Given the breadth of the Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) major, it draws many of its course offerings from other majors at Yale-NUS, particularly Economics, Philosophy and Global Affairs. However, PPE faculty also offer courses of their own that reside at the intersection of two or more of the major’s related fields. What follows is a listing of some of the core courses for the major, as well as some of the elective courses offered by PPE faculty.
Core Courses
YSS1206 Introduction to Comparative Politics
This course is an introduction to the study of political institutions, processes, structures, policies, and outcomes, both within and across countries. Students will learn how to understand and evaluate the similarities and differences between political systems, as well as the intricacies of specific case studies. The course will introduce students to some of the key themes, methods, and questions used in comparing polities across time and space.
YSS3231 Methods in the Social Sciences
An introduction to various research methods in the social sciences, including survey methodology, quantitative data analysis, participant observation, and in‐depth interviewing. This course can count as a course in the major for students in Urban Studies, Global Affairs, PPE, and Anthropology. It may fulfill the course requirements for students in Environmental Studies as well on a case‐by‐case basis after consultation with the Head of Studies of that major. The course also fulfills the methods requirement in Urban Studies and Global Affairs. Students in all of these majors should ideally take this course before they commence their capstone project.
YSS2203 Intermediate Microeconomics
Microeconomics analyses individual decision making and its implications for economic outcomes. Here the term “individual” is used broadly to include individuals, households and firms. We deconstruct the demand-supply model by analysing consumers’ choices as outcomes of rational preference maximization and producers’ decisions as results of profit maximization in various market structures. We study how equilibrium of demand and supply in competitive markets generates efficient outcomes. We then analyse a variety of instances when markets fail to be efficient. This course will place special emphasis upon mathematical foundations of theoretical models. In particular, we will study and apply techniques in multivariate calculus, and unconstrained and constrained optimization.
Electives
YSS2208 Ancient Greek Political Philosophy
This course offers students an introduction to the central themes and debates in Ancient Greek Political Philosophy through a careful reading of Plato’s Republic and Aristotle’s Politics. Questions and themes include: “How should I/we live?”, “What is justice, freedom, and equality?”, “What are the virtues of citizens and rulers?”, “What is the relationship between the individual and the state?”, and “How should we envision the relationship between morality and politics?” While understanding the works of Plato and Aristotle within their historical context, we will also be interested in understanding how they can help us to think about politics in contemporary societies.
YSS3314 Singapore Politics
Political insight often begins by looking critically at one’s own political environment. This course examines Singapore politics institutionally and thematically, focusing on pressing issues facing the country today. It will explore Singapore’s unique parliamentary system, and its political aims and effects. Topics covered may include the politics of race and gender, issues of social class and inequality, efforts to balance civil rights and liberties with political expediency, and issues of meritocracy, party politics, and national identity. When feasible, this course will include experiential learning components such as guest speakers or visits to parliament.
YSS2239 The Political Thought of the Enlightenment
Liberty, equality, fraternity – many of our political ideas today have hazy roots in the Enlightenment. This course will examine some of the key texts, concepts and debates of the period, with particular emphasis on Britain and the French Enlightenment. We will also draw on these texts to think about political concepts and debates in our time.
YSS3302 Colonialism and Decolonization
Colonialism has had far reaching social, political and economic effects. Since WWII, many colonies have gained independence. However, independence did not result in the post-colonial utopias that were envisioned in struggles for independence. Colonialism has persisted. New forms of imperialism have substituted for colonialism. Further, native elites have reproduced the colonial apparatus. What, then, does de-colonizsation mean in this post-colonial environment? We will study the comparative history of colonialism in its political, economic, and social dimensions, and examine its diverse effects. We will examine decoloniszation as a historical episode and as a movement today.
YSS3305 The Political Economy of Capitalism
This course examines the comparative political economy of capitalist societies, broadly defined as the relationship between the market and the state, and the ways in which the triangular relationship between the state, labour and business differs from one capitalist country to another. The course will survey cases from North America, Western Europe and East Asia, as well as a number of important themes such as poverty and welfare, racial and gender disparities, neoliberalism, financialisation and globalisation. There will be heavy emphasis upon the transformation in the political-economic landscape facing capitalist societies in the period since the end of the 1970s.
YSS3310 Populism
Populism challenges liberal democracy around the world, upsetting domestic and international political order. Yet, despite its ubiquity, populism is a slippery phenomenon and can be difficult to define. In this course, we will examine populism from the perspectives of philosophy, politics, and economics. Among other things, we will examine definitions of what populism is and its relationship to liberal democracy; we will examine the causes of populism, such as free trade and economic inequality; we will examine the goals of various populist movements from around the world; and we will debate the legitimacy of policy responses to populism.
YSS3264 Bubbles, Crashes, Panics and Crises
Financial markets are subject to periodic bouts of “irrational exuberance” that lead to bubbles in asset prices, frequently followed by a crash. These particularly afflict stock and foreign exchange markets and the banking industry. Despite repeated attempts to regulate finance, crises recur with remarkable frequency and regularity. In “This Time is Different”, Ken Rogoff and Carmen Reinhart document eight centuries of financial folly. These crises have profound effects on the real economy, leaving a legacy of unemployment and slow growth. We use economic analysis to study several financial, foreign exchange, and banking crises in their historical and social contexts.
YSS3326 Liberalism and Its Critics
The course will build upon the knowledge of early modern liberalism that students learn in PPT 2. We will begin with an examination of John Locke’s classic work of liberalism, The Second Treatise of Government. We will then examine Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s critique of liberal state of nature theories in his Discourse on the Origin of Inequality. After that we turn to twentieth-century critiques of liberalism offered by Virginia Woolf, Malcolm X, and Michel Foucault. Here we will study how liberalism relies on masculine (Woolf), racist (Malcolm X) or disciplinary (Foucault) mechanisms, and examine the political alternatives offered by these thinkers.
