Political Science
The doctoral program in political science at Washington University is one of the top political science programs in the country. Graduate students take classes and engage in research with a faculty recognized nationally and internationally as among the most expert, active, and productive in the country.
Our graduate program is relatively small. We admit around 8 to 10 students into the PhD program each year, and most of these students complete the doctorate in five to six years. There are approximately 40 graduate students currently in residence.
Washington University's PhD program in Political Science is designed to prepare students for academic careers in research and teaching at major institutions across the country. We stress the importance of political methodology (applied statistics) and formal theory (game theory and mathematical modeling), and our program is designed to teach all students in these methods, regardless of their mathematical background.
We have active research groups in American politics and institutions, comparative politics, international political economy, positive and normative theory, and political methodology. It is important to emphasize that we do not regard these subfields as separate entities. Many of our faculty have research and teaching interests that transcend political science subfields as well as traditional disciplinary boundaries. We have strong connections with other departments in Arts & Sciences at Washington University (including the departments of Economics and Anthropology), with the School of Law, and with various interdisciplinary research centers on campus.
Contact Info
Phone: | 314-935-5810 |
Email: | polisci@wustl.edu |
Website: | https://polisci.wustl.edu/ |
Chair
Betsy Sinclair
Professor
PhD, California Institute of Technology
Associate Chair
Francis Lovett
Professor
PhD, Columbia University
Director of Graduate Studies
Keith Schnakenberg
Associate Professor
PhD, Washington University
Director of Undergraduate Studies
Daniel Butler
Professor
PhD, Stanford University
Department Faculty
Deniz Aksoy
Associate Professor
PhD, University of Rochester
Zoe Ang
Lecturer
PhD, Washington University
Timm Betz
Associate Professor
PhD, University of Michigan
Zachary Bowersox
Lecturer
PhD, The University of Missouri
Christy Boyd
Professor
PhD, Washington University
Randall Calvert
Professor Emeritus
PhD, California Institute of Technology
Taylor Carlson
Associate Professor
PhD, University of California, San Diego
David Carter
Professor
PhD, University of Rochester
Dino Christenson
Professor
PhD, Ohio State University
Brian F. Crisp
Professor
PhD, University of Michigan
Ted Enamorado
Assistant Professor
PhD, Princeton University
Lee Epstein
Ethan A.H. Shepley Distinguished University Professor
PhD, Emory University
Justin Fox
Associate Professor
PhD, University of Rochester
Matthew Gabel
Professor
PhD, University of Rochester
James L. Gibson
Sidney W. Souers Professor of Government
PhD, University of Iowa
Matthew Hayes
Associate Professor
PhD, University of Illinois
Clarissa Hayward
Professor
PhD, Yale University
William R. Lowry
Professor Emeritus
PhD, Stanford University
Christopher Lucas
Associate Professor
PhD, Harvard University
Andrew Martin
Professor of Political Science and Law
PhD, Washington University
Gary Miller
Professor Emeritus
PhD, University of Texas at Austin
Jacob Montgomery
Professor
PhD, Duke University
Lucia Motolinia
Assistant Professor
PhD, New York University
Diana O'Brien
Bela Kornitzer Distinguished Professorship
PhD, Washington University
Michael Olson
Assistant Professor
PhD, Harvard University
Sunita Parikh
Associate Professor
PhD, University of Chicago
Peng Peng
Postdoctoral Scholar
PhD, Duke University
Amy Pond
Associate Professor
PhD, University of Michigan
Xiaoyan (Christy) Qiu
Assistant Professor
PhD, University of Michigan
Andrew Reeves
Professor; Director of the Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government, and Public Policy
PhD, Harvard University
Guillermo Rosas
Professor
PhD, Duke University
Itai Sened
Professor Emeritus
PhD, University of Rochester
Stephanie Shady
Lecturer
PhD, University of North Carolina
Steven S. Smith
Professor Emeritus
PhD, University of Minnesota
James Spriggs II
Sidney W. Souers Professor of Government
PhD, Washington University
Michael Strawbridge
Assistant Professor
PhD, Rutgers University
Margit Tavits
William Taussig Professor in Arts & Sciences
PhD, University of Pittsburgh
Carly Wayne
Assistant Professor
PhD, University of Michigan
Visit online course listings to view semester offerings for L32 Pol Sci.
L32 Pol Sci 500 Independent Work
This course is an independent study taken under the supervision of an instructor in the department.
Credit variable, maximum 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5010 Voting, Elections, and the American Electoral Process
In this course we will critically examine the extensive literature on voting and elections in the United States. The course will approach the subject from both a contemporary and historical perspective while emphasizing the importance of American electoral institutions in shaping the behavior of voters, candidates, parties, and the outcomes of elections. Readings and assignments will focus on topics such as: campaign dynamics, electoral institutions, voter turnout, representation, presidential and congressional elections, polling, political behavior, and party identification.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5014 Political Theory Workshop I
This graduate seminar formalizes graduate student participation in the inter-disciplinary Political Theory Workshop. The workshop will meet 20-24 times a year to discuss papers in history, philosophy and political science. Students taking this seminar are expected to attend all workshop sessions for the entire year, serve as a discussant for one session, and present their original work as the paper for a different session. Up to 6 additional meetings may be convened at participation at the close of their second semester. The course is restricted to graduate students who are currently in their 2nd year of graduate school or higher.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5015 International Political Economy
It focuses on the key issues in international political economy, such as trade, monetary policy, foreign investment, migration, globalization, development, foreign aid, national security, and international institutions and cooperation.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5016 Field Experiments in Comparative Politics
This seminar course introduces students to field experiments as a tool to shed light on important questions in the field of comparative politics. Each session, students will learn about an aspect of experimental design with an emphasis on challenges that can arise when taking experimental designs to the field. The course will draw on cutting-edge experimental work on the comparative politics of developing countries to illustrate these concepts. Every week, students will critically engage with the research design and findings of experimental papers on a particular substantive topic. The goal of the course is to enable students to design their own experiments and practically implement them in the field.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5017 Interest Groups & Social Movements
The formation, evolution and political influence of organized interests and social movements in the US.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5024 Causal Inference
The course serves as both an introduction for the mechanisms by which political scientists draw causal inferences using quantitative data as well as an introduction for the basic statistical tools necessary for quantitative research in the social sciences. There are three main goals of this course: to teach students to read, understand and criticize quantitative analysis in published and unpublished work, to provide them with the skills necessary to begin conducting their own analyses, and to lay the foundations for quantitative methods. We will cover the fundamentals of how political scientists are able to draw causal inferences. To do so, we will review basic probability and statistics. We will then discuss the types of inferences possible with different data-generating processes, including laboratory experiments, randomized field experiments, and observational data. There are no prerequisites for this class beyond approaching the material with an open and curious mind. Much of the material in this course is technical and a successful student in this course will spend a significant amount of time outside of class working through problem sets and becoming familiar with the necessary statistical software.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5025 Political Economy Workshop
This course provides students with exposure to recent work in the field of political economy (e.g., game-theoretical models of political phenomena, structural estimation of political phenomena, etc.), with a focus on the work of members of the Wash U political economy community (e.g., political science, economics, law, business). Importantly, graduate students will present their work in progress and provide regular feedback on the work of others.
Credit 1 unit.
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L32 Pol Sci 5031 Seminar in International Political Economy: Readings in International Political Economy
The purpose of this course is to offer political science Ph.D. students and faculty the opportunity to explore the theoretical and empirical debates in the international political economy subfield. Each month over the course of the year we will select a packet of readings and discuss the research design, theory, and empirical analysis. All participants will be expected to spend at least one class discussing their own research. Prerequisites: Permission of instructor.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5035 Political Data Science Lab
The Political Data Science Lab (PDSL) is a venue to foster and improve social science research. Nowadays, researchers and policy-makers use cutting-edge methods to answer important questions. However, the validity of their conclusions depends upon underlying theory, assumptions, design, and correct application of statistical methods. This course will provide students with the foundation necessary to conduct research by immersing the students in a vibrant and intellectually demanding environment. Thus, PDSL's workshops are a course designed to improve the research projects (at any stage) of our members. We strongly believe that persistent efforts will lead to successful outcomes such as many publications and successful dissertations from the members of PDSL.
Credit 1 unit.
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L32 Pol Sci 5044 Political Theory Workshop
This course provides a forum for graduate students' development as professional researchers. It achieves this goal in two ways. First, the course provides a setting for students to share research-in-progress and to provide and receive feedback on that research. This both contributes to the development of viable, publishable research projects and affords im-portant experience presenting research. Second, the course facilitates the development of professional skills, such as critical reading and feedback, conference etiquette and norms, job market preparation, and exposure to both politics and political science beyond Washington University. Regular enrollment and attendance is expected and encouraged for all political theory graduate students, and open to graduate students in any field outside the department with an interest in political or social theory.
Credit 1 unit.
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L32 Pol Sci 5045 American Politics Workshop
The American Politics Workshop will be a one-credit, repeatable graduate course for students interested in American politics. Its goal is the development of professional researchers in American politics. The workshop will provide a forum for graduate students to present and receive feedback on written work; it will also involve professionalization activities that are directly aimed at helping students thrive as researchers as they proceed through the graduate program.
Credit 1 unit.
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L32 Pol Sci 5046 Forced Displacement and the Politics of Seeking Refuge
In the last decade, the number of people who are forcibly displaced has more than doubled, and today the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that 108.4 million people are forcibly displaced. Among this group, people face distinct legal, social, economic, and political challenges according to their status as refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced persons, and others who do not fit these categories. In this course, we will examine the political conditions that forcibly displace people across and within countries including persecution, conflict, and environmental disasters exacerbated by climate change as well as their experiences of seeking refuge. How do international, state, local, and non-governmental institutions cooperate to manage the needs of forcibly displaced persons? In what ways do political pressures create opportunities for and barriers to effective policies to address refugee issues? How do these structural challenges affect forcibly displaced persons, and what strategies do advocates use to improve the human rights of these populations? Throughout the course, we will bear in mind the interconnectedness of macro-level policy-making and micro-level issues that affect the daily lives of individual humans experiencing forced displacement.
Same as L32 Pol Sci 4046
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: SSC, SC Arch: SSC Art: SSC EN: S
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L32 Pol Sci 505 Theories of Individual and Collective Choice I
An introduction to Rational Choices Theory. Topics will include the following: the foundations of Rational Choice Theory, Spatial Theory of Electoral Competition, Cooperative Game Theory, and General Equilibrium Theory. Prerequisite: PolSci 5052, Mathematical Modeling in Political Science (or equivalent).
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5050 Power and Finance: State Formation, Development and Hegemony
We will use political and economic history to explore the formation of the modern state, economic and political development, and the rise and fall of empire and hegemony.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5052 Mathematical Modeling in Political Science
This course is designed to provide mathematical tools useful for the rest of the statistical methods sequence, as well as for other courses in formal theory or mathematical modeling. Throughout the course, the mathematical tools are motivated by applications to the general problem of how politics can be modeled for purposes of statistical analysis, deductive reasoning, or conceptual theorizing. This motivation is accomplished by means of a consistent focus on such processes as individual decision making, the representation of issues, statistical phenomena, and phenomena of change over time. The course assumes a sufficient background in elementary algebra, logic, functions, and graphs; remedial work in these areas will be offered through a review course during the last week or two of summer. Mathematical topics covered include: sets and relations; probability; differential calculus and optimization; difference equations; and linear algebra.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5053 State Politics
The course covers major works in the area of US State Politics. Each week covers a different motivation for why people study state politics, including institutional reasons, theoretical reasons, and data-driven reasons. Students are also expected to develop their own research plans.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5056 Political Borders, Domestic Politics and Patterns of Conflict and Cooperation
Borders are ubiquitous in politics and economics. International borders are what make relations among states international, while sub-state administrative borders are increasingly recognized as central to understanding many aspects of domestic politics. For instance, the status and key characteristics of borders are known to have significant effect on the likelihood and character of militarized conflict among states, the volume of international trade and foreign direct investment, and the propensity for civil conflicts to become "transnational". Furthermore, "informal" political borders, such as states' internal ethnic divisions, have also been found to profoundly influence economic patterns, patterns of political competition, as well as the propensity for states to experience political violence and civil conflict. Despite the ubiquity of borders and their widely recognized importance to politics, there has traditionally been little research directly addressing how and why they shape individual level behavior. Recently, this has changed, as scholars across several literatures in the subfields of international relations, comparative politics and political economy have begun to put greater theoretical and empirical focus on borders and their role in organizing the political and economic behavior of individuals and governments. This course provides a survey of the role of borders in political and economics, drawing from a diverse set of contemporary literatures in political science and economics.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 506 Theories of Individual and Collective Choice II
This course provides an introduction to noncooperative game theory and its application within political science. In-depth coverage of the course will include normal- and extensive- form games, Nash equilibrium and its refinements, games of incomplete information, and Bayesian equilibrium and its refinements. To the degree that time permits, students will be presented introductory material on topics such as epistemological foundations, mechanism design, information aggregation, and specific applied models within political science.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5065 Formal Models of Conflict
This course is intended for advanced graduate students who are interested in the formal models of conflict. This course may be of particular interest to students interested in international relations. The goal of this course is to provide hands-on experience for students with interest in modeling various substantive ideas by exposing the advantages and limitations of mathematical formalization. To accomplish this, students will (i) deeply engage with selected readings, (ii) identify the contributions of their authors, and (iii) find ways to improve the research or extend the insights.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 507 Seminar in Positive Political Theory
This course will provide you with an introduction to the field of positive political theory, focusing primarily on social choice theory, mechanism design, and various proof techniques. The topics we cover will include preference aggregation, rationalizable choice, tournaments, sophisticated voting, the revelation principle, and ultimately, the implicit trade-offs made by game theoretic versus social choice theoretic approaches to modeling.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5070 Global Justice
This course examines contemporary debates and controversies regarding global justice. Seminar discussions will be arranged around significant issues in the current literature. for example: What (if anything) do we owe to the distantly needy? Do we have special obligations to our compatriots? Do political borders have normative significance? And so on. This course will be of interest not only to political theorists, but also students in other fields interested in social justice or international relations generally.
Same as L32 Pol Sci 4070
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: LCD, SSC Arch: SSC Art: SSC EN: S
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L32 Pol Sci 5071 Seminar in Political Theory: Game Theory and Politics
This seminar is designed as an eclectic "topics" course in the application of broadly game theoretic models to political science. Topics are chosen both to build skills not covered in Game Theory I and II (505-506) and to introduce areas of application of mutual interest. One likely applications topic isconstitutional stability and democratic backsliding. Prerequisites: L32 505
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5074 Comparative Politics Research Workshop
This course provides a forum for graduate students' development as professional researchers. It achieves this goal in three ways. First, students will present research in progress, receiving feedback on papers they are preparing for publication. This helps improve the quality of their work, and gives them experience presenting and receiving constructive criticism on their research. Second, students will also provide feedback on other students' work, helping them practice skills such as critical reading, crafting constructive feedback, and gaining exposure to different substantive topics and research methods in the subfield of comparative politics. Third, the course will help students build networks of collaboration in the department with other graduate students, faculty, and external scholars who may occasionally participate in some sessions, presenting their own in-progress work. Regular enrollment and attendance is expected for comparative politics graduate students and encouraged for other graduate students (including from other departments) with a significant interest in comparative politics.
Credit 1 unit.
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L32 Pol Sci 5075 International Relations Workshop
This course provides graduate students with key professional development skills on their path to becoming professional researchers and academics. The course accomplishes this goal in three ways. First, students will present research in progress week to week, receiving feedback on papers they are submitting for publication. This helps improve the quality of their work and gives them experience presenting and receiving constructive criticism on their work. Second, students will also provide feedback on other students' work, helping them practice skills such as critical reading, crafting constructive feedback, and gaining exposure to different substantive topics and research methods in the subfield of international relations. Third, the course will help students build networks of collaboration in the department with other graduate students, WUSTL faculty, and external faculty who will also participate in some sessions, presenting their own in-progress work for students. Regular enrollment and attendance is expected for all international relations graduate students in the department and is open to those outside the department who have significant interests in international relations.
Credit 1 unit.
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L32 Pol Sci 5082 Research Seminar in Formal Political Theory
Seminar will discuss and develop individual students' formal theory projects plus necessary background material. Precise content based on student projects.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5085 International Interventions in Fragile Settings
Civil wars are the prevailing political crises of our time. The international community devotes considerable financial and human resources to preventing civil wars from breaking out and stopping them once they do. Do such attempts succeed? In this course, we examine international efforts to create sustainable peace after civil wars from a variety of perspectives. Drawing upon theoretical and empirical analyses in political science, we investigate the effectiveness of peacekeeping troops deployed to keep warring parties from fighting as well as statebuilding initiatives that attempt to construct or reconstruct domestic institutions in a postconflict state. We also consider the spatial challenges facing peacekeeping operations, which may prevent certain operations from succeeding locally where they have succeeded nationally. Finally, we examine different types of peacekeepers, including the United Nations's extensive network of peacekeeping operations around the globe.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5090 History of Political Thought I: Justice, Virtue, and the Soul
This course offers a critical introduction to the main issues and debates in western political theory, including but not limited to the topics of justice, legitimacy, equality, democracy, liberty, sovereignty, and the role of history in the political and social world. This course is designed to be the first in a three-semester sequence on the history of political thought, and students are encouraged, but not required, to take the courses in chronological sequence. The first semester begins with ancient Greek political thought, and follows its development up to the early 16th century.
Same as L32 Pol Sci 391
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: LCD, SSC Arch: SSC Art: SSC BU: BA EN: S UColl: ML
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L32 Pol Sci 5092 History of Political Thought II: Legitimacy, Equality and the Social Contract
Government is often justified as legitimate on the grounds that it is based on the consent of the governed. In History of Political Thought II, "Legitimacy, Equality, and the Social Contract," we examine the origins of this view, focusing our attention on canonical works in the social contract tradition, by Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), John Locke (1632-1704), Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), David Hume (1711-1776), and Immanuel Kant (1724-1804). This course is the second in a three-semester sequence on the history of political thought. Students are encouraged but not required to take all three courses. Prerequisite: One previous course in political theory or political philosophy.
Same as L32 Pol Sci 392
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: SSC Arch: SSC Art: SSC BU: BA EN: S
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L32 Pol Sci 5093 History of Political Thought III: Liberty, Democracy, and Revolution
How, if at all, should the political institutions of the modern state express and secure the liberty and equality of citizens? What is the political significance of private property? Is world history to be understood as progress towards one best form of government - capitalist democracy, perhaps, or communism? What forces drive history? We shall address these and other timeless political questions through close reading and rigorous analysis of classic texts in the history of Western political thought. Authors to be studied will include Kant, Hegel, Marx, Tocqueville, John Stuart Mill, and Nietzsche. Prerequisite: one previous course in political theory or political philosophy. The course is designed to be the third in a three-semester sequence on the history of political thought, and students are encouraged but not required to take the courses in chronological sequence.
Same as L32 Pol Sci 393
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: SSC Arch: SSC Art: SSC BU: BA EN: S
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L32 Pol Sci 510 Approaches to Comparative Politics
Problems of theory construction and testing in a comparative framework. Both underdeveloped and industrial societies are discussed. Primary ephasis placed on increasing student's abilities to criticize and develop theoretical ideas.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5100 The Distributive Politics of Electoral Rules
Around the world, governments make decisions about how to allocate goods and services to their citizens. These decisions can be influenced by theelectoral prospects of the politician/party in power. In this class, we aim to study politicians' incentives to target voters and how different electoral rules shape these incentives.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5111 Comparative Democratic Institutions
This is a seminar intended for Ph.D. students. Advanced undergraduates may enroll with the instructor's permission. The course examines how the formal rules of competition shape political representation and policy outcomes. We begin by considering the theoretical problems of social choice (preference aggregation), deliberation, and agenda-setting. Most of the course focuses on literature in comparative politics that addresses these theoretical issues with empirical analysis. Substantive topics considered are electoral systems, parliamentary parties and coalitions, legislative procedure, executive powers, federalism, and judicial review.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5112 Political Participation: State and Local Politics
This course investigates variation in political behavior in the context of state and local politics. We often conceptualize local political participation as engagement within a managerial democracy, wherein partisanship plays a smaller role than local needs and efficient management of resources. Who participates in a managerial democracy and why? This course evaluates participation in local politics, political reform, and engagement with local elected officials. This is a course that focuses on writing, with the aim of producing research at the frontier of the field.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5121 Topics in Politics: Conflict
This course is intended primarily for graduate students. The topic of this course varies by semester, dependent on faculty and student interests.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 514 Seminar in Comparative Politics: Electoral and Party Systems in Europe
This course surveys a variety of mechanisms employed in democratic elections with a particular focus on their implications for European party systems. Issues of special importance are reform of electoral institutions (e.g., in Italy), the evolution of electoral institutions within the European Union and the domestic party systems' response. New European democracies also contribute significantly to both the variation in electoral procedures and to the number of cases of electoral reform, thus forming a topic for an interesting discussion. (This course is the first in the sequence on comparative political institutions).
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5160 Senior Seminar: Religion, Politics, and Community
Religion is a powerful social, economic, and political force across the globe. Its formal authorities and informal influences have changed over time and across space and traditions. Yet even where regular religious practice has become less common, religion remains a means of constructing communities, be it a diaspora, a unique nation within a state, or state-wide national identity or nationalism. Religion intersects with race, gender, and other important social identities, and it overlaps with organized political power from the grassroots to the government. Human relationships with the divine have influenced everyday norms and values, have marked key moments in our life cycle, and have provided material and social psychological resources for communities. In this course, we will examine the political relationships between religion and community from a variety of social scientific perspectives. As a core part of this inquiry, you will conduct an original research paper on a topic of your choice relating to religion, politics, and community. We will work through each step of the scientific method over the course of the semester-using religion and community as a lens and set of thematic examples-and hold guided workshops to facilitate your research process. Prereq: L32 263 OR L32 363 OR department approved equivalent
Same as L32 Pol Sci 4060
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: SSC EN: S
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L32 Pol Sci 518 Seminar in Comparative Politics: Comparative Perspectives on the State
This course surveys traditional and more recent comparative research on the state, covering such issues as state formation, state-society relations, development and erosion of welfare states, globalization and state capacity, and states in emerging patterns of multi-level governance. It will draw on material from developed and developing countries, as well as from democratic and non-democratic states.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 519 Seminar in Comparative Politics: Comparative Judicial Politics
The performance of liberal democracies depends on large part on the judiciary, particulary Constitutional Courts. Courts can protect individual rights, define the powers of the legislative executive branches, and ensure the rule of law governs social and economic life. But courts typically enjoy neither the "purse nor the sword" and this often depend on other government agencies to enforce their decisions. In other words, the judicial independence necessary for courts to exert the salutary effects on democratic governance is often in question. This course examines these issues from a comparative perspective. In addition to the broad scholarly attention to these issues in the context of U.S. politics, a growing literature explores the interplay between courts, government, and society as a more general problem affecting democracies around the world. Based on this broad literature, we will discuss topics ranging from judicial legitimacy and compliance, judicial policy-making, the interaction between constitutional law and politics, separation of powers, and judicial norms and rules.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 520 American Political Institutions
This course provides an overview of the scholarly work on American political institutions. Readings include the classic literature on political behavior, interest groups, Congress, the Executive, and the Court.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 523 Seminar in American Politics
This course will address American politics, using race as the focal point. How does race impact our conception of the American political project, as both researchers of it, and participants in it? For example, how does the presence of large numbers of African Americans in the South, affect the structure of southern political parties? Among the topics to be discussed are citizenship, public policy, political behavior, political development, and public opinion. Prerequisites: graduate students only.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 526 Seminar in American Politics: Politics of Bureaucracy
This course will examine both the theory and the practice of bureaucratic politics, with cases and data analysis primarily from American politics. The theory will start with the influential work of organizational economists of the past two decades, but will attempt to incorporate the insights of traditional organizational experts from Woodrow Wilson on to contemporary social psychologists. The course will also cover the structure of regulatory agencies, congressional oversight, and presidential leadership. Prerequisite: API.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5260 Executive Branch Politics: Bureaucracy and the President
Article II of the Constitution says that the executive power will be vested in the office of the president. The Constitution says little about subordinate officers, but the bureaucracy has grown and become the repository of technical expertise. In recent years, the literature on bureaucracy and the president has been granted in models of information asymmetry, agency, delegation, and separation of powers. The course will also examine the historical development of the executive, its relations with other branches, and the internal politics of staffing, budgets, and organizational structure. Prerequisites: Math Modeling
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5261 Comparative Public Bureaucracy
Economic development seems to require a governmental commitment to property rights and enforcement of contracts. The example of the Great Britian, the United States, and other countries seems to suggest that professionalized bureaucracies play a critical role in the constitutional systems that succeed in assuring investors and entrepreneurs that their property rights and contracts will be enforced. This seminar asks what lessons for today's emerging nations can be learned by examining both bureaucratic theory and the historical records of successful and unsuccessful bureaucratic reform movements.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5262 Comparative Party Politics
In this seminar we will review some of the concepts and theories employed in the comparative study of political parties and party systems. Most of the canonical literature has been developed with an eye to the political experience of advanced industrial democracies, but has been extended more recently into the study of inchoate democracies, where the programmatic character of political parties cannot necessarily be taken for granted. We will focus on the constitutional and societal determinants, and on the political and economic consequences, of different party system arrangements, centering mostly on European and Latin American politics.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5263 Development of the U.S. Federal Government--Theory and History
This course will cover topics related to the historical development of the United States Federal Government. The course will be theoretically motivated using cooperative and/or noncooperative models of strategic behavior. Of specific interest will be questions related to institutional design and performance in settings where politics and administration collide. Examples of topics that might be covered include: federalism, patronage vs. merit, expertise development and deployment, organizational design in problems involving team production, regulatory politics, executive management of the bureaucracy, and Congressional oversight of the executive branch.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5291 American Constitutional Development
The development of American understandings of the Constitution, from the Framing era to the present. The course focuses on important changes in constitutional meaning and application; the processes by which such change occurs; and the role of constitutional issues in American political argument and political strategy. In doing so, it develops ideas about constitutional intrepretation, constitutional theory, and political argument. This course is intended primarily to supplement the training of graduate students specializing in associated fields such as judicial politics and American political institutions.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 531 Seminar in American Public Policy: American Public Policy
This course considers the policy-making process in the United States. We will discuss the major stages of the policy placers, review some of the classic worker, and focus concentration on policy issues of the student's choice. Prerequisites: graduate students only.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 534 Law and Society
This seminar is designed as a survey of important topics within the broad area of "Law and Society". Areas to be examined in the seminar include courts and public policy making; civil liberties and political tolerance; criminal justice; the legal pofession; juries; legitimacy adn compliance with law; law and social change; procedural justice; and comparative law. The seminar will focus on understanding, synthesizing and evaluation the broad range of empirical research conducted under the rubric "law and society".
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 537 Democracy, Responsiveness, and Accountability
This course focuses on the question: To whom - what interests, whose demands - do elected politicians respond when making policy? In the last 30 years, the number of countries that select their rulers through competitive elections has increased sharply. The performance of many of these regimes, however, raises serious doubts about the extent to which elections guarantee a close correspondence between citizen preferences and policy outputs. The class explores the practical implications of ideals like responsiveness and accountability for elected officials, and how these operate in conjunction with the separation of powers, independent judiciaries, political party discipline, pressure from international actors, as well as more base incentives, like personal ambition and corruption.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5381 On the Social Contract
Any attempt to understand the structure of economic markets requires that we understand the social contract within which they are embedded. This course will cover some traditional, neo classical and contemporary political scientific theories of the social contract as a core agreement that emerges spontaneously or by design out the state of nature. It will also explore the transition from the initial social contract to more hierarchical structures that are sophisticated enough to sustain elaborate economic institutions such as competitive markets and democratic civil societies.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 539 Measurement and Latent Trait Models
This class is an advanced quantitative methods course in which we will derive, fit, and analyze latent variable models commonly used in social science research. The ultimate goal is to give students the requisite skills and knowledge to apply these models in their own research. The course will focus on building foundational skills needed to engage contemporary measurement models and estimation techniques. In addition, the course will survey prominent and promising models in the political science, statistics, and psychology literatures.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 540 Research Design
This course is designed to provide students with analytical skills for making and evaluating arguments and evidence about social phenomena, particularly in political science. Put differently, the course will help students discriminate between good and bad arguments.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 544 Comparative Political Elections
CPE offers an introduction to the extensive literature on comparative electoral systems. The course includes a combination of classic works on elections as well as more contemporary work. Uniquely, it also addresses both domestic and international influences on and effect of electoral systems.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5442 Political Psychology
Political pyschology is a rapidly growing field of research located at the intersection of psychology and political science. Broadly, political psychology helps us understand how individuals think and feel about politics, and how these psychological factors shape political behavior. This course is designed to examine the major areas of research on how psychological factors explain important political phenomena, such as political, vote choice, polarization, partisanship, media consumption, political knowledge, political communication, and policy preferences. This course will draw heavily on research in American politics, but will extend to research across the subfields. Students will design and conduct independent research and engage in assignments geared toward professional development.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5445 Democratization
This course offers an introduction to the extensive literature on democratization. It includes a combination of classic works on democratization as well as more contemporary work. It also addresses both domestic and international influences on the cause of democratization, as well as its effects.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 546 Growth and Development
Why do some nations develop politically and economically while others languish? What accounts for disparities in wealth and opportunity in the world? What are the implications of such differences? How are political and economic development related? Growth and development create surplus that can be allocated to other tasks. Governments and societies that attain growth and development become more capable actors in world affairs and are better able to address problems confronting their societies. Development expands the choices that individuals and social actors can make when facing obstacles. This seminar explores the interaction of politics, history, culture, society, and economics as we try to understand what governments and societies do to promote or hinder growth and development, and how those actions influence social arenas.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 548 Globalization and Democracy
Globalization poses challenges to democratic institutions. Democracy aims to align citizens' preferences and public policy through the use of elections. But many facets of globalization, for example, immigration, environmental pollution, and international finance, cannot be governed solely by domestic policy decisions within a single democracy. This raises the questions of how successful democratic systems are in realizing effective governance and meaningful electoral accountability. In this research-orientated course we address this question in the context of economic and environmental policy, two important and related areas of policymaking in which globalization plays a crucial role. The course consists of weekly lectures and tutorials. It is designed for students who share an interest in international relations, political economy, and electoral behavior.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5505 American Political Parties
This seminar will introduce students to core literature on political parties with a strong bias towards recent research.
Same as L32 Pol Sci 4505
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: SSC EN: S
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L32 Pol Sci 552 Research in Political Science
This course is open only to Ph.D. candidates who have passed their qualifying examinations and is to be under the supervision of an instructor of the department.
Credit variable, maximum 6 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5521 Political Violence
This course studies the ways non-state groups use violence in pursuit of political goals. During the semester, we will engage with contemporary research on political violence, including civil war, ethnic conflict, terrorism and communal riots. The goal of the course is to introduce students to major questions related to the study of political violence. What explains the onset of violence? Why do individuals choose to join violent movements? Is non-violent protest more effective than the use of violent tactics? During the semester, we will read a large volume of within-country and cross-national quantitative research on political violence. We will examine several cases in detail, including ethnic riots in India, Rwandan genocide, and Kurdish conflict in Turkey.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5538 The Politics of Electoral Systems
We will look at the features of electoral systems that impose incentives for interparty and intraparty politics. Those features include ballot access, ballot type, the number and level at which votes are cast, the level to which votes pool, distritc magnitude, seat allocation formulas, and legal thresholds. A subset of these creative incentives for the relationships between parties include their number, relative size, and location in the policy space (interparty politics). An overlapping subsetof these create incentives for the relationships whithin parties, including between leaders and backbenchers and between representatives and constituents (intraparty politics). We will examine the existing literature and do some original researc of our own.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 554 Readings in Political Science
This course is readings in political science taken under the direction of an instructor in the department.
Credit variable, maximum 6 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 555 Longitudinal and Event History Models for the Social and Political Sciences
This course will cover the statistical concepts and techniques that are used to model social and political events over time, including basic time-series and event history (survival) data. Such data routinely occurs in both the social sciences and public health sciences. Lectures will introduce: second order stationary time series, autoregressive structures, spectrum and linear filtering theory, autocorrelation consistent (HAC) variance estimation, survival functions, hazard rates, types of censoring and truncation. Modes of inference for regression models will be provided. All applied work will be in the R software environment for statistical computing and graphics. Students will be able to identify and classify data problems in longitudinal analysis, define the appropriate function accounting for time as well as summarize and interpret analyses of such data using various estimators. In addition, participants will able to formulate research questions related to longitudinal data and the appropriate associated regression models or other approach.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5551 Seminar in Political Economy
This research seminar will introduce the student to recent work on the political economy of democracy. We shall start with a historical account of the development of democratic institutions in Britain and the United States, and then continue with recent work on modeling elections. We shall compare elections in countries that make use of proportional electoral systems, such as Israel, with those like the United States and Britain that are highly majoritarian. Finally we shall discuss the forces of democratization and globalization. The required work for the seminar is a research paper approximately 20pp (double spaced) in length.
Same as L32 Pol Sci 4551
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: SSC Arch: SSC Art: SSC EN: S
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L32 Pol Sci 5552 Comparative Political Economy
This seminar will introduce the student to aspects of social choice theory, applied to themes to do with the economic origins of democracy, democratization and the stability of social orders. We shall read and discuss a number of recent books: Acemoglu and Robinson on Economic Origins; North, Weingast and Wallis on Violence and Social Order; Przeworski on Democracy and Development; Ferguson on Money; Collier on Wars Guns and Votes. If time permits I also hope to discuss recent work by Stern on the Economics of Climate Change. Students will be expected to work on two short research paper, either empirically or theoretically based, and make a presentation of their work near the end of the semester.
Same as L32 Pol Sci 4552
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: SSC Arch: SSC Art: SSC EN: S
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L32 Pol Sci 5555 The Practice of Professional Political Science I
This course introduces students to several important components of the political science profession. The goal is to provide students with practical knowledge necessary to translate coursework and independent research into a successful career in political science. Topics include the publication process, peer reviews, and grant writing. Students will be graded on attendance and participation in our course meetings.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5556 The Practice of Professional Political Science II
This course introduces students to several important components of the political science profession. The goal is to provide students with practical knowledge necessary to translate coursework and independent research into a successful career in political science. Topics include the publication process, peer reviews, and grant writing. Students will be graded on attendance and participation in our course meetings.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5557 The Practice of Professional Political Science III
This course introduces students to several important components of the political science profession. The goal is to provide students with practical knowledge necessary to translate coursework and independent research into a successful career in political science. Topics include the publication process, peer reviews, and grant writing. Students will be graded on attendance and participation in our course meetings.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5558 The Practice of Professional Political Science IV
This course introduces students to several important components of the political science profession. The goal is to provide students with practical knowledge necessary to translate coursework and independent research into a successful career in political science. Topics include the publication process, peer reviews, and grant writing. Students will be graded on attendance and participation in our course meetings.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5559 The Practice of Professional Political Science V
This course introduces students to several important components of the political science profession. The goal is to provide students with practical knowledge necessary to translate coursework and independent research into a successful career in political science. Topics include the publication process, peer reviews, and grant writing. Students will be graded on attendance and participation in our course meetings.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5560 The Practice of Professional Political Science VI
This course introduces students to several important components of the political science profession. The goal is to provide students with practical knowledge necessary to translate coursework and independent research into a successful career in political science. Topics include the publication process, peer reviews, and grant writing. Students will be graded on attendance and participation in our course meetings.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5570 Seminar in Security and Conflict
This course serves as a field seminar for the conflict and security sub-field of International Relations. We cover the theories and approaches central to understanding cutting-edge research in conflict and security, with a focus on the sort of work that is being published in top journals. We will cover topics such as the sources and (sometimes long-term) consequences of interstate conflict and war, key theories and empirical approaches in the fast growing field of civil conflict, as well as topics at the intersection of security and international political economy. This course is intended to serve as a field seminar for students interested in core topics in conflict and security.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5571 Gender and Politics
A survey of central topics in gender and politics, including issues such as women's and men's representation in government, women as voters and candidates in political elections, gender and political participation in political parties and social movements, and gender and policy representation.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 560 Seminar in International Political Economy
In this course we will draw from the literature in international relations, comparative politics, and economics to develop an understanding of international politics. The focus will be on the recent literature on the topics of international trade, financial crises, monetary arrangements, foreign direct investment, and economic development.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5625 Applied Statistical Programming
Statistical computing is a quickly changing field. Standard techniques of today would have been difficult to execute fifteen years ago and impossible in the early 1990s. Rapid improvements i computing power have been accompanied by swift changes in standard statistical methods. In just the last decade, techniques ranging from Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) simulation, randomization inference, network analysis, and non-parametric matching have moved from being novel, advanced applications to commonplace across the social sciences. This class is designed to achieve two broad objectives. More narrowly, it aims to guide students as they learn the specifics of the R programming language, a powerful statistical computing environment widely used in the fields of political science, network analysis, machine learning, and statistics. Achieving this goal will require students to learn commands, best practices, and work-arounds specific to the sometimes idiosyncratic R language.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5660 Research Workshop in Political Economy
In this course graduate students will regularly attend the presentation of current research by leading scholars in the field by attending the political economy speaker series. In addition to attending the talks and reading the papers, the students will meet with the speakers to discuss their work. Finally, several times during the year, the students will be expected to write papers evaluating the scholarship presented in the workshop, critiquing the modeling approach, the substantive import of the problem, and the conclusions.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5678 American Political Behavior
This will be a graduate field seminar in American political behavior.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 568 Graduate Field Survey in Political Theory
This course is a graduate level survey designed to introduce students to the scope, concepts, and methods of political theory.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5703 Workshop on Research Design
This course offers an overview of the relationships among theory, data collection, data analysis, and findings, with special attention to the link between theory and data collection. Moving from theory to the collection of empirical data involves stating clear hypotheses, operationalizing the concepts that make up those hypotheses, choosing the appropriate units to study, and selecting the means by which to actually observe those units. This course is intended to improve your capacity to judge the extant literature critically and more importantly to improve your ability to formulate and investigate questions of your own. When we are through your should be able to: 1.) Evaluate the prospects of various designs for making inferences about casual relationships. 2.) Identify, evaluate, and choose among major types of data-gathering techniques. 3.) Choose among sampling procedurres.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5732 Topics in QPM: Bayesian Inference
Advanced methods of statistical analysis for political and other social scientists. Covers applied Bayesian inference and Markov chain Monte Carlo methods for various cross-sectional, time series, and measurement models. Particular attention is paid to statistical computation.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5741 Survey Research Methods
Survey research is ubiquitous in all areas of social science (including the sociology of law). The purpose of this seminar is to provide an introduction to designing, conducting, and analyzing surveys, as well as consuming the survey research of others. The major components of the seminar are: (1) Conceptualizing survey research problems; (2) Research design (including ethics); (3) Sampling; (4) Measurement and questionnaire design; (5) Experiments and vignettes in survey research; (6) Logistics and data collection; (7) Analyzing and reporting survey data. Though much of the substantive reading for the seminar will be based on research conducted in the United States, considerable emphasis will be devoted to problems of cross-cultural and cross-national survey research. The seminar is open to graduate students from all departments, including Psychology, Anthropology, Economics, Law, and Business.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5742 Survey Research Practicum
A research practicum in designing surveys and survey experiments. Topics include sampling, survey modes, questionnaire design, ethics and the Institutional Review Board, and analyzing survey data.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 575 Topics in International Political Economy: Politics of International Finance
Global finance underwent stunning transformations over the past thirty years. The changes contribute to interdependence, challenge national sovereignty, alter state-society relation, affect economic development, and influence the distribution of wealth and power in the global economy. The seminar examines the political economy of monetary relations and the globalization of capital markets. FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS ONLY.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 578 Seminar in International Political Economy I
This course will borrow on the insights of international relations scholarship and economic theory to develop a broad understanding of international economic relations. Specifically, this course attempts to address the following two sets of questions: 1) How do global economic relations fit into the broader category of international relations? How do the existing theories in international relations (liberalism, realism, and Marxism) help us understand international economic relations between nation-states? 2) What are the effects of these international economic forces (trade, finance, and multinational production) on domestic governments and societies?
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5781 Seminar in International Political Economy II
This seminar expands on the topics introduced in Pol. Sci. 578. We continue examining major approaches to research and explanation in International Political Economy.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5791 Research Design in International Relations
This course is one of four classes in the international political economy sequence. The focus of this course is on research design in empirical and theoretical scholarship. This focus will largely consist of examining very recent scholarship in political science and economics. The substantive topics will vary from year to year, but the different modules consist of: 1) International Trade and Foreign Direct Investment, 2) International Institutions, Interstate Agreements, and International Law and 3) Corruption and Economic Development.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 581 Quantitative Political Methodology I
This is a first course in political methodology. The primary topic will be the linear regression model, in both scalar and matrix form. The course will cover estimation, inference, specification, diagnostic tools, data management, and statistical computation.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 582 Quantitative Political Methodology II
This is a second course in political methodology covering advanced methods of statistical analysis for political and other social scientists. Covers maximum likelihood estimation for various cross-sectional, time series, and measurement models.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5823 CNISS Certificate Research Seminar III
This graduate seminar is part of the required coursework for the CNISS Certificate in New Institutional Social Sciences. Each CNISS fellow will present his or her research in progress and evaluate the work of his or her peers. The seminar will also consist of interdisciplinary discussions on a wide range of issues ad methodological approaches. Finally, Fellows will also participate in lectures by visiting scholars whose research areas overlap with tpoics in New Institutional Social Sciences. Open only to CNISS Fellows or other students who have the permission of the program advisor.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5824 CNISS Certificate Research Seminar IV
This graduate seminar is part of the required coursework for the CNISS Certificate in New Institutional Social Sciences. Each CNISS fellow will present his or her research in progress and evaluate the work of his or her peers. The seminar will also consist of interdisciplinary discussions on a wide range of issues ad methodological approaches. Finally, Fellows will also participate in lectures by visiting scholars whose research areas overlap with tpoics in New Institutional Social Sciences. Open only to CNISS Fellows or other students who have the permission of the program advisor.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 583 Topics in Quantitative Political Methodology: Computational Social Science
Over the last decade, the scale and scope of data available to social scientists has exploded. In this course, students learn computational methods for the analysis of new types of data, including networks, text, audio, images, and videos. We begin with mechanistic approaches to supervised and unsupervised learning, then move to statistical inference with probabilistic interpretations, paying particular attention to the use and misuse of these models in the social sciences. In addition to problem sets, students will collect and analyze novel data to be presented in a department poster session at the end of the semester.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5831 Computational Social Science
Over the last decade, the scale and scope of data available to social scientists has exploded. In this course, students learn computational methods for the analysis of new types of data, including networks, text, audio, images, and videos. We begin with mechanistic approaches to supervised and unsupervised learning, then move to statistical inference with probabilistic interpretations, paying particular attention to the use and misuse of these models in the social sciences. In addition to problem sets, students will collect and analyze novel data to be presented in a department poster session at the end of the semester.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 584 Multilevel Models in Quantitative Research
This course covers statistical model development with explicitly defined hierarchies. Such multilevel specifications allow researchers to account for different structures in the data and provide for the modeling of variation between defined groups. The course begins with simple nested linear models and proceeds on to non-nested models, multilevel models with dichotomous outcomes, and multilevel generalized linear models. In each case, a Bayesian perspective on inference and computation is featured. The focus on the course will be practical steps for specifying, fitting, and checking multilevel models with much time spent on the details of computation in the R and Bugs environments. PREREQ: Math 2200, Math 3200, Poli Sci 581, or equivalent.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 590 Research Workshop I
The objective of this course is to provide a forum in which students propose, develop, and complete reserach projects that are marketable to a broad political science audience, and to help students refine their analytical and writing skills. The course is targeted toward students in their 3rd year. The specific goals for each student include (a) finalizing their 3rd year paper and preparing it for submission to a journal, and (b) developing a first draft of their dissertation prospectus. Participation is an essential component of the seminar. Students are expected to (1) submit and/or present their work based on a schedule that is finalized at the start of the semester, and (2) give written feedback and engage in discussion of the work submitted by their peers every week.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5901 Research Workshop II
The objective of this course is to provide a forum in which students propose, develop, and complete research projects that are marketable to a broad political science audience, and to help students refine their analytical and writing skills. The specific goal of the course is for each student to develop a first draft of his/her dissertation prospectus and prepare it for submission to his/her dissertation committee. Participation is an essential component of the seminar. Students are expected to (1) submit and/or present their work based on a schedule that is finalized at the start of the semester, and (2) give written feedback and engage in discussion of the work submitted by their peers every week. Prerequisite: L32 590
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5910 Democratization in the United States
To what extent has the United States fulfilled the promise of democracy throughout its history? This course will explore the ways that voting rights, political institutions, and public opinion have combined to limit or extend popular government in the United States. Particular focus will be given to changes in voting rights throughout U.S. history. Why have certain groups been denied or extended the franchise? What are the consequences of altering the franchise for lawmaking and public policy? Reading will be both theoretical and empirical, with specific attention paid to limits on the franchise in the early American republic, fluctuations in African-American suffrage, the extension of the right to vote to women, the disenfranchisement of those convicted of felonies, and concerns about access to voting and registration for disadvantaged groups in recent years. Additional areas of focus will include the role of political parties in American democracy, access to office-holding, the role of the media in facilitating democratic governances, the impact of protest and other non-voting methods of democratic political participation, the importance of legislative and electoral institutions for representation, and democratic backsliding. Most readings will focus on the United States, with occasional readings about other countries used to highlight the ways that democratization in the United States is and is not unique in comparative perspective.
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L32 Pol Sci 5911 Democratization in the United States
To what extent has the United States fulfilled the promise of democracy throughout its history? This course will explore the ways that voting rights, political institutions, and public opinion have combined to limit or extend popular government in the United States. Particular focus will be given to changes in voting rights throughout U.S. history. Why have certain groups been denied or extended the franchise? What are the consequences of altering the franchise for lawmaking and public policy? Reading will be both theoretical and empirical, with specific attention paid to limits on the franchise in the early American republic, fluctuations in African-American suffrage, the extension of the right to vote to women, the disenfranchisement of those convicted of felonies, and concerns about access to voting and registration for disadvantaged groups in recent years. Additional areas of focus will include the role of political parties in American democracy, access to office-holding, the role of the media in facilitating democratic governances, the impact of protest and other non-voting methods of democratic political participation, the importance of legislative and electoral institutions for representation, and democratic backsliding. Most readings will focus on the United States, with occasional readings about other countries used to highlight the ways that democratization in the United States is and is not unique in comparative perspective.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5912 Public Opinion
This course explores the processes by which citizens form and change their opinions. It will cover the methodological tools scholars use to measure opinions, especially surveys and experiments. Topics include political knowledge, mass communication, partisanship, ideology, policy issues, institutional outcomes, social networks and context.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 5913 Civil War
Civil wars have become the prevailing political crises of our times. This course will introduce students to the study of intrastate conflict in political science, overviewing both classics as well as more recent research in the field. We will study the sources of violence within states; debates about the role of identity in civil wars; the dynamics of conflict during wars; international intervention and peacekeeping; and the impact of climate change. The readings in the course use a mix of qualitative, advanced quantitative, experimental, and formal methods. Regions covered include (but are not limited to) Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 593 Territory and Group Conflict
Territorial conflicts are among the most contentious and difficult to resolve in international politics. Territorial conflict is also found to be one of the most frequent causes of intrastate violence and civil war onset. At a theoretical level, territory is central to almost any aspect of international relations, as it is what physically defines states, where any kind of violent conflict takes place, and influences the character of violent conflict in important ways. A large empirical literature convincingly shows that territory is a key determinant of international conflict. However, much remains unexplored both theoretically and empirically. In this course, we explore the role that territory plays in a wide variety of contexts. We motivate the course by noting that although territory has been shown to be empirically central to the majority of violent disputes, explanations for why this is the case lag behind the evidence. Subsequently, we study the role territory plays in state-making, international conflict, the settlement of disputes, international trade, international investment, the effectiveness of treaties, ethnic identity, and civil wars, among others. Week by week we pay particular attention to the central theoretical role territory plays in international relations. We will put particular emphasis on thinking about how territory relates to bargaining models of conflict.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 594 Governance, Accountability, and Corruption
In this class, we will explore the literature on political accountability, governance and corruption. Topics will include: public sector professionalization, measuring corruption in OECD and low-income settings, electoral accountability and government responsiveness, foreign aid and good governance. The course will provide an opportunity to explore relevant data (including replication data) with the aim to develop new research papers.
Credit 3 units.
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L32 Pol Sci 645 Introduction to American Culture Studies
An introduction to interdisciplinary approaches to the study of American culture. The class will examine the relationship between cultural criticism and scholarship on American culture, the history of the American Studies and cultural studies movements, the simultaneous turn to "historicist" approaches in literary studies and to "textualist" approaches to historical studies, the moral and interpretive implications of the shift from a modernist to a postmodernist stance in cultural inquiry, and the challenges that multiculturalist and trans-national perspectives pose to the study of a national American culture. Many of the readings will emphasize trends in cultural history, but will also include works in anthropology, art and architectural history, literary history, media studies, political and social theory, and religious studies.
Same as L98 AMCS 645
Credit 3 units.
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