Riots, Rebellions, Revolutions

Calendar

LEC #	TOPICS
1	Introductory class
Part I: Theory and Method
2	Explaining social action
3	Rationality
4	Psychological approaches, relative deprivation
5	Norms
6	Emotions
7	Structural explanations
8	In-class quiz
Part II: Contentious Politics
9–11	Dynamics of Contention
Part III: Riots
12	U.S. Riots I
13	U.S. Riots II: Relative deprivation and the 1960’s urban riots
14	U.S. Riots III: The Rodney King riots in LA
15	Threshold-based models
16	Student presentations of agent-based modeling exercises
Part IV: Rebellion
17	Background to Eastern European cases
18	Cascade models applied to Eastern Europe
19	Violent rebellion in Kosovo
Part V: Revolutions
20	Revolutions I
21	Revolutions II
22	Revolutions III
Part VI: Arab Spring
23	Readings from the October 2011 edition of the Journal of Democracy
24–25	Student presentations of comparative analyses of some aspect of the Arab Spring
26	Final exam