Course: Spring 2017
Section and Course Guidelines
TA: Iris Malone
422 Encina Hall West
Email: irismalone@stanford.edu
Office hours: Wednesday 2-3 p.m., Thursday 2-3 p.m., or by appointment
Sections
(1) Thursday 9.30-10.20am, Encina West 106
(2) Thursday 10.30-11.20am, Encina West 101
Contact
Email is the best way to contact me. I promise to respond to your emails within 24 hours. All email contact should have a subject line that begins with PS1.
Office Hours
Office hours and location are listed above. Please feel free to drop-in to talk about the assignments, course material, or anything else you need. If the listed hours above do not work, contact me, and we’ll find an alternative time to meet.
Missed Section
If you miss a section, you will receive credit as if you participated in that section if and only if: (1) you missed the section for reasons beyond your control, i.e. illness, scheduled athletic event, or family emergency; (2) you notify your TA prior to the scheduled section or demonstrate why advance notification was impossible; and (3) you write a one-page commentary on the readings for that section and submit it electronically to your TA by 11:00 a.m. on the Monday following the section you missed. The one-page commentary will count as your participation for the week.
Unit 1. Political Institutions and Governance
Week 1. What explains variations between countries?
Additional Resources.
Week 2. What is autocracy?
Additional Resources.
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NYT: Gambia Shudders as Defeated President Yahya Jammeh Won’t Quit
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Guardian: The $10bn question: What happened to the Marcos millions? – Example of how autocratic leaders engage in enrichment
Week 3. What is democracy?
Additional Resources.
Unit 2. Poverty and Inequality
Week 4. What explains variation within countries?
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WP: Rand Paul’s claim that cities and states led by Democrats have worse income inequality
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WP: What we talk about when talk about Donald Trump gaslighting
Additional Resources.
Week 5. What explains variation between countries?
Additional Resources.
Unit 3. Environmental Politics
Week 6. Tragedy of the Commons
Additional Resources.
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NYT: Trump picks Scott Pruitt, climate change denier, to lead EPA
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NYT: Scott Pruit is seen cutting the EPA with a scalpel, not a cleaver
Week 7. Environmental Policy
Additional Resources.
Unit 4. Political Violence
Week 8. Rationalist Explanations for War
Additional Resources.
Week 9. International Organizations and the Long Peace
Additional Resources.
Week 10. Terrorism and Civil War
Additional Resources.
Created for: POLISCI 1. The Science of Politics.
Stanford University – Winter Quarter 2017.
Last Update: 15 March 2017