Home ›
Academics ›
Undergraduate Education ›
Potenziani Minor in Constitutional Studies ›
Past Courses

Past Courses

This archive of our recent course offerings is meant to provide a general sense of the courses that a student can take as part of the Constitutional Studies minor. Course offerings vary each semester, depending on faculty availability and other factors. Some regular courses are offered on an annual basis, while other specialized courses are only offered occasionally–or sometimes only once.

The Constitution and Criminal Justice
- Instructor: Dailey, Fr. Bill
- Primary Number: CNST 30034
- CNST Number: CNST 30034
- Time: MW 3:30pm-4:45pm
The Constitution and Criminal Justice
- Instructor: Dailey, Fr. Bill
- Primary Number: CNST 30034
- CNST Number: CNST 30034
- Time: MW 3:30pm-4:45pm
In this course, we will cover extensive constitutional terrain involved in the area of criminal justice, from investigative steps through trial and sentencing. We will study significant issues in 4th, 5th, 6th and 8th Amendment law while situating them within broader philosophical concerns about justice, Catholic Social Teaching, and questions of race and equity that emerge in various areas of criminal law enforcement and adjudication.
Executive Power
- Instructor: Thapar, Amul
- Primary Number: CNST 30453
- CNST Number: CNST 30453
- Time: MTW 7pm-9pm
Executive Power
- Instructor: Thapar, Amul
- Primary Number: CNST 30453
- CNST Number: CNST 30453
- Time: MTW 7pm-9pm
Since our nationÕs founding, we have debated (and have increasingly litigated) the appropriate balance of power among the executive (the President), legislative (Congress), and judicial (the courts) branches of the federal government. Those debates have grown more salient and frequent in recent years. As Congress seems to retreat from its historical policymaking role, presidents increasingly fill that legislative vacuum by pushing their policy agendas through executive orders, agency action, and exercising their discretion to enforce federal laws. And many of those presidential acts have been challenged in federal court, leaving the courts to resolve thorny legal issues with profound policy implications. This seminar will focus on the evolution of presidential power, with a focus on the 21st century. The course has two substantive goals. The first is to familiarize students with the historical aspects of presidential power. The course will cover a host of legal issues involving the president, with some attention paid to historical foundations. The second is to emphasize legal developments involving the president over the last 25 years. Whatever one thinks about any particular president, most would agree that 21st-century presidents have attempted to assert presidential power and authority in new, and oftentimes untested, ways. And by all accounts, that trend shows few signs of abating, especially in the continuing absence of legislative action. Accordingly, the course materials will emphasize legal disputes arising during the Bush, Obama, Trump, and Biden Administrations.
The Civil War and the American Constitutions
- Instructor: Stelluto, Donald
- Primary Number: CNST 30454
- CNST Number: CNST 30454
- Time: TTh 3:30pm-4:45pm
The Civil War and the American Constitutions
- Instructor: Stelluto, Donald
- Primary Number: CNST 30454
- CNST Number: CNST 30454
- Time: TTh 3:30pm-4:45pm
This course will explore the American Civil War, the nationÕs greatest constitutional crisis, by examining the constitutional and legal conflicts that triggered war, the constitutional issues faced by both sides as they attempted to prosecute the war, and the constitutional legacy the war left on the U.S. Constitution. Topics we will explore include statesÕ rights constitutionalism, secession, the nature of the Union, race-based slavery as a constitutional issue and political puzzle, emerging questions about Òwar powersÓ of the president on both sides, popular understandings (North and South) of wartime constitutional developments, and war-related issues, including the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, military conscription, exemption, military tribunals, and emancipation. Our goal will be to understand this unique and fascinating chapter in American history through the lens of American constitutionalism and from the perspective of both sides. Course writing assignments will draw from questions explored in our class readings and discussions.
1776: The Ideas that Made the Modern World
- Instructor: Munoz, Vincent Phillip; Otteson, James
- Primary Number: CNST 30455
- CNST Number: CNST 30455
- Time: T 7pm-8pm
1776: The Ideas that Made the Modern World
- Instructor: Munoz, Vincent Phillip; Otteson, James
- Primary Number: CNST 30455
- CNST Number: CNST 30455
- Time: T 7pm-8pm
In what sense are "all men... created equal"? What is human liberty? What is prosperity, and how is wealth created? In 1776 these questions were addressed and acted upon in ways that have created the modern world. This one-credit course will explore 1776 and the ideas that made the modern world, focusing on the Declaration of Independence and Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations." All students will take the course pass/fail. The course is open to students of all majors, especially those students who are intellectually curious. No prerequisites are required. Alumni, faculty, staff, and other members of the Notre Dame community are also invited to audit this course.
Foundations of Constitutional Order: Political Philosophy of Citizenship & Constitutional Government
- Instructor: Collins, Susan
- Primary Number: CNST 30638
- CNST Number: CNST 30638
- Time: TTh 3:30pm-4:45pm
Foundations of Constitutional Order: Political Philosophy of Citizenship & Constitutional Government
- Instructor: Collins, Susan
- Primary Number: CNST 30638
- CNST Number: CNST 30638
- Time: TTh 3:30pm-4:45pm
This seminar-style course will examine foundational questions of constitutional order. We will begin from debates about the nature of political society among contemporary thinkers, J'rgen Habermas, Pope Benedict, John Rawls, and Carl Schmitt. We will then focus on key Ancient, Medieval, and Modern thinkers: Aristotle, Aquinas, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau, and the Federalist writers. Our aim will be to attain clarity about the questions that are fundamental to every constitutional order, especially the character of our "original" or pre-political condition, the status of war and peace, the nature of political authority and law, and the proper ends of political community. This course also serves as a gateway course for the Constitutional Studies Minor.
Catholicism, Sex, Law, and Politics
- Instructor: Freddoso, Margaret; Girgis, Gabrielle
- Primary Number: CNST 30657
- CNST Number: CNST 30657
- Time: MW 12:30pm-1:45pm
WKCD-Core Cathol & Disciplines
Catholicism, Sex, Law, and Politics
- Instructor: Freddoso, Margaret; Girgis, Gabrielle
- Primary Number: CNST 30657
- CNST Number: CNST 30657
- Time: MW 12:30pm-1:45pm
In an age of growing polarization, how should human beings relate to one another, as members of families, social communities, professional callings, and civil society? This course explores ways that Catholic theology and Western political thought, particularly feminist thought, can engage each other on a fundamental aspect of human relationships: sexual difference. Though these traditions are often in tension, conversation between them will richly inform our study of the course’s core questions: How should we think about sexual difference, and how ought contemporary men and women live and work together in the family and the public sphere? We will take an interdisciplinary and historical approach, moving from the earliest days of Christianity through the medieval, Enlightenment, and modern periods and culminating in the present day. Theological sources will be drawn from Scripture, The Catechism of the Catholic Church, papal encyclicals, and writings of various Catholic theologians and philosophers. We will bring these sources into dialogue with ancient and modern political thinkers, their relationship to the tradition of feminist thought (with particular focus on first and second wave feminism), and constitutional law. Throughout the course, we will study underlying theories that inform our core questions: ideas about human nature, the meaning of sexual difference, equality, freedom, marriage and the family, human rights, and the ends of government and law. We will aim to discover areas of compatibility between Catholicism, as a tradition of faith seeking understanding, and feminism, considered as a philosophical, political, and legal movement centrally concerned with sexual difference and its implications. The course will conclude with discussion of contemporary American debates about the relationship and roles of the sexes in marriage & the family, the home, the workplace, and public life. Students will learn both how to distinguish the modes of thought that characterize theology and political science as disciplines, and how to integrate them in order to draw conclusions about reality. They should emerge from the course not only well-formed in their own views on our focal questions, but able to engage robustly and charitably with perspectives that differ from their own.
The Abolition of Man
- Instructor: Trueman, Carl
- Primary Number: CNST 30660
- CNST Number: CNST 30660
- Time: TTh 3:30pm-4:45pm
The Abolition of Man
- Instructor: Trueman, Carl
- Primary Number: CNST 30660
- CNST Number: CNST 30660
- Time: TTh 3:30pm-4:45pm
This course will examine how the very concept of being human has been transformed and confused over the last two hundred years. Beginning with a discussion of the themes set forth in C. S. LewisÕs book, "The Abolition of Man," the course will engage with a variety of texts from the nineteenth century onwards and reflect upon the impact of (and connections between) material conditions (e.g. technology) and philosophical ideas (e.g., transhumanism) on the deep questions of what it means to be a human being. It will also reflect upon how Christianity is challenged by these but also offers a cogent response.
Witnessing the Sixties
- Instructor: Cajka, Peter
- Primary Number: AMST 30112
- CNST Number: CNST 30449
- Time: MW 11am-12:15pm
Witnessing the Sixties
- Instructor: Cajka, Peter
- Primary Number: AMST 30112
- CNST Number: CNST 30449
- Time: MW 11am-12:15pm
The purpose of this interdisciplinary course is twofold: to examine the social context and cultural change of the sixties and to explore the various journalistic and aesthetic representations of events, movements, and transformations. We will focus on the manner in which each writer or artist witnessed the sixties and explore fresh styles of writing and cultural expression, such as the new journalism popularized by Tom Wolfe and the music/lyrics performed by Bob Dylan. Major topics for consideration include the counterculture and the movement--a combination of civil rights and anti-war protests.
America's Culture Wars
- Instructor: Cajka, Peter
- Primary Number: AMST 30147
- CNST Number: CNST 30429
- Time: MW 12:30pm-1:45pm
America's Culture Wars
- Instructor: Cajka, Peter
- Primary Number: AMST 30147
- CNST Number: CNST 30429
- Time: MW 12:30pm-1:45pm
Why are Americans so divided today? What explains the fracture? Why do Americans seem to live in different worlds? Why do we see reality in such divergent ways? This course suggests we can find answers to these pressing questions in the so-called Culture Wars of the late twentieth century. In the wake of the social movements of the 1960s, Americans attempted to push culture in very different directions. Some wanted to continue a cultural revolution, whereas others sought to check the brakes on this project. As a result of the push and pull, a range of intense disputes took place in political, legal, and cultural realms. This course considers a wide range of cultural flashpoints: the rise of the religious right, the advent of queer theory, the growth of radical feminism, and the birth of critical race theory. It looks at debates over censorship and art, public mores and sexuality, gender and race, academic curriculum and decolonization. We study some of the period’s most provocative films, pieces of art, music videos, and public demonstrations. It studies events such as the AIDS crisis, the Rodney King Riots, Bill Clinton’s impeachment, and the Anita Hill hearings. It attempts to bring together a wide range of voices – conservative, liberal, secular, religious, radical, and mainstream. In the end, we will speculate if the Culture War is still raging, and how we as Americans might find commonalities in our differences, in the name of reviving our own democratic traditions.
Early America Today
- Instructor: Daen, Laurel
- Primary Number: AMST 30148
- CNST Number: CNST 30450
- Time: MW 2pm-3:15pm
Early America Today
- Instructor: Daen, Laurel
- Primary Number: AMST 30148
- CNST Number: CNST 30450
- Time: MW 2pm-3:15pm
Whether it is controversies about the removal of statues, bans on teaching the New York TimesÕs The 1619 Project, critiques of the musical Hamilton, or originalist interpretations of the United States Constitution, early America seems to have gained new prominence in debates about the present-day United States. But why does this periodÑwhich spans four centuries from approximately 1450 to 1850Ñhold such meaning today? And what does this history have to teach us about our present moment? In this class, we will learn about the vast, diverse, and complex world of early America and use this knowledge to better understand current issues and events. Like Americans today, early Americans dealt with pandemics, racial injustice, political corruption, and income inequality. They adapted to changing markets, globalization, and climate change. What do their experiences have to teach us about navigating these issues in our own time.
Religion and Politics in America
- Instructor: Young, Benjamin
- Primary Number: AMST 30179
- CNST Number: CNST 30036
- Time: MW 9:30am-10:45am
Religion and Politics in America
- Instructor: Young, Benjamin
- Primary Number: AMST 30179
- CNST Number: CNST 30036
- Time: MW 9:30am-10:45am
“On my arrival in the United States,” wrote Alexis de Tocqueville in Democracy in America (1835), “the religious aspect of the country was the first thing that struck my attention.” This course is an introduction to the history of religion in the United States from the pre-colonial period to the present, with special attention to its interplay with politics, law, and governance. Taking stock of the broad range of religious traditions that Americans have practiced, we will move chronologically through US history and explore rich primary sources like films, diaries, novels, art, sermons, and court records to help us make sense of religion’s evolving role in American politics and society. Along the way, we will delve into questions of religious pluralism and its challenges; conversion and religious experience; the legal history of the First Amendment’s religion clauses; civil religion; immigration; anti-Catholicism and anti-Semitism; religion, slavery, and the civil rights movement; the shifting identities of religious “insiders” and “outsiders” in American life; the “culture wars”; and secularization, among other topics.
LGBTQ American History
- Instructor: Petro, Anthony
- Primary Number: AMST 30185
- CNST Number: CNST 30451
- Time: TTh 12:30pm-1:45pm
LGBTQ American History
- Instructor: Petro, Anthony
- Primary Number: AMST 30185
- CNST Number: CNST 30451
- Time: TTh 12:30pm-1:45pm
How have LGBTQ people shaped modern America? And how has modern America shaped LGBTQ lives and experiences? In the popular imagination, the Stonewall Riots often mark the beginning of the modern gay rights movement and a turning point in the visibility and cultural acceptance of LGBTQ people. In this course, we will think about the longer and wider histories of LGBTQ people in the United States, tracking their cultural and political histories from the late 19th century to the historical present. We will also discuss theoretical approaches to studying the history of sexuality, including how sexual and gender categories (and peopleÕs experiences of them) have changed over time and how they intersect with histories of race, class, religion, and region. In true American studies fashion, we will think with a wide range of primary textsÑspanning across music, political zines, photography, film, law, and historical newspapersÑand read interdisciplinary scholarship ranging from classics in LGBTQ history to more recent works that expand our archive of LGBTQ studies. Students will also pursue a historical research project on a topic of their own choosing, bringing their own interests and insights to the class.
The Antichrist and the Algorithm: Religion, Technology, and Power in the Digital Age
- Instructor: Robinson, Brett
- Primary Number: CDT 40712
- CNST Number: CNST 30439
- Time: TTh 12:30pm-1:45pm
The Antichrist and the Algorithm: Religion, Technology, and Power in the Digital Age
- Instructor: Robinson, Brett
- Primary Number: CDT 40712
- CNST Number: CNST 30439
- Time: TTh 12:30pm-1:45pm
Behind the rhetoric of disruption and progress lies a deeper spiritual story. This course examines the religious and apocalyptic dimensions of technology through thinkers ancient and modernÑfrom Augustine and Dostoevsky to McLuhan, RenŽ Girard, and Peter Thiel. We will explore how digital technology functions as both idol and oracle, promising salvation through data and control. Students will analyze the cultural myths of transhumanism, the occult fascination of tech elites, and the challenge of recovering a theology of creation, incarnation, and human freedom in a technocratic age.
Roman History I: the Republic
- Instructor: Hernandez, David
- Primary Number: CLAS 20202
- CNST Number: CNST 20613
- Time: TTh 2pm-3:15pm
WKHI - Core History
Roman History I: the Republic
- Instructor: Hernandez, David
- Primary Number: CLAS 20202
- CNST Number: CNST 20613
- Time: TTh 2pm-3:15pm
We will use ancient sources, material evidence and modern scholarship to attempt and reconstruct the first seven centuries of Roman history, broadly speaking, from the foundation of Rome (and the murder of Remus) to the murder of Julius Caesar and the civil war. Throughout the course, we will ask two main questions: how did the Romans manage to transform their small town into a world power in a few centuries? That is, why did the Romans, and not any other people, manage to conquer and unify the entire Mediterranean? Secondly, we will discuss the political, social and cultural consequences of this transformation. These questions exercised the Romans themselves, and some of the responses they gave will be considered in light of current scholarship. Within a broad chronological framework, we will also discuss aspects of daily life in ancient Rome: what was life like for normal people, including women and slaves, in the Roman Republic? And how was the majority of the people affected by historical change?
Roman Criminal Law
- Instructor: Mazurek, Tadeusz
- Primary Number: CLAS 30211
- CNST Number: CNST 30214
- Time: TTh 3:30pm-4:45pm
WKHI - Core History
Roman Criminal Law
- Instructor: Mazurek, Tadeusz
- Primary Number: CLAS 30211
- CNST Number: CNST 30214
- Time: TTh 3:30pm-4:45pm
Perhaps our greatest inheritance from the ancient Romans is their law code and legal procedures. Students will study the development of Roman criminal law from the 12 Tables to the late antique period, including the emergence of jury courts and the persecution of Christians and heretics. By studying primary sources like Cicero's speeches and laws etched in bronze tablets, students will explore the seedy side of Roman life. Topics for discussion include murder, sorcery, bribery, forgery, treason, extortion and adultery. This course will not duplicate, but complement, Roman Law and Governance (CLAS 30210).
Taxation in a Global Economy
- Instructor: Gresik, Thomas
- Primary Number: ECON 40562
- CNST Number: CNST 30445
- Time: TTh 3:30pm-4:45pm
Taxation in a Global Economy
- Instructor: Gresik, Thomas
- Primary Number: ECON 40562
- CNST Number: CNST 30445
- Time: TTh 3:30pm-4:45pm
In this course students will explore the different corporate structures firms adopt to operate in multiple countries. A key focus will be on understanding the economic and institutional factors that influence where multinational firms locate their production, sales, and management activities. Central to these decisions are the tax policies adopted by individual countries and the role of tax havens. Students will also study how tax policies affect the general economic environment in which firms operate by affecting wages, firm investment, and firm value.
Citizenship and the American Novel
- Instructor: Gustafson, Sandra
- Primary Number: ENGL 40624
- CNST Number: CNST 43001
- Time: TTh 2pm-3:15pm
Citizenship and the American Novel
- Instructor: Gustafson, Sandra
- Primary Number: ENGL 40624
- CNST Number: CNST 43001
- Time: TTh 2pm-3:15pm
This course will explore how civic life is represented in American fiction. We will take up questions of form and style as they relate to distinctive visions of the common good in such novels as Nathaniel Hawthorne's House of the Seven Gables, Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, Henry Adams's Democracy: An American Romance, Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, Katherine Anne Porter's Pale Horse, Pale Rider, Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, and Chang-Rae Lee's Native Speaker.
Early Childhood Ed Policy
- Instructor: Fulcher-Dawson, Rachel
- Primary Number: ESS 30629
- CNST Number: CNST 30405
- Time: MW 9:30am-10:45am
CENG- Community Engagement; WKSS - Core Social Science; WRIT - Writing Intensive
Early Childhood Ed Policy
- Instructor: Fulcher-Dawson, Rachel
- Primary Number: ESS 30629
- CNST Number: CNST 30405
- Time: MW 9:30am-10:45am
This course covers the various issues relevant to the current early childhood education landscape. This includes theories of early learning and child development, policy development in the United States, the issues of inequality and the achievement gap (particularly related to K-12 Education Reform) and research on interventions or what works" in early childhood programming. The advantage to understanding the theories of child development, the policy context and the intervention research is that it gives future teachers and future policymakers a foundational premise upon which to grow, analyze, learn and teach. Topics covered will include: Theories of Child Development (Infant Schools to Present), Head Start and the CCDBG, State Preschool, Inequality and the Achievement Gap in the Early Years and Interventions in Early Childhood (HighScope/Perry Preschool, Abecedarian and Chicago Parent Studies, Head Start Research). The goal of this class is to come away with a greater understanding of the language, the history, the goals and the possibilities in this policy area as well as its connections to other social welfare programs and to K-12 schooling. Students will become more fluent in the language of early childhood education and will gain the foundational knowledge of past and current theories, laws, policies and educational interventions."
Urban Politics
- Instructor: Chapa, Samantha
- Primary Number: HESB 30588
- CNST Number: CNST 30434
- Time: MW 9:30am-10:45am
Urban Politics
- Instructor: Chapa, Samantha
- Primary Number: HESB 30588
- CNST Number: CNST 30434
- Time: MW 9:30am-10:45am
This course introduces students to major actors, institutions, processes, and policies of substate governments in the United States. Through an intensive comparative examination of historical and contemporary politics in city governments, we will gain an understanding of municipal government and its role within the larger contexts of state and national government. Among the issues we will examine are representation, race and ethnicity, neighborhood development, and governing the multicultural metropolis.
17th Century England
- Instructor: Rapple, Rory
- Primary Number: HIST 30412
- CNST Number: CNST 30622
- Time: TTh 11am-12:15pm
MESE - European Studies Course; WKHI - Core History
17th Century England
- Instructor: Rapple, Rory
- Primary Number: HIST 30412
- CNST Number: CNST 30622
- Time: TTh 11am-12:15pm
England's seventeenth century provides one of the most compelling epochs of human history, full of a cast of remarkable characters. Once Elizabeth I died in 1603, a new dynasty, the Scottish royal house, the Stuarts, came to the throne in the person of James VI & I. A new political dynamic ensued. Insoluble tensions arose between perceived licentiousness in high politics on one hand and puritan moral rigour on the other, between royal control of religion and a hankering after policies based on literal Biblical interpretation and also between a gaping royal treasury and public reluctance to contribute financially to the realm. These, and other factors, resulted in the unthinkable: the dissolution of the ties that had held English politics and society together. The Civil War (or "Great Rebellion", or "Puritan Revolution" depending on the interpretation favoured) that resulted gave rise to a welter of new constitutional ideas, religious experiments and virulent anti-Catholicism. These were all set loose as King and Parliament fought for domination of the country. We will pay particular attention to the figure of Oliver Cromwell, who came to command English politics both before and after the hitherto unimaginable public execution of the king (who many believed was God's anointed). We will also ask why the English after allowing their king to be executed and their toleration a substantial Interregnum subsequently restored Charles II, their erstwhile king's son, as monarch. Remarkable figures that we will encounter and evaluate include the Leveller John Lilburne, the poet John Milton, Praise-God Barebones (yes, that is a name) and the libidinous Samuel Pepys.
From Humors to Hysteria: Human and Political Bodies in European History, 1517-1918
- Instructor: Jarvis, Katie
- Primary Number: HIST 30456
- CNST Number: CNST 30242
- Time: TTh 11am-12:15pm
WKHI - Core History
From Humors to Hysteria: Human and Political Bodies in European History, 1517-1918
- Instructor: Jarvis, Katie
- Primary Number: HIST 30456
- CNST Number: CNST 30242
- Time: TTh 11am-12:15pm
Between the early rumblings of the Reformations and the last cannon shot of World War I, Europeans profoundly changed how they conceptualized bodies as experience and metaphors. During these four centuries, Europeans grounded the ways in which they interacted with each other and the world in bodily imaginings. On an individual level, the living, human body provided a means of accessing and understanding the material or spiritual world. On a collective scale, the physical body, its adornments, and its gestures provided markers that Europeans used to fracture society along axes of gender, sexuality, class, race, mental aptitude, and even sacrality. Drawing in part from their myriad imaginings of the human body, Europeans constructed metaphorical political bodies. The body politic assumed diverse forms spanning from divine right monarchs to revolutionary republics to modern nation states. Our course will lay bare the human body as culturally constructed, while fleshing out how Europeans' evolving visions affected political imaginings.
U.S. Civil War Era, 1848-1877
- Instructor: Przybyszewski, Linda
- Primary Number: HIST 30604
- CNST Number: CNST 30003
- Time: MW 2pm-3:15pm
WKHI - Core History
U.S. Civil War Era, 1848-1877
- Instructor: Przybyszewski, Linda
- Primary Number: HIST 30604
- CNST Number: CNST 30003
- Time: MW 2pm-3:15pm
This course begins in 1848 and examines the coming of the Civil War, the experience of the war itself, and the period of Reconstruction up to 1877. The emphasis will be on the political, social, cultural, and legal events and decisions that were made by governmental and civilian participants, by men and women, by whites and blacks. Why were so many willing to go to war? What did they believe each side was fighting for? The sectional conflict touched every aspect of American life. In order to understand it fully, we will read not only political speeches, military reports, and judicial decisions, but also poetry, fiction, and private letters. We will examine the beliefs and values of veterans and nurses, of abolitionists and slave owners, of politicians and voters. We will also consider the way historians evaluate the war and the way in which the public remembers it.
The American Constitution
- Instructor: Carter, Katlyn
- Primary Number: HIST 30621
- CNST Number: CNST 30022
- Time: TTh 9:30am-10:45am
WKHI - Core History
The American Constitution
- Instructor: Carter, Katlyn
- Primary Number: HIST 30621
- CNST Number: CNST 30022
- Time: TTh 9:30am-10:45am
The Constitution holds a unique place in American law and political culture. Not only is it the basis of the federal government, it provides the framework for political debates about all manner of controversial issues in modern America. Today, there is much talk of a "constitutional crisis" in the United States. What does this mean? How can a history help us make sense of the Constitution and of our politics? This course explores the historical context in which the American Constitution was framed, ratified, and amended over time. Together, we will ask and answer the questions of how and why it was written the way it was; how and why it gained legitimacy; and how it was put into practice and interpreted over time. The class will introduce students to central historical problems, which include: Is the American Constitution democratic? Did the Constitution codify slavery into law? Is originalism a useful and valid way to interpret the Constitution? Course readings will consist primarily of primary source material, though students will also read historical interpretations of the Constitution and the process of forming, amending, and interpreting it. The discussion-based class will empower students to think historically about the American Constitution by interpreting primary source material, building arguments about causes and effects of particular constitutional points, and intervening in scholarly dialogues about the founding and its legacy. Students will be evaluated primarily based on class participation, a short primary source analysis, a role-play activity, and a final paper.
Law and Religion in US History
- Instructor: Przybyszewski, Linda
- Primary Number: HIST 30640
- CNST Number: CNST 30004
- Time: MW 3:30pm-4:45pm
WKHI - Core History
Law and Religion in US History
- Instructor: Przybyszewski, Linda
- Primary Number: HIST 30640
- CNST Number: CNST 30004
- Time: MW 3:30pm-4:45pm
This course focuses on the historical tension between Americans' support for religious liberty under law and their belief that religious faith was essential to the success of the Republic. It will examine both official legal discourse, such as judges' rulings and popular understandings of the law as expressed in speeches and letters. Religious faith has taken many forms in the United States and so have the debates over its proper relation to the state Americans argued over how to define religious liberty. They argued over which religion best suited a republic. Some said God had made certain people inferior to citizenship, while others shot back that God had made all people equally capable. One man's piety was another man's oppression. One woman's equality was another woman's blasphemy.. We will look at the colonial background and the founders' concerns, the 19th century and its myriad of reform movements and state building, religion's role in legal thought and education, the Scopes Monkey Trial, pacifism during time of war, the Civil Rights movement and its opposition, and the rise of the New Right. Discussion will be the primary mode of instruction. In addition to a mid-term and final, there will be short writing assignments and an essay.
US Foreign Policy in the Cold War
- Instructor: Soares, John
- Primary Number: HIST 30805
- CNST Number: CNST 30411
- Time: TTh 9:30am-10:45am
WKHI - Core History
US Foreign Policy in the Cold War
- Instructor: Soares, John
- Primary Number: HIST 30805
- CNST Number: CNST 30411
- Time: TTh 9:30am-10:45am
This course covers the main developments in American foreign policy from World War II through the end of the Cold War. The principal topics of investigation will be wartime diplomacy and the origins of the Cold War; the Cold War and containment in Europe and Asia; Eisenhower/Dulles diplomacy; Kennedy-Johnson and Vietnam; Nixon-Kissinger and dŽtente; Carter and the diplomacy of Human Rights; Reagan and the revival of containment; Bush and the end of the Cold War.
French Revolution & Napoleon
- Instructor: Jarvis, Katie
- Primary Number: HIST 35453
- CNST Number: CNST 30238
- Time: TTh 9:30am-10:45am
WKHI - Core History
French Revolution & Napoleon
- Instructor: Jarvis, Katie
- Primary Number: HIST 35453
- CNST Number: CNST 30238
- Time: TTh 9:30am-10:45am
The French Revolution created a turning point in history by paving the way for modern politics and society. Napoleon's empire, on the other hand, toppled some of the oldest European monarchies and shook up the international status quo. During two and a half turbulent decades, the French destroyed feudalism, created a constitutional monarchy, founded a republic, and built an empire that stretched across the continent. Our course will focus on how the French reinvented the social, cultural, and political dimensions of their world from the 1780s to 1815. We will ask major questions such as: What were the origins of the French Revolution? How did the revolutionaries recreate political culture and social structures? Why did the Revolution radicalize at first but eventually slide into an empire? Was Napoleon the "son of the Revolution" or did he betray its major goals? Of special note, our course includes a 4-week "Reacting to the Past" game that allows you to engage in history from a completely new perspective. During this historical role-playing unit, you will become a specific member of the National Assembly or the Parisian crowd. To win, you must pass a constitution favorable to your position while wrestling "with the threat of foreign invasion, political and religious struggles, and questions of liberty and citizenship." Although we may change the course of history within the unit, you will root your arguments in resources available to your historical persona: primary documents, political treatises, inspiring speeches, secret collaborations, and "current" events.
Meat, Markets, Medicines, and Other Moral Issues
- Instructor: Isserow, Jessica
- Primary Number: PHIL 20415
- CNST Number: CNST 30664
- Time: MW 11am-12:15pm
Meat, Markets, Medicines, and Other Moral Issues
- Instructor: Isserow, Jessica
- Primary Number: PHIL 20415
- CNST Number: CNST 30664
- Time: MW 11am-12:15pm
This course introduces students to important concepts, positions, and debates in applied ethics. The course begins with a primer on normative ethics. Students are introduced to two major views in normative ethics: consequentialism and deontology. These positions reflect two contrasting answers to the question as to what makes our actions right or wrong, and what we owe to one another, morally speaking. The remainder of the course tackles real-world ethical issues, and proceeds in four parts. PART I: We engage with questions concerning the ethics of eating meat. Given the huge amounts of animal suffering found in the meat industry, are we morally required to become vegans? PART II: We critically consider the moral problems raised by certain kinds of markets, including the black market in human organs, and the use of surrogacy, and sweatshops. PART III: In the third part of the course, we investigate core issues in the ethics of medicine. One such issue concerns the shape that a stateÕs organ donation system ought to take; should such systems be opt-in, or opt-out? PART IV: The course concludes by examining matters of justice; for example, issues of global justice raised by widespread poverty, and justice in the distribution of educational opportunities.
Leadership & Virtue
- Instructor: Jenkins, John
- Primary Number: PHIL 20425
- CNST Number: CNST 30659
- Time: MF 2pm-3:15pm
WKSP - Core 2nd Philosophy
Leadership & Virtue
- Instructor: Jenkins, John
- Primary Number: PHIL 20425
- CNST Number: CNST 30659
- Time: MF 2pm-3:15pm
What is effective leadership? What insights might philosophical texts and the experience of seasoned leaders give us? In this course, we will read and discuss the writings of Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas on ethics and virtue. As a counterpoint, we will read Machiavelli’s The Prince, which seems to have been written in reaction to a virtue-centered approach to leadership. A key component of the course will be to hear from accomplished leaders in various fields—business, education, the military, and non-profit organizations—to test our philosophical reflections against the actual experiences of successful leaders. Students will be asked to read the assigned texts thoughtfully, engage in class discussion, and write several short reflection papers and one longer paper.
Political Philosophy
- Instructor: Jensen, Ross
- Primary Number: PHIL 20441
- CNST Number: CNST 20611
- Time: TTh 9:30am-10:45am
WKSP - Core 2nd Philosophy
Political Philosophy
- Instructor: Jensen, Ross
- Primary Number: PHIL 20441
- CNST Number: CNST 20611
- Time: TTh 9:30am-10:45am
In this course, we will ask how we should understand the social ideals of freedom and equality, and how these ideals should be realized in a just society. To help us approach these questions, we will read a series of major philosophical works from the last fifty years, each of which falls within a distinct tradition of political thought. The traditions represented by the works we will read are liberalism, libertarianism, socialism, and anarchism. We will consider the alleged strengths and weaknesses of each tradition's distinctive approach to political justice, and explore each tradition's implications for current political controversies. Which particular controversies we focus on will be determined, in part, by a class vote. Students majoring or minoring in political science, economics, sociology, or peace studies may be especially interested in this course.
Keeping The Republic
- Instructor: Campbell, David
- Primary Number: POLS 10101
- CNST Number: CNST 20003
- Time: MW 3:30pm-4:20pm
WKSS - Core Social Science
Keeping The Republic
- Instructor: Campbell, David
- Primary Number: POLS 10101
- CNST Number: CNST 20003
- Time: MW 3:30pm-4:20pm
Back in 1787, Benjamin Franklin was asked what kind of government the new American Constitution created. He responded, "a republic, if you can keep it." Today, many people are asking whether the republic-and thus democracy in America-as we know it will survive. Trust is low, polarization is high, and longstanding democratic norms are being shattered left and right. Some scholars have even suggested that the US is on the brink of a new civil war. Others, however, argue that things are not as bad as they seem. This course tackles the big questions about current state of democracy in the United States. Is the US actually a democracy? (And is that different than a republic?) If so, how, when, and why did it become a democracy? Will the US remain a democracy? Finally, what role can YOU play in keeping the republic? This course is designed for students of all backgrounds and majors. Whether you have thought a lot or a little about the state of democracy in America, you are welcome in this class.
Topics in Civil Liberties/Civil Rights
- Instructor: Hall, Matthew
- Primary Number: POLS 30068
- CNST Number: CNST 30006
- Time: MW 2pm-3:15pm
Topics in Civil Liberties/Civil Rights
- Instructor: Hall, Matthew
- Primary Number: POLS 30068
- CNST Number: CNST 30006
- Time: MW 2pm-3:15pm
This course explores topics in American constitutional law related to civil liberties and civil rights. The course employs a variety of instructional methods including Socratic method lectures, class debates, and moot court exercises in which students play the role of lawyers and justices arguing a Supreme Court case. Students will explore the social and political struggles that have shaped freedom and equality in the United States, including debates over protest, hate speech, pornography, religious freedom, gun control, abortion, race, gender, and homosexuality.
Comparative Courts and the Rule of Law
- Instructor: Perez-Linan, Anibal
- Primary Number: POLS 30485
- CNST Number: CNST 30448
- Time: MW 5:05pm-6:20pm
Comparative Courts and the Rule of Law
- Instructor: Perez-Linan, Anibal
- Primary Number: POLS 30485
- CNST Number: CNST 30448
- Time: MW 5:05pm-6:20pm
The death of a Supreme Court Justice triggers a bitter partisan battle over the impending nomination. Is this tragedy unique to the United States? Why are political parties so eager to control the Court? This course will explore how constitutional norms seek to protect judicial independence, and how political parties "game" such constitutional norms worldwide. We will analyze episodes of "packing" and "purging" of supreme courts and constitutional tribunals in different countries. We will investigate the practice of "strategic retirement" in the US Supreme Court, the threat posed by legislative majorities to judicial independence, and the slippery slope of partisan manipulation. We will also address whether judicial purges constitute opportunities for a more balanced judiciary (for instance, in terms of gender). Comparative analysis will help us learn from the experience of other nations. This course will introduce students to basic notions of game theory and quantitative analysis.
Biblical Political Theory
- Instructor: Hazony, Hadar
- Primary Number: POLS 30658
- CNST Number: CNST 30656
- Time: MW 12:30pm-1:45pm
Biblical Political Theory
- Instructor: Hazony, Hadar
- Primary Number: POLS 30658
- CNST Number: CNST 30656
- Time: MW 12:30pm-1:45pm
This course takes a Great Books approach, placing the primary text and its interpretation at the center. Unlike some other works of political philosophy, the Hebrew Bible primarily makes its arguments through narrative, although other styles (law, oratory, poetry, etc.) are also integral to the biblical corpus. Thus in order to understand the ideas these texts hope to teach us, students must be familiarized with both the narrative itself and the tools that the narrative uses to convey ideas. The course therefore follows the principal biblical narrative--the history of Israel from Genesis to Kings--which spans the first half of the Hebrew Bible. Students will learn the story of the rise and fall of the ancient Israelite kingdom and analyze the political concepts that are deployed by the text as they arise in the narrative.
The Political Philosophy of Education
- Instructor: Deneen, Patrick
- Primary Number: POLS 30659
- CNST Number: CNST 30642
- Time: MW 9:30am-10:45am
The Political Philosophy of Education
- Instructor: Deneen, Patrick
- Primary Number: POLS 30659
- CNST Number: CNST 30642
- Time: MW 9:30am-10:45am
From Plato's Republic to Rousseau's Emile to John Dewey's Democracy and Education, political philosophers have understood that education is arguably the primary way that political and social values are articulated, realized and conveyed. In this course we will examine a variety of philosophies of education, ranging from ancient to contemporary authors, exploring contending ideas and ideals of education, with particular attention to higher education and implications for our own institution, the University of Notre Dame.
Faith & Power: Religion, Politics, and Nationalism in a Secular Age
- Instructor: Sikkink, David
- Primary Number: SOC 43663
- CNST Number: CNST 30655
- Time: TTh 9:30am-10:45am
Faith & Power: Religion, Politics, and Nationalism in a Secular Age
- Instructor: Sikkink, David
- Primary Number: SOC 43663
- CNST Number: CNST 30655
- Time: TTh 9:30am-10:45am
This course investigates how religion influences what Americans think about politics and how they are involved in public life, including political participation and volunteering and community service. We will examine, for example, how and why religion influences positions on controversial social and political issues, such as abortion and immigration. And how the relation between religion and politics in American society has changed from the Christian Right and Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump, evangelicals, and Christian Nationalism. At the organizational level, the course seeks to understand what religious congregations are doing for their communities and how they are active in political life, such as mobilizing protest, inviting political speakers, talking about politics, or organizing voter registration drives. The analysis will pay close attention to religious tradition differences, including investigating whether and why evangelical Protestants differ in involvement in civic and political life compared to Catholics, Black Protestants, mainline Protestants, or the nonreligious. By investigating the social roots of the relation of religion and politics, the course will shed light on the complex and shifting relationship between religion and public life in the United States.
Rich, Poor, and War
- Instructor: Whitmore, Todd
- Primary Number: THEO 20619
- CNST Number: CNST 30658
- Time: TTh 3:30pm-4:45pm
Rich, Poor, and War
- Instructor: Whitmore, Todd
- Primary Number: THEO 20619
- CNST Number: CNST 30658
- Time: TTh 3:30pm-4:45pm
This course examines the interrelationships between economic injustice and violence. We begin by delineating two basic understandings of the nature of violence, that set out by Catholic social teaching and that which is dominant in American thought and law. We then investigate the gap between rich and poor both in the U.S. and worldwide. In the body of the course, we address the ways in which economic disparity intersects with the problem of violence in a wide range of social spheres, from the economic (workplace conditions), to the international political realms (terrorism, war, and revolution) to the domestic (domestic violence and sexual assault). In each case, we will examine various Christian responses to violence, from encouragement and fomentation to conciliation and forgiveness.
God and Slavery in the Americas
- Instructor: Lantigua, David
- Primary Number: THEO 20674
- CNST Number: CNST 30037
- Time: TTh 3:30pm-4:45pm
God and Slavery in the Americas
- Instructor: Lantigua, David
- Primary Number: THEO 20674
- CNST Number: CNST 30037
- Time: TTh 3:30pm-4:45pm
More than a century before African slaves were trafficked to the Virginia colony in 1619, Christopher Columbus transported captured Indigenous peoples to Spain from the New World. The dispossession and enslavement of non-Europeans in the colonization of the Americas was justified by Christians but also condemned by Christians with different economic and political interests. This development course in theology introduces students to the challenging intersection of faith, slavery, and freedom by exploring key figures, events, and movements that have shaped the complex historical legacy of Christianity in the Americas, a hemispheric past that remains ever bound together. In addition to Christianity's role in colonial expansion and racial ideology, the course especially considers how lived faith in God provided a catalyst for the empowerment and resistance of the oppressed and their advocates in shared struggles to attain greater social justice, racial equality, and political autonomy. From the "Protector of the Indians" Bartolomé de las Casas to César Chávez, and the "Black Moses" Harriet Tubman to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the course explores these and other extraordinary figures of hope in the Americas who gave their lives to protest institutional violence and promote authentic expressions of faith. In the course, students will engage this turbulent past through a contextual approach to theology that examines idolatry, migration, land, liberty, poverty, social sin, nonviolence, and solidarity as normative categories relevant for addressing contemporary social crises afflicting our nation and the earth.
Faith and Human Flourishing
- Instructor: Mattison, William
- Primary Number: THEO 20680
- CNST Number: CNST 30662
- Time: TTh 2pm-3:15pm
Faith and Human Flourishing
- Instructor: Mattison, William
- Primary Number: THEO 20680
- CNST Number: CNST 30662
- Time: TTh 2pm-3:15pm
What does it mean to live a good life, to flourish as a human being? What does faith have to do with it? This "everyday ethics" course begins by resituating morality into the context of true happiness. We then examine various virtues, with attention to how the virtuous life is distinctive in the context of the Christian faith. We examine some particular issues (alcohol use, sexuality, end of life decisions), but our main emphasis is on how to live virtuous, fulfilling everyday lives, with careful attention to the difference faith makes in doing so.
Artificial Intelligence and Human Flourishing
- Instructor: Scherz, Paul
- Primary Number: THEO 20684
- CNST Number: CNST 30663
- Time: MW 9:30am-10:45am
Artificial Intelligence and Human Flourishing
- Instructor: Scherz, Paul
- Primary Number: THEO 20684
- CNST Number: CNST 30663
- Time: MW 9:30am-10:45am
Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming society, impacting how we live as individuals and communities. This course will examine the issues raised by AI from the perspective of the Catholic understanding of the human person, Catholic theological anthropology. The course will particularly focus on how to ensure that AI promotes rather than prevents human flourishing. In the process of exploring those broad concerns, the course will address specific issues related to AI, such as whether AI could be a person, relationships with chatbots, surveillance capitalism, the implications of Catholic Social Teaching for AI, AI in warfare, bias, transhumanism, and the impacts of social media.