Government & Society

100-level:

• Thinking Across Disciplines: Dilemmas in Understanding the Social World

Course Descriptions

100-level: Thinking Across Disciplines: Dilemmas in Understanding the Social World
In this course we will introduce you to the way the five Government and Society-units (history, law, political science, sociology and philosophy) seek to understand the social world. We do this by teaching you how to formulate questions from different disciplinary perspectives as well as with a view to the different roles that you may have in society (researcher, student, citizen, human being) and the responsibilities that come with that. This includes debates about ethical dilemmas in research, learning to understand the difference between descriptive and normative approaches, and familiarizing yourself with the major theoretical and empirical approaches that are common to the disciplines. We also pay ample attention to critical thinking and the added values of studying these questions within the context of a liberal arts education. The course is co-taught by teachers from the different units and will introduce you to key tools and resources that enable you to learn to ask different and critical questions about our social world. We show you what are the most effective ways to research and answer these questions. All in all, the course will help you get a better feel for the different disciplines and enable you to optimize the course choices that you will make for your program at UCR.

100-level:

• Modern History
• Introduction to Native American Histories
• Histories of Gender: Repression & Resistance

200-level:

• History of Empires
• Western Way of War

300-level:

• History Research Seminar

Course Descriptions

100-level: Modern History
This course gives a chronological overview of history from 1815 till today. The nineteenth century saw the rise of industrial societies and of the new political ideals of popular sovereignty (e.g. Marxism, socialism) and national self-determination. These forces continued to operate in the twentieth century, which was characterized by tremendous upheavals like the Russian Revolution, the two World Wars and the demise of communism in Eastern Europe. The course offers a survey of the main economic, political and cultural developments from 1815 to the present.

100-level: Introduction to Native American Histories
Are Native American tribes third world nations in a first world country? How do Native ways of knowing and being question and enrich Western epistemologies? Why, on a very windy day on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota, did a Lakota Matriarch beseech UCR students to “be our smoke signals.”  This course addresses these questions.

100-level: Histories of Gender: Repression & Resistance
This history course explores the lives of ordinary people through the lens of gender from the 19th through the 21st centuries. The approach centers storytelling in cultural expressions and forms, ranging from spoken narratives to news publications, children’s storybooks, artwork, music, photography, film, podcasts, and TikTok. See this example of a student’s work. Topics include 19th century slavery, “The” 1950’s, Conversion ‘therapy’ in the 1970’s, New Queer Cinema in the 1990’s, childhood and older adulthood over time, and banned books today. Class members also contribute to telling stories about gender by engaging with the Walking With Pride Project. It features the stories of queer people and their allies and assumes that textiles are sites of storytelling.

200-level: History of Empires
This course is about great powers, superpowers and even hyperpowers. ‘Empire’ is a powerful and dangerous word. It has a rich and ambiguous history and strong polemical connotations now and in the past. The typical empire is usually presented as oppressive and ruthless, although some of the modern empires are democracies that focus upon the improvements of its society. This course deals with some of the most important empires in World History. Next to this some of the most important theories on empires will be treated. How is the rise and fall of empires explained? What are the sources of empire and how are great power politics conducted?

200-level: Western Way of War
This course gives a chronological overview of the history of Warfare in the Western World from antiquity to the present day. All aspects of war on land, sea, and in the air are covered: weapons and technology; strategy and defense; discipline and intelligence; mercenaries and standing armies; cavalry and infantry; chivalry and Blitzkrieg; guerrilla assault and nuclear arsenals. The history of the West has centered around ferocious competition for mastery, in which the ruthless, innovative, and the decisive displaced the complacent, the imitative, and the irresolute.

300-level: History Research Seminar
This course guides students through the full arc of historical inquiry—from formulating compelling research questions to engaging critically with primary and secondary sources. Emphasizing methodological rigor and interdisciplinary thinking, the course prepares students to produce a substantial research paper.

100-level:

• Law, Society & Justice
• Human Rights: Law & Philosophy

200-level:

• Introduction to Public International Law
• Criminal Law & Criminal Justice
• Comparative Constitutional Law

300-level:

• Principles of Private Law
• Foundations of European Union Law

Course Descriptions

100-level: Law, Society & Justice​
The course offers three perspectives to the law: the legal-descriptive, the socio-scientific and the normative. The course explores the different understandings of law, definitions of the law, legal traditions, and various fields of law: civil law, criminal law, constitutional law, administrative law and human rights. The course will also look into the relationship between law and society and the concept of justice. The course includes discussing principles of law, case law, an excursion to international legal organizations, an interview with legal practitioners and a Moot court session.

100-level:  Human Rights: Law & Philosophy
This course offers a legal, historical and philosophical approach to human rights. Students will learn about human rights law, classical scholarship on Plato’s and Aquinas’ views on right and wrong and modern views on the same by Locke, the founding father of the rights paradigm. We will then investigate the rise of human rights in the 17th century and beyond, with its culmination in the US Bill of Rights (1791) and the Déclaration des Droits de l’Homme et du Citoyen (1789), and its extension and application through UN and regional human rights treaties

200-level: Introduction to Public International Law
How do countries resolve conflicts, protect refugees, or respond to war? This course introduces the rules, institutions, and politics of public international law, covering treaties, the UN, armed conflict, war crimes, refugee protection, and climate change. You will analyze real and hypothetical cases, apply legal principles, debate controversial issues, and produce a podcast that connects law to global challenges and current events.

200-level: Criminal Law & Criminal Justice
At the heart of criminal law and criminal justice is the discussion and debate of moral and legal justifications for criminalization and punishment. Building on this foundation, students investigate the main guiding principles of criminal law and criminal justice, confronting the concepts of criminal accountability, differentiated types of ‘guilt’, the essentials of justifications and excuse, important limitations such as the legality principle and other fundamental considerations. Students then apply theory to practice to gain mastery of legal reasoning skills in a simulated legal aid clinic.

200-level: Comparative Constitutional Law
Constitutions are the foundation of any state and its legal system. Constitutional law, as a field of study and practice, concerns fundamental questions that arise regarding the organization of a state, the attribution of power to public authorities, the division of power among them, and the relations between the government and individuals. This course offers insights into the features and functions of representative constitutions worldwide, as well as key principles of constitutional law. For this purpose, we will adopt a deliberately comparative approach, keeping in mind both the advantages and limitations of this method. The topics covered include basic concepts such as constitutionalism, the separation of powers, judicial review, federalism, and fundamental rights. In the second part of the course, we will delve into more advanced debates on constitution-making in divided societies, religious constitutions, and constitutional backsliding.

300-level: Principles of Private Law
Private law can play an important role in daily life. Whether enjoying life at home or stepping out the front door, intended and unintended interactions can have legal consequences for the persons involved. The rights and obligations associated with these situations are largely determined by a collection of legal fields known as private law. In this course, students closely examine general principles of property law, tort law, contract law, and other subjects, illuminated through comparisons of the legal systems in four different countries.

300-level: Foundations of European Union Law
EU law is everywhere from the very strict rules on data-protection that literally pop-up with every website you open, to the right of EU nationals to work, live and provide services in other EU member states with as little hurdles as possible. This course introduces you to the EU legal order by familiarizing you first with the institutions and framework that shape the EU legal order. The course then proceeds through examining EU citizenship and the EU internal market through a series of problem-based learning exercises as well as guest lectures.

100-level:

• Introduction to Western Philosophy

200-level:

• Ethics
• Philosophy of Mind

300-level:

• Free Will, Time & the Self
• Philosophy of Emotion

Course Descriptions

100-level: Introduction to Western Philosophy
This course introduces central themes from the Western philosophical tradition, spanning 2,500 years of history from the ancient Greeks to cutting-edge work from our own time. We will become familiar with the issues discussed by philosophers, inquire into their significance and their relation to thought in other disciplines, such as psychology, law, physics, computer science, and political science. Most importantly, we will acquaint ourselves with theoretical methods and tools that have been used by philosophers throughout the ages to support their conclusions and ideas.

200-level: Ethics
Our actions and decisions are structured by the ways we think about values, about what the good is. This course explores theories of moral reasoning, building upon historical and contemporary sources. In the first part of the course, we will examine the main theories in ethics – virtue ethics, deontology, utilitarianism – as well as questions pertaining to moral knowledge, motivation, responsibility, and the relation of happiness and pleasure to ethics. The second part of the course focuses on practical ethics, touching upon topics such as animal rights, privacy, future generations, war, punishment, euthanasia, disability, racial and gender equality.

200-level: Philosophy of Mind
In this course, we will focus both on important work from the history of the philosophy of mind and on contributions from recent scholarship. We will begin by taking a close look at Descartes’ dualism and its legacy, exploring dominant approaches to the mind during the past century, and examining the debate concerning the nature of consciousness. Additional topics to be discussed include the possibility of intelligent and conscious machines, animal minds, the identity of persons over time, transformative experiences, and the impact of novel technologies on the ways we experience the world.

300-level: Free Will, Time & the Self
What does it mean to be free? How significant is the impact of luck on our decisions and choices? Does affirming the existence of free will involve asserting that the future is genuinely ‘open’? These and related questions resonate throughout the history of philosophy, and are addressed in fascinating new ways in recent thought. In this course, we explore the nature and scope of free will and inquire into relations of the debate on free will to questions concerning the reality and experience of time, and the nature of the self. The term will be divided into three modules, as we examine these issues and their connections.

300-level: Philosophy of Emotion
Emotions are a basic aspect of human experience, but they have been, throughout the history of philosophy, contrasted with and sidelined by the pursuit of rationality. This course provides the opportunity to engage with key questions in the study of emotions from a philosophical perspective. Topics we explore in the course include the nature of emotions, the role of emotions in ethics, the rationality of emotions, emotions in art. We consider sources from the history of philosophy, as well as contemporary research on the emotions from philosophy and additional disciplines.

100-level:

• Introduction to Political Philosophy

200-level:

• Foundations of Comparative Politics
• International Relations

300-level:

• European Union Politics
• Public Policy Analysis
• Peace & Conflict

Course Descriptions

100-level: Introduction to Political Philosophy​
In this course, you will be introduced to the most influential philosophical approaches with regard to politics. We will look at  political notions such as authority, freedom, equality, democracy, human rights, pluralism, multiculturalism, world poverty, the environment – and much more – both with an eye to contemporary discussions and classical texts. This is the course in which you get to read the great classics from Plato until Hannah Arend and John Rawls. Writing essays and giving presentations will be central in the assignments.

200-level: Foundations of Comparative Politics
Foundations of comparative politics provides you with the key analytical tools to analyze and compare political systems and the development and functioning of democracies in particular. We examine major phenomena such as democratic backsliding, the decline of political parties, the rise of populism, the shift from a print-based to an internet based media, the rising importance of non-majoritarian institutions such as courts and central banks, and the impact of globalization and internationalization on domestic politics.

200-level: International Relations
This course aims to provide students with an in-depth introduction to the field of International Relations (IR).
The first part introduces students to the basic theories of IR.
In the second part, students will (learn to) analyse, with the help of the concepts and schools of thought from part 1, current thematical problems in international relations. Some topics; climate change, energy, water & natural resources, humanitarian intervention, North-South & South-South-relations, international economic crisis.
The course ends with a negotiation simulation of the UN Security Council.

300-level: European Union Politics
This course introduces you to the European Union (EU), a body politic that has been characterized as diverse as Unidentified Political Object, an unimperial empire as well as a superstate. The EU Union and its member states are facing a never ending string of ‘crises’ (financial, climate Ukraine war, migration) that time and again pose urgent questions about the way Europe and its member states should collaborate in order to tackle them. In the first part of the course we outline key actors, institutions and decision-making rules and show how political scientists have employed various ways to study EU politics and policy-making. In the second part of the course we acquaint ourselves with several policy areas that showcase the way the EU has responded to different crises.

300-level: Public Policy Analysis
This course seeks to comprehensively investigate public policy in the light of processes of globalization which have significantly reduced the ability of national governments to make effective policy. Taking the multi-faceted topic of sugar, we start off with examining classic public policy making at the national level through distinguishing different phases policy-making as well as studying alternative conceptualizations. We then examine issues in other arenas (such as the European Union, world trade, the market, citizens). In the second part of the course we shift our focus toward formulating advice for a stakeholder through writing policy memos.

300-level: Peace & Conflict
This course introduces students to the core vocabulary and analytical tools of Peace & Conflict Studies. The first part examines the foundational concepts. Students identify competing definitions of peace and conflict and locate the field within—and beyond—Security Studies. The second part focuses on conflict analysis, using historical and contemporary cases, students compare leading theories and methods in the analysis of conflict causation, typologies of violence, and the dynamics of radicalisation and so-called “intractable” conflicts. The third part prepares students to critically assess the dynamics of peace. Students apply reconciliation frameworks, conflict-transformation models, and religious-peacebuilding approaches to real-world scenarios. The course consists of weekly lectures and seminars, an exam, and a three-part portfolio (policy brief, case analysis, and presentation).

100-level:

• Introduction to Sociology

200-level:

• Modern Sociology
• Social Stratification & Inequality
• Social Movements & Environmental Justice
• Qualitative Research Methodology

300-level:

• New Issues in Contemporary Social Theory
• Social Memory & Historical Justice

Course Descriptions

100-level: Introduction to Sociology
This course focuses on the concepts, theories, and methods of sociology. The course pays particular attention to the socio-historical context in which key authors, such as Marx, Weber, Durkheim, and Du Bois, developed their ideas. Students will be able to identify and formulate sociological problems and questions through different theoretical perspectives. Students will consider the advantages and limitations of a selection of theoretical approaches and methodologies in sociology. The course is not limited to the historical temporality of “classical authors”. Instead, it focuses on social problems related to race, gender, and class across different societies and periods. The problems studied in the course will be chosen in discussion with the students during the first part of the course. We will read original works by key authors and contemporary scholars.

200-level: Modern Sociology​
Building on the insights of the Introduction to Sociology course, this course seeks to understand the trajectory of the discipline of sociology in its historical context, namely “within the culture of imperialism and [in the embodiment] of a cultural response to the colonized world” (Connell 1997: 1519). This course examines some of the leading social theories and ideas that have shaped the debates in sociology in the 20^th century and discusses sociological discourses about modernity in a critical manner.

200-level: Social Stratification & Inequality
Inequality based on race, gender, class, or nationality has existed throughout history. But rather than being fixed, such disparities are shaped by social and political forces — and can be challenged. Around the world, struggles against inequality have sparked some of today’s most powerful social movements. This course helps you unpack how systems of stratification create and sustain these divides. Along the way, you will explore both global patterns and everyday experiences of inequality.

200-level: Social Movements & Environmental Justice
The course, with its focus on social movement theories and concepts, offers a unique opportunity to gain insight into the global environmental justice movement. It does so by examining local and international cases from the Environmental Justice Atlas. It integrates insights from social movement theory and environmental justice through examining real-world case studies. Through this approach, we will explore diverse perspectives, including feminism, anti-colonialism, degrowth, and environmental peacebuilding, encouraging students to reflect on their civic engagement within a larger, interconnected world.

200-level: Qualitative Research Methodology
What lies behind people’s actions, beliefs, and experiences — and how can we make sense of it all? This course offers a hands-on introduction to qualitative research methodology, from designing questions to interpreting meaning. Working in small teams, you’ll carry out your own project while reflecting on the messiness, complexity, and power dynamics of studying the social world.

300-level: New Issues in Contemporary Social Theory
Building on introductory and modern sociology foundations, “New Issues in Contemporary Sociology” immerses students in global debates about civil society. The syllabus unfolds in three theoretical movements: critical tradition, spanning Gramsci’s hegemony to Habermas’s public sphere, supplemented with Global South case material and a documentary; neo-functionalist revisions through Jeffrey Alexander’s civil-sphere theory, examples of civil repair across Latin America, and solidarity performances toward migrants along Europe’s Mediterranean frontier; and decolonial critiques rethinking classical models. Concurrently, each student is part of a research group project with an NGO or other civil-society organization, translating conceptual insights into empirical analysis, collaborative reflection, and stronger sociological argumentation.’

300-level: Social Memory & Historical Justice
Contemporary societies experience different types of violence, often in response to old cycles of violence. This course explores how societies remember past atrocities, massive crimes, and human rights violations. It will examine, through the social science lenses, diverse attempts at dealing with historical injustice and building more just societies. Considering the unique position of UCR in Middelburg, this course will work with the Zeeuws Archive on the transatlantic slave trade and the social movements involved in the struggle for recognition of the legacies of slavery in the Netherlands. It will also examine the institutional responses of museums in dealing with the past. We will have guest speakers from local organiza­tions, a museum visit and debates about contemporary and old problems of historical justice.