The Department of Political Science welcomes Professor YuJung (Julia) Lee, this fall.  Professor Lee comes from the George HW Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University, where she offered courses in Comparative Asian Political Economy, the Politics of Development in South Asia, and Quantitative Methods, among others.  Professor Lee earned her PhD from the Department of Political Science at the University of California at Los Angeles, writing her dissertation on Gender, Sanitation, and Political Leadership in India.  She earned her Master of International Studies at Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea; she received her BA degree, in International Studies, from Ewha Womans University, also in Seoul, graduating magna cum laude.  Professor Lee has language facility in English, Hindi, Korean, Mandarin Chinese, and Japanese.

This fall Professor Lee will be offering two Special Topics in Comparative Politics courses for the department.

POSC391 Special Topics in Comparative Politics: The Politics and Government of India  MW 3:20PM – 4:35PM
As the world’s largest democracy, India is a prominent country in global affairs today. This course provides an introduction to the political structure and policymaking process that shape development in contemporary India. The main questions we address are: How has India’s democracy thrived in a country with numerous religious, linguistic, ethnic, and economic groups? How does politics help explain India’s rapid economic growth on one hand and widespread poverty on the other? What are the major challenges of India’s democracy today? Some of the topics we will cover include: colonial legacies, government institutions, elections and political parties, decentralization, identity politics, poverty, civil society, and corruption. Using India as a guide, the course will cover concepts and themes that are useful for analyzing politics in other developing countries.  No prerequisite.

POSC391 Special Topics in Comparative Politics: Women and Politics in Global Perspective  TuTh 1:00PM – 2:15PM
This course is an introduction to the comparative study of women’s participation in politics from an international perspective. The main questions we focus on are: Does the descriptive representation of women lead to their substantive representation? Do gender quotas promote women’s representation? Do women make a difference once elected to office? What are the main obstacles to women’s representation? How has public opinion changed with respect to women in politics? The course will provide an opportunity for students to read and discuss empirical, qualitative, and theoretical scholarship on the role of women in politics with a focus on developing countries. Course readings are organized under four sections: representation and impact, women’s political participation, culture and attitudes toward women, and transnational issues concerning women. As part of the course grade, students will be expected to write an original research paper.  No prerequisite.

You can learn more about Professor Lee here.