拉丁美洲政治（英文）.doc

POLS 357: POLITICS OF LATIN AMERICA
Course Description:
This course provides a survey of Latin American politics, with an emphasis on contemporary issues and country cases. More specifically, the course examines key themes of interest to policy makers in the region— authoritarianism, democratic governance, economic development, gender and identity politics, the rule of law, religion, and .-Latin American relations. In the process, students will learn about the major theoretical explanations for the economic, political, cultural patterns that have shaped modern Latin American politics. As an upper division course, expectations for student performance will be quite high, with the aim of preparing students for graduate school or other professional work related to international studies. Therefore, students should expect to spend a minimum of 5 hours per week doing the readings, preparing assignments, reviewing course notes, visiting office hours, and studying for exams. Above average students will naturally devote more time to the material. Given the subject matter, Spanish and Portuguese language terms or materials (., films with subtitles) may be used in the course, though prior knowledge of these languages is not required.
Course Outline:
Tuesday
Thursday
Introduction
Week 1
1/30 Course Introduction
2/1 Political Geography
Political Development
Week 2
2/6 Poli