Regularly Offered Undergraduate Courses:
POS 454: The Politics of Mexico
This course will introduce students to modern Mexican politics. We will explore the historical, economic, and social factors that have influenced the politics of Mexico, beginning with the revolution and continuing to the present. We will analyze the “perfect dictatorship” that emerged after the revolution and the slow, drawn-out transition to democracy. We will assess the strength of Mexico’s political institutions, the “fit” of its party system, and its ability to maintain and deepen democracy.
POS 453: Government and Politics of Latin America
This course will introduce students to the major theoretical issues in Latin American politics from the 1930s to the present, with particular emphasis on the political events of the last three decades. We will focus on the politics of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, and Venezuela. We will explore the historical, economic, and social factors that have influenced the politics of the region, analyze the effects of political institutions on governability and democratic stability, and examine the consequences of the diverse political events that have affected Latin America. By the end of the course, students will have mastery of the most important concepts in the study of modern Latin American politics and in-depth knowledge of the major political events of a number of key countries in the region.
POS 394: Revolutions in Latin America
This course will analyze 20th and 21st century revolutionary movements in Latin America. We will focus on revolutionary movements in Cuba, Nicaragua, Chile, Peru, Mexico, and Venezuela and probe the possibility of revolutionary alternatives in a number of other countries in the region. We will explore the causes and consequences of revolutions, determinants of success or failure, and revolutionary agendas.
Regularly Offered Graduate Courses:
POS 598: Women and Politics
This course will serve as an introduction to the comparative study of women and politics. Please be advised that this is not a course on feminist theory. Instead, we will be focused on questions such as: Does the descriptive representation of women guarantee their substantive representation? Which electoral rules favor the election of women? Do the negative effects of gender quotas outweigh their impressive ability to increase the number of women in office? Have the news media helped or harmed female candidacies? Once in power do women govern differently than men? The majority of our time in the course will be spent on the obstacles that women face in obtaining positions of power.