This is an archive. See the current website at www.ssp.harvard.edu.

Government

Not all courses are available to SSP students. For example, some courses are offered only for graduate credit. Note especially any listed prerequisites.

GOVT S-10 Introduction to Political Philosophy (30154)
(Syllabus) (Print version)
Graeme Garrard
(4 credits: UN, NC) M,W 12:30-3 pm, Harvard Hall, Room 202. Eight-week session. Tuition $2,275.

An introduction to the central questions of political philosophy: What makes authority legitimate? What liberties can citizens claim? What does justice require? Readings include works by classic authors such as Plato, Aristotle, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, David Hume, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and John Stuart Mill, as well as by present-day political philosophers and legal theorists, that illustrate differing ways of thinking about such issues as free speech, privacy rights, and equality of opportunity. No background in the study of philosophy is presumed.

GOVT S-20 Introduction to Comparative Politics (32003)
(Syllabus) (Print version)
Shinju Fujihira
(4 credits: UN, NC) M,W 6-8:30 pm, Emerson Hall, Room 108. Eight-week session. Tuition $2,275.

This course offers an introduction to comparative politics. It focuses on democratization—arguably the most significant political development in world politics in the past century—and debates the causes, problems, and prospects of democratization in different regions of the world, including Western Europe, Eastern Europe and Russia, Latin America, East Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

GOVT S-30 Introduction to American Government (31773)
(Syllabus) (Print version)
Russell Mayer
(4 credits: UN, NC) M,W 9:30 am-noon, Sever Hall, Room 310. Eight-week session. Tuition $2,275.

An introduction to the American political system, this course examines the constitutional basis of American politics; the national institutions that are involved in decision making and public debate (the presidency, the bureaucracy, Congress, the courts, the media); the issues that Americans argue about (rights and liberties, economic benefits, foreign policy); and the processes by which these arguments are resolved (campaigns and elections, administrative action, legislation, lobbying).

GOVT S-40 Introduction to International Relations (30155)
(Website) (Print version)
Stacy D. VanDeveer
(4 credits: UN, NC) M,W 3:30-6 pm, Emerson Hall, Room 210. Eight-week session. Required sections to be arranged. Tuition $2,275.
Online and on-campus options. See Distance Education. Harvard College students see additional information.

This course focuses on the essential characteristics and patterns of international relations, including the causes of war and pathways to peace; new threats to international security; the role of international organizations; and globalization. Special topics include the causes of major wars and of ethnic conflicts, humanitarian intervention, weapons of mass destruction, international terrorism, human rights, and global environmental and economic challenges.

GOVT S-90qb International Law and Human Rights (31916)
(Print version)
Beth Simmons
Seminar. (4 credits: UN, GR, NC) M-Th 12:30-3 pm, Center for Government and International Studies, Knafel Building, Room N108. Short session II. Tuition $2,275. Limited enrollment.

This course explores the political conditions—international and domestic—that influence the creation, acceptance, operation, and effectiveness of the international rules governing individual human rights. The course addresses international human rights law and practice in theoretical terms; considers social science methodologies for studying human rights law and practice; and examines in detail the international human rights regime itself. Prerequisite: GOVT S-1740 or the equivalent.

GOVT S-1110 Political Institutions: An Analytical Survey (32115)
(Syllabus) (Print version)
John W. Patty
(4 credits: UN, GR, NC) M-Th 9-11:30 am, Center for Government and International Studies, South Building, Room S020. Short session II. Tuition $2,275.

This course examines the institutions of governance in democratic societies. Modern democracies are governed by both elected and unelected officials. Therefore, this course focuses on three equally important roles of democratic governance: legislative, executive/administrative, and judicial. The course is designed to provide a theoretical and applied understanding of how public policies are designed, implemented, and evaluated. Throughout the semester, current topics of political and economic interest are examined as they relate to, are caused by, and affect public policy.

GOVT S-1130 Intellectual Property (31596)
(Syllabus) (Print version)
Allan A. Ryan
(4 credits: UN, GR, NC) M,W 6-8:30 pm, Harvard Hall, Room 202. Eight-week session. Required sections for undergraduate-credit students to be arranged. Tuition $2,275.

Who owns ideas? Who controls the literary, artistic, musical, or inventive forms expressing ideas? This course examines the concept of intellectual property and the legal and social means that have developed over time to encourage and control it. We consider copyright, patent, and trademark regimes, together with related areas such as licensing and trade secrets. Case studies include the problems of the patent system, the growth of university licensing, the realm of music and intellectual property, the emerging international law of intellectual property, and the tension between originality and creativity.

GOVT S-1248 Theorizing Ukraine: Politics, Theory, and Political Theory (32108)
(Syllabus) (Print version)
Alexander J. Motyl
(4 credits: UN, GR, NC) T,Th 12:30-3 pm, Sever Hall, Room 210. Eight-week session. Tuition $2,275.
Online registration is not available for this course. For more information about the Harvard Ukrainian Summer Institute (HUSI), see the HUSI website.

This course presents a historically and comparatively informed examination of social science approaches to conceptualizing and theorizing politics and political developments in Ukraine. The course investigates concepts and theories of the state, revolution, nation, nationalism, empire, elites, socialism, totalitarianism, transition, civil society, modernization, political culture, and democracy. Both concepts and theories are discussed in relation to one another, in light of modern Ukrainian history, and with references to other countries.

GOVT S-1343 Punishment, Politics, and Culture (32088)
(Print version)
Austin Sarat
Seminar. (4 credits: UN, GR, NC) Eight-week session. Tuition $2,275.

*** GOVT S-1343 has been CANCELED.***

GOVT S-1348 Law in Society (32092)
(Print version)
Austin Sarat
(4 credits: UN, GR, NC) Eight-week session. Tuition $2,275.

*** GOVT S-1348 has been CANCELED.***

GOVT S-1351 Congress: Policy, Parties, and Institutions (32147)
(Syllabus) (Print version)
John W. Patty
(4 credits: UN, GR, NC) M-Th 12:30-3 pm, Center for Government and International Studies, South Building, Room S020. Short session II. Tuition $2,275.

This course examines the US Congress, focusing on the historical development of parties and institutions within both the House and the Senate and the impact of these developments on public policy and national politics. The course focuses on political behavior and preferences: how and why do politicians and voters decide to do what they do? Political institutions: what are the rules of the game, and how and why have they changed over time? Political outcomes: Congress is just one piece of the policymaking puzzle—what roles does it play, and how do these roles differ across political issues?

GOVT S-1511 Global Energy and Environmental Politics (32090)
(Website) (Print version)
Stacy D. VanDeveer
(4 credits: UN, GR, NC) M,W 6-8:30 pm, Sever Hall, Room 214. Eight-week session. Tuition $2,275.

We examine international politics from the perspective of the exhaustibility of global resources and the expansion of global demand. The course concentrates on issues including oil and other energy sources, global environmental challenges and governance, and the relations of these issues to consumption and development concerns. Also included are global interdependence and the appearance of new institutional frameworks of global public policy making.

GOVT S-1728 Space and Security (32112)
(Syllabus) (Print version)
Joan Johnson-Freese
(4 credits: UN, GR, NC) M,W 3:30-6 pm, Boylston Hall, Room 105. Eight-week session. Tuition $2,275.

Even though no single country owns it, space has been an integral part of every major nation's foreign policy for the past fifty years. As the world moves into space, what happens above our planet will increasingly be a part of our national security policy. This course examines the issues that make space a foreign policy concern, how space can be used as a tool—and a weapon—and how those issues affect the long term interests of the United States. Topics to be covered include US space policy from a historical perspective; the dilemma of dual-use technology; space programs in other developed and developing countries, specifically Europe and China; the aerospace industry and the commercialization of space; the militarization and the weaponization of space; and a way forward.

GOVT S-1731 The Future of War: Conflict and Order in the Twenty-First Century (31873)
(Syllabus) (Print version)
Thomas M. Nichols
(4 credits: UN, GR, NC) M,W 3:30-6 pm, Harvard Hall, Room 103. Eight-week session. Optional sections to be arranged. Tuition $2,275.

This course is about the future of war and considers how both the reasons and the ways states go to war are changing. The course considers questions such as: How and why have states gone to war in the past? What were considered legitimate reasons for going to war? How will violence in the international system be governed in a world where norms about the use of force have changed? Specific topics to be addressed include the problem of military force for humanitarian intervention, the future of nuclear deterrence, the dilemma of preventive war, coercive approaches to nuclear nonproliferation, and ethical issues related to military conflicts in failed states or with nonstate actors.

GOVT S-1732 War Crimes, Genocide, and Justice (31212)
(Syllabus) (Print version)
Allan A. Ryan
(4 credits: UN, GR, NC) T,Th 3:30-6 pm, Harvard Hall, Room 201. Eight-week session. Required sections for undergraduate-credit students to be arranged. Tuition $2,275.

This course examines the legal regulation of warfare, including the historical evolution of the law of war; war crimes and crimes against humanity, and their punishment; the Geneva Conventions; the growth of international human rights; and the concept of genocide. We examine the trial of Nazi war criminals at Nuremberg, the 1968 massacre at My Lai in Vietnam, the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, the International Criminal Court, and issues of "unlawful combatants" and the courts, detention and torture, and other questions raised by post-9/11 developments. The focus is on broad concepts of law, justice, and accountability in warfare and genocide. No prior knowledge of legal or military systems is required.

GOVT S-1740 International Law (31918)
(Print version)
Beth Simmons
(4 credits: UN, GR, NC) M-Th 9:30-11 am, Center for Government and International Studies, South Building, Room S010. Short session II. Required sections to be arranged. Tuition $2,275. Limited enrollment.

This course is an introduction to public international law for students of international relations. The primary purpose is to enhance students' understanding of the ways in which international law orders international politics. Emphasis is on the substantive rules of international law, the relationship between law and politics, and cases that illustrate the issues. Topics include international human rights law, international economic law and institutions, the use of force, war crimes, and terrorism.

GOVT S-1745 Study Abroad in Venice: Introduction to International Business Law (32136)
(Print version)
Fabrizio Marrella
Limited enrollment.
June 21-August 3. Study abroad programs are restricted to students 18 years of age or older.

See Study Abroad for more information.

GOVT S-1900 American Foreign Policy (30164)
(Syllabus) (Print version)
David A. Rezvani
(4 credits: UN, GR, NC) M,W 9-11:30 am, Sever Hall, Room 213. Eight-week session. Optional sections to be arranged. Tuition $2,275.

This course examines the framework, patterns, and practice of American foreign policy. It explores traditional foreign policy frameworks (such as isolationism and containment) and those that are now being implemented (such as the antiterror and state-building policies in the post-September 11 world). The course also examines the role of imperialism, bureaucratic impediments, constitutional rules, nuclear proliferation, and regional flashpoints in American foreign policy decision making.

GOVT S-1925 International Conflict and Cooperation (31739)
(Syllabus) (Print version)
David A. Rezvani
(4 credits: UN, GR, NC) M,W 12:30-3 pm, Sever Hall, Room 213. Eight-week session. Optional sections to be arranged. Tuition $2,275.

This course examines instances of political and legal cooperation in response to cases of large-scale conflict in the international system. From classical to modern times political and legal thinkers have used various forms of government as a means to create nonviolent, enduring, and ultimately, ever advancing civilizations. This course examines various governmental forms that have been intended as tools for stabilizing societies and explores solutions that have been offered for territories such as Bosnia, Northern Ireland, and the Palestinian Territories. The course also examines attempts at regional integration in Europe following the Second World War and various regimes of collective security such as the United Nations.

 



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