Politics 366 African Politics
            This course provides an introduction to the study of African politics.  The lectures and readings very briefly review the social and historical context of contemporary political life.  They then profile the changes of the early post-Independence period, the authoritarian turn of the 1970s and early 1980s, the “second liberation,” and some important current policy issues.  The course is broadly comparative but includes some sustained discussion of politics in South Africa, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Benin, Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, the Sudan, and the DRC.  Reading selections include histories, biography, and novels, as well as more conventional political science and policy texts.  Usually offered alternate years.

WWS 571         Development Policy in Africa
Investment levels and natural resource endowments do not account for the patterns of growth and poverty observed in Africa.  Increasingly, economists have pointed to institutional design and capacity as important ingredients of development success or failure.  Using this recognition as a point of departure, this seminar asks how to make public services work under the conditions that prevail in different parts of continent today.  It uses an eclectic array of resources, drawn from several fields, to provide background and stimulate discussion and research.

This course is designed for two groups of people: public managers with no background in Africa, on the one hand, and those who know the region but want to think hard about institutional capacity building and development management in an African context, on the other.

Politics 521  Introduction to Comparative Politics
This survey of major topics in comparative politics is intended for Ph.D. students.  Its purpose is to introduce some of the major theoretical and conceptual building blocks in the sub-field, along with the basics of the comparative method.  The course proceeds thematically.  Each week participants discuss a subset of the pertinent scholarly literature, usually focusing on a major theoretical controversy.  Key methodological issues are addressed in context. 

Normative concerns inform the questions to which we seek answers.  The major challenge of the twentieth century was to improve the representation of popular interests in policy.  This theme is still high on the list of priorities.  Many of the topics in this course relate to one another through this nexus.  A second concern, also important for many decades but especially urgent now, is accountability and performance.  It is one thing to respond to people’s preferences in policy. It is another to ensure that governments respond effectively. Because of time constraints, this syllabus does not treat these issues explicitly, but the concern is at play in many of the works you read.  A third normative issue is order.  Although we usually privilege democratic participation over order, in many parts of the world it is impossible to improve life and expand choice because of the lack of personal security.  We do not engage in normative debate in this class, but the imprint of these “political theory” conversations is clear.
           
Politics 560       Law & Development
This course surveys several important debates in the contemporary study of law and development.  At the end of the 1800s and through the early 20th century, law and the emerging discipline of political science were almost indistinguishable.  Scholars focused on “getting the law right” in much the way economists later sought to “get prices right.”  Constitutional engineering lay at the center of political science for several decades, until the Weimar experience (“good” design, bad results), coupled with some innovative research in law schools, threw the centrality of law into doubt and opened up grounds for the behavioral revolution, with its focus on attitudes and emotions.  Interest in law and development returned during the period of decolonization in the late 1950s and early 1960s, this time driven by law schools and the call of  Justice William O. Douglas for a “Peace Corps of lawyers.”  Some of the participants wanted to help countries draft legislation that would help tame the inevitable excesses of the modern state.  Others hoped to use law to promote greater equality, both within countries and across the North-South divide.  During the past ten years, interest in law as a tool has experienced another resurgence.  This course samples some of the issues in this area of policy and research. 

Note that the class is not a primer on law or jurisprudence.  It is more appropriate to think of it as a specialized course in the political economy of development in which statutes, judgments, court systems, and legal norms are causal factors of special interest.  Although some of the sessions treat aspects of law and legal institutions as dependent variables, phenomena we seek to explain, most of the time we are talking about law’s effects on economic growth, equality, choice, or other aspects of development.  Be aware that the territory in this field is vast and we can only touch upon a few issues. 

Politics 370  Constitution Making & Constitutional Design
Between 1975 and 2003, nearly 200 new constitutions won approval in countries around the globe.  Internationally brokered peace accords entailed the development of constitutions not only in the Balkans but also in Cambodia, East Timor, Rwanda, Chad, Mozambique, and the Comoros. New fundamental laws featured in the adoption of multiparty systems from Albania to Zambia.  Afghanistan and Iraq took halting steps toward the creation of new polities. 

The study of constitution making and constitutional design dates back at least to Aristotle.  This course introduces some of the questions that have occupied ordinary citizens and politicians engaged in this enterprise.  It profiles some of the answers offered and weighs their pros and cons.  In pursuit of this ambition, participants read a wide variety of challenging books and articles, some drawn from political science and others, from history, economics, and political theory.  Documentary films and fictionalized re-enactments are also part of the required preparation for some of the course discussions. Reading selections include Tocqueville, Aristotle, Sunstein, Amar, Shugart, Lijphart, and others.  Usually offered in alternate years.