Underdeveloped societies are agrarian and rural; developed societies, industrial and urban. Economic growth and economic development would appear therefore to imply a great transition. How does this transformation take place? What are the processes that lead rural and agricultural societies to become industrial and urban? What economic forces underlie this transformation? And what are the political processes by which agrarian elites become marginalized and the peasantry driven from off the land? This course looks at the economics and politics of the great transformation. It examines... Read more about Social Analysis 52 and Government 1100: Growth and Development in Historical Perspective

Covers recent work on state failure, civil war and terrorism. It included recent work on ethnicity and ethnic conflict as well. Most papers utilize formal theory or econometric methods. Grades will be based on the presentation and discussion of the papers in class and on a research paper.

A microperspective on various topics in political economy, including the emergence and development of institutions, property rights, agency relationships, the effects of time on politics, and the role of politicians ("putting the politicians back in"), political demography, and the law.