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About our courses

Courses in constitutional studies come from across the university disciplines. If you’d like to learn more about individual courses or request advising on which classes to take, please contact Soren Grefenstette (sorengref@nd.edu).

Please note that seats listed under a "CNST" course number are reserved for students who have officially declared the Constitutional Studies minor. However, those courses also have a primary or parent department course number (e.g., POLS or HIST), which may or may not be open to anyone. Any course on our list is eligible for minor credit, no matter which seat a student is enrolled in (a CNST seat or otherwise). Typically, AP course credits are applied only to University requirements and electives, not toward majors or minors.

Fdns. of Constitutional Order
- Instructor: Collins, Susan
- CNST Number: CNST 30638
- Time: T R - 2:00P - 3:15P
Fdns. of Constitutional Order
- Instructor: Collins, Susan
- CNST Number: CNST 30638
- Time: T R - 2:00P - 3:15P
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.
Constitutionalism Law&Pol II
- Instructor: Munoz, Vincent
- CNST Number: CNST 50002
- Time: T R - 12:30P - 1:45P
Constitutionalism Law&Pol II
- Instructor: Munoz, Vincent
- CNST Number: CNST 50002
- Time: T R - 12:30P - 1:45P
In "Constitutionalism, Law & Politics II: American Constitutionalism," we shall study fundamental texts of the American constitutional and political tradition in an attempt to answer questions such as: What is the purpose of government? What is the meaning of political equality? What is political liberty and how is it best secured? Since we lack the time for a comprehensive survey of American political thinkers, we shall examine select statesmen and critical historical periods, focusing on the Founding era, Lincoln and the slavery crisis, and the Progressive era and New Deal.
America's Culture Wars
- Instructor: Cajka, Peter
- Primary Number: AMST 30147
- CNST Number: CNST 30429
- Time: M W - 2:00P - 3:15P
America's Culture Wars
- Instructor: Cajka, Peter
- Primary Number: AMST 30147
- CNST Number: CNST 30429
- Time: M W - 2:00P - 3:15P
This course explores how, since the 1970s, Americans have disagreed on fundamental ideas regarding sex, race, history, foreign policy, class, the economy, and religion It comes to terms with why contemporary Americans can see reality in such radically divergent ways. Students will examine the way Americans of the last half century have fought over the "soul of the nation." Readings will address the liberal-conservative divide, fracture, and polarization.
Cybercrime and the Law
- Instructor: Tamashasky, Eric
- Primary Number: CDT 40220
- CNST Number: CNST 30420
- Time: T R - 11:00A - 12:15P
Cybercrime and the Law
- Instructor: Tamashasky, Eric
- Primary Number: CDT 40220
- CNST Number: CNST 30420
- Time: T R - 11:00A - 12:15P
Almost all crimes, or even human interactions, contain a digital component. The fact that "old" laws don't always fit "new" problems is no more apparent than in the area of cybercrimes. This course will include discussion of topics including: the methodology of typical cyber investigations, the application of the Fourth Amendment to digital evidence, and different types of cyber-specific laws enforced today. The course will also focus on the responses of both courts and legislators to the ever-evolving issues presented by computer crimes.
Int'l Law & Human Rights
- Instructor: Desierto, Diane
- Primary Number: CHR 30708
- CNST Number: CNST 30245
- Time: M W - 9:30A - 10:45A
Int'l Law & Human Rights
- Instructor: Desierto, Diane
- Primary Number: CHR 30708
- CNST Number: CNST 30245
- Time: M W - 9:30A - 10:45A
What role does international law have in the advancement of human rights, and how does human rights, in turn, advance international law? This course introduces university students to the general system of modern international law (e.g. its norm-generating framework involving States and non-State actors; the roles of many State and non-State authoritative decision-makers in shaping expectations of peaceful, just, and responsible behavior in the international system; its varied constellation of dispute settlement courts and tribunals, alongside the prospects and limits of enforcing State compliance with international decisions), specifically viewed from the lens of historic global, regional, and domestic challenges to human dignity that influenced the first global codification of human rights norms under the United Nations' 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, up to the present development of the current international system of protection for human rights. The course situates the framework of modern international law and civil, political, economic, social, and cultural human rights, using five examples of the historic, defining, and 'constitutionalizing moments' for the international system: 1) the international abolition of slavery; 2) the evolution from classical to modern international law in dismantling colonial empires to enshrine the self-determination of all peoples and the equality of sovereignty of all nations; 3) the outlawing of the aggressive use of force since 1929, towards the peaceful settlement of maritime and territorial disputes and the humanitarian rules applicable to armed conflict situations; 4) the establishment of international accountability of individuals and States for genocide, crimes against humanity and other human rights atrocities; and 5) the global regulation for sustainable use, shared protection, and intergenerational responsibility over natural resources (land, oceans, atmosphere, outer space).
Roman History I: the Republic
- Instructor: Hernandez, David
- Primary Number: CLAS 20202
- CNST Number: CNST 20613
- Time: M W - 10:30A - 11:20A
HIST - old Core History , WKHI - new Core History
Roman History I: the Republic
- Instructor: Hernandez, David
- Primary Number: CLAS 20202
- CNST Number: CNST 20613
- Time: M W - 10:30A - 11:20A
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?
Intro to 1st Amendment
- Instructor: Visconsi, Elliott
- Primary Number: ENGL 20156
- Time: M W - 2:00P - 3:15P
LIT - old Core Literature , WKLI - new Core Literature
Intro to 1st Amendment
- Instructor: Visconsi, Elliott
- Primary Number: ENGL 20156
- Time: M W - 2:00P - 3:15P
This introductory course surveys the core texts, doctrines, ideas, and cultural controversies related to First Amendment protections for free expression. We will be especially interested in some large questions: what is expression? How have our ideas of freedom of expression evolved as we enter the digital age? What kind of expression should be permissible? What happens when the public forum is fully online? What is the relationship between free expression and democratic-self government? Is there a difference between individual, group, and government speech? How do we navigate alternative ways of thinking about free expression in a global media ecosystem? We will consider a selection of exemplary cases, controversies, and literary texts: among our topics will include the following: the transformation of speech in the age of digital media; libel, satire and parody; piracy, intellectual property and copyright; privacy and surveillance; hate speech and incitement; obscenity and pornography. We will investigate the topic by studying relevant case law, literary texts (including fiction, film and new media), political philosophy, and information policy. Disclaimer: you will encounter speech that is potentially offensive and discomforting in this course. Note: this is an Office of Digital Learning Course: most of our readings and some course materials will be provided at no cost through an interactive digital platform.
Education Law and Policy
- Instructor: Schoenig, John
- Primary Number: ESS 30605
- CNST Number: CNST 30402
- Time: M W - 12:30P - 1:45P
Education Law and Policy
- Instructor: Schoenig, John
- Primary Number: ESS 30605
- CNST Number: CNST 30402
- Time: M W - 12:30P - 1:45P
This course focuses on selected legal and policy issues related to K-12 education in the United States. A central theme is the intersection of K-12 schooling and the state, with a particular focus on Constitutional issues of religious freedom and establishment, student speech and privacy, parental choice, educational opportunity, and education reform trends such as charter schools and accountability measures. Questions examined over the course of the semester include:What are the most basic obligations of the state with regard to its regulation of K-12 education? What are the most basic rights of parents in this regard?In what ways does the 1st Amendment protect - and limit - the speech and privacy rights of K-12 schoolchildren?In what ways may the state accommodate K-12 schools with an explicitly religious character? What are the Constitutional requirements with regard to religious speech or expression within K-12 public schools?To what degree is the principle of equality manifest in the form of educational opportunity? How has this changed over time?In what ways have education reform trends such as charter schooling and increased accountability changed the policy landscape of K-12 education?
Early Childhood Ed Policy
- Instructor: Fulcher-Dawson, Rachel
- Primary Number: ESS 30629
- CNST Number: CNST 30405
- Time: M W - 2:00P - 3:15P
ZCSC-Commnty Engagmnt Course
Early Childhood Ed Policy
- Instructor: Fulcher-Dawson, Rachel
- Primary Number: ESS 30629
- CNST Number: CNST 30405
- Time: M W - 2:00P - 3:15P
"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."
Introduction to Public Policy
- Instructor: Mueller, Paul
- Primary Number: HESB 20010
- CNST Number: CNST 20405
- Time: T R - 9:30A - 10:45A
Introduction to Public Policy
- Instructor: Mueller, Paul
- Primary Number: HESB 20010
- CNST Number: CNST 20405
- Time: T R - 9:30A - 10:45A
Public policy could be fairly described as applied social science. This course will introduce you to the fundamentals of public policy by (1) understanding how policy is crafted, (2) detailing the linkages between public opinion and public policy, (3) appreciating how political institutions may bound policy outcomes, (4) and exploring the ability of special interests, and other parties, to shape policy outcomes all while introducing you to various tools and frameworks for approaching the study of public policy. These tools will draw from an understanding of human behavior (psychology), markets (economics), governments (political science), and organizations (sociology) and introduce you to policy analysis. We will use a case study approach to delve into current public policy controversies including healthcare, higher education finance, and infrastructure. This course acts as the primary introductory course for the Hesburgh Minor in Public Service, but is designed for students of all majors and interests.
Philanthropy & the Common Good
- Instructor: Hannah, Jonathan
- Primary Number: HESB 30348
- CNST Number: CNST 30423
- Time: T R - 12:30P - 1:45P
ZCSC-Commnty Engagmnt Course
Philanthropy & the Common Good
- Instructor: Hannah, Jonathan
- Primary Number: HESB 30348
- CNST Number: CNST 30423
- Time: T R - 12:30P - 1:45P
This course will explore the roots of philanthropy in American society, the role philanthropy plays within the modern economy, and how philanthropic activity helps us create a better world and strive for the common good. The key component of the course requires students to act as a Board of Directors and use thoughtful analysis to award real grants to deserving nonprofits (a sum up to $50,000). Students are expected to come to each class prepared to discuss course readings, and to offer ideas and suggestions regarding the grant making process. Each student is also expected to complete two site visits to nonprofit organizations outside of normal class hours. Students will nominate nonprofits for awards and the class will systematically discuss, analyze, and ultimately vote to award the grants.
From Rasputin to Putin
- Instructor: Lyandres, Semion
- Primary Number: HIST 30355
- CNST Number: CNST 30227
- Time: M W - 2:00P - 2:50P
HIST - old Core History , MESE - European Studies Course
From Rasputin to Putin
- Instructor: Lyandres, Semion
- Primary Number: HIST 30355
- CNST Number: CNST 30227
- Time: M W - 2:00P - 2:50P
This upper division lecture course examines some of the most important events, ideas, and personalities that shaped late Imperial, Soviet, and post-Soviet periods of Russian history during the last one hundred years: from the outbreak of the First World War and the Revolutions of 1905 and 1917 through the Great Terror of the 1930s, the experience of the Second World War and the emergence of the Soviet Empire, late Stalinism and post-Stalinist developed or mature socialism, the collapse of the communist rule and the disintegration of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, as well as Russia's uneasy transition "out of Totalitarianism" and into Putin's authoritarianism during the first fourteen years of the twentieth-first century. The course is designed for history majors as well as for students in other disciplines with or without background in modern Russian and East European history.
Crime,Heredity, Insanity in US
- Instructor: Przybyszewski, Linda
- Primary Number: HIST 30634
- CNST Number: CNST 30428
- Time: T R - 9:30A - 10:45A
HIST - old Core History , PSIM - Poverty Studies Elect. , WKHI - new Core History
Crime,Heredity, Insanity in US
- Instructor: Przybyszewski, Linda
- Primary Number: HIST 30634
- CNST Number: CNST 30428
- Time: T R - 9:30A - 10:45A
This course gives students the opportunity to learn more about how Americans have thought about criminal responsibility and how their ideas have changed over time. Historians contend that the 19th century witnessed a transformation in the understanding of the origins of criminal behavior in the United States. The earlier religious emphasis on the sinfulness of all mankind, which made the murderer into merely another sinner, gave way to a belief in the inherent goodness of humankind. But if humans were naturally good, how are we to explain their evil actions? And crime rates varied widely by sex and race; European women were said to have been domesticated out of crime doing. What do those variations tell us about a common human nature? The criminal might be a flawed specimen of humankind born lacking a healthy and sane mind. Relying in part upon studies done in Europe, American doctors, preachers, and lawyers debated whether insanity explained criminality over the century and how it expressed itself in different races and sexes. Alternative theories were offered. Environment, heredity, and free will were all said to have determined the actions of the criminal. By the early 20th century, lawyers and doctors had largely succeeded in medicalizing criminality. Psychiatrists now treated criminals as patients; judges invoked hereditary eugenics in sentencing criminals. Science, not sin, had apparently become the preferred mode of explanation for the origins of crime. But was this a better explanation than what had come before? Can it explain the turbulent debates in the late 20th and early 21st Centuries over variations in crime rates by race? Can it explain why men, not women, are still more likely to commit murder?
Law and Religion in US History
- Instructor: Przybyszewski, Linda
- Primary Number: HIST 30640
- CNST Number: CNST 30004
- Time: T R - 2:00P - 3:15P
HIST - old Core History , WKHI - new Core History
Law and Religion in US History
- Instructor: Przybyszewski, Linda
- Primary Number: HIST 30640
- CNST Number: CNST 30004
- Time: T R - 2:00P - 3:15P
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.
American Feminist Thought
- Instructor: Remus, Emily
- Primary Number: HIST 30649
- CNST Number: CNST 30640
- Time: M W - 11:00A - 12:15P
HIST - old Core History , WKHI - new Core History
American Feminist Thought
- Instructor: Remus, Emily
- Primary Number: HIST 30649
- CNST Number: CNST 30640
- Time: M W - 11:00A - 12:15P
This course traces American feminism from the margins of democratic thought in the eighteenth century to the center of modern political discourse and culture. Drawing on primary sources and recent scholarly work, we will investigate how the goals and meaning of feminism have changed over time, as well as how the boundaries drawn around who could and could not claim the title of "feminist" have shifted. We will approach feminism as an argument - not a received truth - responsive to contemporary historical developments and marked by divisions of race, class, sexual orientation, age, and religion. Course readings are organized around major turning points in the American feminist movement and chart significant continuities and contradictions that have animated each new wave, including questions of gender difference, economic dependence, reproductive rights, marriage, subjectivity, and citizenship.3.000 Credit hours
Amer Conservatism 1950-Present
- Instructor: TBA
- Primary Number: HIST 30799
- CNST Number: CNST 30027
- Time: T R - 3:30P - 4:45P
HIST - old Core History , WKHI - new Core History
Amer Conservatism 1950-Present
- Instructor: TBA
- Primary Number: HIST 30799
- CNST Number: CNST 30027
- Time: T R - 3:30P - 4:45P
Historians have argued that conservatism has been the dominant political ideology in the United States since the late 1960s. Yet, during this time, different actors have demonstrated diverse understandings of what it means to be conservative. Furthermore, at no point during our period of study was conservatism a monolithic force. We will look at some of the key events, persons, movements, and ideas that shaped conservatism in the postwar United States. We will also read excerpts of the rich historiography on the subject that has identified various social, cultural, and political factors as driving forces behind the rise of conservatism. By contrasting such explanations with the self-image of American conservatives conveyed through their writings, communication, and activism, we will get a critical understanding of the complexity of our subject. The course will focus on sourcework. We will learn to apply the historical method to diverse material and how to ask and answer historiographical questions using sources.
US Foreign Policy in Cold War
- Instructor: Miscamble, Wilson
- Primary Number: HIST 30805
- CNST Number: CNST 30411
- Time: M W - 11:00A - 12:15P
HIST - old Core History , WKHI - new Core History
US Foreign Policy in Cold War
- Instructor: Miscamble, Wilson
- Primary Number: HIST 30805
- CNST Number: CNST 30411
- Time: M W - 11:00A - 12:15P
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 détente; Carter and the diplomacy of Human Rights; Reagan and the revival of containment; Bush and the end of the Cold War.
Labor in America since 1945
- Instructor: Graff, Daniel
- Primary Number: HIST 30856-01, HIST 30856-02
- CNST Number: CNST 30430
- Time: TTh 11am-12:15pm
Labor in America since 1945
- Instructor: Graff, Daniel
- Primary Number: HIST 30856-01, HIST 30856-02
- CNST Number: CNST 30430
- Time: TTh 11am-12:15pm
This course explores the relationships among and between workers, employers, government policymakers, unions, and social movements since the end of World War II, as well as the ways in which those relationships have shaped and been shaped by American politics and culture more broadly. The United States emerged from the Second World War as the globe's unequaled economic and political power, and its citizens parlayed that preeminence into a long postwar economic boom that created, however imperfectly, the first truly mass middle-class society in world history. At the heart of that new society was the American labor movement, whose leaders and members ensured that at least some of the heady postwar profits made it into the wallets of workers and their families - and not just the wallets of union members, as working Americans generally experienced great improvement in wages, benefits, and economic opportunity during the quarter-century ending in 1970. During those same years, civil rights activists challenged the historic workplace discrimination that kept African Americans at the bottom of the labor market, confronting the racism of employers, unions, and the government, and inspiring others, primarily Mexican Americans and women, to broaden the push for equality at the workplace. Since that time, however, Americans have experienced a transformation in the workplace -- an erosion of manufacturing and the massive growth of service and government work; a rapid decline in number of union members and power of organized labor; and unresolved conflicts over affirmative action to redress centuries of racial and gender discrimination. Meanwhile, income inequality and wealth disparities have grown every year over the past three decades. What accounts for the decline of organized labor since 1970, and why have the people of the mythic land of milk and honey experienced declining upward mobility and widening gaps between the rich and everyone else? Are these phenomena linked? What has the decline of the labor movement meant for workers specifically, and the American economy and politics more broadly? How and why have popular perceptions of unions changed over time? What has been the relationship of organized labor to the civil rights movement, feminism, modern conservatism, and the fortunes of individual freedom more broadly? What is globalization, and what has been its impact upon American workers? Through an exploration of historical scholarship, memoirs, polemical writings, and films, this course will try to answer these questions and many others. It will also address the prospects for working people and labor unions in the twenty-first century.
History of Modern Mexico
- Instructor: Pensado, Jaime
- Primary Number: HIST 30912
- CNST Number: CNST 30210
- Time: T R - 9:30A - 10:45A
HIST - old Core History , PSIM - Poverty Studies Elect. , WKHI - new Core History
History of Modern Mexico
- Instructor: Pensado, Jaime
- Primary Number: HIST 30912
- CNST Number: CNST 30210
- Time: T R - 9:30A - 10:45A
This course is designed to introduce students to Mexico's modern history and its people. We will pay particular attention to political and artistic movements during the Porfiriato (1876-1910), the Revolution (1910-1938), and the post-revolutionary period (1938-1970s). We will include a detailed discussion of the recent disappearance of 43 students in Ayotzinapa, in the State of Guerrero.Students will examine what it meant to be a "militant" in the political world of artistic production and social movements and the different ways in which the Mexican state responded to this militancy. We will explore how and why a broad range of representative leaders of Mexico's most important political and cultural revolutions used paintings, murals, graphic art, cartoons, literature, music, film, and graffiti to (A) lead a social, cultural, and political restructuring of their respective communities; (B) export their unique notions of "Revolution" to the nation and the world; and (C) question the contradictions that some artists (at times) faced within their own revolutionary movements.
Catholicism and Empire
- Instructor: Shortall, Sarah
- Primary Number: HIST 43557
- CNST Number: CNST 43607
- Time: TTh 12:30pm-1:45pm
Catholicism and Empire
- Instructor: Shortall, Sarah
- Primary Number: HIST 43557
- CNST Number: CNST 43607
- Time: TTh 12:30pm-1:45pm
This course explores the historical relationship between the Catholic Church and the rise and fall of European overseas empires since the sixteenth century. We will consider how Catholic missionaries both reinforced and resisted colonial power structures; how the Church made sense of racial, religious, and cultural differences in its efforts to evangelize colonial subjects; how African, Asian, and Latin American Catholics developed their own distinctive spiritual practices; and how Catholics in both Europe and its former colonies grappled with the challenge of decolonization and how to undo the legacies of colonialism within the Church itself. Readings will be drawn from a range of sources, including missionary diaries and manuals, memoirs, artwork, papal encyclicals, films, novels, works of theology, and historical scholarship.
Human Rights Reparations
- Instructor: Perez-Linan, Anibal
- Primary Number: KSGA 30201
- Time: MW 2pm-3:15pm
GLBP - Global Politics
Human Rights Reparations
- Instructor: Perez-Linan, Anibal
- Primary Number: KSGA 30201
- Time: MW 2pm-3:15pm
The course will explore the current state of reparations for human rights violations, as prescribed by international courts, tribunals, commissions, and other adjudication bodies. We will develop two disciplinary perspectives and integrate them in a collective research project. The first perspective will examine, from a legal standpoint, the sufficiency and adequacy of reparation measures light of international human rights law and the general law of international responsibility, and will inquire into the political and civil society challenges resulting in unmet reparations for complex human rights violations, such as slavery and the trans-Atlantic slave trade, climate change impacts, refugees and displacements from migration, genocide and mass atrocities during conflicts. The second perspective will explore the political conditions under which governmental actors comply with human rights reparations, and what non-governmental actors can do to promote compliance.
Justice Seminar
- Instructor: Keys, Mary
- Primary Number: PHIL43404 *
- Time: T R - 3:30P - 4:45P
PHI2 - old Core 2nd Philosophy , WKIN - new Core Integration , WKSP - new Core 2nd Philosophy ,
Justice Seminar
- Instructor: Keys, Mary
- Primary Number: PHIL43404 *
- Time: T R - 3:30P - 4:45P
An examination of major theories of justice, both ancient and modern. Readings include representatives of liberal theorists of right, such as John Rawls, as well as perfectionist alternatives. The course also serves as the core seminar for the philosophy, politics, and economics concentration.
American Politics
- Instructor: Wolbrecht, Christina
- Primary Number: POLS 20100
- CNST Number: CNST 20002
- Time: M W - 10:30A - 11:20A
SOSC - old Core Social Science , WKSS - new Core Social Science
American Politics
- Instructor: Wolbrecht, Christina
- Primary Number: POLS 20100
- CNST Number: CNST 20002
- Time: M W - 10:30A - 11:20A
This course surveys the basic institutions and practices of American politics. The goal of the course is to gain a more systematic understanding of American politics that will help you become better informed and more articulate. The course examines the institutional and constitutional framework of American politics and identifies the key ideas needed to understand politics today. The reading and writing assignments have been designed not only to inform you, but also to help develop your analytic and research skills. The themes of the course include the logic and consequences of the separation of powers, the build-in biases of institutions and procedures, the origins and consequence of political reforms, and recent changes in American politics in the 21st century. This semester we will emphasize the significance of the upcoming 2016 elections, and the course will include election-related assignments. Although the course counts toward the Political Science major and will prepare prospective majors for further study of American politics, its primary aim is to introduce students of all backgrounds and interests to the information, ideas, and academic skills that will enable them to understand American politics better and help them become more thoughtful and responsible citizens.
World Politics: Intro to Comp
- Instructor: Schiumerini, Luis
- Primary Number: POLS 20400
- CNST Number: CNST 20200
- Time: M W - 2:00P - 2:50P
SOSC - old Core Social Science , WKSS - new Core Social Science
World Politics: Intro to Comp
- Instructor: Schiumerini, Luis
- Primary Number: POLS 20400
- CNST Number: CNST 20200
- Time: M W - 2:00P - 2:50P
This course will focus on the relationship between democratic institutions, peace, and economic/human development. While drawing on lessons from North America and Europe, we will focus largely on countries of Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East. During the semester, we will discuss and debate the merits of various explanations or hypotheses that political scientists have proposed to answer the following questions: Why are some countries more "developed" and democratic than others? Is development necessary for democracy or democracy necessary for development? What is the relationship between culture, development, and democracy? How do different types of political institutions affect the prospects for development and democracy? Should/how should U.S. and other established democracies promote democratization? By the end of the course, the objectives are that students (1) learn the most important theories intended to explain why some countries are more democratic and "developed" than others, (2) understand the complexity of any relationship between democracy and development, and (3) grow in the ability to think about and intelligently assess the strengths and weaknesses of strategies intended to promote democracy and development.
Political Theory
- Instructor: Verdeja, Ernesto
- Primary Number: POLS 20600
- CNST Number: CNST 20602
- Time: T R - 11:00A - 12:15P
PHI2 - old Core 2nd Philosophy , WKSP - new Core 2nd Philosophy
Political Theory
- Instructor: Verdeja, Ernesto
- Primary Number: POLS 20600
- CNST Number: CNST 20602
- Time: T R - 11:00A - 12:15P
This course is an introduction to political theory as a tradition of discourse and as a way of thinking about politics. The course surveys selected works of political theory and explores some of the recurring themes and questions that political theory addresses, especially the question of justice. This introductory course fulfils the political theory breadth requirement for the political science major.
President & the Constitution
- Instructor: Barber, Sotirios
- Primary Number: POLS 30064
- CNST Number: CNST 30031
- Time: T R - 11:00A - 12:15P
President & the Constitution
- Instructor: Barber, Sotirios
- Primary Number: POLS 30064
- CNST Number: CNST 30031
- Time: T R - 11:00A - 12:15P
The course explores different theories of the president's role in the American constitutional system. Readings include The Federalist Papers and the writings Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, and modern scholars. Grades will be based on midterm and final exams.
Topics in Civ Librts/Civ Rgts
- Instructor: Hall, Matthew
- Primary Number: POLS 30068
- CNST Number: CNST 30006
- Time: T R - 2:00P - 3:15P
Topics in Civ Librts/Civ Rgts
- Instructor: Hall, Matthew
- Primary Number: POLS 30068
- CNST Number: CNST 30006
- Time: T R - 2:00P - 3:15P
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.
International Criminal Justice
- Instructor: Reydams, Luc
- Primary Number: POLS 30222
- CNST Number: CNST 30211
- Time: M W - 12:30P - 1:45P
International Criminal Justice
- Instructor: Reydams, Luc
- Primary Number: POLS 30222
- CNST Number: CNST 30211
- Time: M W - 12:30P - 1:45P
This course critically examines the phenomena of international judicial intervention and ?criminalization of world politics'; the actors, ideas, and rationales behind the international criminal justice project; the operation of international criminal justice in a world of power politics; its accomplishments, failures, and financial costs; and the future of international criminal justice. The course includes Skype conferences with a war crimes investigator, a war crimes analyst, a defense counsel, a victim representative, a State Department official, and a staff member of the Coalition for the International Criminal Court.
Post-Conflict Politics
- Instructor: Lechartre, Josephine
- Primary Number: POLS 30344
- CNST Number: CNST 30247
- Time: T R - 3:30P - 4:45P
Post-Conflict Politics
- Instructor: Lechartre, Josephine
- Primary Number: POLS 30344
- CNST Number: CNST 30247
- Time: T R - 3:30P - 4:45P
The first part of course examines the legacies of protracted conflicts (mostly civil wars) on a variety of political outcomes, from state-building and democratic institutions to political participation and social movements. The second part of the course explores different mechanisms by which states and the international community have dealt with these legacies, such as international courts, transitional justice and institution-building programs.
European Politics
- Instructor: Gould, Andrew
- Primary Number: POLS 30421
- CNST Number: CNST 30203
- Time: T R - 9:30A - 10:45A
European Politics
- Instructor: Gould, Andrew
- Primary Number: POLS 30421
- CNST Number: CNST 30203
- Time: T R - 9:30A - 10:45A
In this course on European politics we will examine the literature on three major issues: regional integration, origins of modern political authority, and industrial political economy. We will seek to understand the origin, current functioning, and possible futures for key European institutions, including the EU, nation-states, social provision, unions, and political parties. Readings on the European Union, monetary politics, Germany, France, and Spain will be drawn from both scholarly sources and contemporary analyses of political events.
African Politics
- Instructor: Friesen, Paul
- Primary Number: POLS 30548
- CNST Number: CNST 30248
- Time: M W - 3:30P - 4:45P
African Politics
- Instructor: Friesen, Paul
- Primary Number: POLS 30548
- CNST Number: CNST 30248
- Time: M W - 3:30P - 4:45P
Course would provide an overview to all major themes in political science focusing on the African continent. The course will cover the entire continent, though likely focus on five cases studies that parallel substantive themes. The course would first provide a grounding in colonization, decolonization and state development, but then focus primarily on contemporary political behavior and institutions. I am interested in using Bleck & Van de Walle as a primary text.
Catholicism and Politics
- Instructor: Philpott, James
- Primary Number: POLS 30654
- CNST Number: CNST 30215
- Time: T R - 9:30A - 10:45A
WKCD - new Core Cathol&Discipl
Catholicism and Politics
- Instructor: Philpott, James
- Primary Number: POLS 30654
- CNST Number: CNST 30215
- Time: T R - 9:30A - 10:45A
Catholicism and Politics poses the question, both simple and complex: How ought Catholics to think about the political order and political issues within it? The first part of the course will survey major responses to this question drawn from Church history: the early church, the medieval church, and the modern church. The second part applies these models to contemporary issues ranging among war, intervention, globalization, abortion, the death penalty, religious freedom, gender issues, and economic development. The course culminates in "Vatican III," where teams of students, representing church factions, gather to discover church teachings on selected controversial political issues.
Pol. & Religion in Secular Age
- Instructor: Sehnert, Benjamin
- Primary Number: POLS30726
- CNST Number: CNST 30643
- Time: T R - 3:30P - 4:45P
Pol. & Religion in Secular Age
- Instructor: Sehnert, Benjamin
- Primary Number: POLS30726
- CNST Number: CNST 30643
- Time: T R - 3:30P - 4:45P
What is "secularism" and what does it mean to live in a "secular age"? These questions have become increasingly more urgent in the contemporary world as we witness the rise of religious-based political ideologies (e.g., Christian nationalism, Islamism, Hindu nationalism) that threaten the ideal of a secular modern state. This course both seeks to address these questions as well as problematize the very notion of a modern tradition of secularity in the West and beyond. By tracing the development of the concept of the "secular" from its origins in Enlightenment Christianity, we will investigate the perpetual oscillation between both the proponents of secularism and the reaction against it. In particular, this course will emphasize the reformulation of the secular ideal after the collapse of Enlightenment metaphysics and religious thought among thinkers such as Marx, Nietzsche, and Weber and contemporary American non-foundationalists such as John Rawls and Richard Rorty. Finally, we will survey the so-called "post-secularists" from both Western and Islamic traditions (Habermas, Taylor, Asad, Mahmood) in order to discuss the plausibility, or even desirability, of moving beyond the secular ideal for contemporary politics. Politics and Religion in a Secular Age: What is "secularism" and what does it mean to live in a "secular age"? These questions have become increasingly more urgent in the contemporary world as we witness the rise of religious-based political ideologies (e.g., Christian nationalism, Islamism, Hindu nationalism) that threaten the ideal of a secular modern state. This course both seeks to address these questions as well as problematize the very notion of a modern tradition of secularity in the West and beyond. By tracing the development of the concept of the "secular" from its origins in Enlightenment Christianity, we will investigate the perpetual oscillation between both the proponents of secularism and the reaction against it. In particular, this course will emphasize the reformulation of the secular ideal after the collapse of Enlightenment metaphysics and religious thought among thinkers such as Marx, Nietzsche, and Weber and contemporary American non-foundationalists such as John Rawls and Richard Rorty. Finally, we will survey the so-called "post-secularists" from both Western and Islamic traditions (Habermas, Taylor, Asad, Mahmood) in order to discuss the plausibility, or even desirability, of moving beyond the secular ideal for contemporary politics.
Introduction to Criminology
- Instructor: Thomas, Mim
- Primary Number: SOC 20732
- CNST Number: CNST 20403
- Time: M W - 2:00P - 3:15P
SOSC - old Core Social Science , WKSS - new Core Social Science
Introduction to Criminology
- Instructor: Thomas, Mim
- Primary Number: SOC 20732
- CNST Number: CNST 20403
- Time: M W - 2:00P - 3:15P
Introduction to Criminology provides students with an overview of the sociological study of law making, law breaking and the resulting social responses. In this class we not only look at a variety of crimes, but we also discuss the varying methods sociologists use to collect, interpret and evaluate data, as well as how we theorize about crime and punishment. We address questions such as "Why are some people or groups labeled as criminal, while others are not?" "Do laws in both their construction and enforcement serve everyone's interests equally?" "How can the communities in which people are embedded be considered as criminogenic?" "How are poverty, race, gender and other social factors related to crime?"
Theology, Ethics, and Business
- Instructor: Clairmont, David
- Primary Number: THEO 20639
- CNST Number: CNST 20608
- Time: T R - 9:30A - 10:45A
THE2 - old Core Dvlpmnt Theo , WKDT-new Core Devel. Theology
Theology, Ethics, and Business
- Instructor: Clairmont, David
- Primary Number: THEO 20639
- CNST Number: CNST 20608
- Time: T R - 9:30A - 10:45A
This course is intended to be an introduction to Catholic moral theology customized for those discerning a career as a business professional. In the wake of ethics failures at a number of prominent corporations, business leaders have renewed their call for ethical behavior and have begun to establish criteria for hiring morally thoughtful employees and to institute ethics education in the workplace. In the first part of the course, we will examine Catholic theological ideas about conscience and how it functions in the process of making a moral decision. In the second part of the course, we will examine a selection of Catholic writings on the idea of vocation and calling, as well as the nature of human work, the relationship between workers and management, and the norms of justice that ought to govern these relations. Finally we will examine ideas about character and virtue to assess the challenges and opportunities for moral formation in a business context. Class format will combine analysis of theological texts and discussion of business cases. Course requirements include a midterm and final examination and a group project.