Academics

Political Science

 

Meg Mott
Lynette Rummel

Political science looks at how power operates in the world. Whether we’re looking at politics in Africa or theoretical justifications for violence, political scientists are attuned to the role power plays in human activities. Classes in political science focus on such questions as, "What is power?" "Who has power?" "How did they get it?" "What are they doing with it?" The manner in which we investigate those questions can be as concrete as public policy and as complex as post-structural thought.

Political science enhances one's ability to read critically, to develop coherent arguments, to consider multiple perspectives and to be attuned to the complexities of the world we live in. Studying political science provides the necessary confidence to engage in current political controversies.

Students working in political science develop a nuanced understanding of informal and formal structures of power and a heightened sense of their capacity to act as political subjects in an increasingly complex world.

Most Plans in political science fall into the following areas:

Meg Mott

I'm interested in how systems of thought play out in people's decision-making. I did my dissertation on the Spanish Inquisition, looking through archival sources to see how natural law and nominalism influenced the inquisitors. What interests me most about theory is what it looks like in action. I don't read these dense books in order to ace some multiple choice exam but in order to see how their logics influence our actions.

Areas of interest for plan level work: Political Theory, Constitutional Law, Political Ecology, Feminist and Critical Race Theory, Anarchist Studies.

Lynette Rummel

Within Political Science, my own training has been in international, comparative and area studies. In general terms, my research interests pivot around the questions of global inequality in the world, both economic and political, and for the most part are regionally grounded in Africa and the Middle East. While my own background grows out of a commitment to empirical and site based fieldwork, I continue to encourage broader theoretical rigor and sophistication. But at the bottom line, I hope to be helping each and every student that comes my way to not only better understand the world in which they live, but to help them think about what they might be able to do to make a difference about the that world as they go forward.

Areas of interest for plan-level work: African Studies, International Political Economy, Third World Development, International Relations.

Starting Points (Basic and Introductory Courses)

Comparative Politics: Debating Democracy (SSC 338)
This course will offer a basic introduction to comparative government. Democracy will serve as the organizing theme of our investigations, and various case studies, including the American political system, will be considered in some depth. (Introductory)

Introduction to Political Theory (HUM1107)
This class considers how politics has been discussed within the western tradition. Although the primary readings cover over 2,500 years of political writings, the themes are surprisingly few. In each era, political writers struggled to answer the problem of how best to grant power over people and how to enhance citizenship within that power structure. Along with primary readings, we will consider two cases that illuminate the role of political thinking in contemporary struggles to end poverty and racism. The first case promotes a radical humanist pedagogy, known as the Clemente series. The second case considers the Black Panthers’ efforts to dismantle America. (Introductory)

Anglo-American Political Imagination (CDS530)
How do we talk about equality? What do Americans mean by freedom? How does slavery fit into our experience of democracy? This class follows the development of political thinking in the United States from the Federalists to Cornel West. Along with these primary texts, we'll look at how a community in Roxbury, Massachusetts organized themselves using the key concepts of American political thought. (Introductory)

Latin American Political Imagination (CDS 526)
When the Southern Europeans sailed west they brought with them an understanding of politics informed by Counter-Reformation concerns and natural law reasoning. Instead of valuing individual and property rights, as did their Protestant counterparts to the north, these Catholic conquistadors and missionaries developed a theory of politics that found justice in nature and human flourishing in hierarchy. We'll look at the writings of Francisco de Vitoria, Jose Marti, Jose Enrique Rodo, Simon Bolivar, Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz, and Paolo Friere to begin to make sense of how Latin Americans imagine their political communities. Along with these theoretical writings, we'll consider the case study of an ecclesiastical base community in Southern Brazil. (Introductory)

Emerson, Pragmatism and Democracy (CDS539)
This class considers democratic practices through the writings of one man, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and through the essays of one philosophical movement, pragmatism. In the past few years, there has been a surge of activity as scholars try to decide what is pragmatism and who is a pragmatist. This class is less concerned with definitions and labels and much more interested in what pragmatism can tell us about the nature of American democracy. (Introductory)

Pursuing Interests (Intermediate and Thematic Courses)

African Politics (SSC 208)
The continent of Africa remains to most students a distant and exotic land, difficult to imagine, and even harder to understand. In this course, we will attempt to become familiar with this part of the world - its peoples, its history, its politics, its current predicaments. By studying the many different countries and regions that make up this continent, the goal will be to better appreciate, on the one hand, that which makes African politics so unique, rich, and diverse, yet at the same time, to recognize the overwhelming similarities of the struggles of people everywhere.

International Relations Theory (SSC217)
This course will attempt to examine the major contending theories in the field of international relations today. The philosophical origins and traditions of contemporary realist, pluralist, and globalist approaches will be considered, as will be their more current formulations and contributions. (Intermediate)

Theories of Development (SSC216)
This course will examine the process of theory building and paradigm change during the first three generations of Third World development scholarship. In particular, the three major schools of modernization, dependency, and post dependency theory will be analysed in light of their comparative contributions and limitations. Theoretical discussions will be grounded in the empirical context of real life Third World development challenges. (Intermediate)

International Law & Organization (SSC224)
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to some of the most basic issues and ideas in the subfield of International Law & Organization. Student research projects/papers will serve as the backbone of the class, as specific laws and organizations will be considered in light of their relevance to the particular problems and questions chosen for individual, in-depth study. (Intermediate)

American Jurisprudence (SSC392)
Historically, legal scholarship, like religious scholarship, was a central concern of the liberal arts. In the late-capitalist era, however, law has become the province of lawyers. Law is what lawyers do. Yet that understanding disregards the ethical, moral, and philosophical roots of law’s history. In the larger sense, law is the interminable resolving of serious controversies in which both sides have legitimate arguments. Another way of looking at constitutional law is offered by one of the editors of our textbook, Sanford Levinson, who wrote that "constitutional law provides a public vocabulary absolutely essential to understanding the nature of public discourse within our society" (Constitutional Faith, Princeton University Press, 1994, 168). According to Levinson, understanding constitutional law improves our ability to function politically, not as lawyers but as citizens of a constitutional republic. Text: Brest, Levinson, Balkin & Amar, Processes of Constitutional Decisionmaking, 4th edition. (Intermediate)

Seminar in U. S. Foreign Policy (SSC317)
A seminar in the relationship of the United States to other nations and regions. Heavy reading and major research projects to be presented in class. Limited to10 students. (Intermediate)

Feminist Political and Social Thought (CDS531)
How do women talk about their lives, their social situation, their political condition? This class looks at the writings of theorists and essayists who use words to make sense of women’s place in the house, the community, the law. (Intermediate)

Early Modern Political Thought (SSC367)
The early modern era was a time of great change. The Enlightenment values of reason and individualism were gaining legitimacy. This shift had enormous political consequences, making it possible for the emergence of a state legitimated not by divine will or dynastic habits but by consent of the governed. Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Victoria, and Spinoza were all influential political writers without political influence. This class looks at how two teachers, two exiles, and an ex-communicant changed the way we think about political reasoning and social relationships. Along with studying their ideas we'll look at how each one of them spoke to the power from a position of powerlessness, bringing the West into the modern era of politics with their words. (Intermediate)

The Body Politic (HUM1014)
The human body has always held a central place in political theory. In the Middle Ages, it served as the pre-eminent metaphor for the well-ordered state (Aquinas). In the Early Modern Era, its foibles diminished the transcendental status of the king and his court (Montaigne). More recently, political theorists have used the body to describe the alienation of labor (Marx) and to locate technologies of power (Foucault). (Intermediate)

Advanced Development Studies Seminar (SSC389)
This course is for Juniors and Seniors on Plan with a component interest in third world development issues. The course will be designed to include the time and place for both common readings for group discussion as well as the context for individual research on specialized interests and the forum for the dissemination and discussion of early plan drafts. (Advanced)

Writing Political Theory (HUM 1204)
This writing seminar develops strategies and skills necessary for completing a Plan in political theory. (Advanced)

Good Foundation For Plan

Meg Mott: For those interested in writing a plan in political theory, I recommend that you take at least three theory/philosophy classes before going on plan. These classes will introduce you to the primary sources in our line of work and are widely available at Marlboro. Besides my classes and William Edelglass's, Jerry Levy's classes on sociological thought fall under this category. One or two classes in comparative politics would be invaluable; the ideas examined in theory/philosophy classes will take on far more complex shades of interpretation when examined in different cultural contexts. And last, but not least, take classes that will develop your argumentation skills. Political theory is largely the art of developing arguments about controversial matters. The more practice you've had writing arguments, the easier the plan process will be.