POLS 110 - Change and Conflict

Unit(s): 4

This course is part of a two-semester sequence designed to provide a comprehensive introduction to the study and practice of politics. This semester will focus on political change, and the sources of conflict within political systems. We will begin by examining theories of political economy, followed by a study of income inequality in a globalized economy. We will then move on to consider systems of justice and the ways that they embed social relations and power. Justice systems can provide a space for grievances and restitution, at other times they reinscribe inequalities. The third section of the course will investigate social movements: their dynamics, failures and successes. When are social movements likely to arise, what ideas drive their formation, and what impact do they have on society? Finally, we will look at different kinds of violence in political systems. In many ways, political orders are supposed to eliminate interpersonal violence, but these same orders create other kinds of violence. How can we understand the relationship between the violence of the state, its agents, and those who oppose the state?

College of Arts and Sciences