PSC 2377

Comparative Politics of the Middle East

Self-Designed and Taught at The George Washington University: Summer (2019, 2020, 2021)

This course explores theoretical and policy debates surrounding major events and developments in the politics of the Middle East and North Africa. The course takes a comparative approach to examining themes such as colonial legacies, institutions, authoritarian persistence, social movements, Islamism, gender, sectarian division, pop culture, and identity politics.

PSC 3192 WID:

LGBTQ Politics

Self-Designed and Taught at The George Washington University: Fall (2020)

This upper-level seminar examines the role of sexual orientation and gender identity in politics drawing on the American politics literature on identity, LGBTQ civil rights movements, and representation. The course covers theories of identity formation and the mobilization of social movements from the 1940s to the 2000s emphasizing the evolution of LGBTQ activism and major critical junctures. The second part of the course highlights movement strategies in dealing with social stigma, political institutions, and the law. The third part of the course examines the movement’s impact on policy-making, electoral politics, representation, and litigation. In this part of the course, students analyze the role of the media and religion in shaping public attitudes toward sexual minorities. Throughout the seminar, we will apply concepts and theories from the literature we cover to make sense of recent and current events such as the anti-Trans legislation wave of 2020 or the remarkable increase in LGBTQ participation in the 2020 elections.

Social Movements

When and how do individuals engage in collective action to challenge the status quo and what accounts for the divergent strategies they pursue? What role do political and economic grievances play in catalyzing protests, riots, and political violence? And what determines the outcome of social and political activism? To answer these questions and more, this course draws on classic and recent research on contentious politics. It highlights transgressive and institutional modes of collective action with the aim of helping students apply this research to a plethora of empirical examples—domestic and transnational, historical and contemporary.