Politics and Public Policy

Instructors

MAEDA Kentaro

Term / Language / Credits

S1S2 / English / 2

Objectives

This course is a general introduction to political science. We will survey a wide range of topics in order to acquaint students with the basic concepts and theories that are useful for understanding politics in the modern world. Since political science is a vast discipline, our coverage is limited to the most important topics. Students will learn why politics has been considered as a crucial aspect of human life, how political decisions are made, and how those decisions are related to the fundamental goals of our society such as freedom, equality, and justice.

Keywords

Politics, Justice, Power, Nationalism, Ethnicity, Citizenship, Democracy, Elections, Party Systems, Bureaucracy, Public Policy, Political Economy, Globalization, International Security

Schedule

1. Introduction
2. Normative Foundations of Politics
3. The Modern State
4. Nationalism and Ethnicity
5. Democracy and Dictatorship
6. Political Transitions
7. Two Forms of Democracy
8. Elections and Voting Behavior
9. Elections and Party Systems
10. Political Economy of Development
11. Political Economy of Redistribution
12. International Security
13. Globalization

Teaching Methods

The course combines lectures with discussions of the reading materials. The lectures are designed on the assumption that students have completed all the readings before coming to class. Students will occasionally be asked to summarize certain sections of the readings and to present a review of the argument and evidence.

Grading

Class attendance is mandatory. Each student is required to write two papers during the semester. The final grade will be based on class participation (20%), the midterm paper (30%), and the final paper (50%).

Required Textbook

This course is not based on a single textbook. The readings are selected from various books and journal articles that have had a major impact on the discipline. The instructor will distribute materials that are not available online. Here are some of the books that we will cover:

- Aristotle, The Politics, Penguin.
- John Locke, Two Treatises of Government, Cambridge.
- Gerth and Mills, From Max Weber, Oxford.
- Joseph Schumpeter, 1942, Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy, Harper Perrenial.
- Mancur Olson, 1965, The Logic of Collective Action, Harvard.
- Robert A. Dahl, 1971, Polyarchy, Yale.
- John Rawls, 1971, A Theory of Justice, Cambridge.
- Kenneth N. Waltz, 1979, Theory of International Politics, Addison-Wesley.
- Benedict Anderson, 1983, Imagined Communities, Verso.
- Gosta Esping-Andersen, 1990, The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism, Princeton.
- James C. Scott, 1998, Seeing Like a State, Yale.
- Arend Lijphart, 1999, Patterns of Democracy, Yale.
- Larry Bartels, 2008, Unequal Democracy, Princeton.
- Dani Rodrik, 2011, Globalization Paradox, Cambridge.

Notes on Taking the Course

There are no formal requirements for taking this course, but fluency in both written and spoken English is preferred.

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