POLI SCI 301 Classical Political Theory (1) Contributions of classical political theorists such as Plato, Aristotle, and Cicero; modern applications. Modern concepts of scope and method of political science.
POLI SCI 302 Modern Political Thought (1) The nation-state, modern science, and the industrial revolution as the context for a revolution in political ideals. Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, and Marx. Relation of ideas to social movements and political institutions.
POLI SCI 303 Concepts in Democratic Theory (1) Contemporary analyses of the meanings of liberty, equality, representation, and other key concepts in the theory and practice of democracy.
POLI SCI 310 Elementary Statistics for Political Research (1) Measuring political data; summarizing observations; analyzing contingency tables. Research design and sampling theory. Parametric and nonparametric tests of hypotheses. Basics of multiple regression. SPSS computer usage.
POLI SCI 311 Methods of Political Research (1) Introduction to methods of political research: research design, experimentation, comparative inquiry, measurement, data collection, and data analysis. Application to political phenomena.
POLI SCI 312 Logic of Political Inquiry (1) Topics in the philosophy of social explanation. The role of general laws in social science; the nature of casual and intentional explanations; the nature and uses of formal models; interpretive dimensions of social inquiry. The material presupposes little or no mathematical background. Not open to students who have taken SOCIOL 326.
POLI SCI 313 Computer Methods for Political Science (1) File management, online editing, information retrieval systems, statistical packages, interactive computing, text processing, and simulation. Topics vary with instructor.
POLI SCI 315 Introduction to Positive Political Theory An introduction to rational choice modeling. Course focuses on developing the underlying principles of the rational choice approach through development of central theoretical topics, including electoral competition voting in committees, collective action and design of rules for aggregating preferences. Models and results discussed are applied to particular empirical issues. Acquaintance with microeconomics is helpful.
POLI SCI 320 The Presidency (1) The contemporary presidency: recruitment, presidential character, public opinion, institutional constraints, and foreign versus domestic policy making.
POLI SCI 321 Community Political Processes (1) Problems of mobilizing and exercising political power in local and regional jurisdictional units. Relationships between political structure and community needs and demands.
POLI SCI 323 Public Opinion and Voting Behavior (1) Who votes for who? Social, psychological, economic, and political factors influencing election choices. Sources of opinions. American politics and presidential elections; some comparative material.
POLI SCI 324 Political Parties and Elections (1) Role of political parties in a democratic society. Functions, operations, structure, and contributions of political parties. Nomination, national conventions, political funding, campaigns, party organization; national, state, and local parties.
POLI SCI 325 The Legislative Process (1) Organization of legislatures to make public policy; legislative-executive relations; impact of interest groups and other forms of citizen activity on legislative decision making.
POLI SCI 327 African-American Politics in the United States (1) Historical survey of African-American politics; relationship of African-Americans to government. African-American political alliances and coalitions. Relevance of reformist and revolutionary strategies in the struggle for African-American liberation.
POLI SCI 328 State Politics in the United States (1) Examination of the political process at the state level in the United States. Various institutional forms and decision-making processes attached to different kinds of issues and existing in the several states. Prerequisite: permission of instructor.
POLI SCI 330 The Politics of Local Justice (1) Local justice systems; trial courts, organization of the bar, civil and criminal litigation, and the political consequences of the involvement of the law in social conflicts.
POLI SCI 331 Appellate Processes (1) Operation of appellate courts, emphasizing the US Supreme Court. Decision making by appellate courts and the development of public policy.
POLI SCI 332 Constitutional Law (1) Introduction to the interpretation of the US Constitution by the Supreme Court. Topics include judicial review, federalism, separation of powers, economic and religious liberty, and personal privacy. Prerequisite: permission of instructor.
POLI SCI 333 Constitutional Law II (1) Decisions of the US Supreme Court dealing with civil and political rights, including equality, freedom of expression, and criminal procedures. Prerequisite: permission of instructor.
POLI SCI 342 International Organizations (1) Role of international organizations, both governmental and nongovernmental, in international relations. Comparison of international and other political institutions, and different types of international organizations.
POLI SCI 344-1 Advanced Studies in International Relations (1) Comparative study of foreign policy formulation and implementation. Course examines the determinants and consequences of foreign policies made by countries with different characteristics.
POLI SCI 344-2 U.S. Foreign Policy (1) Foreign policy processes and issues in the United States. Economic, military, and diplomatic dimensions of policy; theories of foreign policy decision making in the United States and other nations.
POLI SCI 345 National Security (1) Problems of maintaining national security in the military and economic spheres; deterrence theory, nuclear weapons, arms control, and defense policy among the major powers, with emphasis on the United States.
POLI SCI 346 The Politics of European Unification (1) Development and prospects of the European Union in geopolitical and historical context.
POLI SCI 350 Communism and Post- Communism (1) Causes, processes, and consequences of revolutionary movements. Theories and case studies, including victorious and unsuccessful urban and rural-based movements; emphasis on Latin American cases.
POLI SCI 351 Peasant Politics (1) Characteristics of agrarian economic structures; social organizations; peasant politics, movements, and revolutions; elite responses to and interactions with rural society through public policy and clientelist mobilization.
POLI SCI 352 Politics of East Asia (1) East Asia as a site for studying various concepts in comparative politics: war, revolution, imperialism, modernization, dependency, development, authoritarianism, party politics, democratization.
POLI SCI 353 Latin American Politics (1) Patterns of socioeconomic development and regime forms in Latin America. Interaction of internal and international economic and political structures and processes.
POLI SCI 354 Southeast Asian Politics (1) Political economy of Indonesia, Singapore, Burma, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Brunei during the post-World War II period. Themes include industrialization, human rights, and democracy. Prerequisite: permission of instructor and department.
POLI SCI 355 Chinese Politics (1) Fundamental conflicts in Chinese politics, including party-mass relations, class, the urban-rural split, and debates over ideology, democracy, and development strategy. Also, pivotal events since 1949, such as the Land Reform, the Cultural Revolution, the fall of the "gang of four," and post-Mao reforms.
POLI SCI 356 United States and Latin America (1) Interactions between U.S. foreign policy and Latin American politics. The evolving importance of Latin America in US geostrategic objectives, from the turn of the century through the Cold War, and during the emerging post-Cold War period.
POLI SCI 357 Politics of Post-Colonial States (1) Problems and political behavior in underdeveloped areas in regard to their internal affairs and international relations. Interplay between economic conditions and political patterns.
POLI SCI 358 Nationalism (1) Social, linguistic, religious, and political bases of the rise of modern nationalism in Europe, Asia, and Africa; wars of national liberation in relation to imperialism and colonialism.
POLI SCI 359 Politics of Africa (1) Political structures and relation of cultural factors to political stability and change; development of modern political systems.
POLI SCI 360 Comparative Racial Politics (1) The interplay of racial, socioeconomic, and cultural tensions in multiracial politics of Germany, Trinidad, and Britain. Identifying and distinguishing patterns of racial politics between and within multiracial nation-states. Prerequisite: permission of instructor and department.
POLI SCI 361 Democratic Transitions (1) Causes for emergence and breakdown of democracy in cases from Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Prerequisite: permission of instructor and department.
POLI SCI 362 Politics of Western Europe (1) Political socialization, mass behavior, interest groups and parties, leadership, and social and economic policy in Western Europe.
POLI SCI 364 Caribbean Politics (1) Political economy of development in selected Caribbean nations (Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Grenada). Topics include competing strategies of development, determinants of mass support for democratic politics, and the impact of race, class, clientelism, and external constraints on political and economic change.
POLI SCI 366 Marxist Political and Social Thought (1) Marxist social science: political and sociological dimensions, exemplary theoretical and empirical works, articulation with non-Marxist social science, and normative Marxist thought.
POLI SCI 370 Public Policy (1) Comparative analysis of the development of welfare in Western Europe and the United States. Consideration of arguments contending that welfare represents a consolidation of democratic capitalism or, alternatively, a step toward socialism.
POLI SCI 371 Environmental Politics (1) Political problems associated with human impact on the natural environment; pollution, natural resources, public land use, energy, and population. Government involvement from judicial, legislative, administrative, and international standpoints.
POLI SCI 372 The Politics of the Global Economy (1) Interactions of politics and economics in the relations between nations and among subnational groups. Theories of imperialism, dependency, and the evolution of the global system; international policy and institutional reform.
POLI SCI 373 Political Economy of Underdevelopment (1) Major analytical perspectives of modern political economy; concrete problems of development and underdevelopment in the Third World.
POLI SCI 374 Politics and Markets (1) Politics of policy choices that democratic governments make and their economic impact. Introduction to theories of democratic politics in market economies. Focuses on significant ways in which the United States, Western Europe, and Japan differ.
POLI SCI 375 Comparative Politics of Business-Government Relations (1) In-depth analysis of relations between business and government in a variety of economic, social and political contexts. How government policy affects business practices and performance and how political activities of corporations affect the functioning and policy orientation of government.
POLI SCI 376 Comparative Capitalism in the Advanced Industrialized Countries (1) Impact of patterns of industrialization on the political organization of capitalism in Great Britain, France, Germany, Sweden, and the United States. Prerequisite: permission of instructor and department.
POLI SCI 390 Special Topics in Political Science (1) Topics suggested by students and faculty, not covered in other courses. Department approval required.
POLI SCI 401 Introduction to Political Science (1) Political science as a profession and discipline, theoretical perspectives in political science, the history and philosophy of science with special reference to political science, issues in normative and empirical analysis, and theory construction.
POLI SCI 402 Conducting Political Research (1) Introduction to methods commonly used in empirical research. Research design, measurement techniques, sampling, observation, archival research, instrument construction, interviewing, experimentation, data processing techniques, secondary analysis, and protection of respondents' rights.
POLI SCI 403 Introduction to Probability and Statistics Set theory, sample spaces, combinatorics, conditional probability, Bernoulli and binomial random variables and distributions. Some discussion of estimation and inference.
POLI SCI 404 Practicum in Political Analysis (1) Practice of skills acquired in POLI SCI 401, POLI SCI 402, and POLI SCI 403; individual and group efforts to design and execute political research.
POLI SCI 405 Linear Models (1) Theory and application of linear regression and extensions such as limited dependent variables. Consequences of violating the assumptions underlying the classical linear regression model. Prerequisite: knowledge of introductory econometrics.
POLI SCI 406 Econometrics (1) Topics include maximum-likelihood estimation, time-series regression, simultaneous-equation models, and measurement models. Prerequisite: POLI SCI 405 or equivalent.
POLI SCI 408 Historical Methods in the Study of Politics (1) Philosophical warrants of historical research. Metatheoretical concepts in historical research.
POLI SCI 409 Mathematics for Political Science (1) Provides the necessary technical tools for understanding statistical and formal analytic work in political science. Topics include basic linear algebra, differential and integral calculus, introduction to optimization theory.
POLI SCI 410 American Political Institutions and Behavior (1) Introduction and review of major studies in American politics on such topics as the presidency, the Congress, the courts, interest groups, political parties, and voting behavior. A basic course for graduate students.
POLI SCI 412 Political Participation (1) Participation of the masses in various political systems; the functions these activities serve. Modes and distribution of activity, protest and other unconventional forms of action, relationship to social stratification, social-choice theories of participation, and effects of different modes and levels of participation.
POLI SCI 413 Theories of Political Behavior (1) Contrasting approaches to the study of voting, theories of the survey response, psychological theories of mental process, models of public opinion, dispositional explanations of behavior, political participation, and mathematical models of social interaction.
POLI SCI 415 Bureaucracies (1) Politics of bureaucracies, particularly the U.S. Federal bureaucracy. Investigates models of public administration, the relationship of agencies to other political actors, and applications to specific policy areas.
POLI SCI 416 Interest Groups (1) Political activities of groups and associations. Processes of group formation, maintenance, and politicization. Coalition formation and dissolution. Role of organized and unorganized groups in maintaining/creating open political systems. Impact of interest groups on policy outcomes.
POLI SCI 417 Legislatures (1) Structure and function of legislative bodies in political systems. Focus on the US Congress; comparison with state and foreign legislatures. Political representation, legislative-executive relations, explanation of legislative behavior, and legislative leadership.
POLI SCI 418 American Political Parties (1) Organizational structure of political parties and its consequences; the nature and redefinition of political party coalitions; conflict and consensus building within parties; changes within the parties and their effect on power distributions; parties in governmental decision making; party activists; and policy formation and its implications within the parties.
POLI SCI 420 Law, Trial Courts, and Politics (1) Theoretical frameworks and research findings about the roles of law and trial courts in the social and political arenas. Consequences for public policy formulation and implementation.
POLI SCI 422 Appellate Courts and Policy Making (1) Survey of the role of appellate courts in the policy-making process. Topics include lawyers and litigating interest groups, judicial decision making, and the implementation of appellate court decisions.
POLI SCI 426 Constitutional Politics: Development and Analysis (1) Development of constitutional doctrines in the United States; the US Supreme Court as an instrument of government. Theory and practice of judicial power, economic policy making through constitutional adjudication, Bill of Rights protections, and directions in public law litigation.
POLI SCI 440 International Relations Theory (1) Contemporary international relations theory. Basic concepts on the philosophy of social science and substantive theories of international relations, including neorealism, neoliberalism, marxism, and constructivism.
POLI SCI 441 International Political Economy (1) Assessment of the relative importance of systemic and domestic factors in the evolution of international economic relations, particularly among advanced industrialized democracies; the structure of dynamics of those relations.
POL SCI 442 International Organization (1) Introduction to theories about the origin and role of international institutions in world politics. Why do states cooperate? Implications for democratic accountability and political legitimacy.
POLI SCI 444 Foreign Policy (1) Introduction to theories about the origin and role of international institutions in world politics. Why do states cooperate? Implications for democratic accountability and political legitimacy.
POLI SCI 445 International Security (1) Introduction to theories about the origin and role of international institutions in world politics. Issues include: cooperation, covenants, agreements, norms, democratic accountability, and political legitimacy.
POLI SCI 446 History of Internatonal Relations Thought (1) Examination of the classics of international relations literature, from Thucydides's History through Machiavelli, Roussseau, and Kant to E. H. Carr's Twenty Years Crisis.
POLI SCI 447 Critical Studies in World Politics (1) Scholarship on world politics in the Frankfurt School, Gramscian, and postmodern traditions.
POLI SCI 450 Contemporary Theory and Research in Comparative Politics (1) Major contemporary theoretical and methodological approaches such as society-centered, state-centered, political-institutional, political-cultural, and process- centered theoretical approaches; cross-national statistical and comparative-historical methodological approaches.
POLI SCI 451 Comparative Political Economy of Developing Countries (1) Examines political explanations for the divergence in economic performance among developing countries. Topics include the developmental state, collective action, property rights, and democracy.
POLI SCI 452 Democratization (1) The interrelationships between socioeconomic structures and democracy, the importance of political leadership, the historic relationship between capitalism and democracy, and contemporary tensions between market reform and democratization.
POLI SCI 453 Modern Africa (1) Interdisciplinary survey of current conditions in Africa; the place of Africa in the modern world.
POLI SCI 456 Soviet and East European Politics (1) Organization and process of East European and Soviet politics, literature review, current research strategies, and topics such as leadership, opposition, political legitimacy, and decision making.
POLI SCI 457 Politics of Western Europe (1) Comparative analysis of Western European political systems; nature and functioning of parliamentary institutions.
POLI SCI 459 Comparative Political Parties (1) Theory and methods of studying political parties in different societies; roles of parties in government; effects on public policy; interrelation of parties and electoral systems; types of party systems; environmental change and party change.
POLI SCI 460 Racial Politics/Racial Theory (1) Literatures pertaining to race and ethnicity as conceptual categories and as social, political, and cultural phenomena. Comparative, interdisciplinary readings will focus on major themes, methods and debates in the study of race and ethnicity and their resonance in the discipline of political science.
POLI SCI 461-1,2 History of Political Thought (1) (1) A two-quarter proseminar in political theory considering major currents in the development of political thought from the classical period through to the 19th century. 1. Ancient Greece and Rome. 2. Modern Europe and early America.
POLI SCI 462 Studies in 20th Century Political Thought (1) Consideration of problems such as the grounds of authority and obligation, how to define justice, and multiculturalism and politics by way of reading 20th century political theorists. May be repeated for credit with different authors.
POLI SCI 463 Studies in Ancient Greek Political Thought (1) Close reading of Greek sources with attention to literary, cultural and historical context and problems of translation. Texts include works in history, philosophy oratory, drama (e.g., Aristophanes, Thucydides, Plato, Aristotle). May be repeated for credit with different texts.
POLI SCI 464 Studies in Early Modern Political Thought (1) Close reading of late Medieval and Renaissance to early Enlightenment sources. Topics: the separation of church and state; social division and political unity; politics between anthropology and cosmology; the rise of individualism; the state as work of art. may be repeated for credit with different topics and authors.
POLI SCI 465 Basic Concepts in Political Theory (1) Focused study of one concept through selected texts of different periods in the tradition of political thinking (e.g., equality, freedom, gender, justice, republicanism, liberalism). May be repeated for credit with different concepts.
POLI SCI 466 Feminist Political Theory (1) Examination of contemporary feminist debates about the category of women, the subject, the body, and community after identity politics.
POLI SCI 467 Problems in Democratic Theory (1) Consideration of issues such as whether democracy presupposes a demos that is socially unified. What are democracy's prospects in an age of globalization and transnationalism?
POLI SCI 468-1,2 Knowledge and Politics (1) (1) A two-quarter introduction to philosophical theories of representation and subjectivity and their relevance to politics. 1. The Skeptical Turn. 2. The Linguistic Turn.
POLI SCI 469 Language and Politics (1) Examination of the crisis - or promise - of meaning that results from the multitude of ways in which political and linguistic theorists have responded to the challenge to think about language in non-referential terms.
POLI SCI 470 Mathematical Models of Aggregate Political Behavior (1) Stochastic mathematical models and models of aggregate behavior in political science. Difference and differential equations, Markov chains and other stochastic processes, simulation, and optimization. Arms races, alliances, budgeting, growth, competition, and world systems.
POLI SCI 471 Game Theory: Mathematical Models of Individual Political Behavior An introduction to game theory. Topics covered include individual decision-making under uncertainty; normal and extensive form games; games of incomplete information; repeated games. Applications to voting theory, collective action and institutional choice.
POLI SCI 472 Topics in Positive Political Theory (1) Topics include models of electoral competition, comparative institutional analysis, legislative bargaining, voting under incomplete and asymmetric information. Prerequisite: POLI SCI 471.
POLI SCI 473 Formal Political Economy (1) Concerned with understanding the allocation of economic resources through collective decision-making. Topics include interest group influence on policy, signaling models of lobbying, voting over tax schemes, income inequality and redistribution, property rights and constitutional design. Prerequisite: POLI SCI 471.
POLI SCI 480 Introduction to Political Economy: Theory and Method (1) Principles, conceptual frameworks, and logic of inquiry in political economy; applications to international relations, policy development, and comparative politics. Relation to traditional approaches to political science and economics.
POLI SCI 481 Political Economy of Preindustrial Societies (1) Preindustrial and transitional social formations. Historical roots of underdevelopment, the role of the state in economic development, political consequences of economic change (and economic consequences of political change), and transitional relations that affect development.
POLI SCI 482 Political Economy of Industrial Societies (1) Interrelations among political, economic, and other structures and processes of relatively industrialized societies in historical, comparative, and global perspective. Political and economic frameworks applied to various topics.
POLI SCI 490 Special Topics in Political Science (1) Investigation of topics of current interest to students and faculty not covered by other offerings.
POLI SCI 499 Independent Study (1, 2, or 3) Permission of instructor and department required. May be repeated for credit.
POLI SCI 510 Research Seminar in Political Institutions and Behavior (1) Empirical research employing a range of quantitative and qualitative techniques and basic social science analytic tools. Possible topics include community politics, American political institutions and processes, political behavior, and comparative analysis.
POLI SCI 524 Research Seminar in Law and Politics (1) Problems in the role of law and courts in the sociopolitical arena; applicable research methods.
POLI SCI 540 Research Seminar in International and Comparative Politics (1) Formulation, design, and execution of significant research projects, both theoretical and substantive. Operation of foreign political systems; intersocietal and interstate relations.
POLI SCI 553 Research in Africa (1) Interdisciplinary approaches to research in Africa; ethical problems of field work; problems of design, method, and technique.
POLI SCI 590 Research (1, 2, or 3) Independent investigation of selected problems pertaining to thesis or dissertation. May be repeated for credit.
