Hesburgh Program in Public Service (HESB)

HESB 10010 History of US National Security Policy (3 Credit Hours)

In the aftermath of 9/11, with American troops deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq, and concern about the nuclear ambitions of such nations as North Korea and Iran, "national security" is the phrase that is often discussed and is of crucial importance to informed citizens. This course will examine national security policy: what it is, how it is formulated and executed, and how US national security policies have evolved since the 1890s. Using a variety of readings and films such as Casablanca and Dr. Strangelove, this course will examine US national security policies from the late 1890s through two world wars, the interwar period, the Cold War, the post-Cold War years, and up to the current post-9/11 world. We will identify continuities and departures in historic US national security policies, and consider the roles of policymakers and their critics in a self-governing society.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKHI - Core History

HESB 20000 Keeping The Republic (3 Credit Hours)

Back in 1787, Benjamin Franklin was asked what kind of government the new American Constitution created. He responded, "a republic, if you can keep it." Today, many people are asking whether the republic-and thus democracy in America-as we know it will survive. Trust is low, polarization is high, and longstanding democratic norms are being shattered left and right. Some scholars have even suggested that the US is on the brink of a new civil war. Others, however, argue that things are not as bad as they seem. This course tackles the big questions about current state of democracy in the United States. Is the US actually a democracy? (And is that different than a republic?) If so, how, when, and why did it become a democracy? Will the US remain a democracy? Finally, what role can YOU play in keeping the republic? This course is designed for students of all backgrounds and majors. Whether you have thought a lot or a little about the state of democracy in America, you are welcome in this class.

Corequisites: POLS 22101

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKSS - Core Social Science

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 20001 American Politics (3 Credit Hours)

This course surveys the basic institutions and practices of American politics. The goal of the course is to gain a more systematic understanding of American politics that will help you become better informed and more articulate. The course examines the institutional and constitutional framework of American politics and identifies the key ideas needed to understand politics today. The reading and writing assignments have been designed not only to inform you, but also to help develop your analytical and research skills. The themes of the course include the logic and consequences of the separation of powers, the build-in biases of institutions and procedures, the origins and consequences of political reforms, connections between demographics and politics, and recent changes in American politics in the 21st century. This semester we will emphasize the significance of the upcoming elections. Although the course counts toward the Political Science major and will prepare prospective majors for further study of American politics, its primary aim is to introduce students of all backgrounds and interests to the information, ideas, and academic skills that will enable them to understand American politics better.

Corequisites: POLS 22100

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKSS - Core Social Science

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 20002 Principles of Microeconomics (3 Credit Hours)

An introduction to economics, with particular attention to the pricing mechanism, competitive and monopolistic markets, government regulation of the economy, labor-management relations and programs, income determination and public policy, trade and the international economy.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKSS - Core Social Science

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 20010 Introduction to Public Policy (3 Credit Hours)

Public policy could be fairly described as applied social science. This course will introduce you to the fundamentals of public policy by (1) understanding how policy is crafted, (2) detailing the linkages between public opinion and public policy, (3) appreciating how political institutions may bound policy outcomes, (4) and exploring the ability of special interests, and other parties, to shape policy outcomes all while introducing you to various tools and frameworks for approaching the study of public policy. These tools will draw from an understanding of human behavior (psychology), markets (economics), governments (political science), and organizations (sociology) and introduce you to policy analysis. We will use a case study approach to delve into current public policy controversies including healthcare, higher education finance, and infrastructure. This course acts as the primary introductory course for the Hesburgh Minor in Public Service, but is designed for students of all majors and interests.

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 20211 Rich, Poor, and War (3 Credit Hours)

This course examines the economic dimensions of violence in light of Catholic social teaching and Western political and economic thought. After an in-depth overview of Catholic social teaching in relation to alternative social theories, we bring them to bear on the issue of violence in three social spheres: the domestic (domestic abuse and sexual assault), the economic (sweatshops), and the international political (war). In each case we will examine Catholic responses to the problem.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKDT-Core Devlopment. Theology

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 20212 Intersectionality Health & Medicine (3 Credit Hours)

This course uses an intersectional lens to explore contemporary issues in health and medicine. In this course we will examine how race, gender, sexuality, citizenship, and class shape and are shaped by health agendas, discourses, and practices. Topics covered include: embodiment and health experiences, medicalization and intersectionality, inequalities in health, healing cultures, reproductive justice, social movements, and structural and institutional intersections that affect health and illness.

HESB 20213 US Healthcare in Perspective (3 Credit Hours)

We all recognize that the biomedical sciences change rapidly, but amid the seemingly intractable and interminable debate about healthcare reform in the US, it can be easy to lose sight of the fact that the same is true of the healthcare system. This interdisciplinary course will examine the American healthcare system in historical and comparative perspective. We look at its institutional structure, its professional composition, and its governance at various levels, with the end learning objective being to understand how these facets of the healthcare system shape not only national health outcomes, but also provider and patient experience. The course draws on the history, sociology and anthropology of medicine, and serves as one the core courses in the new Health, Humanities and Society Minor.

HESB 20214 Health, Medicine, and Society (3 Credit Hours)

How is the chronic stress of poverty related to negative health outcomes? Why are infant mortality rates higher among some groups than others? What is the relationship between gender and mental health care? We will address these and several other important questions as we discuss the complex and dynamic intersections of health, medicine, and society. In this class, we also pay particular attention to differential access to health care among various groups in society, changing perceptions of health and medicine over time, and the role of social networks in both health behaviors as well as the diffusion of illness.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKSS - Core Social Science

HESB 20218 Political Theory (3 Credit Hours)

This course is an introduction to political theory as a tradition of discourse and as a way of thinking about politics. The course surveys selected works of political theory and explores some of the recurring themes and questions that political theory addresses, especially the question of justice. This introductory course fulfills the political theory breadth requirement for the political science major.

Corequisites: POLS 22600

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKSP - Core 2nd Philosophy

Enrollment is limited to students with a minor in Hesburgh Program Public Serv.

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 20219 Social Inequality and American Education (3 Credit Hours)

Many have claimed that the American educational system is the "great equalizer." In other words, the educational system gives everyone a chance to prosper in American society regardless of their social origins. In this course, we will explore the validity of this claim. We will consider questions such as: 1) Does our educational system promote social mobility or social reproduction? 2) How has the relationship between race/ethnicity and educational performance changed in the last few decades? 3) How do social class and gender shape the kinds of educational experiences students have? 4) How does educational policy influence the kinds of experiences kids have in school? Can policy reduce inequality?

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKSS - Core Social Science

Enrollment is limited to students with a minor in Hesburgh Program Public Serv.

HESB 20220 Introduction to Social Problems (3 Credit Hours)

The United States is beset by many serious social problems such as educational inequality, extreme poverty alongside unparalleled abundance, crime and deviance, health disparities, mass incarceration, and the persistence of discrimination along lines of race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, class, gender, and sexuality. Course materials are designed to engage student learning, illustrate the distinctive features of the sociological perspective, and to start you thinking sociologically about yourself and the broader world. To think sociologically requires you to recognize that our contemporary world, with its enduring cultural, political, and economic institutions, is as much a social product as we are. In this course, students will learn to take a sociological perspective not only in examining the causes, consequences, and solutions to some of society’s most troubling social problems, but also in taking a critical look at their own perceptions of problems.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKSS - Core Social Science

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 20222 Ethics (3 Credit Hours)

An examination of the relationship between thought and action in light of contemporary and traditional accounts of the nature of ethics.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKSP - Core 2nd Philosophy

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 20223 Ethics of Emerging Weapons Technology (3 Credit Hours)

This course explores the ethical challenges posed by the ongoing revolution in the technology of war. After learning about some general, philosophical approaches to ethical decision making, we will examine a wide range of new weapons technologies, from "smart" bombs, drones, and robots to em (electromagnetic) weapons, cyberwar, and bio-enhancement, asking the question whether the existing framework of Just War Theory and the Law of Armed Conflict (LOAC) are adequate for war as it will be fought in the 21st century.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKSP - Core 2nd Philosophy

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 20225 Marriage and the Family (3 Credit Hours)

The family is often agreed to be the primary and most fundamental of social institutions. It is within this institution that early socialization and care-giving usually take place, and therefore, many of our ideas about the world are closely tied to our families. This course will give students the opportunity to learn about the diverse forms the family has taken over time and across different groups. This knowledge will be useful in examining the ongoing debate about the place of the family in social life. By taking a sociological approach to learning about the family and by gaining knowledge about national family trends and patterns in the U.S., this course will give students the theoretical and empirical tools for understanding how family life is linked to the social structure, to economic, cultural, and historical events and transitions, and to societal factors like race, class, and gender.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKSS - Core Social Science

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 20227 Rebellion Against Authority (3 Credit Hours)

The objective of this course is to explore how and why individuals and social groups rebel against authority, particularly in risky situations when rebellion is likely to incur significant personal and collective costs. This course will investigate the conditions that stoke rebellion against immoral and oppressive power structures, shared conditions, and social norms; how we know when authorities are acting immorally or unjustly; why injustice and illegitimacy only fuel rebellion in some cases and induce conformity in others; the various forms that resistance and rebellion can take; and the factors that shape rebellion's varied forms, such as exit, sabotage, protest, withholding, reclamation, violent struggle, and revolution. The empirical topics covered will address a range of rebellion under tyranny, including but not limited to rebellion during slavery in the United States, rebellion againstNazi power and the Holocaust during World War II, and resistance to colonialism and imperialism.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKSS - Core Social Science

HESB 20228 Inner City America (3 Credit Hours)

Most Americans think of the "inner city" as a place of misery, danger, and despair. Why do most American cities have racially segregated areas dominated by concentrated poverty? What are the lives of inner-city residents like? Why do the legal, political, economic, and educational institutions that serve these communities struggle so mightily to improve the lives of inner-city residents? In this course, we will address all of these questions by viewing all five seasons of The Wire, David Simon's epic tale of life in inner-city Baltimore. Sociological theory and research will serve as powerful tools to help students "decode" The Wire, and better understand the institutional forces that created and perpetuate inner city poverty, violence, and disorder.

HESB 20229 Contemporary Concerns in Medicine (3 Credit Hours)

This seminar examines a number of important topics in medicine and society today, including shared health responsibility, race and class-based inequities, vaccinations, opioid crisis, beginning and end-of-life care, organ donation and body modification, health of imprisoned populations, mental health of healthcare providers, and health in the age of social media. Students in this class will gain an understanding of the ethical, social, and practical dimensions of a variety of healthcare and health policy issues and how providers navigate these dimensions in their care. A key part of the class is the opportunity for students to engage directly with healthcare workers who will serve as guest speakers. The seminar will emphasize writing and journaling, and will directly integrate matters of health care with broader humanistic and social science approaches to health, wellbeing, the body, etc. to deepen students' understandings of what medicine is. This is a core course in the Health, Humanities, and Society minor.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WRIT - Writing Intensive

HESB 20230 Sociology of Gender (3 Credit Hours)

What does it mean to explore gender through a sociological lens? Why does gender inequality persist in contemporary society? What can we do to advocate for social change? In this course we will discuss gender in families, politics, and history. The class will analyze gender at an individual, interactional, and institutional level. How gender intersects with race, class, and sexuality will be the bedrock of our learning together. The course will intellectually challenge students to continue becoming sociological scholars, educated activists, and justice-seeking individuals.

HESB 20415 Meat, Markets, Medicines and Other Moral Issues (3 Credit Hours)

This course introduces students to important concepts, positions, and debates in applied ethics. The course begins with a primer on normative ethics. Students are introduced to two major views in normative ethics: consequentialism and deontology. These positions reflect two contrasting answers to the question as to what makes our actions right or wrong, and what we owe to one another, morally speaking. The remainder of the course tackles real-world ethical issues, and proceeds in four parts. PART I: We engage with questions concerning the ethics of eating meat. Given the huge amounts of animal suffering found in the meat industry, are we morally required to become vegans? PART II: We critically consider the moral problems raised by certain kinds of markets, including the black market in human organs, and the use of surrogacy, and sweatshops. PART III: In the third part of the course, we investigate core issues in the ethics of medicine. One such issue concerns the shape that a state’s organ donation system ought to take; should such systems be opt-in, or opt-out? PART IV: The course concludes by examining matters of justice; for example, issues of global justice raised by widespread poverty, and justice in the distribution of educational opportunities.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKSP - Core 2nd Philosophy

HESB 20440 Political Philosophy (3 Credit Hours)

A critical examination (either historical or topical) of central works and topics in political philosophy. For information on the works and topics covered in a specific section, please consult https://philosophy.nd.edu/courses/2nd-courses-in-philosophy/

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKSP - Core 2nd Philosophy

HESB 20684 Artificial Intelligence and Human Flourishing (3 Credit Hours)

Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming society, impacting how we live as individuals and communities. This course will examine the issues raised by AI from the perspective of the Catholic understanding of the human person, Catholic theological anthropology. The course will particularly focus on how to ensure that AI promotes rather than prevents human flourishing. In the process of exploring those broad concerns, the course will address specific issues related to AI, such as whether AI could be a person, relationships with chatbots, surveillance capitalism, the implications of Catholic Social Teaching for AI, AI in warfare, bias, transhumanism, and the impacts of social media.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKDT-Core Devlopment. Theology

HESB 20851 Faith, Politics, and Spirituality (3 Credit Hours)

This course reflects on how Christians have understood and enacted the synergies and tensions between the commitments that come from their faith and the commitments that arise out of the civil and political communities to which they belong. We look both at important texts through history written by figures such as Augustine of Hippo, Thomas Aquinas, and Bartolomé de las Casas, and also at exemplary figures over the past century who have given courageous witness to the difference that faith can make in difficult political times, including Cesar Chavez, Thomas Merton, Franz Jägerstätter, Dorothy Day, and Oscar Romero.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKDT-Core Devlopment. Theology

HESB 30025 Politics in the Age of Social Media (3 Credit Hours)

The beginning of the internet age started with many feeling optimistic about its potential effects on politics, as in theory, it significantly decreased the cost of information. Today, social media’s impact on our politics is often described as null at best, profoundly negative at worst. In this course, we will discuss how elites, activists, and the public have used social media to engage in political processes, go over how this appears to influence public opinion, and look at what the future holds for social media’s use in politics. Finally, we will ask whether social media, and the internet more broadly, has fundamentally changed politics, or if it is just one more step in a long line of technological advancements used in predictable patterns.

HESB 30031 American Political Behavior (3 Credit Hours)

This class will explore how ordinary citizens in the US interact with and understand the political world. Throughout the course, we will discuss how voters process political information and make political decisions and the implications these decisions have on American democracy. Topics will include voter competence, vote choice, social networks and politics, political information, the impact of personality on politics, racial attitudes, political tolerance and the impact of public opinion on American democracy. Through this class, students can hope to gain an understanding of how public opinion works and how the American voter experiences political life.

HESB 30033 Kennedy and the Rise of the Security State (3 Credit Hours)

Sixty years ago, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, in broad daylight, in the presence of hundreds of witnesses, while traveling in his presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas, Texas. On that day, a historic presidency came to a tragic end. Two days later, the alleged assassin (Lee Harvey Oswald) was murdered by a Dallas nightclub owner (Jack Ruby) while being escorted from his cell by a host of police officers, raising the possibility of a conspiracy. The official investigation into Kennedy's assassination ("The Warren Report") was met with fierce public skepticism, precipitating numerous Congressional investigations that revealed extensive covert operations (both in the US and abroad) conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation that would have been relevant to those charged with investigating the assassination. When combined with an already heightened public skepticism of the assassination itself, these revelations proved to be an enduring catalyst for a slow and steady decline of public trust in government that continues unabated to our present day. In this course, we examine the origins and rise of the "security state" in the United States, its role in significant events in the Kennedy presidency, including the investigation into his assassination, and the extent of its power both before and after Kennedy's presidency. Ultimately, students will be asked whether and to what extent the demands of national security conflict with the constitutional prerogatives of a representative democracy.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WRIT - Writing Intensive

HESB 30034 The Constitution and Criminal Justice (3 Credit Hours)

In this course, we will cover extensive constitutional terrain involved in the area of criminal justice, from investigative steps through trial and sentencing. We will study significant issues in 4th, 5th, 6th and 8th Amendment law while situating them within broader philosophical concerns about justice, Catholic Social Teaching, and questions of race and equity that emerge in various areas of criminal law enforcement and adjudication.

HESB 30091 Washington Program Predeparture (0-0.5 Credit Hours)

This course prepares students for their semester of study in Washington D.C., including their internship search.

HESB 30092 Institutions, Inequality, and American Democracy (3 Credit Hours)

This course explores how economic, social, and political inequality are reflected in various components of the U.S. governing system and how U.S. political institutions shape the distribution of power and economic well being. We will examine the role of Congress, the presidency, courts, separation of powers, veto points, and federalism in reproducing economic and social inequality. We will also examine how economic and racial inequality are embedded in the design of U.S. political institutions. A core ongoing theme of the course is whether and how U.S. democracy can survive and thrive in the face of a variety of enduring inequalities. The course will include a combination of lecture and discussion. Assessment will be based on a series of short written assignments and/or quizzes as well as a substantial final paper with a collaborative and individual option.

HESB 30101 Stats Sociological Research (3 Credit Hours)

We frequently encounter statements or claims based on statistics, such as: "Women earn less than men," "The American population is becoming more racially and ethnically diverse," or "Married people are healthier than unmarried people." On what information are these statements based? What kinds of evidence support or refute such claims? How can we assess their accuracy? This course will show students how to answer these sorts of questions by interpreting and critically evaluating statistics commonly used in the analysis of social science data. Hands-on data analysis and interpretation are an important part of the course. You will gain the skills to conduct quantitative data analysis using a statistical software package. You should finish the course with the ability to interpret, question, and discuss statistics accurately and with an understanding of which type of statistic is appropriate for different kinds of data and research questions. No prior statistical knowledge is required. This course is ideal for students interested in the social and/or life sciences as well as business and/or law. Students are strongly encourage to take the optional course SOC 31903, "Tutorial for SOC Statistics".

Corequisites: SOC 31903

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKQR- Core Quantitat Reasoning

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 30103 Sustainable America (3 Credit Hours)

This CAD course looks back to 1850, when urban industrial America began, and looks forward to 2050, when Notre Dame promises to be carbon neutral, to critically engage competing visions of individual, communal, and ecological flourishing. It focuses on economic, racial, and environmental justice as students explore how US political culture, the discipline of American Studies, and Catholic social teaching have clashed and converged and Americans proposed varying solutions to poverty, racism, and environmental degradation. After an introduction to American Studies, we turn to visions of the good life in foundational US political documents (the Declaration, the Constitution, and Inaugural Addresses) and in Catholic tradition (scriptural passages, theological essays, and papal encyclicals, from Rerum Novarum to Laudato Si'). Then the course's three main sections consider, in turn, economic equity, racial justice, and environmental restoration. Each section includes a "faith in action" case study and concludes with an "integrative essay" that puts Catholic social teaching into conversation with American Studies scholarship. In the final class session, Learning Groups present their synthesis of the course material, and, during the exam period, each student submits a final integrative essay that focuses on one of the issues—poverty, racism, or environmental degradation—and identifies what American Studies might learn from the Catholic Tradition and what the Catholic Tradition might learn from American Studies.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKCD-Core Cathol & Disciplines, WKHI - Core History

HESB 30104 Statistics for Economics (4 Credit Hours)

This course seeks to introduce the student to the principles of probability and statistical theory appropriate for the study of economics. The emphasis of the course will be on hypothesis testing and regression analysis.

Prerequisites: ECON 10010 or ECON 10091 or ECON 20010 or ECON 10011 or ECON 20011

Corequisites: ECON 32340

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKQR- Core Quantitat Reasoning

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 30110 The Politics of Polarization (3 Credit Hours)

Political polarization in American politics has reached a new level of contentiousness in the last two to three decades. The media tells us members of the American public are balkanized into red and blue states, whose respective residents clash along partisan lines during every national election. Headlines proclaim we are a nation divided, the moderate middle is a thing of the past, and there is no remedy in sight. In this course, we will investigate the breadth and depth of political polarization in the United States among politicians, activists, and the public, as well as its social, partisan, and political origins. We will also consider the consequences of political polarization for American democracy, including its impact on electoral politics, democratic representation, and public policy.

HESB 30111 Election 2024 (3 Credit Hours)

In this class, we will examine the 2024 presidential election—in real time—and then consider its effects on America's political future. Presidential elections provide the biggest and most important stage for the drama of American democracy, and in 2024 the future of our democracy will be on the ballot. For the first time since 1956, we will have the same two major-party presidential candidates who ran in the last election. However, unlike 1956, which was a rather amicable contest between two political centrists, the 2024 presidential election comes on the heels of one of the two candidates participating in a concerted effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election and each political party depicting the other as a fundamental threat to American values. We will address all of this, from the "invisible primary" in 2022 and 2023, to the actual primaries and caucuses, the conventions, and the fall campaign and election. It does not matter whether you already know a lot or a little about presidential politics; if you want a front-row seat to the 2024 presidential election, this is the class for you.

HESB 30112 Race, Power and Political Participation (3 Credit Hours)

Despite, or perhaps because of the history of enslavement, exclusion, and continued discrimination against racial and ethnic minorities in the United States, many Americans have organized and mobilized in search of a more perfect union. These struggles can be seen within the Civil Rights Movement, Black Panther Party, Chicano Student Movement, American Indian Movement, Immigrant Rights Movement, and the recent Black Lives Matter protests. Through analysis of political movements and moments in American history, this course will examine the concept of political power, the avenues often excluded groups take to participate in politics, and what it means for those groups to successfully transform American democracy. Along the way we will read works from authors such as the American Founders, W.E.B. Du Bois, Huey P. Newton, G. William Domhoff, Frances Fox Piven, James Baldwin, and others.

HESB 30113 Migrants and Mobility in the Age of Mass Movement (3 Credit Hours)

This course examines the origins and development of contemporary opinions and policies concerning migrations and migrants. It does so by looking backward to the age when transoceanic mobility became more frequent and increasingly more accessible before moving forward to our own times. It is the central claim of this course that it is impossible to understand what drives policy today without first surveying the changing ideas of migration and the movement of people over time. It will therefore take students through the history of migration in the modern world, as well as studying the migrant journey, connections to home, the process and difficulties of assimilation and community creation, and the problems or opportunities that could arise for migrants from characteristics like race, religion, ethnicity, or language. Also considered will be the complex relationship between colonization and migration. In the process, Migrants and Mobility will also examine how different societies place value judgments upon migrants and analyze how and why migration/migrants have been categorized as “good” or “bad” over time. Students will also encounter and consider the effects of growing urbanization and industrialization, changing demography and global trade patterns, and, more recently, the impact of climate change. Migrants and Mobility will be primarily seminar based, placing a premium on participation and analytical discussion.

Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Hesburgh Program Public Serv.

HESB 30156 Nationalism(s): Ideology, Identity, and Reality (3 Credit Hours)

Humans are social creatures, dwelling in “imagined communities” of various forms across the world. Since the French Revolution, philosophers, politicians, and the politics of the masses have increasingly chosen “the nation” as the form their communities take. But what is nationalism? What is the nation-state? As the ideology behind many democracies, nationalism has waxed and waned in popularity at various times; for example, it reached new heights in mid-nineteenth century Italy, with Woodrow Wilson’s conceptualization of self-determination (1918), in Nazi Germany, and in our own contemporary political arena. The concept of the nation appears ever popular, yet its form and meaning shift over time and geographically. This course explores what nationalism is and to whom, moving from the French Revolution to contemporary politics, asking students fundamental questions about the relationship between citizens, democracy, governance, and the rule of law. The course will also challenge students to explore fundamental questions about identity, belonging, and the power of nationalism as an ideology in creating politically-motivated communities, sometimes in cooperation with other ideologies, such as religions. While the course approaches these topics first from a history of ideas and political philosophy approach, the ideas will meet the masses in global case studies that reveal the reality of nationalism as lived by citizens across time and place. Students will explore these questions primarily through reading-based seminar discussions, and their own writing and research to meet in three interdisciplinary ways of knowing: political philosophy, writing, and historical inquiry.

HESB 30159 Citizens and Democracy (3 Credit Hours)

Democracies strive to hold governments accountable to their citizens. But how, in practice, can citizens influence political outcomes? And under what conditions do citizens help sustain or undermine democracy? This course explores the role of public opinion, electoral behavior, and elite responsiveness in shaping democratic accountability. In the first half, we examine how voters' preferences and behaviors influence political elites, drawing on comparative research and case studies from Europe, Latin America, and the United States. In the second half, we turn to the citizen-side of democratic stability: What kinds of attitudes and forms of engagement foster democratic resilience? What makes citizens withdraw support from, or remain loyal to, anti-democratic leaders? Throughout the class, students will engage with canonical and recent advances in social science, public-facing books and newspaper articles, as well as practitioners.

HESB 30206 The Politics of the United Nations (3 Credit Hours)

This course analyzes the structure, function, and purpose of the United Nations in global politics using IR theory and quantitative research. This course includes consideration of notable past and current events, emerging international issues, and the roles of international diplomacy and peacekeeping for meeting 21st Century challenges to global governance.

HESB 30210 US National Security Policymaking (3 Credit Hours)

This course serves as a gateway for subsequent coursework in international security. It is a required course in the Notre Dame International Security Center's undergraduate certificate program requirements, but it is also appropriate for, and open to, any Notre Dame students interested in U.S. national security policymaking. It will begin with an account of the history and development of U.S. national security policy from the Founding through the present. Next, it examines the current state of the primary institutions involved in U.S. national security policymaking. Finally, it explores the tools and instruments of military statecraft as applied by the United States. The course culminates with a simulation exercise in which students will role-play key participants in the U.S. national security policymaking process. At a minimum, that students will gain from it the analytical tools, historical knowledge, and current-events background to become more informed citizens, particularly with respect to important national debates about when and how our country should use military force. At a maximum, the course may lead some students to become interested enough in the topic to pursue a career in either the practice or the study of U.S. national security policy. The current draft version of the syllabus is posted at https://www3.nd.edu/~dlindley/handouts/ND_NDISC_cert_gateway_syl.pdf.

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 30261 Catholicism and Politics (3 Credit Hours)

Catholicism and Politics poses the question, both simple and complex: How ought Catholics to think about the political order and political issues within it? The first part of the course will survey major responses to this question drawn from Church history: the early church, the medieval church, and the modern church. The second part applies these models to contemporary issues ranging among war, intervention, globalization, abortion, the death penalty, religious freedom, gender issues, and economic development. The course culminates in "Vatican III," where teams of students, representing church factions, gather to discover church teachings on selected controversial political issues.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKCD-Core Cathol & Disciplines

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 30281 The Politics of Poverty in the United States (3 Credit Hours)

This course examines the contemporary and historical politics of poverty in the United States. How policy and political actors frame both the causes of poverty and wealth, and the capabilities and rights of those experiencing poverty has led to varying policy responses throughout history. The assumptions underlying these debates and policies not only have long lineages, but also have intended and unintended consequences on those experiencing or near poverty. The readings and class discussion will bring together a theoretical understanding of the scholarly debates surrounding poverty and the empirical consequences of policies emanating from those debates. These policies include the spheres of cash assistance and the labor market, healthcare, food assistance, housing, family and childcare, tax, and broader economic configurations. We will focus as well on the actors and political processes (legislative, administrative, and judicial) at the heart of these efforts. By extension, this course will deepen the students' understandings of the role of ideologies, individuals, and institutions in shaping and responding to problems in our society.

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 30282 Social Dimension of Biofilms (3 Credit Hours)

This course will discuss how specific populations are more vulnerable to biofilm-related infections. We will explore how geographic and socioeconomic factors influence the prevalence and management of these infections. The course will highlight the importance of social awareness, education, and public health initiatives in preventing and managing infections. The course will also introduce novel perspectives on wastewater treatment systems that promote biofilm growth and offer increased energy efficiency, making them suitable for remote areas with limited electricity and resources. We will have an open discussion about how to promote environmental justice initiatives.

HESB 30285 Criminal Justice and Human Rights (3 Credit Hours)

This course will examine the comparative institutional design of criminal justice institutions, such as the police, prosecution offices, and the judiciary, and how those institutions are variedly implemented worldwide, with a particular focus on the Global South. We will explore how those institutions deal with issues such as large-scale criminal violence, the militarization of public safety, or femicides. Additionally, the course will critically analyze how those institutions affect the fulfillment of human rights, such as the prohibition of torture, the right of access to justice for victims, or the prohibition of discrimination. We will study how international human rights and humanitarian law are used to deal with the obstacles and challenges of accessing justice amongst impunity. Last, we will look at forms of criminality management beyond the regular criminal justice system, such as restorative justice, indigenous legal systems, and transitional justice.

HESB 30286 American Political & Constitutional Thought (3 Credit Hours)

In "American Political & Constitutional Thought," which serves as the gateway course for the Constitutional Studies minor, we shall study fundamental texts of the American constitutional and political tradition in an attempt to answer questions such as: What is the purpose of government? What is the meaning of political equality? What is political liberty and how is it best secured? Since we lack the time for a comprehensive survey of American political thinkers, we shall examine select statesmen and critical historical periods, focusing on the Founding era, Lincoln and the slavery crisis, and the Progressive era and New Deal.

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 30300 Immigration Politics & Policy (3 Credit Hours)

Immigration is an issue of increasing importance in the United States. Few issues have generated as much debate and emotion as the immigration policy. The goal of this course is to provide students with an overview of the critical normative and academic questions in political science regarding immigration in the U.S. What factors have affected contemporary and historical immigration policy in the United States? In particular how have economics, demographics, politics, religion, culture, environmental concerns, and ethnic and nationalist interests impacted the nature of immigration politics and policy? How have groups leveraged political influence for desired immigration policy outcomes? We will study the impact of worldwide immigration and population trends on the formulation of American policy. The emphasis will be on an academic understanding of how immigration policy has been affected by domestic and international demographic and political factors

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 30301 U.S. Foreign Policy (3 Credit Hours)

The United States is the most powerful state in the world today. Its actions are important not just for US citizens, but they also affect whether others go to war, whether they will win their wars, whether they receive economic aid, whether they will go broke, or whether they will starve. What determines US foreign policy? What is the national interest? When do we go to war? Would you send US soldiers into war? If so, into which wars and for what reasons? How do our economic policies affect others? Does trade help or hurt the US economy and its citizens? We first study several theories about foreign policy. We then examine the US foreign policy process, including the President, Congress, the bureaucracy, the media, and public opinion. To see how this all works, we turn to the history of US foreign policy, from Washington's farewell address through the World Wars and the Cold War to the Gulf War. We then study several major issue areas, including weapons of mass destruction, trade and economics, and the environment. Finally, we develop and debate forecasts and strategies for the future.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKSS - Core Social Science

Enrollment is limited to students with a minor in Hesburgh Program Public Serv.

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 30302 Rethinking Crime and Justice: Explorations from the Inside Out (3 Credit Hours)

This course introduces some of the issues behind recent calls to reform the US criminal legal system, including mass incarceration and supervision, racial disproportionality, and the challenges of "reentry." But the heart of the course is our exploration of deeper concerns, including why our criminal legal system relies on punishment, how we might cultivate other forms of justice, and what responsibility we have for the systems that operate in our names. As part of the national Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program, the course involves inside students (people incarcerated at the Westville Correctional Facility in Westville, IN) and outside students (people enrolled at Notre Dame, St. Marys, or Holy Cross) learning with and from one another and breaking new ground together. Most weeks of the semester, outside students will travel to Westville for class sessions with the inside students. All students are responsible for the same reading and writing assignments, and participate together in class activities and discussions. Together, we will examine myths and realities related to crime and to punishment, explore the effects of current criminal legal policies, and develop ideas for responding more effectively to harm and violence in our communities. Apply online via the CSC website: socialconcerns.nd.edu.

HESB 30303 Social Entrepreneurship (3 Credit Hours)

Some of the most dynamic and successful businesses are aspiring to a "double" or "triple bottom line": profitability, beneficial human impact, and environmental sustainability. This course exposes students to a new and growing trend in leadership, venture creation, product design, and service delivery which uses the basic entrepreneurial template to transform the landscape of both for-profit and not-for-profit ventures.

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 30304 Public Economics (3 Credit Hours)

This course examines the role of the government as defined by economic theory in the creation of public policy. Under ideal market conditions, competition promotes economic efficiency, leaving little to no role for the government with the possible of exception of policy to alter the distribution of income. Nevertheless, in many cases markets fail and government intervention may be necessary. The course will focus on concepts from microeconomics such as externalities, public goods, merit goods, asymmetric information, and income redistribution to understand how governments may construct policies to address economic problems and how government interventions will in turn affect the economy and distribution of well being.

Prerequisites: (ECON 30010 or FIN 30210 or FIN 34210) and ECON 30331

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 30307 Healthcare and the Poor (3 Credit Hours)

The relationship between health and poverty is complex and challenging. The inability of the poor to maintain adequate nutrition, shelter and have access to preventative medical care can contribute to their poor health status. But even if one isn't poor, one illness or hospitalization can test their ability to meet both their ability to meet the financial burden of their medical care as well as their other needs. In either case, individuals have to face difficult choices between their health and other material needs. This course examines the consequences of the health risks the poor face and the difficulties that they have in obtaining medical care whether they are uninsured, seek "charitable" care, or utilize public programs such as Medicaid. The course will also examine the impact of the Affordable Care Act that will require all individuals to have at least a minimal level of health care coverage.

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 30311 Global Environmental Politics (3 Credit Hours)

Global environmental politics is a field of political science that examines how political processes shape environmental outcomes and vice versa. On the one hand, it is concerned with issues such as climate change, biodiversity loss, deforestation, and natural resource use. On the other hand, it studies things like political institutions, social movements, party systems, and state-business relations. All the while, it places these ideas in a cross-national, global perspective. Throughout this course, students will grapple with both foundational and emerging questions in the study of global environmental politics. Why do some governments have stronger environmental policies than others? When do interest groups support or oppose different forms of environmental regulation? What role do social movements play in supporting diverse coalitions of environmental interests? How do voters form and express preferences for or against environmental action?

HESB 30313 The Geopolitics of Energy (3 Credit Hours)

This course examines how oil and natural gas have shaped international relations from the early twentieth century to the present, with a particular focus on conflict. It begins by introducing students to the fundamentals of global energy production, consumption and trade, and then briefly surveys the political history of oil as it relates to the great powers. The course then moves on to contemporary issues, including the political significance of "fracking" technology, the role of the United States in protecting Persian Gulf oil, and the extent to which Russia's dominant natural gas position might translate into political influence in Europe. These and other topics are examined through numerous theoretical lenses, including theories of resource conflict, economic interdependence, political coercion, and petro-aggression.

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 30314 Economics of Education (3 Credit Hours)

This course combines economic theory and methods to study the production and delivery of education. We will apply economic principles to understand the rationale for particular education approaches, policies, and programs and use an economic lens to explore their potential impact. We will also learn about applying analytic tools to examine the effects of schooling as well as specific education interventions and reforms. Students will read empirical research and will practice being critical consumers of policy arguments and research findings. They will also complete problem sets and writing assignments with the goals of 1) using economic principles to inform policy debates about education investments, 2) employing evidence to evaluate the impact of education policies and programs, and 3) developing skills in conducting original research on education. Substantive topics will span early childhood education, K-12 schooling, and higher education with a focus on the role of incentives, prices, and markets throughout. The course will explore teacher labor markets and teacher effectiveness, school choice, and accountability, and will include discussion of international contexts.

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 30316 Political Economy of Inequality (3 Credit Hours)

In the last several decades, in many countries around the world - including countries such as the United States, UK and India - inequality has been found to have increased. Although this is not true for every country, it has attracted a great deal of attention among scholars and the media. This course systematically examines the economics and politics of inequality. It will first examine different concepts of inequality among people and countries, and discuss ways of measuring inequality. It will then examine trends in inequality over time. It will examine whether an increase in inequality is a Bad Thing and, if so, why? Most of the course will be devoted to examining the determinants of inequality in order to explain changes in it, and the implications of inequality for the economy, politics and for society.

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 30321 Environmental Economics & Policy (3 Credit Hours)

An introduction to the economics of the environment and natural resources. Topics include externalities, market failure, cost-benefit and contingent valuation analyses, climate change, and public policies related to environmental and natural resources.

Prerequisites: ECON 10010 or ECON 10091 or ECON 10011 or ECON 20010 or ECON 20011 and ECON 10020 or ECON 10092 or ECON 20020

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 30323 Political Polarization (3 Credit Hours)

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 30328 Sexual Morality & the Constitution (3 Credit Hours)

The "sexual revolution" began in the Western democracies sometime between the 1920s and the 1970s. This revolution saw great changes regarding the social acceptability of fornication, divorce, contraception, pornography, abortion, homosexual sex, and gay marriage. Free-market capitalism has been a major factor in this development due to its inventions, like electronic entertainment and the pill, destruction of the family as a self-sustaining economic unit (drawing men and women out of the family farm and the home shop and into the factories and offices of urban centers), and its tendency to enhance economic growth by promoting self-indulgence and weakening moral, religious, and aesthetic restraints on consumption and production. American courts played a significant role in this development by modifying constitutional provisions originally used to protect property rights and pursue equal protection for racial minorities. Popular resentment of religious imposition via the criminal law has also been a factor since opposition to sexual liberation has come mainly from religious communities. This course surveys the mutual influence of American constitutional law and the sexual revolution in America.

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 30338 Latinos in U.S. Politics (3 Credit Hours)

The U.S. Census estimates there are over 55 million Latinos living in the U.S. today; and by 2060, that number is expected to double. In this course, we will explore the implications of these demographic trends for U.S. politics - past and present. Divided into three main sections, the course is designed to provide students with a broad overview of Latinos in American hespolitics. Beginning with the question of who counts as "Latino," the first section addresses the history of Latino sub-groups in the United States, Latino identity, and shifts in the demographics of the U.S. Latino population over time. In the second section, we will focus on Latino political behavior - from public opinion to protest, voting to campaigning for elected office. In the third section, we will explore the consequences of political institutions. Here, we will explore the development of U.S. immigration policy and the militarization of immigration law enforcement, with particular focus on how the general public, activists, and policymakers are responding to these institutional processes.

HESB 30340 The American Presidency (3 Credit Hours)

This course provides a political science perspective on the American presidency, covering the design elements of the office, fundamental features of presidential elections, the power of the presidency, and more.

HESB 30341 The History of American Feminist Thought (3 Credit Hours)

This course traces American feminism from the margins of democratic thought in the eighteenth century to the center of modern political discourse and culture. Drawing on primary sources and recent scholarly work, we will investigate how the goals and meaning of feminism have changed over time, as well as how the boundaries drawn around who could and could not claim the title of "feminist" have shifted. We will approach feminism as an argument--not a received truth--responsive to contemporary historical developments and marked by divisions of race, class, sexual orientation, age, and religion. Course readings are organized around major turning points in the American feminist movement and chart significant continuities and contradictions that have animated each new wave, including questions of gender difference, economic dependence, reproductive rights, marriage, subjectivity, and citizenship.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKHI - Core History

HESB 30342 US in the Reagan Years (3 Credit Hours)

From his national television appearance in support of the doomed Goldwater presidential campaign in 1964 through his failed presidential runs in 1968 and 1976 and his presidency (1981-89) on to the official dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ronald Reagan played a significant role in, and in reaction to, major developments in American politics, foreign policy, and society. This class will consider the turbulence and protest movements of the 1960s; the conservative backlash; the individualism of the Me Decade and beyond; foreign policy issues including Vietnam, d'tente, the "second Cold War," and the end of the Cold War; and national political disputes over issues like taxes, abortion, foreign policy and nuclear weapons.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKHI - Core History

HESB 30343 Economics of Immigration (3 Credit Hours)

This course examines why some individuals decide to become immigrants through a cost benefit analysis, viewing migration as an investment in human capital. It addresses the selection among immigrants and how they integrate and assimilate in the destination country. Primary focus is given to the labor market, wages in particular, both of immigrants and of natives in the host country. A distinction is made between economic migrants and refugees and discrimination in its varied forms is also studied. The fiscal impact of immigration is discussed along with immigration policy in a global context. (Recommended Econ 10020/20020 Principles of Macroeconomics)

Prerequisites: (ECON 10010 or ECON 10011 or ECON 20010 or ECON 10091 or ECON 20011) and (ECON 10020 (may be taken concurrently) or ECON 20020 (may be taken concurrently) or FIN 30220 (may be taken concurrently) or ECON 10092 (may be taken concurrently) or ECON 14022 (may be taken concurrently) or ECON 24022 (may be taken concurrently))

HESB 30348 Philanthropy & the Common Good (3 Credit Hours)

This course will explore the roots of philanthropy in American society, the role philanthropy plays within the modern economy, and how philanthropic activity helps us create a better world and strive for the common good. The key component of the course requires students to act as a Board of Directors and use thoughtful analysis to award real grants to deserving nonprofits (a sum up to $50,000). Students are expected to come to each class prepared to discuss course readings, and to offer ideas and suggestions regarding the grant making process. Each student is also expected to complete two site visits to nonprofit organizations outside of normal class hours. Students will nominate nonprofits for awards and the class will systematically discuss, analyze, and ultimately vote to award the grants. Students interested in this course who are unable to register through their major/minor should contact the instructor for permission to register.

HESB 30349 Gender at Work in US History (3 Credit Hours)

Gender has been fundamental to the organization of nearly all human societies, but what gender has meant in terms of identity, opportunity, and economic activity has varied widely across time and space. This course will explore gender at work in US history, taking a chronological approach to show gender's evolution and ongoing intersections with class, race, age, religion, region, and sexuality from 1776 to the near present. The term "gender at work" expresses a double meaning here - first, it connotes that this is a labor history course, with an emphasis on the ways gender has operated at the workplace; second, it suggests the ubiquity of gender in shaping Americans' lives, experiences, and imaginations not only at the workplace, but also in formal politics, informal communities, and every space in between. By exploring the ways gender has been both omnipresent and contingent throughout US history, students should better understand - and perhaps act upon - seemingly intractable contemporary conundrums involving questions of equal opportunity and pay, household division of labor, work-life balance, and the proper relationships among employers, workers, households, and government.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKHI - Core History

HESB 30352 Reconciliation (3 Credit Hours)

Reconciliation is increasingly becoming a popular notion in our time, finding its way into the political rhetoric and public policy of many governments. South Africa and its apparently successful Truth and Reconciliation Commission have captured the imagination of many post conflict societies (including nations like Rwanda, Bosnia, Northern Ireland and communities in the United States as they debate the merits and possibility of similar "reconciliation" efforts in their communities. Interest in reconciliation in the academic world has also increased, with scholarship on the topic and with institutions setting up "reconciliation studies" as a specialization sub field in the growing world of peace studies. It is perhaps not surprising that reconciliation has become a popular buzz world. The end of the cold war did not usher in a new world order of peace that many had hoped for. On the contrary, war, conflict and violence seem to be on the rise in a world marked by growing polarization between religious, ethnic and national identities. In the midst of such a fragmented and broken world, reconciliation is a rallying cry for some hope of healing, conflict resolution and solidarity among peoples. However, even as reconciliation has become popular, its meaning has remained vague, and its theological connections even more unclear. What difference if any does one's Christian faith make in the way one understands or pursues reconciliation? What's the Christian understanding of reconciliation anyway? What is the relation between reconciliation with God, and reconciliation in its social, political and economic dimensions? Why has Catholic discussions on reconciliation so much focused on "the sacrament of reconciliation" and not paid as much attention to the notion of social reconciliation? The course seeks to answer these and similar questions.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKDT-Core Devlopment. Theology

HESB 30353 Constitutional Law: Powers & Institutions (3 Credit Hours)

This course will examine constitutional law and interpretation in the United States, focusing on the division of powers and the authority of key institutions under the Constitution. We will consider the Court's interpretation of the scope of power granted to Congress, the executive branch, and the federal judiciary, in addition to the powers reserved to the states. We will examine the ways in which constitutional interpretation of powers and authority has changed over time and gain an understanding of where the Court stands on these issues today. In each section we will discuss pivotal moments in interpretation, such as congressional power after the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment, the expansion of the commerce power during the New Deal, and the resurgence of state powers during the Rehnquist Court's federalism revolution. We will also deal with cases currently before the Court, including those that involve the Affordable Care Act, and cases that will likely come before the Court, such as challenges to President Obama's executive changes to immigration policy. This approach will help students to consider how political factors and the changing membership of the Court affect constitutional interpretation

HESB 30354 Race & Ethnicity in the United States: Social Constructs with Real World Consequences (3 Credit Hours)

We are living through a watershed moment in United States history. Structural racism is at the forefront of the national discourse. Yet, the threat that racism holds on our nation's most cherished ideals of democracy and justice is hardly new. Generations of activists, scholars, and everyday people have fought and persevered to bring about social, cultural, and policy change. This course engages deeply with topics relevant to the national discourse on racial and ethnic relations in the U.S. The first part of the course examines key concepts, focusing on the social construction of race and ethnicity, prejudice, and discrimination. The second part reviews the historical experiences of Native Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, and African Americans. The third and final part of the course centers on four critical issues that are especially relevant in 2020: (1) immigration; (2) political disenfranchisement; (3) racial and ethnic disparities in health; and (4) racism in the criminal justice system.

HESB 30356 US State Government & Politics (3 Credit Hours)

Although the majority of policymaking happens at the state level, most Americans know more about federal politics. This class will examine the political processes of subnational governments in the U.S. by focusing on the offices (such as governors & state legislators) and intervening institutions (e.g. campaigns & elections, interest groups, and direct democracy) of politics in state-level governments. This class will be structured to familiarize students with the unique institutions of American states, as well as understand the ways in which the states differ from each other and the federal government. At the end of the semester, students will write a paper applying information from the course to a state of their choice.

HESB 30359 Women's Suffrage: Pol & Power (3 Credit Hours)

In 2020, the United States is commemorating the centennial of the 19th Amendment, which prohibited the denial of voting rights on the basis of sex. In this course, we will take the occasion of the centennial to explore the place of women's suffrage in the development of American democracy and the political empowerment of women. We will examine such topics as the meaning of citizenship, the place of voting in the American democratic system, the woman suffrage movement and other feminist movements, the anti-suffrage movement and other conservative movements, and the participation of women in various political roles, including as candidates and office-holders. We will approach these topics with an explicitly intersectional lens, exploring the ways in which gender, race/ethnicity, and class, in particular, shape politics and power in the United States. Students in this course will also participate in a DPAC Learning Beyond the Classics film course (4-6 weeks) on women's suffrage.

HESB 30360 Election 2020 (3 Credit Hours)

In this class, we will examine the 2020 presidential election - in real time - and then consider its effects on America's political future. Presidential elections provide the biggest and most important stage for the drama of American democracy. The 2020 version of this democratic drama promises to be one of the most intriguing and consequential in American history. For the first time, a presidential impeachment process has played out in an election year. Meanwhile, that same impeached president is seeking reelection, a Democratic field of unprecedented size and diversity is vying for that party's presidential nomination, and Americans continue to experience the political turmoil produced by the ever-increasing polarization of our two major parties. We will address all of this - from the "invisible primary" in 2018 and 2019, to the actual primaries and caucuses, the conventions, and the fall campaign and election. It does not matter whether you already know a lot or a little about presidential politics; if you want a front-row seat to the 2020 presidential election, this is the class for you.

HESB 30361 The Politics of Demographic Change (3 Credit Hours)

As the United States rapidly undergoes changes to its demographic landscape, politics will inevitably change as well. This course addresses these potential implications by investigating foundational work in population change and politics. Students who take this course will take a deep dive into how past, present and future changes to the racial, ethnic and cultural landscape of the U.S. can alter politics. We will address a variety of ideas: whether the increasing size of racial minority groups promotes harmony or conflict; the role of emotion in individual reactions to demographic change; the coming "majority-minority" flip, where whites are projected to become a minority; and how different causes (e.g. immigration, changing birth rates) of racial and ethnic demographic change affects politics in different ways.

HESB 30362 International and Comparative Education Policy (3 Credit Hours)

This course will provide students with an overview of the current concepts, issues and trends associated with comparative and international education, paying particular attention to issues of education policy. Roughly half the course will focus on education and integral human development and international economic development, concerned with the trends, issues, and opportunities facing lower-income country contexts in terms of education policy and practice. This will cover issues such as funding policy, the role of international actors, global policy priorities, and effective programs and policies. The second half of the course will look more broadly at salient issues from comparative education, drawing from cross national studies and country case studies of notable policies and reforms in education systems globally.

HESB 30363 Urban Politics and the Conflicts of Government (3 Credit Hours)

In this course, the study of Urban Politics will be examined through the lens of the institutions, issues, and individuals that make up these substate governments. Using historical and contemporary examples throughout the history of city governments in the United States, we gain a greater understanding of municipal government and its role within the larger context of state and national governments. City governance, though, is uniquely impacted by differences in representation, administration, and the role of political influence. Issues of concern, ranging from economic growth and resource allocation, racial conflict, sustainability, and others, are ever more pronounced in the context of city governance. The study of Urban Politics adds a greater context necessary in understanding the complexities of American Politics.

HESB 30364 Political Theory and the Environment (3 Credit Hours)

In this course, we will examine the political, moral, and existential considerations associated with climate change and environmentalism, such as: collective responsibility, intergenerational obligation, the limitations of national sovereignty, wealth distribution, connections between politics and nature, and environmental justice. Students will also develop the skills to critically assess the discourse surrounding political responses to climate change. Readings will be drawn from canonical political thought as well as contemporary sources.

HESB 30365 Institutions, Politics, and Policy (3 Credit Hours)

Policy can be seen as an output of political institutions and an output of the political process. Scholarship has also begun to identify where policies may impact institutional design and politics. This class will examine the relationship between political institutions, linking institutions such as the media, religion, and special interest groups, elite and mass politics, and public policy. We will engage in questions dealing with the impact of institutional design on policy outcomes, how electoral law shapes representation, how public opinion may or may not shape policy outputs, and the general responsiveness of elites to citizenship demand. From there we will have a conversation about measuring the quality of democracy.

HESB 30366 Economics of Housing (3 Credit Hours)

An introduction to the economics of housing, with particular attention to issues of homelessness and the low-income housing market. Topics includes economic models of homelessness, housing subsidies and regulations, housing market filtering, concentrated poverty and neighborhoods effects, and public policy responses to housing problems.

HESB 30367 Civil Rights in America (3 Credit Hours)

This course explores the Black Freedom Struggle from the Civil Rights Movement to Black Power and into Black Lives Matter. How have African Americans mobilized to secure recognition of human dignity from the American Political system? How did the Freedom Struggle shape American culture? By studying the Civil Rights Movement in America, this class opens up conversation on the central issues of American history: race, racism, rights, and freedom.

HESB 30368 Protest: American Cultures of Dissent (3 Credit Hours)

What roles do protest and dissent play in the making of America? Focusing especially on cultures of dissent including activist art, civil disobedience, radical action, and various cultures of struggle, dissent, and refusal, this course examines the practices, politics, technologies, and theories guiding America's foundational history of protest. Class includes lectures, discussion, essay assignments, and field trips.

HESB 30369 Environment, Food, & Society (3 Credit Hours)

This course is an introduction to environmental sociology, the sociology of food, and Catholic social teachings on creation, solidarity, human dignity and rights, and social justice as they relate to the environment and food issues. The course has two directly linked central purposes. One is to learn descriptive and analytical sociological perspectives on environmental and food issues, as well as related matters of agriculture, globalization, consumerism, rural America, health, social movements, and human futures. A second purpose is to learn Catholic social teachings on the environment and food issues, in order to deepen our capacity to reflect normatively from a particular moral perspective about crucial social problems. Achieving these two purposes will require us recurrently to engage the sociological and the Catholic perspectives and contributions in mutually informative and critical conversation. This is fundamentally a sociology course, but one in which Catholic social ethics stand front and center. In other words, this course will engage in multiple, ongoing exercises of "reflexivity," engaging the sociological imagination, issues of environment and food, and Catholic social teachings - to consider what possible fruitful understandings each may provide for and about the others. Students need not be Catholic (or even religious) to benefit from this course, but everyone must be open to learning about and reflecting upon Catholic ethical teachings as they relate to the environment and food. This course will explore a number of interconnected substantive issues, descriptively, analytically, and normatively. These will include technological development, energy consumption, global warming/climate change, neoliberal capitalism, interests of nation states, corporate power, the role of mass media, population dynamics, the maldistribution of wealth, political decision-making, the status of science, ocean environments, extreme weather, sustainable development, environmentalist movements, agribusiness, nutrition, food supply systems, hunger and obesity, organics, fair trade, localism, agrarianism, human dignity, the common good, the option for the poor, the universal destiny of the earth's goods, creation care, and the moral goods of solidarity, subsidiarity, and participation, among other relevant topics.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKCD-Core Cathol & Disciplines

HESB 30370 Contemporary Political Thought (3 Credit Hours)

A survey of some of the most influential political thinkers of the late 19th and 20th century. Topics include secularization, bureaucratization, moral pluralism, individual freedom and the place of politics in contemporary life. Readings from Mill, Nietzsche, Weber, Schmitt, Arendt, Berlin, and Strauss.

HESB 30371 Free Speech (3 Credit Hours)

This course examines the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and its interpretation in American constitutional law. Students will participate in Socratic method discussions, class debates, and moot court exercises, in which students play the role of lawyers and justices arguing a Supreme Court case. Through these activities, students will explore the freedom of speech as it relates to sedition, libel, invasion of privacy, obscenity, commercial speech, broadcasting, and the internet.

HESB 30372 Media for Social Justice & Change: Making Movies that Matter (3 Credit Hours)

The use of media is becoming increasingly important to advocate for social change at local, national, and international levels. Activists and advocates working in movements and formal and informal networks and organizations such as NGOs, use media to document, educate, organize, and lobby. They incorporate video, mobile communications and social media to heighten global awareness of social justice issues and push for social change by seeking to inspire empathy, engagement, and activism. In this new course, you will learn how to create impact-driven video, and develop research and design skills to produce short video projects using accessible forms of media capture such as iPhones and GoPros. You will also develop your visual literacy skills by examining how effective media creates narrative structures to make meaning, and shapes and challenges how social justice issues around the world are represented and interpreted.

HESB 30373 Global Environmental Issues & Policy (3 Credit Hours)

Fracking, Water Wars, Deforestation of the Amazon, Droughts, Global Warming, Climate Change, Unsustainable Agriculture, Hurricanes, Pollution, Species Extinction, Invasive Species, Poaching, Overfishing, Depletion of Fossil Fuels, Overpopulation, Wastes, Ocean Acidification, Wildfires, Oil Spills, Overpopulation, Overconsumption, Land degradation - the list goes on! These complex environmental problems are occurring constantly and rapidly; their consequences are global in scope and transcend national boundaries; and they embody the complex relationship between humans and the natural environment. This course is about developing an interdisciplinary understanding of the relationship between humans (society) and the environment. We will examine the historical and contemporary environmental challenges of global concern, the underlying role of humans, and attempts by society to address, mitigate, and adapt to such complex problems through policies, institutions, and governance. We will pay attention to the roles of different state and non-state actors in environmental policy making. Overall, students will draw from both the social and natural sciences to develop a deeper understanding of how society - through consumption, culture, politics, power, ethics, values, economic growth, location, etc - contribute to, or solve, environmental problems.

HESB 30374 Gender Justice and the Environment (3 Credit Hours)

According to many, environmentalism and feminism go hand-in-hand. What is the basis of this theoretical and political claim, especially given the complexity and evolution of feminism and environmentalism as both political movements and theoretical categories? How did this alliance emerge historically and what has it looked like across different communities and nations? Do feminism and environmental justice ever find themselves in tension? How has non-human nature been conceived of as gendered (e.g. "mother nature", masculinization of wilderness) and what implications flow from that for how human beings experience gender? How might feminist conceptions of freedom, gender, and ethics inform environmental politics and policy? In this interdisciplinary course, we will examine these and other questions in order to understand and evaluate contemporary discourse around climate change, ecology, intersectional feminism, and environmental ethics.

HESB 30375 Black Political Thought (3 Credit Hours)

This course will focus on the writings of Black political thinkers in the Americas, Africa, and Europe. Through critical examination of the conditions against, and contexts within, which the political theories of these thinkers are situated, this course hopes to arrive at some understanding of the principles, goals and strategies developed to contest and redefine notions/concepts of citizenship (vis-a-vis the imperatives of race/racism and the global colonial formations), humanity, justice, equality, development, democracy, and freedom.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKSP - Core 2nd Philosophy

HESB 30376 The Political Foundations of the Rule of Law (3 Credit Hours)

The death of a Supreme Court Justice triggers a bitter partisan battle over the impending nomination. Is this tragedy unique to the United States? Why are political parties so eager to control the Court? This course will explore how constitutional norms seek to protect judicial independence, and how political parties "game" such constitutional norms worldwide. We will analyze episodes of "packing" and "purging" of supreme courts and constitutional tribunals in different countries. We will investigate the practice of "strategic retirement" in the US Supreme Court, the threat posed by legislative majorities to judicial independence, and the slippery slope of partisan manipulation. We will also address whether judicial purges constitute opportunities for a more balanced judiciary (for instance, in terms of gender). Comparative analysis will help us learn from the experience of other nations. This course will introduce students to basic notions of game theory and quantitative analysis.

HESB 30377 Sustainable Communities and Global Business (3 Credit Hours)

Effective, ethical business leadership in a global context requires the ability to understand and synthesize inputs from a variety of sources, to discern information from multiple, often conflicting perspectives, and to communicate complex data and information clearly and persuasively to diverse stakeholders. Through reading and writing, discussion, and engagement with classmates and outside experts including international faculty, students will examine the intersections of sustainability and global business, with a focus on the role of business decision making and action in the interrelated areas of sustainable environmental and social impact. The topic is more salient than ever, as communities around the globe ask whether the pandemic and related economic crisis will prompt a new vision for society that focuses on justice and sustainability, or will simply continue to exacerbate existing inequities. The course operates from the perspectives that 1) corporate activities should reflect a commitment to sustainable, inclusive growth characterized by meaningful stakeholder engagement, and 2) environmental sustainability challenges reach around the world, and are directly connected to human dignity, well-being, and global prosperity. Through written work and exploration of key concepts, the students will work toward their culminating assignment, a research paper that presents an informed, thoughtful perspective on a specific topic of their choosing within the course theme.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WRIT - Writing Intensive

HESB 30378 Race and Constitutional Controversies (3 Credit Hours)

Over the course of the United States' near 250-year history, there have been many Supreme Court cases that have spoken to and impacted the fundamental bedrock of our nation. Many of these cases established legal precedent that would later take numerous decades in order to be altered or outright rejected by future Supreme Court justices. When examining many of these defining cases, we find that issues of race lie at their heart. The goal of this course is to examine this nation's historical views on race and ethnicity over time and their direct impact on major Supreme Court cases and the decisions of those justices sitting on the mightiest bench in the land. We will discuss cases ranging across history and topic, including Civil Rights (Dredd Scott v. Sanford, Brown v. Board of Education, Loving v. Virginia.), Equal Protection (Plessy v. Ferguson, Koromatsu v. U.S.) , and Affirmative Action (Gratz v. Bollinger, Fisher v. University of Texas), just to name a few. What will be seen throughout the course are the ways our nation's ideas and actions regarding race, on both governmental and societal levels, have fundamentally impacted the laws of the land and the citizens who inhabit it.

HESB 30379 Race in World Politics (3 Credit Hours)

This course employs normative, critical race, and decolonial approaches to study world politics. It helps students understand the underlying structures of oppression, imperialism, and racism that routinely frame engagements with current global political events. We will study how local and international environmental policies/practices are routinely racialized to justify the exploitation/plunder of resources in vulnerable societies. We will also study the colonial frameworks of international laws, and UN's failed attempt to restrain the intensification of racism and colonialism in developed countries.

HESB 30380 Global Environmental Issues & Policy (3 Credit Hours)

Fracking, Water Wars, Deforestation of the Amazon, Droughts, Global Warming, Climate Change, Unsustainable Agriculture, Hurricanes, Pollution, Species Extinction, Invasive Species, Poaching, Overfishing, Depletion of Fossil Fuels, Overpopulation, Wastes, Ocean Acidification, Wildfires, Oil Spills, Overpopulation, Overconsumption, Land degradation - the list goes on! These complex environmental problems are occurring constantly and rapidly; their consequences are global in scope and transcend national boundaries; and they embody the complex relationship between humans and the natural environment. This course is about developing an interdisciplinary understanding of the relationship between humans (society) and the environment. We will examine the historical and contemporary environmental challenges of global concern, the underlying role of humans, and attempts by society to address, mitigate, and adapt to such complex problems through policies, institutions, and governance. We will pay attention to the roles of different state and non-state actors in environmental policy making. Overall, students will draw from both the social and natural sciences to develop a deeper understanding of how society - through consumption, culture, politics, power, ethics, values, economic growth, location, etc... contribute to, or solve, environmental problems.

HESB 30381 The President and the Constitution (3 Credit Hours)

The course explores different theories of the president's role in the American constitutional system. Readings include The Federalist Papers, the writings Abraham Lincoln, works of modern scholars, and opinions of the U.S. Supreme Court. Grades will be based on midterm and final exams.

HESB 30382 Journalism as Political Theory (3 Credit Hours)

In this course, we will study the relationship between political theory and journalism. Rather than reading solely canonical political theory tests, we will read selections of important works from the history of political thought alongside journalistic writings. The class will be separated by important concepts in political thought, such as power, judgement, community, revolution, and freedom. For each concept, we will read both theoretical accounts and journalistic studies. In doing this, we will examine how philosophic concepts help us understand real-life happenings. We will also address how journalists use philosophic ideas to provide accounts that are more than mere documentation, in effect acting as political educators. Philosophic readings will include work from Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Karl Marx, Michel Foucault, and Franz Fanon. Journalistic readings will include selections from Thucydides, Hannah Arendt, Joan Didion, Tom Wolfe, James Baldwin, Gay Talese, Janet Malcolm, and Robert Caro. In their own work, students will address the class' questions both via scholarly study and their own projects of journalistic political theory.

HESB 30383 Labor in America since 1945 (3 Credit Hours)

This course explores the relationships among and between workers, employers, government policymakers, unions, and social movements since the end of World War II, as well as the ways in which those relationships have shaped and been shaped by American politics and culture more broadly. The United States emerged from the Second World War as the globe's unequaled economic and political power, and its citizens parlayed that preeminence into a long postwar economic boom that created, however imperfectly, the first truly mass middle-class society in world history. At the heart of that new society was the American labor movement, whose leaders and members ensured that at least some of the heady postwar profits made it into the wallets of workers and their families - and not just the wallets of union members, as working Americans generally experienced great improvement in wages, benefits, and economic opportunity during the quarter-century ending in 1970. During those same years, civil rights activists challenged the historic workplace discrimination that kept African Americans at the bottom of the labor market, confronting the racism of employers, unions, and the government, and inspiring others, primarily Mexican Americans and women, to broaden the push for equality at the workplace. Since that time, however, Americans have experienced a transformation in the workplace -- an erosion of manufacturing and the massive growth of service and government work; a rapid decline in number of union members and power of organized labor; and unresolved conflicts over affirmative action to redress centuries of racial and gender discrimination. Meanwhile, income inequality and wealth disparities have grown every year over the past three decades. What accounts for the decline of organized labor since 1970, and why have the people of the mythic land of milk and honey experienced declining upward mobility and widening gaps between the rich and everyone else? Are these phenomena linked? What has the decline of the labor movement meant for workers specifically, and the American economy and politics more broadly? How and why have popular perceptions of unions changed over time? What has been the relationship of organized labor to the civil rights movement, feminism, modern conservatism, and the fortunes of individual freedom more broadly? What is globalization, and what has been its impact upon American workers? Through an exploration of historical scholarship, memoirs, polemical writings, and films, this course will try to answer these questions and many others. It will also address the prospects for working people and labor unions in the twenty-first century.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKHI - Core History

HESB 30384 Health Economics (3 Credit Hours)

This course examines how economic analysis can be applied to various components of the health care system. Microeconomic theory is used to understand the operation of health care markets and the behavior of participants (consumers, insurers, physicians, and hospitals) in the health care industry. International comparisons and the role of the public sector are discussed.

HESB 30385 Design for Social Innovation (3 Credit Hours)

This course introduces the foundational theories of human-centered design (HCD), its critiques, and the subsequent development of design principles, followed by a practical, hands-on exploration of HCD methods. It approaches design as a broadly applicable practice across multiple domains, including – but not limited to – social innovation and computing for social good. The course is organized into four modules. The first module examines the foundations of HCD, its critiques, and its evolution toward community-driven, value-aligned, and justice-oriented approaches. The next two modules provide hands-on experience in design research, prototyping, and reflection, where students learn to integrate technical, ethical, and social insights into actionable design strategies. In the final module, students will address real-world design challenges drawn from domains such as global development, sustainability, and public policy. The course welcomes students from the social entrepreneurship and innovation minor, global affairs, computer science and engineering, poverty studies, business, public policy, science-technology-values, and peace studies who are interested in designing for social impact.

HESB 30386 Democracy, Violence, & Elections (3 Credit Hours)

Elections are often promoted as a non-violent means of leadership succession. However, violent elections have become a common phenomenon, both in conflict countries and advanced democracies. The recent round of intimidation and unrest in the US is one instance of electoral violence. Governors in both Michigan and Virginia were targeted in a kidnapping plot, and deaths were incurred in the US Capitol assault. In conflict countries, peace builders advocate the use of elections to resolve conflict and lay the ground for democratization. Yet, unfree and/or unfair elections have led to violence, like in the US, or worse, re-ignited civil wars. Putting together the complex relationship among violence, elections, and democracy, this course introduces students to the politics surrounding elections. Throughout this course, we will examine the causes of pre- and post-election violence and the consequences of low quality elections on peace and conflict. We will also draw on examples from different parts of the world to critically examine important concepts and theories, and we will study measures of election quality to understand how they can be used to evaluate elections as well as their measurement issues, which have implications on our understanding of democracy. 3.000 Credit hours

HESB 30387 Civil Liberties (3 Credit Hours)

Most courses in constitutional law narrate the Supreme Court's evolving positions on constitutional rights and institutions. This course starts not with the Supreme Court but with the Federalist Papers, from which it develops a general theory of the social and economic goals or ends of constitutional government in America. It then uses this theory as a framework for assessing the Supreme Court's position on property rights, race relations, personal privacy, and the place of religion in American life. This exercise can yield results that make for lively class discussion, not only about the Court, but about the adequacy of the Constitution itself. Grades will be based on a midterm and a final exam, with a paper option in lieu of the final.

HESB 30388 Global Ethics: Introduction to Ethics from a Global Perspective (3 Credit Hours)

This course will offer a systematic introduction into ethics from a global perspective discussing global moral challenges. It will negotiate the local and the global and offer "contextual ethical reasoning." Global ethics has emerged both as a term and as a (sub)discipline over the past few decades. The dynamics of globalization has cultivated a sense of global citizenship; the experience of limits of local contexts in dealing with challenges such as climate change and migration have motivated a sense of global problems, problems that affect the entire planet and the whole of humanity. This course will follow an approach to global ethics in conversation with key principles of the Catholic Social Tradition: human dignity, common good and solidarity, subsidiarity, integral ecology.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKCD-Core Cathol & Disciplines

HESB 30389 Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation (3 Credit Hours)

Social Entrepreneurship has sparked dialogue and debate for two decades. Its very definition is much debated, as well as its capacity to create sustainable, scalable, systems-changing impact. This course explores the theoretical concepts, practices and strategies associated with the dynamic discipline of social enterprise and innovation. For our purposes, social entrepreneurship is the landscape, of which paradigm-shifting solutions like microfinance, MSME (Micro-Small-Medium Enterprise) development, bottom of the pyramid, fair trade, impact investing, and the like, are components. This course will study many of these concepts, focusing on their opportunity for social impact, and as a vehicle for wealth creation in vulnerable and disenfranchised communities across the globe. Further, the course covers examples of various social enterprise models (for-profit, non-profit, hybrid), requiring students to analyze and devise strategies to improve the efficacy of these ventures. Finally, the course engages students in research seeking to advance the field of social entrepreneurship at the Keough School of Global Affairs and Notre Dame.

Students cannot enroll who have a program in Strategic Management.

HESB 30390 Open Government Data (3 Credit Hours)

Open government data—simply put, government-related data freely made available to the public—is on the rise. Our federal, state, and local governments are developing and implementing open data policies and infrastructure in efforts to foster transparency, economic development, and wider civic engagement and participation. We will investigate the technical, legal, and ethical implications of open data (i.e., using open content to train harmful artificial intelligence technologies), acknowledging that personal privacy and civic society are closely intertwined. Class meetings are split between reading discussions and engagement with data science tools and data collection/harvesting methods. Students will inspect the major laws and policies surrounding open government while also examining the social and technological challenges and advancements that shape the future of open data—for example, grassroots data intermediaries are obtaining and "translating" open government data for a public audience. In the spirit of open scholarship, students will develop their own "open data projects" by incorporating open-source tools. No prior knowledge of computer science or data science tools (i.e., R, Python, etc.) is required.

HESB 30391 Application, Ethics, and Governance of AI (3 Credit Hours)

The application of artificial intelligence is expanding rapidly and has the potential to reshape many fields, including transportation, finance, health care, marketing, social media, criminal justice, and public policy, just to name a few. AI's ability to predict human preference and behavior or even substitute human judgement in these fields creates opportunities as well as concerns for safety, bias and discrimination, transparency, inequality, and job loss. Designed to serve students from no background in AI to those who have existing technical background, this course surveys current and emerging applications of AI in different fields and the related ethical issues and governance problems. The course targets students from different disciplines. Students from the humanities and social sciences will gain a deeper understanding of the technical aspects underpinning today's ethical and policy debates related to AI. Students with more technical background will better appreciate the ethical issues that arise in programming and engineering and understand how technology interacts with the broader societal contexts. The course's goal is to encourage students to become proactive in thinking of the societal implications of technological change and to incorporate such understanding in their education and careers.

HESB 30392 The American Constitution (3 Credit Hours)

The Constitution holds a unique place in American law and political culture. Not only is it the basis of the federal government, it provides the framework for political debates about all manner of controversial issues in modern America. Today, there is much talk of a "constitutional crisis" in the United States. What does this mean? How can a history help us make sense of the Constitution and of our politics? This course explores the historical context in which the American Constitution was framed, ratified, and amended over time. Together, we will ask and answer the questions of how and why it was written the way it was; how and why it gained legitimacy; and how it was put into practice and interpreted over time. The class will introduce students to central historical problems, which include: Is the American Constitution democratic? Did the Constitution codify slavery into law? Is originalism a useful and valid way to interpret the Constitution? Course readings will consist primarily of primary source material, though students will also read historical interpretations of the Constitution and the process of forming, amending, and interpreting it. The discussion-based class will empower students to think historically about the American Constitution by interpreting primary source material, building arguments about causes and effects of particular constitutional points, and intervening in scholarly dialogues about the founding and its legacy. Students will be evaluated primarily based on class participation, a short primary source analysis, a role-play activity, and a final paper.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKHI - Core History

HESB 30393 American Political Thought (3 Credit Hours)

Coming to grips with American political thought is at once an historical and a philosophical task. Students in this course will take on that task under the guidance of one faculty member from the Department of History and one from the Department of Philosophy. The guiding questions of the course are: How have ideas about freedom, equality and the social contract played out in the history of American political thought? When have we realized those ideas and when have we failed? Do those ideas provide us adequate guidance? The exploration of American political thought will be divided into six periods: The Founding, the Civil War era, the late 19th-century, the New Deal to the 1960s, the 1960s to the 1990s, and the 1990s to the present. The course has no prerequisites, though students wishing to count it toward the Philosophy requirement must previously have taken "Introduction to Philosophy."

Corequisites: PHIL 32409

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKHI - Core History, WKIN - Core Integration, WKSP - Core 2nd Philosophy

HESB 30394 Black Lives Matter Uprisings of 2020: Revolutionary Violence vs Revolutionary Nonviolence (3 Credit Hours)

Is violent resistance and destructive populist uprising in response to injustice and structural violence ever justified? The apparent effectiveness of violent rebellion in the Black Lives Matter uprisings of 2020 suggests that the answer is ‘yes.' How do these developments compare and contrast to the debates surrounding violent vs nonviolent rebellion during the U.S. Civil Rights and Black Power Movements? How should the oppressed respond to their oppressors—conceptualize, fight for, and deploy power? What is the difference between rebellion and social movement, and how do their differences affect prospects for transforming systemically unjust and structurally violent conditions? This course explores answers to these questions by examining the conflicts surrounding the Movement for Black Lives over the last decade, while examining examples from the Civil Rights movement as cases for comparison. We will examine the background theories and ethical frameworks by which activists and practitioners conceptualize, implement, and justify—and argue with one another about—the necessities and limits of violent vs. nonviolent action and re-examine the roles that rebellion can play (and has played) in transforming injustice and structural violence, as well as in conceptualizing and pursuing liberation. What does the peace studies concept of "conflict transformation" have to contribute to these understandings and debates? We will consider challenges posed by rioting, property destruction and ‘looting,' and the risks and possibilities of avoiding so-called "backlash" responses of state repression and counter-protest. Readings include works by: Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Omar Wasow, Angela Davis, Danielle Allen, Cornel West, James Baldwin, Eddie Glaude, Martin King, Stokely Carmicheal (Kwame Ture), Frantz Fanon, and Barbara Deming.

HESB 30395 Ethics of Space Exploration (3 Credit Hours)

The aim of this course is to explore the ethical and political issues surrounding space exploration and consider how past and present realities constrain our future in space. We will first survey the present state of space exploration. This will include the privatization of space travel, military investment in the space industry, space policy and law, and the state of modern space science. Then, we will look to our future in space and consider questions such as: Does climate change justify/ necessitate colonizing other worlds? What are the ethics of terraforming? What types of extraterrestrial life are worthy of ethical consideration? Will space travel replicate or exacerbate existing structural oppression, and should we pursue ‘anti-colonial' space travel? Ultimately, students should be able to place space exploration in its social context and articulate a vision of space exploration that they believe best serves society.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKSP - Core 2nd Philosophy

HESB 30396 Law, Bioethics, and the Human Person (3 Credit Hours)

Law, Bioethics, and the Human Person is a discussion-based course focused on "public bioethics," defined as the governance of science, medicine, biotechnology, and the practice of medicine in the name of ethical goods. Issues covered may include the ethical, legal (including constitutional), and social dimensions of abortion, assisted reproduction, end of life decision-making, assisted suicide, research involving human subjects, commodification of the human body and its parts, advances in cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging, human embryonic stem cell research, human cloning, organ donation, the definition of death, and research involving animal-human chimeras and hybrids.

HESB 30397 Classical Islamic Political Thought (3 Credit Hours)

This course examines the development of political thought in classical Islam (7th-14th centuries). The course runs in two parallel tracks. The first track introduces students to Islamic history and culture. Here, students will present themes that will set the background for the second track. Each class starts with student presentations on the major dynasties that ruled different parts of the Muslim world at different times with an emphasis on politically contested issues and culturally relevant debates. The second track considers the different schools of political thought: the philosophical, the juristic, and the humanist. Here, the emphasis is on textual analysis. In the second part of each class, we turn to the works of Al- Farabi, Al-Mawardi, and Ibn Khaldun and we study them within the context set by student presentations. Throughout, we consider how their work dealt with issues of political stability and conflict and we examine, within a comparative framework, their relevance for today's concerns.

HESB 30398 Introduction to Economics and Catholic Thought (3 Credit Hours)

This course is the seminar version of 30150. In this course we will discuss the relationship between economics and Catholic social teaching. We will learn about key principles in Catholic social thought, read key Papal encyclicals and other writings. We will then discuss key economic concepts and empirical facts known from the field of economics, and how these relate to Catholic social teaching. Finally, we will apply these ideas to discussions on labor, capital, finance, the environment, globalization, and development

Prerequisites: ECON 10010 or ECON 10091 or ECON 14100 or ECON 10011 or ECON 20010 or ECON 20011 or ECON 10020 or ECON 10092 or ECON 14022 or ECON 20020 or ECON 14101 or ECON 24020 or ECON 24022

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKCD-Core Cathol & Disciplines, WRIT - Writing Intensive

HESB 30399 Politics of Inequality in America (3 Credit Hours)

In the past four decades, the United States has experienced an unprecedented rise in income and wealth inequality. Inequalities across multiple other dimensions (race, ethnicity, geography, and gender) are also pervasive. This course examines a multitude of questions related to politics, policy, and varieties of inequality. How has the American political system and the policies it produces affected levels of inequality in the U.S.? How has inequality shaped American politics and policy? What is the relationship between income and power? What are the political consequences of increasing income inequality? What are the implications of racial and ethnic inequities for the quality of democratic representation? Which policies increase political inequality? What are effective remedies for unequal influence? Finally, which institutions move democratic practice furthest towards full democratic equality and which ones serve to reinforce historical hierarchies? This course is designed to help students understand the political causes and consequences of inequality in America and consider potential interventions to support human flourishing for all. The course will be organized as a reading-focused seminar, with a combination of discussion and lecture rooted in cutting-edge scholarly research and evidence-based public commentary. Students will develop a substantial final research project that will be presented to an audience beyond the classroom.

HESB 30400 Refugees, Rights Resettlement (3 Credit Hours)

This seminar will provide an overview of and framework to understand the global refugee crisis. We will trace the evolution of international refugee law and policy dealing with this ever-growing population. Central are the ethical challenges that refugees pose for the international community. What is the nature of our collective obligation to refugees? What determines the extent of this obligation? Through a series of legal and sociological case studies, students will also grapple with the social, legal , political and ethical challenges posed by humanitarian intervention on behalf of refugees and the often unintended consequences of such policies. How do the different models for dealing with refugee resettlement affect the life chances of refugees? This project-based course will pair students with a refugee community to address a pressing social concern.

HESB 30402 Black Politics in Multiracial America (3 Credit Hours)

This course undertakes a broad examination of black politics in multiracial America. Racial issues have provoked crises in American politics; changes in racial status have prompted American political institutions to operate in distinctive ways. The course examines the interface of black politics with and within the American political system. How successful have blacks been as they attempted to penetrate the electoral system in the post civil rights era. What conflicts and controversies have arisen as African Americans have sought to integrate the American system of power. Now that the laws have been changed to permit limited integration, should African Americans integrate politically, that is should they attempt to 'deracialize' their political appeals and strategy, with an effort to "crossover politically;" are some approaches such as those of President Barack Obama "not black enough?" What internal political challenges do African Americans face; some such as the increasing importance of class and socioeconomic factors, as well as gender and sexuality may reshape the definition of the black community. What intellectual challenges and strategic choices are they facing as the American population has grown increasingly multiracial. Finally, in light of these demographic changes in American life and American politics, how stable will past patterns of political participation, and political organizations and institutions of African American politics remain.

HESB 30403 Catholicism, Sex, Law, and Politics (3 Credit Hours)

In an age of growing polarization, how should human beings relate to one another, as members of families, social communities, professional callings, and civil society? This course explores ways that Catholic theology and Western political thought, particularly feminist thought, can engage each other on a fundamental aspect of human relationships: sexual difference. Though these traditions are often in tension, conversation between them will richly inform our study of the course's core questions: How should we think about sexual difference, and how ought contemporary men and women live and work together in the family and the public sphere? We will take an interdisciplinary and historical approach, moving from the earliest days of Christianity through the medieval, Enlightenment, and modern periods and culminating in the present day. Theological sources will be drawn from Scripture, The Catechism of the Catholic Church, papal encyclicals, and writings of various Catholic theologians and philosophers. We will bring these sources into dialogue with ancient and modern political thinkers, their relationship to the tradition of feminist thought (with particular focus on first and second wave feminism), and constitutional law. Throughout the course, we will study underlying theories that inform our core questions: ideas about human nature, the meaning of sexual difference, equality, freedom, marriage and the family, human rights, and the ends of government and law. We will aim to discover areas of compatibility between Catholicism, as a tradition of faith seeking understanding, and feminism, considered as a philosophical, political, and legal movement centrally concerned with sexual difference and its implications. The course will conclude with discussion of contemporary American debates about the relationship and roles of the sexes in marriage & the family, the home, the workplace, and public life. Students will learn both how to distinguish the modes of thought that characterize theology and political science as disciplines, and how to integrate them in order to draw conclusions about reality. They should emerge from the course not only well-formed in their own views on our focal questions, but able to engage robustly and charitably with perspectives that differ from their own.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKCD-Core Cathol & Disciplines

HESB 30410 Human Trafficking Policy (3 Credit Hours)

The course will examine U.S. policies and practices to combat human trafficking including how U.S. policies advance the prevention of trafficking in persons, the protection of victims and survivors and the punishment of perpetrators as a foreign policy objective of the U.S. Students will develop a basic understanding of the various aspects of and perspectives in human trafficking including domestic and international law; foreign nationals and United States Citizens; victim services, survivor aftercare and law enforcement and sex and labor trafficking. Students will also analyze international trafficking prohibitions under the various international conventions and identify current trafficking issues in the United States, with a particular focus on commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor and involuntary servitude and the range of remedies available when rights have been violated. Finally, students will identify gaps in existing remedies and formulate policies to address them.

HESB 30411 Labor Economics (3 Credit Hours)

A survey course covering the economics of employment and unemployment; wages and income distribution; poverty, education and discrimination; unions and labor and industrial relations systems; and comparative labor systems.

HESB 30421 Race/Ethnicity and American Politics (3 Credit Hours)

This course introduces students to the dynamics of the social and historical construction of race and ethnicity in American political life. The course explores the following core questions: What are race and ethnicity? What are the best ways to think about the impact of race and ethnicity on American citizens? What is the history of racial and ethnic formation in American political life? How do race and ethnicity link up with other identities animating political actions like gender and class? What role do American political institutions the Congress, presidency, judiciary, state and local governments, etc. play in constructing and maintaining these identity categories? Can these institutions ever be used to overcome the points of division in American society?

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 30427 American Political Parties (3 Credit Hours)

Political parties play many vital roles in American politics: They educate potential voters about political processes, policy issues, and civic duties. They mobilize citizens into political activity and involvement. They provide vital information about public debates. They control the choices--candidates and platforms that voters face at the ballot box. They influence and organize the activities of government officials. Most importantly, by providing a link between government and the governed, they are a central mechanism of representation. These roles--how well they are performed, what bias exists, how they shape outcomes, how they have changed over time--have consequences for the working of the American political system.

Prerequisites: POLS 10100 or POLS 20100 or POLS 10098 or GOVT 10100 or GOVT 20100

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 30436 The Law of American Democracy (3 Credit Hours)

This course will examine ways that law structures, promotes, and governs the practice of democracy in America. Topics include key features of the American constitution, including federalism, bicameralism, the separation of powers, and judicial review; the First Amendment and the freedoms of speech and press; voting rights, elections, parties, and campaigns; and the changes caused and challenges posed by technological and other developments.

HESB 30437 Constitutional Law (3 Credit Hours)

This course introduces the basic themes of the American constitution, its historical development, and debates in constitutional politics. The course employs a variety of instructional methods including Socratic method lectures, class debates, and moot court exercises in which students play the role of lawyers and justices arguing a Supreme Court case. Students will explore the social and political struggles that have defined the allocation of constitutional power, including debates over presidential war-powers, states' rights, judicial supremacy, federal power to enforce civil rights, and the recent healthcare controversy.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKSS - Core Social Science

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 30443 Religion in American Politics (3 Credit Hours)

This course will examine the many ways in which religion has been fused into American politics. In doing so, we will also explore the rising tide of secularism in the United States, which many argue has resulted from a backlash to the fusion of religion and conservative politics. Then it will turn to trying to solve the puzzle of America's religious pluralism—if religion is so politically divisive, why are Americans so accepting of (most) religions other than their own? What explains the exceptions to that acceptance? What are the implications of a secularizing America for religious pluralism?

HESB 30473 U.S. Foreign Policy in the Cold War (3 Credit Hours)

This course covers the main developments in American foreign policy from World War II through the end of the Cold War. The principal topics of investigation will be wartime diplomacy and the origins of the Cold War; the Cold War and containment in Europe and Asia; Eisenhower/Dulles diplomacy; Kennedy-Johnson and Vietnam; Nixon-Kissinger and détente; Carter and the diplomacy of Human Rights; Reagan and the revival of containment; Bush and the end of the Cold War.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKHI - Core History

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 30499 American Public Opinion and Voting Behavior (3 Credit Hours)

A principle tenet underlying democratic governance is the belief that public opinion or the "will of the people" should dictate governmental behavior. To the extent this belief is a realistic consideration, difficult questions remain concerning the capacity for citizens to develop reasoned opinions and how to conceptualize and measure opinion. This course explores the foundations of political and social attitudes and the methodology used to observe what people think about politics.

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 30500 The Economics of Poverty (3 Credit Hours)

In this course, students will learn about what poverty is, how it is measured, and how it is alleviated. Students will engage with economic theory and will read empirical research on poverty as it relates to housing, education, health, criminal justice, and economic mobility. We will address poverty and anti-poverty policy both in the United States and abroad.

HESB 30508 Black Chicago Politics (3 Credit Hours)

This course introduces students to the vast, complex and exciting dimensions of Black Chicago Politics. First, institutional structures, geographic distribution and population characteristics will inform students about the sociodemographic background of the African American population in the city, but also other racial and ethnic groups. Second, the course explores varying types of political expression that have developed over more than a century, including electoral politics, mass movements, partisan politics; it will also examine the impact of the Chicago machine, and of the Washington era on the political and economic status of African Americans in the city. Third, public policy developments in housing, education and criminal justice will be discussed. Fourth, the course also compares Black political standing with other racial and ethnic groups in the city. Finally, the course will introduce students to the long tradition of social science research centered on the city of Chicago.

HESB 30520 Policing in Democracy (3 Credit Hours)

What is the role of the police in a democracy? What are their powers? Who makes their rules and provides oversight? Do we even need them? How do citizens respond to the realities of being policed through political activism, day-to-day interactions, and music and literature? While the police are charged with maintaining one of the most fundamental functions of the state, the “monopoly on the legitimate use of physical force”, the answers to these questions vary dramatically around the world and throughout history. Partially driven by recent scandals involving police violence, activists, politicians, public security professionals, and social scientists have been carefully reconsidering their views on policing, recognizing the police as powerful political actors and policing policies as dynamic policy arenas. In this course, we will explore the history of crime fighting and police forces in the modern era, then dive into current debates and research about the organization, mission, and oversight of police forces in contemporary democracies, including social movements advocating for police reform. This course has a global perspective, gaining understanding of local experiences in the United States through comparative study of primarily Latin American, British, and Western European systems.

HESB 30537 Urban Economics (3 Credit Hours)

This course provides an introduction to urban economics, focusing on both contemporary and historical issues in the United States. Topics include location decisions of households and firms, agglomeration economies, housing and zoning policy, suburbanization, local governments, and segregation. Students will use economic models, data analysis, and academic articles to study these topics.

Prerequisites: ECON 10010 or ECON 10011 or ECON 10091 or ECON 20010 or ECON 20011 or ECON 14100 or ECON 14101

HESB 30538 International Political Economy (3 Credit Hours)

This course examines the interaction of politics and economics in the international arena. We begin with a brief historical exploration of the international political economy, and introduce four analytical perspectives on state behavior and international outcomes. Topics include trade policy, foreign direct investment and multinational corporations, international capital flows, exchange rate regimes and currency unions (including European Monetary Union), financial crises, and the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 30561 Political Economy of Globalization (3 Credit Hours)

This course examines the intersection of politics and economics in an increasingly global world. Economic interdependence has increased dramatically over the past fifty years. While this has raised living standards in many countries, it has also given rise to new social, economic, and political tensions. This course offers an analytical framework for evaluating the consequences of globalization and provides an overview of several theoretical approaches to and empirical issues in today's global economy. The course is divided into three main sections. The first part of the course focuses on understanding what is meant by 'globalization' as well as an introduction to several contending theories of globalization. The second part of the course will focus on managing globalization, and will evaluate different options available to states, institutions, and other actors. The final section of the class will be devoted to empirical issues associated with globalization. Topics discussed include: the environment, corruption, human rights, non-governmental organizations, democratization, and regional trading blocs.

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 30568 Education Law and Policy (3 Credit Hours)

This course focuses on selected legal and policy issues related to K-12 education in the United States. A central theme is the intersection of K-12 schooling and the state, with a particular focus on Constitutional issues of religious freedom and establishment, student speech and privacy, parental choice, educational opportunity, and education reform trends such as charter schools and accountability measures. Questions examined over the course of the semester include: What are the most basic obligations of the state with regard to its regulation of K-12 education? What are the most basic rights of parents in this regard? In what ways does the 1st Amendment protect - and limit - the speech and privacy rights of K-12 schoolchildren? In what ways may the state accommodate K-12 schools with an explicitly religious character? What are the Constitutional requirements with regard to religious speech or expression within K-12 public schools? To what degree is the principle of equality manifest in the form of educational opportunity? How has this changed over time? In what ways have education reform trends such as charter schooling and increased accountability changed the policy landscape of K-12 education?

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 30584 History of American Education: Race, Class, Gender and Politics (3 Credit Hours)

American Education mirrors American society with myriad challenges, successes, and ideologies. This course will look at how political struggles over race, language, gender, and class have all played out in the battle over American schools, schools that ultimately hold the literal future of America. This course will explore the History of Education in American from the late 1865 to the present and will have special emphasis on segregated schools in the 19th century and today. The course will also look closely at the very best programs re-shaping American education such as The Alliance for Catholic Education and KIPP. The course will look at education from Kindergarten all the way through graduate programs as we study how our institutions have formed and how they form and transform our society.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WRIT - Writing Intensive

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 30588 Urban Politics (3 Credit Hours)

This course introduces students to major actors, institutions, processes, and policies of sub-state governments in the United States. Through an intensive comparative examination of historical and contemporary politics in city governments, we will gain an understanding of municipal government and its role within the larger contexts of state and national government.

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 30595 Early Childhood Policy in the US: Origins and Current Context (3 Credit Hours)

This course covers the various issues relevant to the current early childhood education landscape. This includes theories of early learning and child development, policy development in the United States, the issues of inequality and the achievement gap (particularly related to K-12 Education Reform) and research on interventions or "what works" in early childhood programming. The advantage to understanding the theories of child development, the policy context and the intervention research is that it gives future teachers and future policymakers a foundational premise upon which to grow, analyze, learn and teach. Topics covered will include: Theories of Child Development (Infant Schools to Present), Head Start and the CCDBG, State Preschool, Inequality and the Achievement Gap in the Early Years and Interventions in Early Childhood (HighScope/Perry Preschool, Abecedarian and Chicago Parent Studies, Head Start Research). The goal of this class is to come away with a greater understanding of the language, the history, the goals and the possibilities in this policy area as well as its connections to other social welfare programs and to K-12 schooling. Students will become more fluent in the language of early childhood education and will gain the foundational knowledge of past and current theories, laws, policies and educational interventions.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKSS - Core Social Science, WRIT - Writing Intensive

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 30597 Our Global Environment: History and the Anthropocene (3 Credit Hours)

The question that this course asks is which political formations have been most conducive to environmentally sustainable communities and why. Historians have long been interested in political questions about power, state structures, democracy, and economic development, but only now, with the emergence of the global environmental crisis, is the relationship between politics and ecology becoming clearer. This course has four sections. It begins by examining the contemporary phenomenon of "climate collapse" and the problem of how to conceptualize this global problem historically. We then turn to the issue of which social values and modes of production and consumption have caused this dramatic transformation of our planet, tracing the effects of state formation and industrial development. Using major books, essays, and film, we compare capitalist, socialist, and fascist approaches to the nature. The purpose of the course is to provide students with a firm grasp of environmental problems and their relation to political communities.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKHI - Core History

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 30618 Church, State, and American Constitutionalism (3 Credit Hours)

Class examines philosophical, constitutional, and political questions pertaining to religion and politics, including: Do individuals have a right to religious liberty? If so, how might that right be protected? How does the American Constitution protect the right to religious freedom? What is the proper relationship between church and state? Is religion necessary, good, or bad for liberal democracy? Readings include selections from classical, medieval, and modern political philosophy, leading cases of American constitutional law, and contemporary legal theorist and political scientists.

HESB 30626 Topics in Civil Liberties and Civil Rights (3 Credit Hours)

This course explores topics in American constitutional law related to civil liberties and civil rights. The course employs a variety of instructional methods including Socratic method lectures, class debates, and moot court exercises in which students play the role of lawyers and justices arguing a Supreme Court case. Students will explore the social and political struggles that have shaped freedom and equality in the United States, including debates over protest, hate speech, pornography, religious freedom, gun control, abortion, race, gender, and homosexuality.

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 30634 School Choice Perspectives (3 Credit Hours)

Public and private K-12 school choice programs and policies are at the forefront of educational reform efforts and research in the United States. We will begin the course by exploring the history of school choice in the United States, from the foundation of religious and non-religious private schools, to the advent of magnet schools as part of the Civil Rights Movement, to contemporary choice programs such as charter schools, private school vouchers, educational savings accounts, and inter-district public school choice. Next, we will examine the roots of school choice through various theoretical lenses, including political, sociological, cultural, economic, and legal perspectives. In the last part of the course we will evaluate and critique rigorous research studies that examine the impacts of school choice on student educational outcomes. We will give special attention to these educational impacts on students who are racial or ethnic minorities, students from low income families, and students with diverse learning abilities. Over the course, we will reflect on the effects of implementing school choice programs and policies on traditional public schools and their students, especially in the contexts with a wide array of choice such as South Bend locally and Indiana more broadly.

HESB 30638 Media and Politics (3 Credit Hours)

Although the mass media is not formally part of the U.S. government, it is arguably the most powerful institution shaping public attitudes, creating and producing information, and communicating political information to individual citizens. Almost all exposure to politics comes not from direct experience but from mediated stories. And, with the rise of the Internet, the growth of 24-hour cable news, and the decline of the "Big Three" television networks has created, a more diffuse media environment has been created. The primary purpose of this course is to analyze the role of the media in American politics and its relationship with the public, government, and candidates for office in a democratic society.

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 30639 Foundations of Constitutional Order (3 Credit Hours)

This seminar-style course will examine foundational questions of constitutional order. We will begin from debates about the nature of political society among contemporary thinkers, Jurgen Habermas, Pope Benedict, John Rawls, and Carl Schmitt. We will then focus on key Ancient, Medieval, and Modern thinkers: Aristotle, Aquinas, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau, and the Federalist writers. Our aim will be to attain clarity about the questions that are fundamental to every constitutional order, especially the character of our "original" or pre-political condition, the status of war and peace, the nature of political authority and law, and the proper ends of political community.

HESB 30648 Women and Politics (3 Credit Hours)

In this course, students will learn about the role of gender in American politics by examining women voters, candidates, and officeholders. The first part of the course will center around women voters, including both the struggle for suffrage and women's voting choices today. The second part of the course will center around women who seek and hold political office, both how they gain political office and what they do once they gain it. Students will learn how gender affects the decisions that voters and members of both Congressional and state legislatures make. Students will be evaluated through one exam and two essays, as well as through their participation in the class.

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 30658 The United States Congress (3 Credit Hours)

This course is a comprehensive introduction to the workings of the contemporary U.S. Congress. We will examine who runs for and who wins seats in Congress, the lawmaking processes in the House and Senate, and the roles of parties and leaders in the two chambers. The purpose of this course is to examine two fundamental questions: (1) what do members of Congress do and why and (2) how do the individual and collective actions of members of Congress explain national policy? We will examine the process of legislating as well as the role of political parties, leaders, and interest groups. Throughout the semester, we will debate the common criticism that “Congress is broken” and consider its effectiveness as an institution. Is policy making too partisan? Is the public’s disapproval of Congress justified?

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKSS - Core Social Science

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 30660 Can We Improve Schools? (3 Credit Hours)

The purpose of this course is to provide students with an overview of the origins, concerns, goals, and approaches of education reform past, present, and future. We will explore the breadth of tactics and policy mechanisms employed by reformers, examining the underlying assumptions and theories of action ascribed to each. We will analyze the extent to which various reform efforts have been successful while concurrently defining and redefining the benchmarks for success as we explore questions such as: Who and what are schools for? What should the goals of improvement be? How do we best improve schools and who should decide? What are the origins and implications of differing policy and reform strategies? What assumptions drive different policy levers (i.e. turnaround, incentives, mandates, capacity-building, high-stakes accountability) and how do those in turn shape implementation and outcomes?

HESB 30662 Entitlement Reform: Social Security and Medicare (3 Credit Hours)

With an aging population and concerns with the magnitude of government debt, the future obligations of Social Security and Medicare have made prompted policy makers to actively consider reforms of these government entitlement programs. This course will examine the following topics. What is the economic status of the elderly? How do government programs assist the elderly (the broad range of assistance from tax preferences and means tested programs such as food stamps and Supplemental Security Income to the universal programs such as Social Security andMedicare)? What role do these government programs play in retirement policy? Are governments too generous or should the elderly take on greater responsibility for their retirement years? What reforms are being proposed currently for reform of Social Security and Medicare?

Prerequisites: ECON 10010 or ECON 10091 or ECON 10011 or ECON 20010 or ECON 20011

Enrollment is limited to students with a minor in Hesburgh Program Public Serv.

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 30675 Core Texts in Constitutionalism & Citizenship: Economics, Politics, and Justice (3 Credit Hours)

This course in American political economy seeks to understand philosophically the relationship between politics and economics. We will begin by exploring the fundamental theories of economic life in the West through the writings of Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Adam Smith, Karl Marx, and Pope Leo XIII, paying particular attention to arguments for and against commercial society. We will then turn to the development of the American market and its role in shaping the character of individuals and the meaning of citizenship. Readings are drawn from, among others, Franklin, Jefferson, Hamilton, Douglass, Wilson, Dewey, and DuBois. The course will end by considering the relationship between citizens and government in the contemporary United States. Throughout, we consider the ethics of the market economy, the system of production and exchange within which we live. Are its tremendous inequalities and accumulations just? How can we cultivate moderation amid consumerism? What role do virtue and leisure play in this system? Our task is to learn to produce and purchase in the service of a good life.

HESB 30676 US Civil Rights in History and Law (3 Credit Hours)

Civil Rights in the US is a living tradition that students can both understand and engage with. This course traces the non-linear, contested and ongoing history of Civil Rights in the US from the founding period to the present. It employs the perspectives of a lawyer and historian to illustrate how: the Civil War and the end of slavery made Civil Rights in the US possible, international human rights and Civil Rights in the US have interacted over time; the complicated relationship between the definition of Civil Rights and the realization of these rights played out over time, and the tensions between the federal government and the states continue to shape Civil Rights down to the present. The course is structured around three key historical periods in which Civil Rights in the US developed and the divisive legacy of these periods of possibility: The Founding and Constitutional period 1776-1790, Civil War and Reconstruction, 1863-1883 and the Civil Rights Era 1945-1991. Through an examination of social movements, Supreme Court cases, and congressional action the course illustrates how the meaning of citizenship and civil rights, who constituted a citizen, and what institutions—state and local government, private individuals, and so on—posed the biggest threat to equal treatment under the law changed over time. Finally, the course provides opportunities for students to actively participate in the US Civil Rights tradition.

HESB 30951 Just Wage Research Lab (3 Credit Hours)

This interdisciplinary research lab enlists students in the efforts of the Just Wage Initiative (JWI), a collaborative research and advocacy project of the Higgins Labor Program at the Center for Social Concerns. Students will help develop, refine, and update the Just Wage Framework, a multistakeholder online tool designed to advance a more inclusive and equitable economy. Students will also undertake research projects connecting their own intellectual interests and disciplinary expertise to the JWI's foundational question: What makes any given wage just or unjust? In addition, students will collaborate with the instructor and local, national, and international practitioners to envision and execute collaborative research and advocacy campaigns to promote a just wage economy. Extended weekly class sessions will feature visits by scholars and activists, as well as facilitate interactive group discussions and collaborative experiments.

HESB 30953 Housing and the Common Good Research Lab (3 Credit Hours)

This course will devote the first part of the semester to establishing an account of the historical roots of the current affordable/low-income housing crisis in the United States, paying particular attention to the local St. Joseph County context. It will also introduce students to the housing “continuum of care” in the City of South Bend, noting the various institutional and governmental agencies currently involved in addressing housing needs as well as the gaps in coverage, e.g., the need for a permanent low-barrier intake center and more permanent supportive housing (PSH). The second part of the course will involve constructive and innovative engagement as students collaborate on specific research projects introduced in the first part of the course. Students will have the opportunity to network with area housing agencies and local government entities as well as research best practices in other urban areas. During this segment of the course, students will engage with experts in the field, both virtually and in person. This work will lead into students’ constructive proposals for a concrete contribution to meeting the current low-income and supportive housing needs locally, regionally, and/or nationally. All these signs of the times will be held in conversation with the Catholic social tradition, exploring the concept of housing as a human right and duty in service of the common good. We will also use the CST concept of integral ecology to understand the social, economic, and ecological aspects of the current housing crisis, in conversation with Laudato si’, Pope Francis’s 2015 encyclical.

HESB 30980 Race and Racism in Science, Medicine, and Technology (3 Credit Hours)

This course explores how ideas about race and racism have been intertwined with scientific, medical, and technological developments, shaping society since the 18th century. While recognizing that race is fundamentally a social construct, the course delves into scientific efforts to quantify, measure, and categorize individuals by race from early anthropometry to contemporary developments like the Human Genome Project and artificial intelligence. By critically analyzing scientific theories that produced and built upon ideas of racial hierarchy, students will develop a deep understanding of how race, racism, and racial inequality have been embedded into scientific knowledge, and thus, societal understanding. Students will also examine the historical context of racial disparities in healthcare, including the development of racialized medical theories, and will explore the role of technology in reinforcing or challenging racial biases, from the early days of photography to modern AI and surveillance technologies. This course is tailored for students with interests in the history of science and the production of scientific knowledge, as well as those curious about the origins of scientific racism and racial inequality.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKHI - Core History

HESB 33100 Summer Service Learning: Kinship on the Margins (3 Credit Hours)

Immersion: Eight week summer service-learning placements. This three-credit course of the Summer Service Learning Program (SSLP) takes place before, during, and after student participation in the eight consecutive week summer immersion sponsored by the Center for Social Concerns and the Notre Dame Alumni Association. The goal of the course is to reflect on the meaning and dynamics of Christian service, compassion and Catholic social teaching through experiential learning, reading, writing and discussions. Writing assignments include journal assignments and a final paper. The course is completed during the first five weeks of fall semester and is graded Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory. Acceptance is based on the student's application and interview. Students are required to attend SSLP formation sessions once per week in the spring prior to leaving for their immersion. Session dates are listed on the course webpage. Students will also participate in two fall small group sessions and will sign up for a time of their choosing. Contact the Center for Social Concerns for more information. Apply online via the Center for Social Concerns website: http://socialconcerns.nd.edu/academic/. Please note, this course has extra required meeting times and/or events outside of the displayed meeting schedule. Please go to this courses designated webpage within the Center for Social Concerns website (http://socialconcerns.nd.edu/) for further details.

Course may be repeated.

HESB 33102 Disease Elimination: Uniting Scientific Research, Governance, Business, and Medicine (3 Credit Hours)

An array of diseases plague our human population and the number is ever-expanding. It is critical that we understand how societal structures influence when and how we all get sick. When we understand problems more fully, then we can make real change. We will critically examine disease frameworks from the medical, basic research, structural, and governmental perspectives and consider the ways these perspectives respond to and control disease. This course will examine disease causation and control for a parasitic disease, a virus, and a cancer in a discussion and project-based environment. This is a space to think about what is causing poor health and to ponder current national and global structures that are in place to address it. There is no one right answer for how to control the diseases we will talk about, but we will learn more complete ways to understand them from a multidisciplinary approach.

HESB 33104 Catholics & US Public Life (3 Credit Hours)

This course offers an overview of the interaction between Catholics and public life in America during the half century following the Second Vatican Council and the election of a Catholic as President in 1960. The course should permit students to gain a greater familiarity with the engagement and response of various Catholic individuals and groups on some major political and social-cultural issues. It will explore the extent of Catholic influence in American politics and society during the period and will explore the role of religion in shaping (or not shaping) the outlooks of a number of significant Catholic political figures beginning with JFK, RFK, and Eugene McCarthy, moving to Mario Cuomo and Daniel Patrick Moynihan down to contemporary figures. The course offers each student the opportunity to research and write a major paper on a topic of his or her choosing in this area.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKHI - Core History

HESB 33105 Mass Incarceration Research Lab (3 Credit Hours)

This research lab will employ an interdisciplinary approach to research on a range of issues related to mass incarceration. Collaborating with faculty, scholars, activists, practitioners, those impacted by systems of incarceration, and other classmates, students will develop, refine and implement a research project which contributes to the overall body of scholarship on incarceration. Students will be able to design projects (exploring moral, normative, and/or empirical etc. dimensions of incarceration) which connect their own academic and intellectual interests to emerging research questions at the Center for Social Concerns. This research lab is open to students in all disciplines.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKIN - Core Integration

HESB 33615 The Politics of Schooling: Who and What Shape Education Policy (3 Credit Hours)

How do today’s biggest education policy debates shape the future of America’s schools? This course invites students to explore the urgent questions at the center of federal and state K-12 policymaking. From the controversy surrounding vouchers and charter schools, to debates over how best to prepare and retain high-quality teachers, to disputes about curriculum and cultural representation, and the ongoing fight for equitable funding—this course will examine the challenges and trade-offs that define education policymaking. Students will study the theoretical foundations of each issue and analyze what the latest research reveals about their impacts on students, schools, and society. A distinctive feature of the course is a series of conversations with leading experts in education policy, practice, and research. These dialogues will give students firsthand insight into how policymakers, practitioners, and researchers grapple with these issues in real time and shape the future of K-12 education.

HESB 33702 Contemporary Issues in Race and US Law (3 Credit Hours)

What do terms like “structural,” “systemic,” or “institutional” racism mean? What are the structures, systems, and institutions that historically have contributed, and continue to contribute, to racial injustice in the United States? Most importantly, how can understanding these concepts help us dismantle the barriers to racial justice in America? This course will focus on the ways that the law and the legal system in the United States has been a tool to create and sustain racial inequity, as well as the reforms, both historic and ongoing, to redress them. Course materials will include cases and commentary. Together, we will examine legal structures in the areas of housing, education, banking and finance, voting, employment discrimination, criminal law, and environmental justice, among others. The course will draw from the Klau Institute’s archives in its five-year long Building and Anti-Racist Vocabulary lecture series featuring authors, public intellectuals, faith leaders, and external and internal members of the academy. Throughout the course of the semester, students will compose a variety of short papers, lead classroom discussions, and complete a final project incorporating independent research on related topics.

HESB 33902 Transformative Justice (1 Credit Hour)

As calls to defund police and abolish prisons have gone mainstream in the United States, many who encounter those demands struggle to imagine alternatives to our punitive criminal legal system, especially when it comes to violent crime. This one-credit course serves as a hands-on introduction to transformative justice -- a feminist political framework for responding to violence without relying on punishment, incarceration, or policing. We will learn about the history and philosophy of transformative justice (TJ) as it has developed in Black, immigrant, and Indigenous communities over many generations. We will read theoretical works, case studies, and personal narratives from scholars, practitioners, and community organizers seeking to solve the problem of violence without creating more violence. Most importantly, we will cultivate skills to build restorative and transformative responses to violence, abuse, and harm in our own relationships and communities. Our virtual class sessions will include a mix of discussion and activities, with an emphasis on collaboration and skill-building.

HESB 33903 Creating Citizens: History of Education in America (3 Credit Hours)

This course is not for the faint of heart, but will explore the feint, adept, and deft use of Civics and History courses to try and create one ideal American narrative in K-12 classrooms. History in American K-12 classrooms and beyond is always political! Historical thinking is also supposed to be an active way of learning and establishing new ideas when there are new pieces of information or additional epistemologies not a passive regurgitation of facts. Join this class to struggle with how a more representative curriculum might help foster better-rounded citizens and broader critical thinking skills. Historical narratives created and true are installed in American curricula to create ‘good citizens,' but who determines what ‘good' is and who and what ‘citizens' are is an ever-changing pantheon of characters seeking god-like power over the nation's past, with aspirations of helping shape and control the nation's future. This course examines how historical events are molded and taught in curricula in different eras and shows the evolution of textbooks and curriculum firsthand. Students explore how early textbooks think of Native peoples as "Noble Savages" and how that ‘nobility' disappears in later texts. We'll have the opportunity to study the re-shaping of ethnic identities in the United States History curriculum and how the Cold War not only re-configures the size and orientation of the maps in our history books but also how the stories of other nations and their forms of government become commonplace slurs as a way to whip up righteousness for US policies in the Cold War and to quash rising ideologies connected to labor movements and those other nations simultaneously. We'll examine the rise and righteousness of both sides of the current debate over Critical Race Theory in the K-12 classroom and so much more. You will have the opportunity to explore additional historical narratives of Native peoples and many different groups who immigrants by choice, force, and forced annexations and their representations in curricula. This course recognizes the privileges that race, class, and gender has played in creating the historical narrative for K-12 classrooms through the study of the groups who make decisions about what civics and historical lessons are taught to students in American schools in different eras. This course will have writing and research elements go through multiple drafts and the final version of student works is not just academic in nature but is to demonstrate that you can utilize your knowledge and understanding for the good, to in essence show ‘what you are fighting for' in the parlance of all at Notre Dame working to bring academic thinking to the forefront for the common good. This course will require critical thinking, creative solutions and ideas on curricular philosophy, great classroom participation, a willingness to do original historical research, and a tremendous desire to share.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WRIT - Writing Intensive

HESB 33904 History of American Indian Education: Sociology, Race, Class, Gender, and Schooling (3 Credit Hours)

This course blends the History of Education and American Indian History and is open to students interested in action research on these two topics. The course may include an opportunity to collaborate on a project with a school that is part of the Native mission network schools and may include travel to a Native community. The class will feature some digital components, including the use of data analytics to formulate ideas about Native education in the United States. Students need no prior knowledge of this kind of work; even those with the most basic computer skills can learn how to use data to formulate important questions about education.

HESB 34091 Foundations of Public Policy (3 Credit Hours)

This seminar addresses the fundamental ideas that organize, describe, and define public policy in the United States. Using a variety of classical and modern texts, we will consider how these fundamental ideas serve to shape both the debate regarding particular policies, as well as the institutions responsible for their implementation. Of special importance to the seminar is the development of critical and analytical skills to understand and evaluate public policy.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKSP - Core 2nd Philosophy

HESB 34092 Foundations of Public Policy--Public Policy Visits (3 Credit Hours)

Public Policy visits. This course is taken in conjunction with HESB 34091 "Foundations Of Public Policy."

HESB 34093 Washington DC Internship (3 Credit Hours)

While in Washington, all students participate in experiential education through an internship. Internships are selected and secured by the students, with the assistance of the Assistant Director of the Washington Program and the ND Center for Career Development.

HESB 34096 United Nations Human Rights Clinic (1 Credit Hour)

This clinic will introduce students to the Universal Periodic Review of the U.N. Human Rights Council, and will require students to prepare a submission to the United Nations regarding the human rights situation in a U.N. Member State currently under review. Under U.N. General Assembly resolution 60/251, the U.N. Human Rights Council is required to "undertake a universal periodic review, based on objective and reliable information, of the fulfillment by each State of its human rights obligations and commitments in a manner which ensures universality of coverage and equal treatment with respect to all States." Students enrolled in this clinic will engage directly with the United Nations to help ensure that all U.N. Member States respect the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights instruments.

HESB 34100 Campaigns and Elections (3 Credit Hours)

This class will teach you how to better understand the fundamental factors that drive campaigns in America and to learn some of the skills employed by political professionals. Many of your assignments will require you to apply the lessons of this class to real time events. Pundits and other observers have already generated a phenomenal amount of analysis and commentary about the 2020 election and occasionally they have even been right. The goal in this class is to go beyond the spin and hyperbole of election commentators and understand how campaigns work, the role of the professionals involved and their efforts to persuade voters. And, of course, to give you some of the technical skills to get an interesting job with a campaign. This class will combine the insights of campaign professionals with insight from the study of previous campaigns and core academic knowledge. It will combine theory, practice, and exploration, taking the insights of political practitioners and rolling them into one particular emphasis on campaigns for public office and message control.

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 34105 Immigration Law Clinic (1 Credit Hour)

On January 20, 2025, President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14160 ("Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship") which purports to end birthright citizenship for children who do not have at least one parent who is a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident. Most legal scholars agree that ending birthright citizenship, even partially, would require a Constitutional amendment, which must be approved by two-thirds of both chambers of Congress and subsequently ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the states. In this course, students will conduct research on the history of birthright citizenship in the United States, to be included in a potential amicus brief in support of those challenging the legality of Executive Order 14160.

HESB 34111 Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act Clinic (1 Credit Hour)

This course will introduce students to the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, and Executive Order 13818, and will require students to jointly prepare one case file submission identifying a foreign individual or entity that has engaged in (1) serious human rights abuses, or (2) significant acts of corruption. Students will work in a team, and will present their final work product to Human Rights First (a non-profit, nonpartisan international human rights organization formerly known as the Lawyers Committee for International Human Rights) to be vetted for possible inclusion in HRF's consolidated submission to the State Department and Treasury Department requesting that sanctions be levied against the identified individual or entity.

HESB 34115 United Nations Special Procedures Clinic (1 Credit Hour)

This clinic will introduce students to the special procedures of the U.N. Human Rights Council and will require students to prepare a communication to one of its 44 thematic mandates, or 11 country-specific mandates, on behalf of an individual who has been persecuted because of his or her political beliefs, religion, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, native language, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or socio-economic status, and who has not used or promoted violence. Special procedures are either an individual person (called "Special Rapporteur" or "Independent Expert") or a Working Group composed of members from each of the five United Nations regional groupings. The Special Rapporteurs, Independent Experts and members of the Working Groups are authorized to receive information on specific allegations of human rights violations and to send communications to States, and to non-State actors, requesting that the concerned authorities take action to prevent or stop the human rights violation, bring to justice those responsible, and make sure that remedies are available to the victim. Students enrolled in this clinic will engage directly with the United Nations to help ensure that all States respect the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights instruments.

HESB 34116 Legislative Politics (3 Credit Hours)

An understanding of the US Congress is critical for any student seeking to comprehend American government and politics. This course will examine the origins, history and development of Congress as an institution. It will investigate what drives legislative decision-making, and the evolving roles played by committees, party leadership and outside forces in the process. The course will look at procedural issues and the material impact they have on policy-making. It is impossible to understand US legislative politics without discussing the issue of polarization in the United States and the way it has changed politics and the institutions of governance. We will include a discussion of the role played by the President in the legislative process. Finally, we will look at some of the internal matters members deal with, from staff, budgets, constituent communications and ethics rules, to external issues such as campaigns, fundraising and interest group pressure.

HESB 34117 US Foreign Policy (3 Credit Hours)

The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the key themes and major debates in the study of American foreign policy. The course provides an overview of the historical evolution of America’s relations with the world, and examines the key actors involved in the formulation of US foreign policy. Throughout, the course will focus on the ways in which America’s interests, and its ideals, have shaped its global engagement.

HESB 34118 Human Rights & Social Justice (3 Credit Hours)

This module addresses crucial human rights and social justice issues in Ireland and around the world. It explores: The origins of human rights; Their current status in international and domestic law, and; How they are activated to advance the goals of social justice movements. We evaluate human rights from a critical and interdisciplinary perspective, investigating their limits and potential in tackling contemporary social problems such as racism and poverty.

HESB 34119 Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Clinic (1 Credit Hour)

On July 22, 2013, Dwayne Jones, a 16-year-old transgender minor, was brutally attacked and killed by a mob near Montego Bay, Jamaica. The teenager was stabbed, shot, run over by a car, and left to die by the side of the road merely for wearing a dress to a community dance party. In this course, students will pursue a petition now pending before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights which alleges that, by refusing to curtail rampant and systematic anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination and violence and by failing to properly investigate and prosecute Dwayne Jones' homicide, Jamaica has breached its obligations under the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man and the American Convention on Human Rights. Students will be expected to engage with non-governmental organizations and human rights clinics around the world to solicit and edit amicus briefs for filing in this case.

HESB 34121 International Criminal Court Clinic (1-3 Credit Hours)

This clinic will introduce students to the International Criminal Court (ICC) 1 , a tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands which investigates and tries individuals charged with war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity, and the crime of aggression. The clinic will also introduce students to the Rome Statute 2 , an international treaty which established the ICC and which currently is comprised of 123 States Parties 3 . Students enrolled in this clinic will prepare a communication to the ICC under Article 15 of the Rome Statute requesting that the Prosecutor initiate proceedings against specific individuals allegedly responsible for committing international crimes.

HESB 34124 Gender, Power and Politics - Historical Perspectives (3 Credit Hours)

This module explores the ways in which power has been gendered, where gender has served as a basis for power, regulation and control, as well as the basis for political inclusion / exclusion. There is a focus on issues of key historical, political, and socio-cultural issues from the 1st to the 3rd waves of feminism, concentrating on identities, politics, political activism, sexualities and citizenship. The module will address the social construction of gender, the relation between feminist theory and activism, and how modern society has responded to issues of citizenship, power, race, class, gender and sexualities. There will be an examination of gender relations in Ireland, the changing constructions of masculinities and femininities and the gendered nature of power. This module is taught by Dr Mary McAuliffe.

HESB 34435 Migration from Central America: Causes and Consequences (3 Credit Hours)

This course focuses on studying the causes and consequences of migration from and through Central America. It addresses issues of climate change and sustainability, such as food insecurity, flooding and hurricanes, disease outbreaks, ethnic-based inequalities, as well as violence in the region with a particular focus on policy solutions and mitigation and adaptation responses to climate change. It explores the role of economic development and public policy, the role of businesses and social corporate responsibility, and the implications of undocumented migration to neighboring countries and to the United States. Prerequisite: Econ 10010 Principles of Microeconomics, or AP credit, or Principles of Economics

HESB 40102 Cybercrime and the Law (3 Credit Hours)

Almost all crimes, or even human interactions, contain a digital component. The fact that "old" laws don't always fit "new" problems is no more apparent than in the area of cybercrimes. This course will include discussion of topics including: the methodology of typical cyber investigations, the application of the Fourth Amendment to digital evidence, and different types of cyber-specific laws enforced today. The course will also focus on the responses of both courts and legislators to the ever-evolving issues presented by computer crimes.

Enrollment is limited to students with a minor in Hesburgh Program Public Serv.

HESB 40103 Solutions: Science, Politics, and Saving the Planet (3 Credit Hours)

Studying environmental politics can be a gloomy pursuit. There are a myriad of devastating problems and a seeming scarcity of scientific and technological fixes. Technical fixes aside, there is the even more problematic scarcity of political fixes. Political institutions often seem to obstruct rather than facilitate environmentally sound policies, and the mass public and political leaders often prioritize competing goals and policies. This course is designed to understand whether the pessimism is warranted and to search for the optimism: What are the best opportunities, scientific and political, for saving the planet? What can realistically be accomplished?

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 40104 Prisons and Policing in the US (3 Credit Hours)

Scholars and activists use the concept of the "carceral state" to describe the official, government use of policing, surveillance, and mass imprisonment to exercise control over society. This course examines the histories, cultures, politics, and economics of prisons and policing in the United States, in order to determine how the U.S. carceral state has been a factor in the social construction of race, gender, and citizenship. We will study the genealogy of the U.S. carceral state -- beginning with the surveillance embedded in the earliest practices of slavery and settler colonialism, tracing its development through the 19th and early 20th centuries, and concluding with the rise of the modern prison industrial complex. We will then focus on contemporary U.S. prisons, policing, and surveillance, using case studies including the "war on drugs," immigrant detention, sex-crime regulation, and police violence. Finally, we will consider alternatives to prisons and policing, as we learn about academic research and activist movements working to end state and police violence, abolish prisons, and create opportunities for restorative justice. Over the course of the semester, students will learn about the historical development and ongoing maintenance of the carceral state, using an intersectional framework that highlights the ways in which prisons and policing have both shaped, and been shaped by, race, gender, citizenship, and economics. Along the way, students will ask and address such questions as: How does the U.S. carceral state function as a tool for social control? What histories, policies, and ideologies underlie the carceral state? How have individuals and organizations worked to transform or abolish the carceral state? How have art and cultural production been used to normalize and/or critique the carceral state? And can we imagine a world without prisons or police?

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 40105 Monetary Theory & Policy (3 Credit Hours)

Central banks wield enormous influence over a country's economic performance. In this course, students will examine the evolution of monetary policy over time and analyze successes and failures of monetary policy and of measures taken to manage times of economic crisis. Special emphasis will be placed on the Federal Reserve System with some attention paid to policies of the Bank of Japan and the European Central Bank. The course will host a Fed Challenge team for the Fall 2008 competition. Students interested in learning how the Fed formulates policy should take the course. Anyone interested in participating in the Fed Challenge must take the course.Prerequisites: "Intermediate Macroeconomics." "Money and Banking" desired.

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 40106 African-American Resistance (3 Credit Hours)

Through a close examination of twelve historical events, we will study African-American resistance in the United States from the 17th century through the 20th century. We will employ a case-study method and seek to categorize and characterize the wide variety of African-American resistance. Our study will include the politics of confrontation and civil disobedience, polarization of arts, transformation of race relations, the tragedies and triumphs of Reconstruction, interracial violence, black political and institutional responses to racism and violence, the Harlem Renaissance, jazz, blues, and the civil rights and black power movements. Students will be confronted with conflicting bodies of evidence and challenged to analyze these issues and arrive at conclusions. Music and film will supplement classroom discussions.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKHI - Core History

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 40107 Future of Labor (3 Credit Hours)

HESB 40111 Race and the Constitution (3 Credit Hours)

Was the American Constitution originally a pro-slavery constitution that changed over time to a constitution that outlawed slavery and state-supported racial discrimination? Did the Civil War and subsequent developments through the civil rights acts of the 1960's represent a commitment implicit in constitutional principles from the nation's beginning? Do these constitutional principles embrace active governmental efforts to achieve an equal-opportunity society, including equal educational opportunity and an end to racism, a "private" attitude? Do constitutional principles promise a color-blind society? Or do they promise no more than color- blind governments? This course addresses these questions. Readings will include state documents like the Declaration of Independence and The Federalist Papers, the speeches of American politicians and other public figures, and decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court regarding slavery, public accommodations, education, voting, housing, and employment. Grades will be based on mid-term and final exams. Texts TBA.

HESB 40112 Consulting and Development (3 Credit Hours)

Students, in a structured format, are involved in assessing, prioritizing and creatively solving problems encountered by low-income and other disadvantaged South Bend entrepreneurs. A process consulting approach is employed and a number of useful tools and frameworks are introduced. Students work with both for-profit and non-profit enterprises, producing tangible deliverables that help clients launch, grow and sustain their ventures.

HESB 40113 Forced Migration And Refugees: Law, Policies, and Practice (3 Credit Hours)

Millions of people around the world have been forced from their homes by interlinked factors including persecution, armed conflict, natural disasters, development projects and socio-economic deprivation. Resolving large-scale displacement represents a critical challenge for contemporary peacebuilding and development processes. This course is designed to introduce students to various theoretical and methodological frameworks that inform and shape forced migration laws, policies and practice. Specifically students will: (i) examine international, regional, national and local responses to the problem of forced migration; (ii) investigate the obstacles to effective protection and assistance for refugees and displaced persons; (iii) explore the challenge of resolving displacement crises, and (iv) discuss some of the moral dilemmas raised by forced migration.

HESB 40114 Social Movements, Conflicts, and Peacebuilding (3 Credit Hours)

IIPS 40807 - Social Movements, Conflict and Peacebuilding In many of the recurring conflicts around the world, at issue are demands for justice. Whether these revolve around economic inequality, political repression, environmental devastation, civil and political rights, ethnic or religious exclusion, or discrimination on the basis of race, class, gender, sexuality or disability status (to name just a few), social movements are often the carriers of these calls for justice. In this course, we will examine how social movements emerge from, contribute to, and suggest resolutions for various types of social conflict, as well as explore their potential contributions to sustainable peacebuilding. We will examine theory and research on how social movements emerge, escalate, consolidate and decline; how they choose (and change) protest tactics; how they articulate their visions and goals; how they generate emotions, solidarity and commitment; how they interact with networks of allies, opponents and powerholders; and how they influence (or fail to influence) agendas, policies, and regimes. We will put a particular emphasis on the comparative study of social movements in different regions of the world, as well as on the challenges and opportunities posed by transnational movements that seek to organize across borders.

HESB 40115 Cities, States, and Global Governance (3 Credit Hours)

At a moment when global challenges—from climate change to inclusive development to public health threats—loom large, many nation-states seem unable to come together to address them. In what ways are the world's cities and subnational governments working on their own and in concert to meet these challenges? This course examines the distinctive roles and capacities of cities, provinces, and states in managing global policy issues and explores different modes of trans-local cooperation and coordination. We start by considering the global governance shortcomings of nation-states and exploring the multilevel character of key policy challenges. We next use case studies from different issue-areas to assess how action by subnational governments is contributing to but also complicating solutions. We conclude by discussing the limitations of subnational approaches to global challenges and considering the most appropriate policy roles and portfolios for subnational actors in the 21st century To enable screen reader support, press Ctrl+Alt+Z To learn about keyboard shortcuts, press Ctrl+slash

HESB 40116 History of Race & Racism in Science (3 Credit Hours)

Race is a social construct. So why have scientists spent centuries trying to quantify, measure, and categorize people by race? From early anthropometry to the Human Genome Project, this course examines the production and embedding of race into scientific knowledge since the 18th century. Designed for students interested in the history of science and the production of scientific knowledge or those curious about the origins of scientific racism and racial inequality, this course is also well-suited for students pursuing careers in the health professions. By focusing on historical discourses on the production and dissemination of scientific knowledge of race, students will be able to: 1. Understand how race, racism, and racial inequality are embedded in scientific knowledge 2. Outline the various methodologies different fields of science have used to group people into races 3. Carefully evaluate scientific technologies for racial biases This is an upper level undergraduate and graduate seminar.

HESB 40117 Gender, Politics, and Power (3 Credit Hours)

The class begins by exploring the concepts of gender, politics, and power, and related concepts such as intersectionality, patriarchy, sexism, and stereotypes. With that foundation, we turn our attention to two arenas in which gender and politics interact in the US: social and political movements and women as political actors. We will examine how women negotiate movements and how gender shapes structure, tactics, and outcomes for both women's movements (e.g., suffrage, feminist, conservative, #metoo) and other movements (such as the Progressive and civil rights movements). Finally, we will consider the constraints, opportunities, and impact of women in political roles, such as voter, candidate, and office-holder, with special attention to the 2022 US midterm elections. While grounded in political science, the course engages substantially with philosophy, history, sociology, and economics as well.

HESB 40118 Social Movements for Health and Disability Justice (3 Credit Hours)

Although advances in science and technology have made tremendous gains in promoting health and longevity, these achievements have not been experienced evenly. Instead, devastating health and disability-based inequities persist, such as environmental racism and disability-based discrimination. As a result, social movement groups and organizations are fighting to protect vulnerable communities and promote civil rights. This class will therefore address how social movements have impacted the health and human rights of vulnerable social groups in the US and beyond today. To do so, we will (1) use a sociological perspective to investigate the structural determinants of health and the social construction of disabilities, and (2) investigate how advocates, activists, and organizations fight for good health and disability justice. This course will require participation in a daylong multi-fieldsite visit, weekly readings, presentations, and a final paper.

HESB 40119 Climate and Environmental Justice (3 Credit Hours)

Climate and Environmental Justice” is a lecture- and discussion-based class primarily targeted at undergraduates. It is designed to introduce you to the core and crucial concepts of climate justice and environmental justice, with a particular emphasis on existing legacy injustices and the injustices we are currently creating as environmental pollution, climate change, and human systems interact. We will discuss existing patterns of burden, inequality, poverty, and threats to human dignity, and discuss opportunities and mechanisms to repair and avoid injustice. In particular we will discuss environmental injustice as a widely experienced but largely localized experience of disproportionate burden (e.g., on the basis of race and class) associated with extraction, industrialization, and non-greenhouse gas environmental pollution, alongside climate injustice as a global and emergent phenomenon of severe and disproportionate impacts from climate change. We will address concepts of reparations and remediation, as well as governance and other strategies for enacting justice. We will also address links between climate and environmental justice with related movements focused on adaptation, energy, housing, transportation, health, and land. Our focus will be both domestic and international, with attention directed to power dynamics, vulnerabilities, and opportunities for corrective action. Climate change and the energy transition will be major themes given their deep relationship with both climate and environmental justice, particularly as processes of industrialization and deindustrialization associated with decarbonization proceed. Overall, the course will focus on patterns, drivers, and opportunities for corrective action associated with severe injustices associated with climate change and environmental burden.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKIN - Core Integration

HESB 43201 American Housing & Social Justice: The History of Housing Segregation & Future of Equitable Cities (3 Credit Hours)

This course will follow the evolution of housing in the context of American Urbanism over the last hundred years and explore not only the methods employed to discriminate against minority communities, but also how these policies have ended up failing the suburban and rural communities they were intended to privilege. Consequently, the outcomes are not only ongoing racial injustice but also a nationwide affordable housing crisis and crumbling infrastructure. The course will be broken down into three parts. We will explore the history and evolution of housing segregation; the current results of decades of racist policies and actions; as well as potential ideas to reverse the inequities in housing to create a stronger future for all communities. No existing knowledge of architecture or urbanism is required.

HESB 43230 Where is the Sociology in US School Reforms (3 Credit Hours)

This course aims to challenge our assumptions about which education as an institution in the United States is predicated and ask some fundamental questions about the relationship between education and society. Why does everyone go to school? Why do some students seem to learn more and “get ahead” than others? What factors shape how schools are run and organized, and what curricular materials are taught? How do schools help to maintain our capitalist system, and how do the factors of race, class, and gender affect the educational experiences of students within schools and classrooms? How can schools become more effective? What interventions have worked to improve schools? These are among the questions we will consider this semester. A primary focus of this course will be on the effects of schools and classrooms on educational outcomes. We will cover topics in the sociology of education related to school effects, sector effects, tracking and ability grouping, and classroom and teacher effects. We will look at the structure, practices, content, and outcomes of schooling, primarily in the light of their relationships to the wider society in which schools are situated. As part of the course, we will also consider the social and organizational context of contemporary education reforms in the United States—particularly test-based accountability for schools, teachers, and students—and place these reforms in a more global perspective.

HESB 43429 Radical Politics: Anarchism and Socialism (3 Credit Hours)

This seminar treats one line of thought in modern political philosophy that poses a direct challenge from the Left to liberal theories of democracy: anarchism. Issues covered: anti-Statism, the relation of civil society to politics, conceptions of work, theory of property, nature of revolution, and anarchism's view of socialism and communism. Selected readings from: William Godwin, Joseph-Pierre Proudhon, Mikhail Bakunin, Peter Kropotkin, Gustav Landauer, Emma Goldman, Rudolf Rocker, and David Graeber.

HESB 43524 Unequal America (3 Credit Hours)

Although America is world's richest nation, it has the most unequal distribution of wealth and income in the industrialized world. In this course, we will examine why this is so. In particular, we will examine the following questions: What social forces create inequality in society? Is inequality inevitable? Is there such a thing as "social class"? Who gets ahead and why? Why is race/ethnicity and gender still related to social status, wealth, and income? Does America have a "ruling elite?" Who are "the poor" and what explains their poverty? Are there social policies that can create more equality in American society -- is that what Americans really want?

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 43541 The Social Organization of Secrecy and Deception (3 Credit Hours)

One would think that secrets are hard to keep, and lies hard to maintain, because it doesn't take much for the truth to escape and once it's out, it can't be put back into the bottle. Yet secrets and lies reside at the heart of much social and political order, sometimes for years and even decades at a time. The objective of this course is to advance our scientific understanding of how this is possible, drawing on sociological, psychological, and historical research on such things as performance, secrecy, lying, forgetting, doubt, denial, and inattention. Case studies will include instances of corporate malfeasance (such as Ponzi schemes and insider trading), Big Tobacco's cover-up of the health consequences of smoking, the lies told by the totalitarian regime of North Korea, the secret British program to break the German cipher during WWII, elaborate attempts to cover up government atrocities, and the cat-and-mouse game between international inspectors and regimes thought to be developing banned weapons. Throughout, we will be concerned with the distinct methodological challenges of studying things many people want to keep secret. Requirements will include midterm and final examinations, reading quizzes/reaction papers, participation, and a final research paper.

HESB 43585 Resisting Change (3 Credit Hours)

Sociologists who study social movements and activism typically address questions about how disadvantaged groups are able to organize and engage in sustained protest in hopes of bringing about progressive change. In recent years, however, we have witnessed the growth of many organizations that aim to prevent change with hopes of preserving benefits that they enjoy. To understand this form of organized resistance to change, we need to closely examine how power operates in society to understand conditions that give rise to activism that resists progressive change. We consider the extent to which theories designed to explain progressive activism fail to account for conservative activism. The ultimate goal for the course is to provide you with the tools needed to formulate your own research questions and to engage with the academic literature to theorize your questions in a way that could lead to publishable research.

HESB 43787 Social Consequences of Mass Incarceration (3 Credit Hours)

Given the dramatic rise in mass incarceration over the last 50 years, understanding the spillover consequences of this uniquely American phenomenon has become increasingly important as a growing number of families now have direct experience with imprisonment. This course will provide a broad overview of the ripple effects of mass imprisonment on family life and how it shapes opportunity and structures disadvantage for communities, families, and especially children. This will be done through 1) exposure to mixed-media portrayals of imprisonment's effects on family and community life and 2) the close analysis of empirical research on the spillover and intergenerational consequences of incarceration across a range of outcomes. With the concentration of imprisonment falling among poor, minority families, much of the readings in this course will focus on family life in urban communities of color, however, we will spend a little time exploring broader accounts, including those of rural communities and encourage students to consider impacts for families exposed to incarceration due to white-collar crimes.

HESB 43889 Latinos in the Future of America: Building Transformative Leadership (3 Credit Hours)

This course will examine the opportunities and challenges facing Latino communities today as they simultaneously transform and are transformed by their continuing growth in U.S. society. Through a careful examination of the biographies of leaders in Latino communities, we will examine what role they have each played in empowering Latino communities to advance in business, arts, education, community organizing, entertainment, medicine, religion, law, academia, politics, and other areas. The course will coincide with the Transformative Latino Leadership Speaker Series sponsored by the Arthur Foundation through the Institute for Latino Studies. Students in the class will have the opportunity to interact with invited leaders in several setting including the classroom, meals, receptions, and university-wide events. The primary course requirement is a research essay about the life and career of a chosen leader.

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 43893 Race and Activism (3 Credit Hours)

Throughout much of American history, individuals have organized and acted collectively to advance interests based on a common racial or ethnic identity. In some instances, groups have organized in an attempt to overcome discrimination and to stake a claim to rights and privileges enjoyed by majority group members. In other cases, members of the majority group have organized to restrict opportunities for the minority and to protect an advantaged position. We will consider the causes and consequences of both progressive and conservative social movements--such as the civil rights movement, the Ku Klux Klan, and the contemporary alt-right - giving particular attention to how theories of social movements help us to understand episodes of race-based collective action.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKSS - Core Social Science

HESB 43895 Racial/Ethnic Educational Inequality (3 Credit Hours)

This course examines the educational experiences and struggles of racial/ethnic minority students in US public schools. Students will study educational stratification by race/ethnicity, as well as how racial/ethnic minorities experience this stratification. We will explore legal, political, historical and social perspectives regarding educational policies and practices. Additionally, this course focuses on the potential of education as an agent for social justice and change for linguistically and culturally diverse groups.

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 43897 The Policy-Making Process (3 Credit Hours)

This course examines the public policy-making process at the federal, state, and local levels. Students will explore a specific policy problem affecting the South Bend metropolitan area. The goal will be to write and present a policy brief to local decision-makers in public policy.

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.

HESB 43899 Politics of Public Policy (3 Credit Hours)

In the United States, public policy has the potential to be a consequential mechanism to address the most vexing and important social and economic problems: inequality, poverty, mass incarceration, climate change and much more. But policies do not appear out of thin air. They are the product of complex political processes. Even after policies are made, political decisions determine how they are implemented and to what end. In order to evaluate or change policy, we must understand politics. That is the focus of this course. We begin with a review of theoretical approaches to conceptualizing and studying public policy. We then explore key policy actors (the President, interest groups, denizens etc.), as well as core aspects of policy design and implementation. Finally, we closely study contemporary policy arenas. Along the way, students will be challenged to grapple with the paradoxes of policy making and to envision pathways to substantive change. Father Hesburgh famously credited President Lyndon Johnson's commitment to civil rights with "changing the face of America." This class recognizes that dramatic policy change must consider the politics behind that change and politics seeking to maintain the status quo. This course fulfills the capstone requirement for the Hesburgh Program in Public Service.

HESB 48000 Independent Capstone Research Project (3 Credit Hours)

This course offers students an opportunity to pursue an independent capstone research project. Students will choose a faculty member that will guide them through the semester-long research, including producing a final research note or policy memo. Interested students should speak with the Hesburgh Program in Public Service academic advisor to obtain approval.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WRIT - Writing Intensive

Enrollment is limited to students with a minor in Hesburgh Program Public Serv.

Enrollment limited to students in the Hesburgh Program in Public Srv department.