UCDC Courses
A list of courses can be accessed using the drop-down menu below. Select Fall Quarter & Semester 2023.
For *preliminary* information about each course, click on the course title.
Please note: In the event of low enrollment, a class may be cancelled. Students will be informed as soon as possible and enrolled in a different class.
Core Seminar
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A Biden-Harris Presidency: Understanding Executive Power in Historical and Contemporary Context
Most of us have been inundated with elections and politics for the past year. Many Americans can name several presidents and even have opinions on “good” versus “bad” presidents. But what do they actually do and how do we measure and evaluate their...
- Congress in History and in Transition
Congress and other branches of the U.S. government were designed nearly two and a half centuries ago under circumstances and reflecting values and philosophies that bear little relationship to contemporary America. All of these institutions have...- General Research: Developing Critical Writing and Thinking Skills Through Independent Research
Stephen Colbert coined the term “truthiness” to describe the tendency of people to “go with their gut” rather than facts and evidence in evaluating the world around them. We are all affected by biases that obstruct critical thinking. Challenging...- Reducing Poverty and Inequity: Lessons from International Development
This course introduces students to the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as agents of advocacy and socio-political, economic and cultural change. The emphasis is on a) examining ways in which the NGO sector operates at the local, national...- Research in World Politics in Interesting Times
This seminar is designed to help you to engage critically and think systematically about crucial questions that are global in scope and to guide you through the process of developing a significant research paper. This is not a field seminar in...- The Politics and Process of the U.S. Judiciary
The theme of this course is that the judiciary is a political institution in the American scheme of government. This topic couldn’t be more relevant than it is now in the aftermath of the 2016 presidential election as we witness courts across the...- The U.S. Supreme Court: Conflict, Change and the Court
Immigration. LGBT rights. Healthcare. Abortion. The death penalty. Cell phone privacy. The U.S. Supreme Court has decided cases on all of these topics in recent years, and its decisions ultimately touch the lives of all Americans. In this class we...- Washington Media: Fake News, Social Media, and the Reshaping of American Politics
Do Twitter or Facebook threaten democracy? What is the difference between “fake news” and journalism? Should the media report what people want to know or ought to know? Does objectivity exist?This seminar examines the...Spring Semester 2022Semester Elective
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A Theater of Politics & The Politics of Theater
For more than a decade, this course has canvassed the Washington DC theater scene and discovered a wealth of offerings, many of them—not surprisingly—political in focus. Which prompts the question: What should the role of an arts community be in an...
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Black Lives Matter: Race, Policy, & Democratic Governance
This course will examine race and ethnic politics through the lens of social movements, public policy, and democratic governance. The #BlackLivesMatter Movement was founded in 2013 in response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s murderer and engages...
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Still a World in Motion? Migration and Displacement in Times of Pandemic and Nationalism
Migration is one of the most salient and politically polarizing issues in the world today. We have been living in an “age of mobility,” with more people living outside of their country of birth than ever before. In 2020 there were around 281 million...
- Congress in History and in Transition