foreign policy and constitutes the capstone seminar for CAPS students. It is intended to give students an opportunity to explore aspects related to Chinese politics, economics, and society that they may have touched upon in other China-focused courses at Cornell, but have not been able to examine as fully, and with the degree of care, that they would like. In this regard, the substance of the course will be developed through an iterative process between the instructor and the seminar participants. We will spend the first part of the course doing a series of recent influential readings on contemporary China and developing initial research projects. The second half of the class will be organized around student led presentations of research projects (accompanied by relevant academic, media, and policy readings). (SC)

Full details for GOVT 4037 - Making Sense of China: The Capstone Seminar

As a philosophical approach to culture and society emerging out of European contexts, critical theory has traditionally excluded questions about the history of racial difference. Yet critical theory’s insights into processes of subject formation, social relations, mass culture, and general emancipatory drive continue to inform and be of value to scholars of race concerned with the everyday production and transmission of ideas about normative humanity. At the same time, in their engagement with theory's blindspots, scholars of race demonstrate the racialized histories, contexts, and assumptions that make up that for which "theory" cannot account, as well as that from which it has unquestioningly emerged. This course explores contemporary critical scholarship on race, as defined by its relationship to anti-positivist epistemologies, theories of the subject, critiques of traditional ontology and aesthetics, and engagement with the Black radical tradition, environmental humanities, psychoanalysis, and more. Some familiarity with key figures and ideas in postcolonial theory and Black studies is desirable though not absolutely necessary. Readings may include Denise Ferreira da Silva, Sylvia Wynter, Zakiyyah Iman Jackson, Rizvana Bradley, David Marriott, Rei Terada, Nahum Dmitri Chandler, Fred Moten, and others.

Full details for GOVT 4356 - Race and Critical Theory

This course focuses on what happens when science meet the policy-making world. We will discuss theoretical and empirical studies in Science & Technology Studies that analyze the interactions between science, society and politics. We will specifically investigate the mechanisms by which science may impact policy-making by focusing on: the rise of science diplomacy, initiatives to use science in order to further development goals, and efforts to produce evidence-based foreign policy. We will also focus on currently hotly debated political issues in government affairs, including the politization and militarization of space, the rise of big data, the politics of climate change, and the construction of border walls. As part of this course we will hear from experts in the federal government on how they attempt to integrate science into the everyday workings of governance.

Full details for GOVT 4451 - Making Science Policy: The Real World

GOVT 4959 is the second semester of honors thesis research, limited to students who have completed GOVT 4949 - Honors Seminar: Thesis Clarification and Research. There is no formal class meeting. Instead, students will work on their own, with their advisers and other faculty they may consult. Following the plan developed in the fall semester, they will proceed to gather and analyze data or texts, turning in thesis chapters to the adviser on a regular schedule that the student and adviser develop.

Full details for GOVT 4959 - Honors Thesis: Research and Writing

The core course at Cornell in Washington is an engaged learning class that focuses on understanding and analyzing the professional experience of being in DC. Its primary purpose is to give students a chance to sunthesize the lessons of their internship work by examining and reflecting on that work, investigating the context and structures of the policy and political world with which they are engaging, and learning and practicing the professional forms of writing that the community uses. This process occurs through readings, written assignments, guest speakers, and signature events. An internship is required for the class.

Full details for GOVT 4998 - Engaged Learning About Policy Making in Washington D.C.

One-on-one tutorial arranged by the student with a faculty member of his or her choosing. Open to government majors doing superior work, and it is the responsibility of the student to establish the research proposal and to find a faculty sponsor. Applicants for independent study must present a well-defined program of study that cannot be satisfied by pursuing courses in the regularly scheduled curriculum. No more than 4 credits of independent study may count toward fulfillment of the major. Students who elect to continue taking this course for more than one semester must select a new theme or subject each semester. Credit can be given only for work that results in a satisfactory amount of writing. Emphasis is on the capacity to subject a body of related readings to analysis and criticism. Keep in mind that independent study cannot be used to fulfill the seminar requirement. The application form for independent study must be completed at the beginning of the semester in which the course is being taken.

Full details for GOVT 4999 - Undergraduate Independent Study

This course builds upon 6019, covering in detail the interpretation and estimation of multivariate linear regression models. We derive the Ordinary Least Squares estimator and its characteristics using matrix algebra and determine the conditions under which it achieves statistical optimality. We then consider the circumstances in social scientific contexts which commonly lead to assumption violations, and the detection and implications of these problems. This leads to modified regression estimators that can offer limited forms of robustness in some of these cases. Finally, we briefly introduce likelihood-based techniques that incorporate assumptions about the distribution of the response variable, focusing on logistic regression for binary dependent variables. Students are expected to produce a research paper built around a quantitative analysis that is suitable for presentation at a professional conference. Some time will be spent reviewing matrix algebra, and discussing ways to implement computations using statistical software.

Full details for GOVT 6029 - Advanced Regression Analysis

An in-depth, graduate-level introduction to qualitative and comparative methods of political analysis, with special emphasis on the application of these methods in comparative and international politics. Through readings, discussions, and written assignments, students will explore strategies for concept formation, theory construction, and theory testing, using the craft and tools of comparative political analysis.

Full details for GOVT 6053 - Comparative Method in International and Comparative Politics

This course examines key features of the American political economy in comparative perspective. The increased academic attention to this subject allows us to investigate, moreover, why and how new research areas emerge in the discipline. We will review core literature in comparative political economy, situate the U.S. case within it, and highlight its distinctive aspects. In doing so, we consider a range of topics, such as labor markets, finance, taxation, social policy, and the role of corporate and other affluent interests - and their impact on substantive outcomes like inequality and economic performance. A central goal is to identify promising avenues for further research.

Full details for GOVT 6241 - American Political Economy in Comparative Perspective

In this course, we will examine one of the most important documents in American history - our Constitution. Course topics will include the historical background of the document from the Magna Carta to the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation. We will look at the creation of the Constitution, including the conflict between strong supporters of this proposed new Constitution (Federalists) and their opponents (Anti-Federalists). How did the Founders resolve their differences and what led the States to adopt a document limiting and balancing the powers of the President, Congress, and the Judiciary? We shall look at the constant tension (from the beginning to the present) over the balance of power between the three co-equal branches. We shall discuss the role of the Constitution from both empirical and theoretical perspectives and look at how it has evolved from 1788 to the present day. Special attention will be paid to the use of Amendments, particularly the Bill of Rights, to address events/circumstances unforeseen by the drafters. Finally, the course will discuss critical cases where the Supreme Court defined and redefined what the Constitution meant.

Full details for GOVT 6271 - Constitutional Law: An Introduction

As a philosophical approach to culture and society emerging out of European contexts, critical theory has traditionally excluded questions about the history of racial difference. Yet critical theory’s insights into processes of subject formation, social relations, mass culture, and general emancipatory drive continue to inform and be of value to scholars of race concerned with the everyday production and transmission of ideas about normative humanity. At the same time, in their engagement with theory's blindspots, scholars of race demonstrate the racialized histories, contexts, and assumptions that make up that for which "theory" cannot account, as well as that from which it has unquestioningly emerged. This course explores contemporary critical scholarship on race, as defined by its relationship to anti-positivist epistemologies, theories of the subject, critiques of traditional ontology and aesthetics, and engagement with the Black radical tradition, environmental humanities, psychoanalysis, and more. Some familiarity with key figures and ideas in postcolonial theory and Black studies is desirable though not absolutely necessary. Readings may include Denise Ferreira da Silva, Sylvia Wynter, Zakiyyah Iman Jackson, Rizvana Bradley, David Marriott, Rei Terada, Nahum Dmitri Chandler, Fred Moten, and others.

Full details for GOVT 6356 - Race and Critical Theory

This course provides an introduction to the public opinion literature. Special attention will be paid to the determinants of political attitudes and their role in the larger political system.

Full details for GOVT 6461 - Public Opinion

This seminar examines public opinion and political behavior from a comparative perspective using primarily the tools of quantitative social science. We will focus on the intellectual evolution of the field, its core theoretical arguments and controversies, as well as emerging research questions. The course proceeds thematically. Topics will include political culture and value change, information processing and opinion formation, both conventional and unconventional forms of political participation, representation, and voter decision-making. Important methodological issues in the cross-national study of public opinion and political behavior are addressed in the context of these substantive questions.

Full details for GOVT 6594 - Comparative Political Behavior

Full details for GOVT 6825 - Structural Inequality and Social Change: Theory and Practice

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is arguably the most consequential anti-imperialist, the most sophisticated advocate of non-violence, and one the shrewdest political tacticians in modern history. He was also an extraordinarily penetrating, complex, and elusive political thinker. In this seminar we will explore the conceptual foundations and theoretical development of Gandhi's politics in the context of Indian discourses of freedom, mass politics, and decolonization. Through an intensive study of Gandhi's writings, of the influences that shaped it, and of the interlocutors and critics in dialogue with whom he developed his ideas, we will explore the philosophical contours and global impacts of Gandhi's political thought.

Full details for GOVT 6836 - Gandhi's Politics

Exploration into a range of contemporary theories and research topics in the field of international political economy. The seminar covers different theoretical perspectives and a number of substantive problems.

Full details for GOVT 6857 - International Political Economy

This course is a theoretical exploration of digital biopolitics, a convergence of how digital technologies mediate, govern, and regulate life, particularly within frameworks of power and control. Extending the concept of biopolitics—the governance of populations through the imbrication of life processes into political calculations to enhance the former—the course foregrounds how computational systems, algorithms, and data practices shape and are shaped by cultural, political, and economic forces. The interdisciplinary course, linking political philosophy, media theory, and race studies, thinks with a wide range of scholars for whom digitality, as it encounters biopolitics, is generative for a deeper understanding of the datafied world. This exploration follows sections, including data as a resource, digital embodiment and corporeality, digital labor and necropolitics, and biopolitical resistance in digital spaces. Foundational to the course are inquiries about posthumanism and ethics, such as: How does the digital reconfigure traditional boundaries between human and non-human, self and other? As technology mediates biopolitical power, who holds systems accountable for harm and injustice?

Full details for GOVT 6946 - Digital Biopolitics

The core course at Cornell in Washington is an experiential learning class that focuses on engaging with the professional experience of being in DC. Its primary purposes are to give students to build their understanding of their internship work by analyzing and reflecting on that work, understanding the context and structures of the policy and political world with which they are engaging, and learning and practicing the professional forms of writing that that world uses. This process occurs through readings, written assignments, guest speakers, and signature events.

Full details for GOVT 6998 - Experiential Learning in Policy Making in Washington, DC

The Proseminar in Peace Studies offers a multidisciplinary review of issues related to peace and conflict at the graduate level. The course is led by the director of the Judith Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies and is based on the Institute's weekly seminar series, featuring outside visitors and Cornell faculty.

Full details for GOVT 7937 - Proseminar in Peace Studies

Individualized readings and research for graduate students. Topics, readings, and writing requirements are designed through consultation between the student and the instructor. Graduate students in government who are looking to use this as an option to fulfill their course requirements should check with their chairs to be certain that the program of study is acceptable for this purpose. Applications must be completed and signed by the instructor and by the chairs of their special committees. They are available from, and must be returned to, the graduate assistant in 212 White Hall.

Full details for GOVT 7999 - Independent Study