CAS PO388 Justice in an Unjust World (4 credits)
A search for justice is the origin story of political science. We seek to understand what it means to be just in contemporary politics, laws, workplaces, families, and across borders, among many other sites. Effective Fall 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas:
Philosophical Inquiry and Life’s Meanings
Ethical Reasoning
(*Offered Spring 2025) CAS PO389 Who Belongs? Who Decides? (4 credits)
Explores how governments understand membership through citizenship laws and practices that include and exclude. Subjects covered will include the history of the idea of citizenship, the evolution of modern citizenship, migration, immigration, naturalization, and enforcement practices in the US.
*This course does not currently satisfy any BU Hub requirements.
CAS PO 391 Classical to Early Modern Political Theory (4 credits)
Fundamental questions of ethics and politics are addressed by analyzing early works of political philosophy. Considers their various conceptions of: human nature and reason; qualifications of leadership; aims and means of civic education; and natural, human, and divine law. This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub area(s):
Philosophical Inquiry and Life’s Meanings
Ethical Reasoning
Critical Thinking
CAS PO 392 Modern Political Theory (4 credits)
Fundamental questions of ethics and politics are addressed by analyzing works of political philosophy from the Enlightenment in the 17th century through the 20th century. Considers their various conceptions of human nature, the social contract, rights, government, justice, and revolution. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub area(s):
Philosophical Inquiry and Life’s Meanings
Ethical Reasoning
Critical Thinking
CAS PO 393 The European Enlightenment (4 credits)
Survey of the intellectual and social transformation of Europe from the 1680s to the French Revolution. Readings draw on both eighteenth-century sources (including Voltaire, Diderot, Condorcet, Lessing, Smith, and Hume) and recent work by historians. This course fulfills a single unit of the following BU Hub area(s):
Philosophical Inquiry and Life’s Meanings
Historical Consciousness
(*Offered Spring 2025) CAS PO 394Catastrophe and Memory (4 credits)
Examines the ways in which catastrophes, both natural and social, enter into cultural memory. Goal is to understand how events that seem to defy comprehension are represented in works of art and given a place in the memory of a culture.
Aesthetic Exploration
Historical Consciousness
Research and Information Literacy
(*Offered in Spring 2025) CAS PO 395 Domination/Liberation (4 credits)
In this political theory course, we examine dilemmas surrounding domination and liberation in political theory and practice. We will ask what liberation is, how diverse forms of domination obstruct it; and whether freedom can be sustained in a lasting way. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub area(s):
Philosophical Inquiry and Life’s Meanings
Ethical Reasoning
Critical Thinking
CAS PO 396 Philosophy of Gender and Sexuality (4 credits)
(BU Hub Pathway: Social & Racial Justice)
Analyzes notions of gender and sexuality. Questions include: Are gender and sexual identity natural, or are they social constructions? How are they related to love and desire? This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub area(s):
Philosophical Inquiry and Life’s Meanings
The Individual in Community
Critical Thinking
*Meets with CAS PH 256 and CAS WS 396.
CAS PO397 American Political Thought (4 credits)
Prerequisite: CAS PO 191.
Introduces students to major traditions and theories of American political thought, including liberalism, republicanism, abolition democracy, and settler colonialism. Explores contemporary issues in American politics, including potentially economic inequality, reparations, gun rights/gun violence, and originalism.
*This course does not currently satisfy any BU Hub requirements.
CAS PO398 Feminist Political Thought (4 credits)
Introduces students to key texts, problems, and debates in western feminist political theory. Students study major feminist thinkers, and explore diverse approaches to crucial topics in the field: such as “white feminism,” marriage, disability, sex, and pornography.
*This course does not currently satisfy any BU Hub requirements.
CAS PO 502 Political Analysis (4 credits)
Prerequisite: CAS PO 399 or consent of instructor. Familiarity with algebra and calculus is helpful, but not required.
The logic and methods of empirical analysis in political science. Introduces research design for a variety of social science applications, as well as data analysis, data visualization and statistical software. Effective Fall 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub area(s):
Quantitative Reasoning II
Social Inquiry II
CAS PO 516 Gender and Politics (4 credits)
Prereq: Junior standing or above
Analyzes the relationship between gender and politics, law and policy primarily in the United States. Considers inequalities based on gender and sexuality, women’s changing political, gender- and sexuality-based political action, and social movements. Effective Fall 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub area(s):
Writing-Intensive Course
Social Inquiry II
Research and Information Literacy
CAS PO 590 Readings in Political Theory (4 credits)
Topics vary. Topics have included Great Speeches, The Politics of Love. May be repeated for credit as topics change. Topics for Fall 2022: Theories of Political Change. Examines theories and experiences of political change in diverse time periods and settings. What constitutes change in politics? How do we know it is happening? What are the conditions of political change? Can we “make” political change, or is it contingent and unpredictable? Authors may include Karl Marx, Octavia Butler, Hannah Arendt, Robin Kelley, Samuel Delaney, Adreienne Maree Brown, and/or others.
*This course does not currently satisfy any BU Hub requirements.
CAS PO 592 Enlightenment and Its Critics (4 credits)
Explores how eighteenth-century criticisms of the Enlightenment have been taken up by twentieth-century thinkers such as Heidegger, Horkeimer, Adorno, Gadamer, and Foucault; discusses recent defenses of Enlightenment ideals of reason, critique and autonomy by Habermas and others.
*This course does not currently satisfy any BU Hub requirements.
*Meets with CAS HI 514 and PH 412.
CAS PO 594 Historical Traditions of Feminist Theory (4 credits)
Prerequisite: junior standing or consent of instructor.
Explore selected writing from the history of feminist theory, 18th century to the rise of the late-20th century feminist movement, to understand the richness of that history and the varieties of approaches theorists took in understanding and resisting gender-based oppression.
*This course does not currently satisfy any BU Hub requirements.
*Meets with CAS WS 594.
CAS PO 595 Race and Capitalism (4 credits)
Students engage with the political thought of philosophers, legal scholars, writers, and historians who have explored the global history of capitalism and race, covering topics such as labor, climate change, colonialism, slavery, and mass incarceration. In this course, students learn to compare different authors, place thinkers within their historical context, understand the roots of contrasting arguments, as well as develop their own questions, analysis, and arguments. Effective Fall 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas:
Critical Thinking
Historical Consciousness
Oral and/or Signed Communication
(*Offered Spring 2025) CAS PO 596 Colonization/Decolonization (4 credits)
A seminar focused on the political, theoretical, historical, and legal study of colonization and decolonization. Themes include how they have been conceptualized, debated, justified, and defended. The course also covers contemporary calls for decolonization and critiques of those calls.
*This course does not currently satisfy any BU Hub requirements.
(*Offered Spring 2025) CAS PO 598 Power, Identity, Equality (4 credits)
Examines classic and contemporary theories of identity as well as their manifestation in political practice. We critically examine specific manifestations of identity including the role of race, ethnicity, sexuality, gender, ability, and foreignness in democratic politics.
*This course does not currently satisfy any BU Hub requirements.
GRS PO 791 Approaches to the Study of Political Theory (4 credits)
Graduate Core Seminar.
Three questions are central to the field that is called “political theory”: What is the purpose of government? What is the purpose of political philosophy? and What is the relation between government and political philosophy?
*This course does not currently satisfy any BU Hub requirements.
GRS PO 796 Ethics and the Use of Force (4 credits)
Graduate Prerequisite: Graduate standing.
Acquaints students with the great debates in the ethics and law of war, and examines how the resort to and conduct of war is, or is not, circumscribed by normative concerns.
*This course does not currently satisfy any BU Hub requirements.