Is your learner interested in politics? Want to learn more about *why* politicians do what they do and say what they say? Look no further - in this class we will dissect current events in politics. For example - we have recently seen natural disasters like wildfires, flooding, and earthquakes strike the US, Turkey, Libya and Marocko - how did they governments in those countries respond to these crisis? How effect were those responses? What are the political and economical systems at work that compel politicians to make the choices they did?

This is a space for conversation and learning. The learner should come prepared to challenge their own preconceptions about how politics work and be ready to grow a new understanding of those, as they get more familiar with the various theories political scientists actually use to analyze what is going on. This is thus NOT a space for confirmation bias (yes, we will cover what that is), but for scientific analysis and consideration.

This is also NOT a lecture class - it is driven by what current events are driving headlines, and what the students are interested in discussing, as decided by a vote at the start of the class.

An example of a schedule follows:

Week of October 2nd:
International Relations: News from the front in Ukraine. Possible questions: is the International Community responding appropriately to Russian aggression. The United Nations has decided against calling Russia's war crimes a genocide. Why?

Week of October 9th:
Domestic politics/comparative politics: Are Covid rates going up again? How might governments respond to anti-vaccine attitudes this Fall?

Week of October 16th:
Comparative Politics: In the United Kingdom, politicians still debate the effects of Brexit and what relationship the United Kingdom should have with the European Union. What conclusions can be drawn 7 years after the referendum?

Week of October 23rd:
Several gubernatorial elections are coming up in the United States in November. Can we draw any conclusions for the Presidential elections next year?