2025-2026 Academic Year

Fall 2025

FYSM 100 First-Year Seminar
The First-Year Seminar (FYS) introduces students to Dickinson as a "community of inquiry" by developing habits of mind essential to liberal learning. Through the study of a compelling issue or broad topic chosen by their faculty member, students will: - Critically analyze information and ideas - Examine issues from multiple perspectives - Discuss, debate and defend ideas, including one's own views, with clarity and reason - Develop discernment, facility and ethical responsibility in using information, and - Create clear academic writing The small group seminar format of this course promotes discussion and interaction among students and their professor. In addition, the professor serves as students' initial academic advisor. This course does not duplicate in content any other course in the curriculum and may not be used to fulfill any other graduation requirement.

POSC 290 Authoritarianism
At the end of the Cold War in 1991, it was not uncommon to hear, in one version or another, that liberal democracy and free market capitalism not only emerged victorious in the realm of competing political ideas, but also that the political world in the near and distant future would be full of states adopting these ideas. At that time, countries such as China, Iran, Iraq, Vietnam, Cuba, Laos, and North Korea were considered outliers, that, like dinosaurs, would soon be extinct. Much has changed since then. Around the world liberal democracy is in decline, while authoritarianism, in one form or another, is both resilient where it currently exists and on the rise in places such as Hungary and the United States. More than this, authoritarian leaders insist that their political model is superior in achieving goals the public considers important, such as economic growth and the provision of public order. This course offers students a comprehensive survey of authoritarianism as a political theory and practice, in comparative perspective. Looking at cases such as China, South Korea, the USSR/Russia, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Singapore and the United States, we will examine why certain people are inclined to support authoritarian regimes, their fundamental features, how they gain and maintain support, how they work in practice, and how they collapse, among other topics. Under what circumstances can authoritarian regimes succeed in providing security, economic growth and more equality. Why are some authoritarian regimes durable whereas others are unstable and weak? Why do some collapse, and how do their legacies influence the kinds of political regimes that emerge in the aftermath?

INST 390 Constitutions in Comp Contexts
Cross-listed with LAWP 400-01 and POSC 390-02. Blending law, comparative politics, religion, and history, this seminar looks at the wide variety of functions that constitutions fulfill in politics, economics, and society in democratic and nondemocratic countries. In the United States, we are accustomed to the idea that the Constitution structures political behavior by setting rules for, and limiting, executive and legislative authority. Through its Amendments, it also has provided a basis for the expansion of citizen rights. Looking at constitutions in comparative context, however, reveals a more complex story. In this class we will see that constitutions play many other roles: restructuring an economy; building, altering, and subverting democracy; legitimizing authoritarianism and providing a basis for rights litigation; teaching people about their rights and their obligations; and, through "constitutional participation," gathering intelligence on citizens' political views. We will also examine how Islamic, Buddhist, and civil law constitutional traditions do not accord constitutions the same power over politics and society that we do. Polities covered in this course include Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Czechia, Ecuador, the European Union, India, Iran, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, the United States, and Venezuela.

POSC 390 Constitutions in Comp Contexts
Cross-listed with INST 390-01 and LAWP 400-01. Blending law, comparative politics, religion, and history, this seminar looks at the wide variety of functions that constitutions fulfill in politics, economics, and society in democratic and nondemocratic countries. In the United States, we are accustomed to the idea that the Constitution structures political behavior by setting rules for, and limiting, executive and legislative authority. Through its Amendments, it also has provided a basis for the expansion of citizen rights. Looking at constitutions in comparative context, however, reveals a more complex story. In this class we will see that constitutions play many other roles: restructuring an economy; building, altering, and subverting democracy; legitimizing authoritarianism and providing a basis for rights litigation; teaching people about their rights and their obligations; and, through "constitutional participation," gathering intelligence on citizens' political views. We will also examine how Islamic, Buddhist, and civil law constitutional traditions do not accord constitutions the same power over politics and society that we do. Polities covered in this course include Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Czechia, Ecuador, the European Union, India, Iran, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, the United States, and Venezuela.

LAWP 400 Constitutions in Comp Contexts
Cross-listed with INST 390-01 and POSC 390-02. Blending law, comparative politics, religion, and history, this seminar looks at the wide variety of functions that constitutions fulfill in politics, economics, and society in democratic and nondemocratic countries. In the United States, we are accustomed to the idea that the Constitution structures political behavior by setting rules for, and limiting, executive and legislative authority. Through its Amendments, it also has provided a basis for the expansion of citizen rights. Looking at constitutions in comparative context, however, reveals a more complex story. In this class we will see that constitutions play many other roles: restructuring an economy; building, altering, and subverting democracy; legitimizing authoritarianism and providing a basis for rights litigation; teaching people about their rights and their obligations; and, through "constitutional participation," gathering intelligence on citizens' political views. We will also examine how Islamic, Buddhist, and civil law constitutional traditions do not accord constitutions the same power over politics and society that we do. Polities covered in this course include Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Czechia, Ecuador, the European Union, India, Iran, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, the United States, and Venezuela.