graduate seminars
PLSC 407: Public Policy Making and Implementation
Professor Matland
T 4:15pm / LSC
This course serves as the introduction to public policy. The policy field deals with the outputs of politics. What are the outcomes in specific public policy areas and why do those outcomes occur? We consider several models of the policy process. Furthermore, there is an expectation students will learn about the basic institutions of American politics. How Congress, the bureaucracy, and the courts function and how they affect the outputs of the American political system. Finally, this course places a heavy emphasis on the study of institutions and in particular a "comparative institutions" perspective. A comparative institutions perspective means looking at how using different institutional arrangements to make decisions, affects the final outcome. An institutionalist perspective argues outcomes depend not only on preferences, but on the institutions used to translate preferences into outcomes.
PLSC 420: Comparative Political Systems
Professor Avdeyeva
W 7:00pm / LSC
This course is the core graduate seminar in the field of comparative politics. It is designed to help students think theoretically and critically about the subfield of comparative politics, its scientific objectives, and its epistemological assumptions. Within this context, the course will explore the most fundamental concepts and approaches, as well as some of the most important theories and debates that characterize the subfield. In this seminar, we will examine the historical development and trends in comparative politics and study the most fundamental epistemological issues in comparative political inquiry. We will also focus on the logic and process of comparison and review methodologies in comparative political studies.
PLSC 421: Democratization
Professor Sanchez
Th 7:00pm / LSC
This graduate seminar will examine global democratization, the largest general area of research in comparative politics and a major area of research in international relations and political theory. We will explore democracy and democratization from mostly an empirical and comparative, rather than a philosophical, perspective. While we will consider the meaning of democracy, most of the course will be devoted to examining theories of democratic transition and consolidation, the effects of democracy, and the international dimensions of democratization. At the end of this course you will have a solid understanding of some of the key ideas and findings in the democratization literature as well as some of the theoretical paradigms employed by scholars to study democratization.
PLSC 442: Modern Political Thought
Professor Katz
T 4:15pm / LSC
The centuries from the Renaissance to the French Revolution witnessed the emergence of the modern world -- the disintegration of feudalism and the Christian Church, and the rise of capitalism, the sovereign state and modern natural science. In this course we examine some of the most significant political theorists responsibl e for articulating the founding principles of modernity: Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau. This is a combined graduate/undergraduate seminar.
PLSC 475: Political Analysis I
Professor Melin
M 7:00pm / LSC
This course, which is the first of a two-course sequence, offers an introduction to statistical analysis in political science. Among the major topics covered will be research design; measures of central tendency and variability; probability theory; statistical inference; significance tests; difference of means tests; the Chi Square statistic; and bivariate correlation and regression. Emphasis will be on practical applications and extensive use will be made of Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and Stata, statistical programs that are commonly used in the social sciences.
PLSC 520: Comparative Political Violence
Professor Tezcur
Th 4:15pm / LSC
This course introduces students to scholarly and public debates on the role of violence in political conflicts. It primarily focuses on intrastate political violence. It addresses the following questions: How has the nature of political violence evolved since the 19th century? What are different forms of political violence? How does violence differ from other types of political action? Under what conditions do organizations pursue violent methods to achieve political goals? Why do individuals join violent political organizations that often entail high risks? On what moral grounds is political violence justified? The course engages with scholarly literature from a variety of disciplines including political science, economics and sociology. The empirical studies come from all major regions of the world especially from the countries with Muslim majority populations.
PLSC 407: Public Policy Making and Implementation
Professor Matland
T 4:15pm / LSC
This course serves as the introduction to public policy. The policy field deals with the outputs of politics. What are the outcomes in specific public policy areas and why do those outcomes occur? We consider several models of the policy process. Furthermore, there is an expectation students will learn about the basic institutions of American politics. How Congress, the bureaucracy, and the courts function and how they affect the outputs of the American political system. Finally, this course places a heavy emphasis on the study of institutions and in particular a "comparative institutions" perspective. A comparative institutions perspective means looking at how using different institutional arrangements to make decisions, affects the final outcome. An institutionalist perspective argues outcomes depend not only on preferences, but on the institutions used to translate preferences into outcomes.
PLSC 420: Comparative Political Systems
Professor Avdeyeva
W 7:00pm / LSC
This course is the core graduate seminar in the field of comparative politics. It is designed to help students think theoretically and critically about the subfield of comparative politics, its scientific objectives, and its epistemological assumptions. Within this context, the course will explore the most fundamental concepts and approaches, as well as some of the most important theories and debates that characterize the subfield. In this seminar, we will examine the historical development and trends in comparative politics and study the most fundamental epistemological issues in comparative political inquiry. We will also focus on the logic and process of comparison and review methodologies in comparative political studies.
PLSC 421: Democratization
Professor Sanchez
Th 7:00pm / LSC
This graduate seminar will examine global democratization, the largest general area of research in comparative politics and a major area of research in international relations and political theory. We will explore democracy and democratization from mostly an empirical and comparative, rather than a philosophical, perspective. While we will consider the meaning of democracy, most of the course will be devoted to examining theories of democratic transition and consolidation, the effects of democracy, and the international dimensions of democratization. At the end of this course you will have a solid understanding of some of the key ideas and findings in the democratization literature as well as some of the theoretical paradigms employed by scholars to study democratization.
PLSC 442: Modern Political Thought
Professor Katz
T 4:15pm / LSC
The centuries from the Renaissance to the French Revolution witnessed the emergence of the modern world -- the disintegration of feudalism and the Christian Church, and the rise of capitalism, the sovereign state and modern natural science. In this course we examine some of the most significant political theorists responsibl e for articulating the founding principles of modernity: Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau. This is a combined graduate/undergraduate seminar.
PLSC 475: Political Analysis I
Professor Melin
M 7:00pm / LSC
This course, which is the first of a two-course sequence, offers an introduction to statistical analysis in political science. Among the major topics covered will be research design; measures of central tendency and variability; probability theory; statistical inference; significance tests; difference of means tests; the Chi Square statistic; and bivariate correlation and regression. Emphasis will be on practical applications and extensive use will be made of Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and Stata, statistical programs that are commonly used in the social sciences.
PLSC 520: Comparative Political Violence
Professor Tezcur
Th 4:15pm / LSC
This course introduces students to scholarly and public debates on the role of violence in political conflicts. It primarily focuses on intrastate political violence. It addresses the following questions: How has the nature of political violence evolved since the 19th century? What are different forms of political violence? How does violence differ from other types of political action? Under what conditions do organizations pursue violent methods to achieve political goals? Why do individuals join violent political organizations that often entail high risks? On what moral grounds is political violence justified? The course engages with scholarly literature from a variety of disciplines including political science, economics and sociology. The empirical studies come from all major regions of the world especially from the countries with Muslim majority populations.