Course List

This course is an introduction to the study of domestic political institutions, processes, and outcomes across and within countries. The course surveys key concepts and major theoretical contributions in the field of comparative politics, including the challenges for democratization and democratic consolidation, the possibility of revolution, how countries vary in their political and electoral institutions and why these variations matter, and the power of social forces such as ethnicity, culture, and social capital. Country cases are drawn from different regions of the world and historical periods to ground students in the set of tools of comparative analysis.

All politics are global politics. Global flows of trade, capital and labor transform societies, unleash new political movements and challenge existing political institutions. States and other actors respond in ways that impose costs on other states, creating crises and opportunities for cooperation. This course will broadly survey the politics of international economics, focusing in particular on trade and finance. Along the way, it will introduce students to a range of economic models, but it will assume no prior exposure to economics.

In this course, we analyze basic institutions and patterns of behavior in the American political system, drawing on historical as well as contemporary debates. This course is designed for first-year students considering a major, minor, or cluster in Political Science or History, but it is also appropriate for sophomores, juniors, and seniors who want a basic foundation in American political history and government.

This course is most aptly called Thinking About Politics. It aims to examine a range of contemporary issues and to explore the political and philosophical conflicts and controversies that those issues raise. So, for example, we might examine the concepts of patriotism and explore the tensions that arise between it and such other concepts as democracy or freedom or dissent or security. Readings will be drawn both from contemporary sources and classic political thought.

Introduces students to the foundations of American government. Examines important political institutions and the linkage mechanisms that connect institutions, political actors, and ordinary American citizens.

May 20 – June 14, 2024

This course will be held online. This course provides students with the background and conceptual tools they need to understand contemporary international relations. The course will introduce students to the wide range of issues that make up the study of international relations, including the workings of the state system, the causes of international conflict and violence, and international economic relations. Students will be introduced to the literature in a broad way, to make them familiar with the main theoretical traditions in the field. Students will be asked, as much as possible, to read original texts, rather than a textbook. Time permitting, we will also examine topics of particular current interest, such as the evolving nature of power in the post-Cold War environment as well as special global challenges like nation-building and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

This course introduces students to positive political theory, a rigorous set of tools that helps clarify key questions in political science. Through examples drawn from all aspects of the political process (from elections to lawmaking to regulation) as well as from everyday life (where should we go for dinner?) and Hollywood (Russell Crowe and Reese Witherspoon as political scientists?), we will study how the rules of the game affect the decisions politicians make as well as the policy outcomes we observe. NOTE: YOU MUST SIGN UP FOR A RECITATION WHEN REGISTERING FOR THIS COURSE.

How do political institutions affect economic growth? How do economic conditions affect political decisions? This course is an introduction to the history of thought and current debates in political economy. We review great texts in the history of political economy (by Adam Smith, Karl Marx, and others), present an introduction to the modern tools used in the field, and show their applications in the context of democratic and nondemocratic politics.

This course is a response to current events. We will examine the war in Ukraine, its origins, its causes, the conduct, and the prospects for termination. Rather than impose a theoretical framework up front, the course begins with historical background and a large amount of reading of publicly available sources starting in November 2021. I will then schedule one or two full class discussions, to solicit from the students what they think are the "causes" of this war. We then proceed to examine the specific conduct of the war -- which unfortunately will have a lot of content that will make you uncomfortable. (Students are of course free to skip over some of the more graphic aspects.) I will then schedule a session or two on how the conduct of this war address the causes of war. After all, war is supposed to do something that makes peace possible. A question to keep in mind, thus, is what that something actually is. We then turn to the prospects for peace. We will read various peace proposals and discuss their feasibility. At the end of this class you'll hopefully have a thorough understanding of this war, which is likely to shape global affairs for decades to come. Where appropriate, I will invite guest lectures with expertise on specific issues. You must also register for a recitation for this course.

Summer Session 2 (June 27- July 22)
This course is an introduction to the study of domestic political institutions, processes, and outcomes across and within countries. The course surveys key concepts and major theoretical contributions in the field of comparative politics, including the challenges for democratization and democratic consolidation, the possibility of revolution, how countries vary in their political and electoral institutions and why these variations matter, and the power of social forces such as ethnicity, culture, and social capital. Country cases are drawn from different regions of the world and historical periods to ground students in the set of tools of comparative analysis.

The organization, financing, and functioning of the United States health care system. Also historical perspectives and the insights of international comparisons. Topics covered include the economics of U.S. health system, access to care, health policy and politics, and disability and disability politics.

Summer Session 2 (June 29-July 27)
We all have an impact on the political system that governs us. This is true for all governments, but particularly for democracy. This course will explore the foundations of modern American governance. What should we expect from a democracy? What are the historical roots of the current system? How do the core political institutions, such as Congress and the Presidency, impact the law? How does this all impact our lives through phenomenon like polarization and inequality? How do we change our government through voting and influencing politicians? Students should expect to come out of this course with a strong grasp of American politics, reasoning and communicating with greater clarity, and knowing how to find answers to important questions. This course is appropriate for majors and non-majors with an interest in understanding the American political system.

Democracy literally means "rule by the people." This seminar in political theory will explore various questions that this basic definition raises in the context of 21st-century American politics. What can we expect of "the people"? How, indeed, do we even envision "the people"? What is the role of communication, especially modern media, in creating and sustaining "the people"? How might we think about the ways in which power and communication intersect in modern democracies? In many respects this course is experimental. It aims to draw connections between texts and theorists that have not been made before. So we will be exploring new terrain. Students will learn what it means to think like a political theorist. Enrollment is restricted to first-year students - no exceptions. Grades will be based on class participation - given that this is a small seminar, be prepared to talk! - and several short papers (meaning about five pages each) on assigned topics that emerge from the readings and class discussion. Course open to first-year and sophomores only.

Summer Session 1 (May 16-June 10)
R 900-1500, TW 900-1200
The course will provide students with a foundational understanding of the environmental, economic, and societal impacts of American food systems and sustainable agriculture. Through assigned reading, lectures, class discussion, and field trips, students will learn about the American farming and food system through examination of one particular crop or product at a time. We will consider environmental inputs and outputs, economic profitability, and farm stewardship. We will also look at the food distribution system and our role as consumers.

This course surveys how recent advances in information technology have permanently changed the political landscape and the nature of politics. Topics covered may include television and the permanent campaign, C-SPAN and the Republican Revolution, cable television and political knowledge, and the Internet, campaigning, and fundraising. Special emphasis will be placed on political change in the American context, but other countries may be considered.

This course examines how race has shaped and influenced the development of American political institutions. In what ways has race shaped our notions of citizenship and our legal system? How have various presidential actors responded to racial conflict in American society? How have political parties responded to racial conflict? And how has race affected the development and implementation of social policy?

How does law matter in social conflict? This course examines the development of law during key moments of social change, from abolition and slavery to contemporary identity politics. Topics include criminal rights, civil liberties, legal theory, and the workings of legal institutions.

Summer Session 2 (June 27- July 22)
The rise of cable TV, the Internet, and social media in the past 35 years has led to a rapid increase in the number and variety of news sources available to citizens. This course examines how the evolution of the news media has changed the way individuals consume news, how campaigns are run, and how citizens participate in the political process. Topics for this course will include the news media's effect on political attitudes, perceptions, and knowledge; campaign advertising; political elites' use of social media; social media and civic engagement; and the political psychology behind media effects.

Summer Session 1 (May 16 - June 10)
What are the origins of the modern American political institutions, such as Congress, the Presidency, and the political parties? What types of factors influence the choices voters make? Drawing from political science research, as well as contemporary events, this class intends to introduce students to the foundations of American government and politics. We will examine the linkages that connect political institutions, politicians, and ordinary citizens. Finally, we will explore how these forces might influence the 2016 Presidential and Congressional elections.

(May 20 - June 17)
Why do some countries stay poor, while other countries' economies grow so rapidly? To address this fundamental question, we will cover both political and economic elements of development and underdevelopment. Students will first learn some basic analytical tools to be a critical reader on this topic, including basic growth theories and some data analysis tools. All analytical tools required to complete the course will be taught in class and there is no requirement to take the course besides high school level algebra and statistics.

Summer Session 1 (May 18-June 15)
Why does corruption persist in developing countries-even democratic ones? Does corruption affect the governability of a country? Why and how do political parties in developing nations try to "buy" votes and manipulate elections? We will explore these questions and many others by focusing on both elections and policymaking in developing country democracies, particularly in Latin America and South Asia. Topics will include vote buying, patronage and clientelistic strategies in elections, as well as the role of political parties in getting candidates into office. We will also focus on how legislatures form policies and allocate resources. In addition, we will try to understand how bribery, nepotism and corruption influence elections and policy, and why it is so difficult to eradicate these problems.

Summer Session 1 (May 16 - June 10)
What factors influence vote choice? Why do voters around the world face such different options at the ballot box? Do campaigns matter? In this course, we will explore the social, political and institutional determinants of voting behaviour, and of variation in the number and types of political parties that exist. We will also discuss the different electoral strategies available to politicians around the world - from 'priming' to vote-buying - and discuss the efficacy and prevalence of each. Examples will be drawn from the United States, Western Europe, South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America.

Summer Session 1 (May 18-June 15)
Why did the United States invade Iraq in 2003? Was it driven by concerns about oil, a desire to democratize Iraq, or by the ideals of senior Bush administration officials? In this course, we will explore the theories that underpin these alternative explanations for the Iraq war and relate them to other important international events, both historical and current. We will cover a diverse set of topics, including international conflict, terrorism, transnational challenges (such as climate change, human trafficking, and the global drug trade), non-state actors in the international system, international institutions, and the role and influence of the United States in international affairs. We will pay particular attention to current international events and crises and discuss how scholars of international relations might seek to explain them.

This course examines theories of business-government interactions in the making of a nation's foreign policy. The central questions we will address are: When and how do businesses influence foreign policy? Should the goals of business be given priority in foreign policy over non-economic goals such as democracy-building or human rights protection given the greater interconnectedness of contemporary world economies? We will then apply the competing theoretical perspectives on these questions to current foreign policy debates on technology transfer, outsourcing of jobs, global climate change etc. Although the empirical focus of the course will be on the foreign policy of the US, we will also draw on comparative case studies of emerging powers such as India and China. The course has no prerequisites.

This course examines the questions of whether and how interstate and civil conflicts can be resolved without going to war. It focuses primarily on the role of third parties in conflict prevention, as peacekeepers, nation-builders, and mediators. We will look at these topics from a theoretical, as well as from an applied, perspective, paying close attention to current events and recent episodes in international politics. Particular topics to be covered may include, but will not be limited to, U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, NATO peacekeeping operations in the Balkans, and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Throughout the course, we will seek to apply the theoretical insights of modern political scientists to the various conflicts, and to evaluate these theories in a real world context, with the goal of determining what political scientists and policymakers can learn from one another.

Until the late 1990s most independent countries in the world were autocracies and even today -- in the age of democratization and democracy -- over 40 percent of all countries remain autocratic. Despite the historical dominance of this regime type, however, the vast majority of teaching and research in political science focuses on democratic politics. This course does not. It examines the various aspects of the politics in authoritarian regimes: their emergence and breakdown, the policy choices and institutions they adopt, leadership change, and the theories that explain these outcomes. Besides discussing recent work, we will use historical case studies and real-world statistical data in order to examine current cases.

What is terrorism? Who becomes terrorists? Is terrorism a new phenomenon? What is the connection between religion and terrorism? How do we fight terrorism, and what would it mean to win the \"war on terror\"? This class will examine terrorist groups, methods and counterterrorism, past and present. Students will each pick a terrorist group to research over the course and present to the rest of the class.

This course surveys the politics of the modern Middle East. Countries covered include Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Israel and the Palestinian Authority, Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq. Other countries will be covered, though in considerably less depth. The course will begin with a brief survey of the political history of the region and proceed to analyze the contemporary period. Topics include the role of colonization and de-colonization, the rise of Socialist movements, religious conflict, ethnic conflict, U.S. foreign policy towards the region, and, to a lesser extent, political economy. Students who have taken and received credit for PSC 248 (Politics of the Middle East) cannot also receive credit for this course.

What would "a government of the people, by the people, for the people" really look like? Is the right to vote sufficient to make a society democratic? Is majority rule any better than tyranny? Can people be trusted to rule themselves? In this course, we examine the first democracy - that of ancient Athens. We will trace the historical development of democracy and explore the social factors and big ideas that shaped it into the form of government that almost every society in the world now looks to as a model. You will learn about the various institutions that allowed Athenian society to function and discover what the Athenians thought about their great experiment, even if they thought it was a very bad idea. We will also observe and discuss some of our own government institutions so that we can better understand our system of government, both in what it shares with ancient Athens and how it differs. Restriction: Open to freshmen only AS&E.

The dramatic terrorist siege of the city of Mumbai in western India on September 2008 has renewed international attention on political processes in South Asia, a region which is home to nearly a fifth of the world¿s population. This course will examine the major debates in the rich interdisciplinary field of South Asian politics. The central questions we will address are: Why has India been relatively stable and democratic while governments in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka have struggled to maintain political stability and democracy though they have similar colonial legacies? What explains the wide variation in ethnic rioting in India across states and over time? What are the implications of India and Pakistan acquiring nuclear weapons for regional and international security? Why has democracy and the recent spurt in economic growth in India failed to diminish income inequality?

(May 21 - June 18)
This course will focus on countries that joined the European Union in 2004 and 2007 (Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, the Baltic States, Bulgaria and Romania). We will begin with a brief survey of the political history of the region and the establishment and sustenance of Communist rule in the Eastern Bloc, and proceed to analyze events that led to the transformation. The course will focus on the political and economic transformation in the region and the path to membership in the EU. We will compare new EU members with the countries of Western Europe. We will conclude with a survey of the current situation in the countries of the “New Europe” and their relations with “Old Europe” and other countries.

This course explores how common themes of politics are portrayed on the big screen, as well as the influence of the movie-making business on politics. The first half of the course focuses on influential and/or controversial films that touch on major political science topics, such as war, elections, congressional politics and game theory. The second half of the course considers Hollywood\'s effect on American politics; topics include the perceived liberal bias in Hollywood films, movie star endorsements in political races, social activism in films, and actors as political candidates.

Home to Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony, and George Eastman, upstate New York has been the seedbed for many of the most important events in American history. In this seminar, students will discover the rich history of Rochester as well as learn about current debates over political organization, racial and economic segregation, suburbanization, and economic change. The course will emphasize five major themes: urbanization and religious revivalism in the 1820s and 1830s; movements for abolition and women's rights; reform initiatives during the Progressive Era; economic and racial changes in the 20th century; and city politics in the 20th and 21st centuries. As part of the course, students will visit sites in and around the city as well as meet and talk with political figures active in the city today.

Session B1, July 1-26, 2024, M, T, W, R 1:00-3:15 pm online

Data analysis has become a key part of many fields including politics, business, law, and public policy. This course covers the fundamentals of data analysis, giving students the necessary statistical skills to understand and critically analyze contemporary political, legal, and policy puzzles. Lectures will focus on the theory and practice of quantitative analysis, and lab sessions will guide students through the particulars of statistical software. Core topics include descriptive statistics, probability, hypothesis testing, and linear regression. No prior knowledge of statistics or data analysis is required. Without special permission of the instructor, students may not enroll in this course if they have earned credit and a letter grade for ECO 230, PSC 205, PSY/CSP 211, STT 211, STT 212, STT 213, STT 214, or any other course in statistics, or if they have received a score of 4 or 5 on the Advanced Placement exam in Statistics. NOTE: THIS COURSE IS ONLINE ONLY AND STUDENTS NEED TO BE ABLE TO RUN R ON THEIR COMPUTER.

In The End of History and the Last Man (1992), Francis Fukuyama argued that liberal democracies may become the final form of human government. However, two decades later, 1/3 of the regimes on earth are still authoritarian. Some countries went through democratization, such as Spain after the death of Francisco Franco. But others remained authoritarian, such as North Korea. This course provides an introduction to authoritarian regimes and covers: 1) the different types of authoritarian regimes, which range from personalistic dictatorships to new forms where a variety of actors are institutionally represented (e.g., militants, monarchists, technocrats, etc.); 2) the conditions for authoritarian regimes to survive, function, and be accountable (e.g., Singapore); and 3) a comparison between democratic regimes and authoritarian regimes.

This course introduces students to data analysis in political science. We begin by learning how to describe political data, and then move on to making inferences about political phenomena. Along the way, we address the "science" in political science and the development of hypotheses about political behavior. We will read published research from political science journals that use the techniques we discuss in class. No mathematical knowledge beyond high school algebra is assumed. PSC 201 satisfies the Techniques of Analysis requirement for undergraduate majors and minors in Political Science.

This course examines how political institutions affect public policy outcomes. It answers such questions as why incumbents choose one policy over another, whose preferences matter for policy outcomes, and how institutions interact to structure the incentives and capabilities of policymakers. As a way of introduction, we begin with the topics of preference formation and collective action, which are extremely important for understanding a series of organizational issues. Then we concentrate our attention on the analysis of institutions: constitutional structure, the bureaucracy, electoral rules, and the party system.

South Asia, an area approximately covering the countries of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal, is home to nearly a fifth of the world's population. This course is an introduction to the rich social science literature on government and politics in the region. The central questions we will address are: Why has India been relatively stable and democratic since independence while governments in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka have struggled to maintain political stability or democracy though they have similar historical legacies? What domestic and international factors lie behind the recent emergence of sectarian terrorist violence in Pakistan? How has India sustained high growth rates in the midst of a global recession? Has the growth of India's outsourcing industry negatively affected employment in the U.S.? Why have democracy and economic growth in India failed to diminish income inequality? Will Nepal's unique revolutionary transition to democracy create a more egalitarian society?

Students generally take PSC 202 in their sophomore year, but the course is also open to juniors and seniors. The course introduces students to the questions, concepts, and analytical approaches of political scientists and emphasizes careful reading and analytical writing. This version of the course focuses on the tension between majority rule and minority rights in the American political tradition. Topics include tyranny of the majority, slavery, civic engagement, political parties, women's rights, racism, economic and political inequality, legislative organization, and representation. Readings are drawn from classic texts in American thought—the Declaration of Independence, "The Federalist," Tocqueville's "Democracy in America," the Gettysburg Address—as well as from books and articles written by contemporary political scientists. Note: In this academic year, PSC 202 will only be offered in the fall semester. It will NOT be offered in the spring.

Public opinion surveys are a vital component of contemporary politics. In this course we will explore the fundamental elements of survey research: selecting a sample, designing and implementing a questionnaire, interpreting the results, and presenting the findings. This semester, we will pay special attention to surveys about current public policy issues like the environment, immigration, and health care. We will also examine polling done for the 2012 presidential election and the 2014 congressional elections. PSC 203 satisfies the Techniques of Analysis requirement for undergraduate majors and minors in political science.

Is the mass media really biased? Does abortion lower the crime rate? Does the "No Child Left Behind" Act encourage cheating? Providing convincing answers to these hot-button political issues requires good research design. In this class, we learn the techniques behind designing research studies that allow political scientists and economists to answer exactly these kinds of questions. While PSC 200 or 201 is strongly recommended, this is not a course in data analysis or statistics. Rather, we focus on setting up problems so that data analytic techniques, when applied, provide the correct answers. We will draw examples from throughout political science as well as from Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner.

Francis Fukuyama over twenty years ago predicted that democracy was the final regime type, and that all countries would in time embrace it. In this course we examine where he was right, and where he was wrong. We first define democratic and authoritarian regime types, and the presence of both types and hybrid types across the world. We examine both democratic breakdown and democratic transitions, using cases from Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America since the Second World War. In studying democratic transitions, we also develop theories on why particular countries remain non-democratic. In the final section of the course, we examine the persistence of non-democratic regimes and the prospects for future democratic transitions, particularly in China and in the recent "Arab Spring." In each section, we will consider actor-based, structural, and institutional explanations for regime change.

How do we evaluate empirically the claims politicians make? How do we determine whether theories of political behavior are supported by evidence? In this course, students are introduced to data analysis, statistical inference, and research design, with a focus on techniques that are appropriate for political science data. Topics covered will include descriptive statistics, confidence intervals, hypothesis tests, correlation, and regression analysis. Students will be expected to participate in weekly lab sessions.

With world population of nearly 8 billion and global GDP of $70 trillion, human impacts on the environment have already reached dangerous levels. By 2050, world population could reach 9 billion and global GDP $250 trillion. Despite unprecedented growth in countries such as China and India, over 1 billion people still live in extreme poverty-mostly in South Asia and Africa. The central challenge for humanity in the 21st century is how to address the triple issue of ending extreme poverty, improving social inclusion, and achieving sustainability for the planet. The 13 weeks of the course include a significant practical element. Students will work in small groups for a partner organization (a business or non-profit) involved in this topic to complete a project that helps achieve the organization's mission and contributes to sustainable development. Enrollment in the course is limited and will be subject to the professor's review.

This course builds on PSC 200, Data Analysis I, taking the linear regression model as its starting point. We will explore various statistical techniques for analyzing a world of data that is relevant to political science in particular, and to the social sciences more broadly. We will examine models for binary data, durations, counts, censoring and truncation, self-selection, and strategic choice, among others. These models will be applied to topics such as international conflict, civil war onset, parliamentary cabinet survival, international sanctions, campaign contributions, and voting. Students will be taught how to (1) frame research hypotheses, (2) analyze data using the appropriate statistical model, and (3) interpret and present their results. Statistical analysis will be conducted using R. Prerequisites: Students should have taken a course (such as PSC 200, ECO 230, STT 211, STT 212, STT 213, or STT 214) that introduces them to hypothesis tests, confidence intervals, and linear regression. Students who have not used R in a previous course should familiarize themselves with it prior to the first class. Specifically, students should be able to load a data set, print summary statistics, create a scatterplot, and conduct linear regression.

Through reading and critiquing political science research in American politics, comparative politics, and international relations, students learn how to select a research question, formulate testable hypotheses, find and evaluate relevant literature, locate or collect data that addresses their research question, analyze the data, and write a research report. The primary task for the semester is to complete a research paper on a topic the student chooses jointly with the instructor. Students work on individual or joint projects. The course is not a prerequisite for writing a senior honors thesis, though it is good preparation for doing so. With that in mind, near the end of the semester, juniors who are interested in doing an honors project during the senior year will be assisted in their efforts to identify a faculty member with whom they can work and in formulating a plan to carry out the thesis during the ensuing year. Prerequisite: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors (and outstanding sophomores). Past or concurrent enrollment in a techniques of analysis course (PSC 200, 201, 203, 205, ECO 230 231, or the equivalent).

This course is designed to introduce the issues that concern political scientists (especially) and economists about interest groups in American politics. The goal of the course is to provide a better substantive understanding of interest groups specifically and the political system more generally. Foci include the historical development of the interest group system, the formation of organizations, the relationship between associations and formal political institutions, money and politics, and policy-specific case studies. Instruction is primarily though lectures, although class participation is strongly encouraged.

Voters elect nearly all local prosecutors, sheriffs, and trial judges in the United States. In this seminar, we will explore the influence of political institutions on the decisions of those law enforcement officials. Topics include constitutional design, public opinion, racial disparities, electoral accountability, special interest politics, and the collateral consequences of incarceration. While rooted in recent phenomena, this course will also focus on historical perspectives. Likewise, while substantively focused, the class will also provide insights into social science research.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia and the successor states have transitioned across differing paths to establish new political and economic systems. The Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) have made their transitions toward democracy and a market economy, while many of the other former Soviet Republics have struggled with these changes. This course offers a comprehensive analysis of contemporary political and economic systems in Russia and other former Soviet states including the evolution of those systems over the last century. The main goal of this course is to create a familiarity with the Soviet and post-Soviet polity, with an emphasis on Russia, the most powerful and the largest of the fifteen successor states, and its evolving role in the international community of the 21st century. Students are expected to complete weekly reading assignments, contribute to class discussion, and design a semester-long research project.

The two-party system is America\'s greatest contribution to free government. Yet, as the nation prepares for congressional elections, popular dissatisfaction with the two major parties is high. In this course, we examine the emergence of mass democracy in the United States and the origin and persistence of two-party politics. Topics include the anti-party attitudes of the nation\'s founders, the organization of the nation\'s first two political parties, the establishment of a two-party system, and the subsequent crises and voter revolutions that have remade the parties and American government. We will examine party realignments, changes in party identification and voting behavior, party reforms, and the decline of political parties in the twentieth century. Course requirement for most students: occasional short papers (1-2 pages) on the reading, midterm, and choice of final exam or final paper. Course requirements for upper-level writing students: several short papers (2-3 pages) on the reading and final paper.

The initial governmental responses to the COVID-19 pandemic rocked the foundations of the world's economy. Decisions to "shut down the economy," however, were not universally praised and remain controversial. Science became more politicized during the pandemic, and Americans could not even agree on whether mask wearing was necessary, often dividing along party lines. In this seminar, we will study the COVID-19 pandemic from a political economy perspective, focusing on the United States and asking difficult questions. Did the shutdowns go too far, or were they necessary to protect public health? Was the run-up in government debt due to the pandemic fiscally irresponsible or necessary to prevent an economic depression? Did political polarization make the pandemic worse? Were dissenters who challenged dominant scientific explanations for the pandemic silenced or given a fair hearing? In the spirit of free and open inquiry, seminar participants will consider cutting-edge research and discuss competing viewpoints on these and other pandemic-related topics.

Political developments in Africa since the end of the Cold War have both vindicated and belied Robert Kaplan's famous prediction of a "coming anarchy" in the region. Drawing on the rich social science literature on the politics of contemporary Africa, the course will address a set of critical questions that will have important implications for the well-being of the people of the continent and the world in the twenty-first century. The central questions we will address are: Why is state failure so frequent in Africa? Why are most African countries poor? Why has Botswana, a small country in Southern Africa, been able to sustain economic growth and democratic politics since its independence? Can international aid resurrect growth and democracy on a wide scale in Africa?

Conspiracy theories are becoming an organizing principle in American politics. This course will explore the history and trends of conspiracy theories, the psychological and strategic underpinnings of persuasion in these theories and misinformation, and the political implications of current conspiracy theories. In order to understand the use (or misuse) of evidence and logic in conspiracy theories, several weeks will be dedicated to extended examples. These conspiracy theories are polarized and polarizing, a unit of the course will discuss political science research on polarization and place conspiracy theories within this trend. Assignments for the course include writing an individual short paper and group presentation on a conspiracy theory that applies the concepts in class. Readings include classics (e.g., Hofstadters The Paranoid Style in American Politics) and contemporary academic articles and books (e.g., Knights Conspiracy Nation: The Politics of Paranoia.

Constitutional law cases decided by the U.S. Supreme Court and their impact on the evolution of the Court, the balance of powers among the three governmental branches, relations between the federal government and the states, and individual express and implied rights.

This course offers a survey of the leading literature in comparative politics on the topic of democratization with a focus on non-Western societies. The central questions we will address are: Why have political protests in Egypt succeeded in triggering a democratic transition, but not in Syria? Are newly created democracies more likely to be prone to civil war and more likely to initiate inter-state war than consolidated democracies? Should the United States use its military power to promote democracies or should democracies be allowed to emerge endogenously?

This course offers an overview of the legislative branch of the United States government. We will discuss the electoral process, the nature of representation, legislative organization, the committee system, floor procedure, congressional parties, and inter-branch relations. We will examine theories of lawmaking and the impact of institutional and electoral rules on legislative behavior and outcomes.

This course is an introduction to the study of colonial legacies, with a focus on South Asia and Africa. Although research on colonialism spans the entire spectrum of the social sciences, our emphasis will be on the impact of colonial policies on political and economic development. Some of the central questions we will explore are: How have colonial ethnic censuses affected political stability in post-colonial societies? Are countries in which ex-colonizers have settled in large numbers more likely to be richer today than countries with insignificant settler populations? Do ex-British colonies have systematically different long-term economic and political trajectories than ex-French colonies? The course will also examine the merits and demerits of proposals that have been suggested to permanently alter these legacies in developing countries such as creating stronger states by redrawing arbitrary borders or the creation of ethnically representative armies.

This course is about the politics of racial subordination and emancipation in the United States. We begin by thinking about different explanations of the rise, dynamics, and persistence of racial domination in the United States and of the cultural and political challenges to it. We will pay special attention to the Great Migration, the subsequent emergence of blacks as an important constituency of the Democratic Party, the Civil Rights Movement, and the role of race in structuring current party divisions. Next, we will examine the politics of black communities. Topics include the legacy of demobilization of the Civil Rights Movement and the channeling of political activity into electoral institutions; the politics of urban regimes; the challenge to political solidarity posed by increasing social economic and social inequality within the black community; the Black Lives Matter movement; and debates about the effectiveness of identity-based, class based, and coalitional strategies of political mobilization. In conclusion we will reflect upon the differences between the nature and dynamics of racial subordination today compared with the past and what, if any, prospects for change there are.

This upper level seminar examines the modes, scope, and theoretical perspectives of political participation in the United States and in other societies. Topics include political participation from the perspective of social statification (race, class, and gender), psychological dynamics, organizational behavior, contextual effects, and rational choice perspectives. Further, it examines institutionalized forms of political participation as well as political protest. The course also considers how actors who live under various systems of domination engage in covert and overt forms of political action. Restriction: Open only to junior and senior political science majors.

This course will examine the subject of political violence from a comparative perspective. The first half of the course will focus on low-scale political violence including everyday resistance, political protests, urban riots, and military coups. In the second half, we will turn to theories of large-scale political violence including state terror, genocide, and civil wars. We will also consider the similarities and differences between political violence and violence in the so-called "private" sphere, for example, abuse in upscale marriages. The course will conclude with a discussion of the social as well as psychological consequences of large-scale political violence and the ways and means available to the international community to bring lasting political peace in such situations.

This seminar considers a number of controversies in American politics that can be studied with data. Topics include liberal bias in the media, the effect of capital punishment on crime, and the relationship between money and elections, among others. The course will be a small seminar and will use a discussion format. Each student will be expected to read the assigned material before class and to take turns summarizing and critiquing particular readings. Grades will be based on presentations, class discussions, and a final research paper. PSC 200 or its equivalent is a prerequisite.

This course deals with questions raised at the intersection of constitutional law and sociological and political science studies of the politics and practice of race in the United States. While studying major court decisions concerning race and slavery, voting, property rights, segregation/de-segregation, criminal justice, voting, discrimination, and affirmative action, we will examine questions such as: what is the role of the legal system in constituting and perpetuating the racial order of the United States? To what extent do court rulings reflect more than they shape what actually happens outside of the legal system? How, if at all, do they shape public opinion? What are the advantages and disadvantages of courts as a tool for social change? Do answers to these questions vary by area of law and/or historical period? The course is largely discussion-based and will include readings in case law, critical legal studies, critical race theory, and works in political science and sociology.

Each semester we study the causes and consequences of the most recent elections and the issue dynamics that are shaping the next set of elections. We consider how our election rules, such as the presidential Electoral College and the single member plurality elections used in congressional elections, affect the choices candidates make to win office. And we identify how these rules advantage or disadvantage various types of candidates. Some issues, such as party polarization and campaign finance reform are generally in the news and of thus of continuing interest. But new issues will arise and we will discuss these as they come up over the course of the semester.

When and why do elected officials sell their votes to special interests, neglect their constituents, and enact policies that benefit a handful of politically connected actors? Why do in some countries regularly held elections fail to promote incumbent accountability? When is it acceptable for multinational corporations to bribe officials in foreign countries to get access to resources and local markets? How can institutions be designed to curb corruption and to increase politicians? Accountability to voters? This course examines the factors that promote good governance. We begin by classifying and measuring corruption using data from Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe, South Asia, and the Middle East. Then we turn to country-specific case studies and examine how such factors as an electoral system, a political culture, the level of economic development, and natural resource endowment affect politicians. Behavior in office. Building on these case studies, we develop a general framework to understand conditions under which popular elections, political parties, a civil society, and other democratic institutions can guard effectively against corruption.

Populism is central to current debates about politics, from radical right parties in Europe to left-wing presidents in Latin America to the Tea Party, Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump in the United States. But populism is also one of the most contested concepts in the social sciences. The first part of the course will discuss how scholars from different parts of the world studied populism since this phenomenon entered the political and social science agenda in the late 1960s. What distinguishes its various manifestations in Europe, Latin America, the United States, and elsewhere across time (old vs. new populisms), region (western vs. eastern; but also Nordic, Baltic, and Southern European), regime type in which they develop (democracy vs. non-democracy), and ideological hue (right vs. left populisms)? A second part of this course will look at actual populist strategies, how populist leaders gain their appeal, what social conditions increase the likelihood of a populist victory, how populists gain and maintain power. Cases such as Hungary, Greece and Venezuela are studied in order to understand the way in which populism comes to power and governs.

This seminar will examine Congress in its dual roles as both a national lawmaking institution and as the nexus of public representation in the policymaking process. We will survey some of the major theories and concepts used to understand and explain the operation of Congress and the behavior of its members. Students will gain a basic understanding of Congress through an examination of the role Congress plays in policymaking and representation, the formal rules that govern its operation, and the interaction that takes place between Congress and other political actors. This course is writing intensive and is most appropriate for juniors and seniors. Students will be graded on class participation, short writing assignments, and a research paper.

The course offers a comparative perspective on the political and economic development of post-communist countries. It begins with an analysis of the socialist system, its development, and crisis, and proceeds to the problems of post-communist economic transformation,covering Central and Eastern Europe, China, Vietnam and other countries. The main questions to be discussed are: What led to the creation of the communist economic system? What were the main political influences? How did the communist system operate? Was the system reformable? How did the transformation take place after the collapse of communist rule? What is the role of democracy? Why did some states become market oriented democracies, while others failed to reform or reverted to command economy dictatorships?

W 9:00-10:15, F 9:00-11:40
This course takes a systems-change approach to problems of environmental health and justice. It will provide students with a methodological, conceptual, and experiential foundation in addressing problems through policies, partnerships, and community engagement. We will closely examine several timely local issues such as subsistence fishing, climate adaptation, equitable transportation, and housing. For each major topic, students will engage in background research, practice diverse data collection strategies, interact with relevant community groups, and gain experience integrating multidisciplinary information. Students will also undertake a semester-long community engaged project to address an environmental justice issue of concern to a local organization. NOTE: This is a community-engaged class and will involve significant blocks of time in field work, trips, and guest speakers. To accommodate this, there is an extended Friday morning "lab" session. This class is designated as part of the Certificate in Community-Engaged Learning. PRE-REQUISITES: PH 101, PH 116, or PH 102; or by permission of instructor for students with significant policy, community change, or environmental management background.

This course analyzes how public opinion is formed through the media. It also examines the interaction of public opinion, mass media, and political leadership. Lecturing will take up the first segment of class, followed by discussion. In several of the sessions an entire campaign will be analyzed, with commercials produced for the candidates shown, followed by discussion and comment. Students will be asked to watch TV, read popular press, etc., for the class discussion.

Why are some countries rich and well-developed while other countries remain underdeveloped and poor? What role do political institutions, both domestic and outward-oriented, play in economic development? In this course we examine classic and contemporary answers to these questions, and consider evidence for competing explanations. We start with Adam Smith, and move through theories of dependency, import substitution, and export-based development. We conclude with contemporary theories on the connection between economic development and political institutions. We explore national economies from all continents, with special emphasis on countries outside the North Atlantic that have grown and developed, to varying extents, since World War II. (This course was formerly titled "States and Markets.")

This course examines some of the major public policy issues affecting the Black community. We begin with a survey of the public policy making process at the local and federal levels. The rest of the course deals with the specific groups, conflicts, institutions, and structural constraints governing the formation of public policy in the areas of education, poverty, affirmative action, and crime. We will ask questions about the origin and nature of the problems in these areas, the explanations of why some policies and not others have been adopted, and the strengths and weaknesses of competing policy solutions.

Through intensive reading and discussion, we will analyze the major institutional features of Congress, with an emphasis on historical development. We will examine the basic institutions of the House and Senate--committees, parties, leaders, and rules. In doing this, we will consider the rise of careerism, the seniority system, agenda-setting, electoral concerns, divided government, efforts at institutional reform, party polarization, gridlock, and the Senate filibuster.

This course examines the challenges facing three of Latin America's largest democracies, focused around four main topics: social policy, representation of marginalized groups, crime, and violence, and environmental conservation. Before we address these topics, however, we review the actors and institutions that operate in each country. We discuss how political institutions in each country shape how policy is made and implemented. The course examines contemporary attempts to address each of the four challenges, and provides opportunity for students wishing to conduct research on related maters.

This seminar provides students with the necessary historical background and methodological tools to conduct original research on the US Congress. We will examine the basic institutions of the House and Senate - committees, parties, leaders, and rules-with an interest in how these institutions have changed over time. The course emphasizes how Congress provides structure that scholars must embrace (and from which they may often benefit) when applying the more abstract concepts and techniques of political economy. This course is designed for PhD students, but is open, with permission of the instructors, to advanced undergraduates.

This course explores the emergence of social movements in the United States. Although the course considers a variety of social movements that evolved in the twentieth century, it will concentrate on the mechanics of social movements rather than the histories of movements\' leaders and organizations. The thrust of the course is the application of theoretical concepts to particular cases. The central questions to be asked are: (1) why do movements emerge and why do they decline? (2) what kinds of resources are mobilized on behalf of movements? (3) how do marginal groups construct world views to challenge their oppression? and (4) how does the political system respond to movements when they challenge formal structures of power? The first quarter of the course covers theoretical concepts that will be raised throughout the course. The other sections of the course will illuminate these perspectives by surveying the labor movement, the civil rights movement, the women\'s movement, and other movements for social change.

This course will focus on party competition and government formation in parliamentary democracies in Western and Central Europe. It will aim to explain voters' choices, party strategies, and origins of governments. It will take a look at elections from the perspective of both parties and voters, and analyze both the pre-election and post-election stages of party competition. The course will explore theories of voting, party systems, and party competition. It will also study pre-election alliances that are formed by parties in order to improve their electoral results as well as their chances to control the government after election. The course will conclude with the analysis of theories of government formation. Throughout the course, the analyzed theories will be used to explain cases of elections and government formation from Central and Western Europe.

Global foreign direct investment inflows reached a record $1,833 billion in 2007 (UNCTAD 2008). Roughly half of the world's largest 200 governing entities are multinational corporations (MNCs). Crossing the boundaries between theories of international political economy, globalization, international business, and development, this course offers an introduction to the international political economy of MNCs and their interaction with governments. The main themes cover theories to explain why firms invest abroad, the effects of foreign direct investments on domestic and foreign policy, the bargaining between MNCs and host governments, the expropriation of assets by host countries, "dependency," corporate political activities, and the regulation of foreign investment. Students are expected to complete weekly reading assignments, contribute to class discussion, and design a semester-long research project.

Most of the politics happen at the subnational level - between governors, mayors, and regions' resistance to centralization, we can observe a variety of political behaviors and institutions without ever leaving a country. In this course, we will zoom in at the subnational level to better understand the daily functioning of different political regimes outside of the developed Western democracies. The course will primarily focus on the examples and experiences from two world regions - post-Soviet space and Latin America, offering significant variation in institutions and outcomes at the subnational level. The topics covered in the course include decentralization and local political regimes, the link between subnational politics and national regime transformations, and policy-making at the subnational level.

Why are some countries richer, more stable, and more industrialized than others? An examination of the origins of the modern state, the links between different governance systems and development, and political aspects of development will help to answer this question. This course will focus on the transformation of developing countries in view of globalization, democratization and economic liberalization. Specifically, the course will introduce students to current theories of development and contending theoretical approaches in comparative political economy. Students are expected to complete oral and written assignments which are designed to help them develop their problem solving, writing and presentation skills.

The eighteenth century was a time of remarkable intellectual activity in the West, and the Americans played a central role in it, both reflecting the thought in Europe and influencing the course of thoughts and events there. In this course, we will study the American Revolution by examining the political theory which sparked the revolution itself and which lay behind the writing of the Constitution. We will begin by looking at the important predecessors to the revolution, particularly the works of John Locke, the Baron de Montesquieu, and David Hume. We will then consider important works from the period surrounding the revolution, including works by Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson. Finally, we will look at the debates surrounding the adoption of the U.S. Constitution, including the Federalist Papers and important anti-Federalist works and at the debates that arose in the operations of government in the early Republic.

The idea of Central Europe, which originally had a strong German affiliation, is historically linked with the legacy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. On a 21st-century map, Central Europe is made up of Austria, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, and western Ukraine. After WW II most of Central Europe became a strategic part of the external Soviet empire, and all Central European countries experienced political oppression, economic underdevelopment, and social stagnation. Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary contributed to the final collapse of communist ideology in 1989-90 and collectively embarked on the path leading to full integration with the European Union. Russia's invasion of Ukraine and its implications, however, changed the political perspective of Central European countries. Poland and Hungary, once close allies, now view Russia's role differently, especially Moscow's imperial ambitions. Nationalism, authoritarianism, and illiberal democracy have become significant elements of the political message provided by mainstream parties, though many Central European politicians claim that the region is going through a "strategic awakening." This "strategic awakening" may have different interpretations, especially vis-a-vis Russia and Ukraine.

Main aim of the course is to give a basic of the relationship between "identity" and "nationalism" in its historical development since late 18th century. Focusing especially on the modern Central Europe (territories of former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Austro-Hungarian Empire) class will deal with fundamental concepts of a nation and nationalism. Using different approaches and theories (modernism, ethno-symbolism, ethnic and civic nationalism), it aims at applying them to both historical and contemporary reality. Beginning with pre-modern forms of national identity ("noble nation"), the course will focus on the processes of formation modern nations in Central Europe and their consequences for the history of the region in 20th century. The class could have a mixed-form of a seminar and lecture, with students' presentations on selected topic and readings, and discussions on theoretical and historical issues.

This course introduces the major topics and theoretical perspectives in the study of the U.S. presidency. Topics include: rationales for and effects of separation of powers; the presidency in comparative perspective; the nature and origin of the president's influence on policy; the president's role in lawmaking and the veto; presidential management of the executive branch; war powers and the president's role in national security.

This course will focus on countries that joined the European Union in 2004 and 2007 (Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, the Baltic States, Bulgaria and Romania). We will begin with a brief survey of the political history of the region and the establishment and sustenance of Communist rule in the Eastern Bloc, and proceed to analyze events that led to the transformation. The course will focus on the political and economic transformation in the region and the path to membership in the European Union. We will compare new EU members with the countries of Western Europe. We will conclude with a survey of the current situation in the countries of "New Europe" and their relations with "Old Europe" and other countries.

(This course is identical to PSC 169, offered in Summer 2012. Students may not take IR 222 for credit if they have previously received credit for PSC 169.)

Prevention is perhaps the most common justification for war. Both world wars, and more recently the invasion of Iraq and concerns over China's economic and military rise, illustrate its historical and present relevance. In this seminar, we analyze the theory, history, and practice of preventive wars - wars fought to avoid negotiating in a position of weakness in the future. When and why do states fight them, and what lessons can we draw from history to avoid them in the future?

Through the lens of the Constitution and Supreme Court cases, this course examines the essential structure of the American legal and political system (both separation of powers at the federal level and the authority of, and relationship among, the federal government and states), as well as the essential nature of rights of citizens vis-a-vis the political order. Topics covered include the nature of the Supreme Court's authority; separation of powers and the allocation of authority between the legislative and executive branches; Congress' "delegated" powers and their limits; federal limits on state powers; and individual rights, including habeas corpus, economic rights, and equal protection and due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment. The ability to read and discuss (as well as place in perspective and disagree with) Supreme Court opinions is an essential part of the course.

One of the common features of authoritarian regimes is a limited pluralism and disrupted relationship of authorities and opposition. The ruling regime denies a political representation to vast segments of society, as it allows the authorities to hold unaccountable power and further its ideology. Even if the people are far from being unanimous, living in the closed, captive society equals lack of opportunities for disseminating the ideas challenging official line. Yet the power of the powerless, to use Vaclav Havel's phrase, lies in the constant dropping in the hope that one day it will wear the stone. Thus the role of opposition to the authoritarian regimes, even if its activities might seem hopeless, cannot be underestimated.

In this course, we will take a look on history of communism in Polish People's Republic (PPR) - from establishing the regime to the Round Table Talks - through democratic opposition perspective. During the semester, we will deal with several questions, including what was the nature of activities of Polish opposition? What were they ideas and political thought? How was the opposition structured? Which actions undertook by the ruling communist party (Polish United Workers' Party, or PZPR) triggered the society - the masses and the individuals - to join the opposition in their efforts of 'constant dropping the stone'? In order to answer these questions, we are going to take a look on major events in the Polish People's Republic history. We will scrutinize major actors of the opposition, both institutions (the Church, Radio Free Europe, KOR, Solidarity), and leading individuals (Stefan Wyszynski, Jan Nowak Jezioranski, Adam Michnik, Karol Modzelewski, Jacek Kuro?, Antoni Macierewicz, Lech Walesa, Andrzej Gwiazda, Jozef Pinior, and others), and discuss their goals and means they were using the achieve them. At the end of the semester we will also debate the nature of the Polish revolution of 1989 and investigate how it ended and why did this happen without a single gunshot.

In the past thirty years, Russia has gone through major transformations. After a period of democratic hopes, we have been observing the consolidation of a new authoritarian regime. How much are the current political developments the result of Russia's historical legacy, and how much was determined by the political leaders? How does society react and contribute to the regime transformation? This course will include a brief overview of the Soviet experience and the main elements of the transition and focus on the contemporary developments in Russian politics.

This course will examine the relationship between African Americans and the American political system in order to provide students with a broader perspective on the American political process. We will address issues of organizational resources and approaches, political leadership, representation, integrationist and separatist ideologies, and various strategies for African-American political empowerment.

How do domestic politics affect - or not affect - the initiation of war, the conduct of diplomacy or willingness to sign international agreements? For, example, why do democracies tend not to fight each other but do fight non-democracies? Are rightist parties more aggressive than leftist ones? And, is transparency an advantage in international interactions?

How does a country with five percent of the world's population, a country that nominally values freedom above all else, come to have nearly a quarter of the world's incarcerated people? In this survey course we investigate the history of imprisonment in the United States— from the founding of the republic to the present day. Special attention is paid to the politics, economics, race politics, and religious logics of contemporary mass incarceration, and to the efforts afoot to end mass incarceration.

Despite gains made by racial and ethnic minorities in the areas of civil and voting rights, race remains a major source of cleavage in American politics. This upper-level course introduces students to the concepts, theories, and methodological approaches that political scientists use to examine the intersection of racial politics and political representation in the American political context. We will examine democratic theory, the Voting Rights Act, public opinion and electoral behavior, elected officials and public policies, and the effect of electoral rules and districting decisions on minority representation in Congress. This course has considerable reading, writing, and discussion requirements and may best suit experienced juniors and seniors.

Throughout the developing world, citizens face issues such as poverty, crime and violence, and environmental degradation. Governments' abilities to address these problems, however, are shaped by the political institutions in which they work, the capacity of the states they lead, and the incentives that they face. In this course we examine how institutions such as party systems, federalism, clientelism, and bureaucracy affect politicians' willingness and capacity to address developmental challenges. We draw on country cases from around the world, such as Brazil, South Africa, and India, to more closely examine these causal relationships. In the final section of the course, we shift our attention to China to study policymaking in a unique authoritarian context.

Rochester sits in one of the worlds most explicitly carceral landscapes, with more than a dozen state prisons within a 90 min drive. This co-taught course is a collaborative ethnographic research project designed to examine how the presence of prisons in towns around Rochester reflects and shapes the political, economic, and cultural lives of those who live in the region. Students will be introduced to methods and practices of ethnography and conduct firsthand research on the cultural politics of prison towns. Through assigned reading, students will learn about the history, sociology, and cultural logics of Rochester and the wider region, and of mass incarceration. What does a prison mean for a person living near one? How does the presence of prisons shape peoples notions of justice, citizenship, and punishment? How do these nearby but largely invisible institutions shape the ways that we live in Rochester? Recommended prior courses: Being Human: Cultural Anthropology or Incarceration Nation.

The Middle East (Al Qaeda, Iraq, Lebanon, Israel-Palestine) and Southwest Asia (Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan) have been the source of 21st century America\'s most difficult political, military, and security problems. This course will investigate the causes, nature, and conduct of these conflicts and wars, intensively studying who fights, why they fight, and how they fight. In doing so it will address important theoretical and practical questions about the nature of warfare, terrorism and intelligence in 21st century warfare. More broadly, it will address questions of the relationship between violence, culture, and politics in the globalized era, and the relationships between politics, development, diplomacy, and the use of force in modern politics.

Is President Barack Obama a black leader or a leader who happens to be black? This course will help students understand where the nation\'s first African-American president fits in a long stream of black political thinkers, activists, and leaders. Black elected officials, such as Barack Obama, are among the most recent leaders in the historic black struggle for civil rights and political and economic equality in the United States. Other sources of black leadership include preachers, scholars, and community organizers. In this course, we will systematically examine the strategies, agendas, and styles of black leadership from the 19th century to the present. We will attempt to answer the following questions: What is black leadership? Who are black leaders? And, how are leaders held accountable and to whom? We will consider black leaders from Booker T. Washington to W.E.B. DuBois, Martin L. King, Jr., to Malcolm X, Septima Clark to Ella Baker, and Jesse Jackson to Barack Obama.

Reformers and activists sometimes say that we should "think globally, act locally," meaning that we should try to address widespread needs by taking action in our neighborhoods, towns and cities. What happens when you apply this maxim to government and public policy in the United States? This course will introduce you to local government policymaking in the United States, with a focus on urban areas. You'll gain a familiarity with the powers local governments have over key policies and services—such as policing and criminal justice, housing and land-use regulation, transportation, public education and public health—and learn to think systematically about what local governments can do to address public needs. What you learn will be applicable throughout the U.S., but we'll focus on examples of policymaking currently underway in the City of Rochester and the surrounding region—offering you a chance to learn more about the University's local community.

Students in this course will encounter the black freedom struggle through the literature, music, art, and political activism of the Black Arts Movement. The artistic corollary to Black Power, the Black Arts Movement flourished in the 1960s and 1970s as artists/activists sought to put a revolutionary cultural politics into practice around the country. Though short-lived, the Black Arts Movement had far-reaching consequences for the way artists and writers think about race, history, identity, and the relationship between artistic production and liberation. We'll read the work of Amiri Baraka, Sonia Sanchez and other artists who created the traditionally-defined Black Arts Movement in Harlem and trace the movement's extension across the country through protest, local political battles, and the emergence of black studies programs. We'll explore the overlap of the Black Arts Movement with other political currents in the late 1960s and early 1970s and delve into the long-running debates over class, gender, and ideology that concerned both Black Arts circles and the larger Black Power Movement. We'll consider the ways in which the Black Arts Movement lived on in hip-hop and film, as well as the ways in which it was co-opted or distorted.

This lecture examines the mechanisms by which war can be prevented in international relations. What works, what does not, and why? Theoretical notions and empirical findings will be introduced to address three main sets of issues: first, how do states negotiate or act to prevent the escalation of their disputes into war? Should they really prepare for war if they want peace? Can appeasement work? And do mediators help? Second, if negotiations fail, can long and costly wars be avoided - that is, how can war be terminated most effectively? Does peace-making work? Finally, once peace has been obtained, what mechanisms work best to maintain it? When is peace-keeping effective? And how should agreements be crafted to avoid the recurrence of war? These questions will be addressed in the context of both civil and interstate wars.

When can Congress agree on the best policy for the country (and what does "best" even mean)? How does the electoral college affect Presidential campaigns? How does the Supreme Court choose what cases to hear? This course uses a rigorous set of tools, including game theory and statistics, as well as a wide-range of historical and contemporary readings to help students understand the structure of American government in theory and practice. With these tools, we will study US electoral systems, Congress, the Presidency and the executive branch, federalism, and the courts, with a focus on the challenges of group decision making and the inevitable conflicts that arise between the branches of government as well as between the government and the rest of society. Students will leave the course with a deeper understanding of the many ongoing debates around the design of American democracy. No prior background in game theory or statistics is necessary for this course.

Current political conflicts and open wars both use the memory of past confrontations. Central and Eastern Europe is no exception here; only the Russian aggression on Ukraine in 2022 made us fully aware of those historical interconnections. Using various examples from the region (Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Belarus), the course has two parallel aims: (1) to present the main (collective) memory conflicts in that region in the 21st century and (2) to examine the usage of the past in current memory politics. We will focus on an in-depth study of selected historical conflicts on the "Bloodlands" (to use the term by Timothy Snyder) and their role in creating a politics of memory: the legacy of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (16th-18th century) and the Habsburg Empire (16th-20th century), World War One (1914-1918) and "wars of Pygmies" that followed, World War Two and the Shoah, Polish-German and Czech-German reconciliation, Russian imperialism and its implications in Ukraine and Belarus, communism and anticommunism. The course will have a form of a seminar which includes some lecture introductions from the instructor but predominantly students' presentations on chosen case studies and in-class discussions.

If the post-Cold War period began with the promise of a New World Order and ended in the rubble of Falluja, today the United States faces a new era of conventional and unconventional challenges. This course examines current state and non-state challenges to U.S. interests. These include the perils of unipolarity, the rise of potential peer competitors, internal conflict and terrorism, nuclear proliferation, transnational crime, and cyberwar. Students will analyze cases as well as theoretical literatures to deepen their understanding of the contemporary security issues facing the United States.

This is an undergraduate course designed to explore the role that race and ethnicity play in American politics. In this class students will focus on the 'big questions' surrounding race: What is race? Can race be measured - and, if so, how? How have questions about race and ethnicity shaped American legal, social, cultural, and political institutions? How have Americans thought about race and immigration throughout the 21st century, and how have these opinions shaped political engagement and behavior? This course will focus on political science theories and research about race and politics, though we will also draw on work from history, sociology, law, and economics.

This course examines the interplay among gender, war, and militarism through engagement with feminist international relations and critical masculinities scholarship on these themes, as well as an exploration of their representation in media and popular culture. We will identify the historical and sociopolitical conditions that enable the militarization of a society and give rise to war or peace by considering examples from around the world. We will pay particular attention to the social construction of femininity, masculinity, and gender relations in a militarized culture. Weekly topics include security, foreign policy, development, peacekeeping, and human rights.

The civil rights movement that unfolded in the 1950s unleashed cataclysmic changes in U.S. political, social, and cultural life. In this seminar, we'll draw on an exciting range of primary sources - films, organizational records, memoirs - as well as new histories of the "long 1960s" to chart the trajectory of the civil rights movement from the late 1940s to the 1970s. We shall explore the diversity of strategies and ideologies that comprised the civil rights movement. We shall also assess the movement's profound consequences for political organizing more generally, studying the process through which other movements - antiwar, feminism, gay and lesbian liberation, neighborhood rights, ethnic nationalism, and even grassroots conservatism - laid claim to the rhetoric and tactics of the civil rights movement. Assignments include reading and rigorous class discussion, one book review, the preparation of occasional discussion questions, and a 10-15 page research paper. This seminar will meet twice weekly.

This class will examine terrorist groups, methods and counterterrorism, past and present. Topics include psychological approaches, the connection between religion and terrorism, terrorist strategies, suicide terrorism, WMDs, domestic terrorism, terrorist organization, state sponsorship, financing, counterterrorism, intelligence analysis and cyberterrorism. We will also do case studies of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Al Qaeda and 9/11, Hamas and the IRA.

Are developing countries systematically disadvantaged in the global economy? Are international institutions effective in dealing with contemporary global economic issues. Do multinational corporations have a positive impact on the host countries they invest in, or a negative one? This class is an introduction to international political economy (IPE), which examines the interaction between economics and politics (both domestic and international) in order to gain insight into the workings of global trade, finance, and investment.

Does your zip code determine your health? If so, what is the role of the environment? Can changes in policies, systems, and environments address the root causes of health disparities? Public health professionals, researchers, government agencies, and community groups recognize that the physical environment has significant impacts on health equity but often lack the policy skills, concepts, and experiences needed to effect change. This advanced course takes a problem-based approach to environmental health policy. Students will develop multidisciplinary understanding of policy processes, environmental health systems, and problem-solving frameworks. Emphasizing local perspectives on environmental justice in the U.S., the course will include in-depth case studies of lead poisoning, transportation systems, and urban land use, and will highlight other domestic and global topics. Students will have the opportunity to conduct an independent policy research and writing project on an issue of their choice.

This course consists of two parts. First, we will discuss the optimal use of various foreign policy instruments, such as militarized and economic coercion, foreign aid, and mulitlateralism. Second, we will discuss the policy formation process, assessing the relative impact of the general public, interest groups, Congress, and the president. Game-theoretic models will appear throughout the course, but no prior background is assumed or required. Students are strongly encouraged to keep up with current events. (This course was formerly titled "The Tools of U.S. Foreign Policy.")

The course introduces the legal and social justice frameworks for urgent public health issues, such as vaccinations, tobacco regulation and gun control.

We will examine two main questions: How much influence does money have in determining who seeks and who wins elective office? How much does money spent on contributions and lobbying influence government actions and policies? Political scientists have reached no consensus on the answers to these questions. We will examine the literature that debates these and closely related issues. Because many of the studies use quantitative methods, all students should have completed a basic statistics course. (This need not be a political science methods course.) Students should have a good basic understanding of American government. The course will be a small seminar and will use a discussion format. Each student will be expected to read the assigned material before class, and to take turns summarizing and critiquing particular readings, as well as participating in class discussion. Grades will be based on class discussion, on written and oral brief presentations on the readings and on a final research paper.

The United States and its allies are fighting an insurgency in Afghanistan, fought multiple insurgencies in Iraq, and are attempting to defeat insurgencies in Yemen, the Philippines and the Horn of Africa. What do these efforts consist of? How does counterinsurgency (COIN) work? How is it supposed to work? Why do policymakers expect the defeat of insurgencies abroad to make Americans safer at home? This course considers these questions through students’ analysis of relevant theoretical literatures, the COIN literature, and associated research into internal conflict and state-building, as well as through students’ study of current and recent COIN campaigns.

The Cold War is typically seen as a political struggle between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R., yet it was played out on and directly affected the peoples of Europe — Western, Central and Eastern. Through the prism of its societies, the course will trace the splitting of the continent, the deepening divides, and the overriding consequences for states across Europe. From a socio-political perspective focused especially on Central Europe, we will analyze the most dramatic and significant turning points such as the Berlin Airlift in 1949 and the Polish Solidarity strikes in 1980. We will survey internal as well as external, actions and reactions spanning nearly five decades until the implosion of the entire communist system between 1989 and 1991. The course will close with a look at currently rising tensions between Europe and Russia, already referred to as a new Cold War.

Students will learn how government funds, organizes and delivers health care, broadly defined, to mothers, children, and adolescents; as well as legal and policy writing skills relevant to advocacy, such as issue fact sheets, legislative testimony, and letters to the editor. Pre-requisites: PHLT 116, PHLT 236, or PHLT 230 required; juniors & seniors only. Restrictions: Instructor Permission.

The European Communities were conceived upon a bold vision of freedom and peace. With the financial, economic and debt crisis hitting the EU, new challenges emerged. Promising cases before 2008 (Ireland) turned to problem cases. The course shall assess the Grand European Projects EMU and Europe 2020. Why do Poland and other East European entrants perform better than many old members? In this respect, enlargement fatigue makes the question about the final boundaries of the EU, as well as the resulting necessity of a sustainable neighborhood policy pressing. Here especially Russia is central. The mighty and self-confident supplier of energy is crucial for Europe's economic prosperity. But how stable is Russia, given the fact that resource abundance and hence natural capital based growth tend to produce economic slump and social tension? Finally, will the European economic and social model prove inferior to the dynamic systems of China, India, the US and other major powers? Will an aging Europe, reluctant to deregulation and flexibility, fall behind those economic centers and lose its attractiveness? Special attention will be paid to the lessons from the financial and debt crisis.

This course will consider a number of public policies over which there is much disagreement - mandating health insurance, the future of Social Security, how (or whether) to balance the federal budget, racial discrimination in employment, global warming, public financing of family planning, and the like. The purpose of the course is to arrive at an understanding of both sides of the issues so that they can be discussed intelligently.

Is consensus overrated? In this seminar course we will study the role of disagreement in a democratic society. Topics will include the causes and consequences of political polarization, academic freedom and viewpoint diversity on college campuses, and conflict as a tool for innovation.

We focus broadly in this seminar on economic and neighborhood development policy at national, state and local levels, and more narrowly on community development dynamics in selected American cities. The course features class discussions based on common readings; talks by community leaders; and a local community development field trip. A special aspect of the seminar is field research by student teams in Rochester\'s neighborhood sectors. Two papers that integrate data from primary (field research, public documents) and secondary sources are required. Oral presentations by students on their field research are also required.

This course considers major power military intervention in the internal conflicts of other states. It explores the uses and limitations of military force for powers attempting to change the behavior of other states and non-state actors. Students will consider the factors that lead to intervention as well as to the decision to not intervene, will learn what types of intervention are possible, and will debate what success looks like in different types of cases. Case studies may include Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Somalia, Rwanda, and Ivory Coast.

This course explores the politics and international relations of East Asia. We will examine several contemporary issues including the rise of China and shifts in the balance of power, US engagement and military alliances, nuclear weapons development in North Korea, Taiwan sovereignty, and maritime disputes in the East and South China Seas. We will also analyze several current economic trends and problems including the political implications of economic integration, ongoing trade wars, and China’s domestic politics. In examining contemporary issues in East Asia, we will look to international relations theory to gain insight into the root causes and potential solutions to these problems.

Is politics anything more than a series of televised shouting matches? Yes, but much of what matters isn't televised. While politicians in Washington and state capitals make speeches for the cameras, hundreds of thousands of public servants work everyday outside of the limelight to determine the quality of government's essential services -- including policing, emergency services, education, and public health. This course exposes students to the problems faced and solutions invented by leaders of the Rochester area's public service agencies. By interacting directly with these leaders and the "street-level bureaucrats" who implement government policy, students will learn how to grapple with the practical problems of governance.

How does the Supreme Court really decide cases? Are judges as activist as politicians claim? In this course, we will explore these questions by addressing how political and social forces influence American law and legal institutions, and vice versa. We'll divide the course into roughly two parts: (1) judicial politics and decision making and (2) law and its relation to the rest of society. Taking examples from the Civil Rights movement as well as from today's headlines, we'll develop a solid understanding of how the American legal system works, the basics of legal reasoning, and why judges are sometimes accused simply of being politicians.

This course focuses on the politics of authoritarian regimes. The course begins with an investigation of the conceptual and operational differences between democracies and authoritarian regimes, as well as the consequences of those differences. We also examine conceptual distinctions between empirical examples of personalist, monarchical, totalitarian, military, and single party regimes. The remainder of the course considers the means by which authoritarian governments maintain and exercise their power. Topics covered include ideology, coercion, political socialization, cooptation, electoral fraud, vote buying, institution building, and patronage distribution.

Financial Regulation will address the 2007-2009 near complete meltdown of the United States system of finance during which unemployment soared, debt markets ceased to operate and stock markets crashed. How was this possible in the most sophisticated system of financial regulation ever developed which had not seen a comparable breakdown since 1929-1933? The seminar will seek to address this question by studying the history and structure of banking, securities, insurance and housing regulation and then asking whether the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 was a sufficient response. If not, what is a wiser approach? Opportunities to write seminar papers are open for all students.

Elections have become a near universal phenomenon in the modern world. In democracies, elections are the primary means of linking citizens to the government. In many new democracies, elections aspire to this function, but often fall short. Meanwhile, elections in modern authoritarian regimes serve functions that have little to do with representation and accountability. This course considers the promise and practice of elections in the modern world. It begins by considering the functions that elections should fulfill in democracies, then how elections in new democracies succeed and fail in fulfilling these functions, and finally the role of elections in authoritarian regimes. The course proceeds thematically, but readings will examine recent elections in new democracies such as Kenya, Lebanon, Brazil, and Ukraine, while the conduct of authoritarian elections will be examined in countries such as Egypt, Jordan, Nigeria, and Russia.

An analysis of the politics and economics of how organizations work. The goal of the course is to provide an understanding of bureaucracies, private sector firms, and non-profit organizations with respect to how decisions are made.

The course examines how reforms to food policy in the United States make their way through the democratic process and how these reforms constitute efforts to democratize our food system, exploring how these efforts confront the same challenges that a democracy faces more broadly. How does our political system approach the task of reconciling the diverse preferences of the American public and the corporations that feed it, agricultural and health agencies, and the food activists and advocacy groups? How do we think about the concepts of representativeness, access, information, centralization, externalities, and regulation in the context of our food system?

An introduction to the legal foundations of the biomedical healthcare system; topics include national health reform, bioethics, the right to health care, genetic discrimination, and access to reproductive care. Primary law (judicial opinions, legislation) comprises the bulk of the reading assignments; students will learn how to brief cases and interpret statutes.

From the salons of Rochester to the shipyards of Gdansk to streets of Cairo, ordinary people have joined together to act outside of regular political institutions and push for change. They have formed organizations to protest, used nonviolence and violence, and fought to keep movements alive. These movements persist despite great personal risk and costs for participants. In this course we examine why and how social movements begin, organize, and succeed or fail. We examine how leaders develop new protest techniques, and how elites try to counter or neutralize these activities. Finally, we explore the impact of protest on macro-level outcomes such as political liberalization, new conceptions of citizenship and public policy. The course ends with a study of contemporary pro-democracy protests in the Middle East, considering hypotheses on the new use of social media. Throughout the semester, students will apply course theories to social movement organizations of their choice in independent research projects. Note: The course is a seminar capped at 20 students. Students will be expected to participate actively in class and complete three short research papers over the course of the semester.

This course will give an introduction to how public policy is made in the United States. People, organizations, and political institutions will be discussed individually and how these entities amalgamate to create and implement public policy. Case studies of recent policymaking (e.g., regulating tobacco, financial regulation) will be central components of the course.

This course examines a range of issues in international development from a gender perspective, with a particular focus on women and girls, but also men and boys. Students will review recent literature on gender and sustainable development, including how development policies, programs and issues affect men and women, and girls and boys, differently. The course also covers recent trends in economic growth and sustainable development across low, middle and high-income countries. Students will have the opportunity to examine development issues, policies, and programs that address poverty and development in a range of sectors including health, education, agriculture, microfinance, and the environment.

The focus of this course is the conflict and cooperation between business and government, with an emphasis on U.S. domestic politics. We will cover a broad range of issues affecting the business world, including regulation, lawmaking, the mass media, interest group activism, and crisis management. The course will connect ongoing political debates to theory, and guest speakers will bring their business and political experience to our class. Each meeting will feature a general topic, as well as in-depth analyses of real-world cases related to that topic. What happens when Wal-Mart tries to open a new store in a city with strong unions? Who is opposed to grocery stores selling wine, and why? How did General Motors fight back against a media report critical of its products? Is "corporate social responsibility" actually irresponsible? These are just a few of the questions we'll answer during the semester, all while developing an understanding of what happens when politics meets economics.

This course explores trends in international migration, examining the major waves of global migration over the last century, focusing especially on the last decade. It examines the push and pull factors that drive movements of people, the policies for addressing these movements, and the politics and other factors that help shape the migration policies of high and low income countries. We will consider both forced and voluntary migration. We will also examine recent literature that explores the relationship between migration and economic development, including remittances, diaspora, and evidence for the impact of migrants on institutions. The final part of the course covers nascent forms of global governance to address international flows of people.

This course examines a range of issues in international development from a gender perspective, with a particular focus on women and girls. Students will review recent literature on gender and development, including how development policies, programs and issues affect men and women, and girls and boys, differently. The course also covers recent trends in economic growth and development across low, middle and high-income countries. Students will have the opportunity to examine development issues, policies, and programs that address poverty and development in a range of sectors including health, education, agriculture, microfinance, and the environment.

An examination of international environmental law and policy with a special focus on efforts to address climate change, including the Paris Agreement under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. This course serves as a companion to PSC 246, but PSC 246 is not a prerequisite. The goal of this course is to provide a foundational understanding of this rapidly developing, controversial field. Topics include consideration of the scientific, political, and economic drivers of international environmental law; the variety of tools (e.g., treaties, agreements, "soft law," voluntary incentive programs and market based approaches); and examples of how some international environmental issues have been addressed to date, including efforts to date on climate change. This course will be taught through lectures, discussion, several concise papers, and a group project.

We will use theory, data, case studies, and guest speakers to investigate what it means to be an entrepreneur and what characterizes the entrepreneurial society. The term entrepreneur conjures up the image of a risk-taking maverick, but many entrepreneurs are in fact risk-averse. It is important, then, to begin the course by working out a definition of entrepreneurship that captures the essential elements of this elusive concept. From there, we will discuss the role of the entrepreneur in both economic transactions and in non-market environments such as politics. The rest of the semester will be focused on studying how institutions, such as the rule of law, foster or hinder entrepreneurship, and what the resulting impact is on economic growth and other measures of societal well-being.

Through analysis of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, we examine criminal procedure as elaborated by federal and state court decisions. Topics include arrest procedures, search and seizure, right to counsel, and police interrogation and confessions. We will discuss the theoretical principles of criminal procedure and the application of those principles to the actual operation of the criminal court system.

Historically and today, European nations have struggled with questions of ethnic identity, and migration is central to that struggle. In considering the current European crisis with migrants and refugees, we will examine how Europeans define minorities, immigrants, and human rights. The emphasis of this course will be on the Roma people in Poland and Central and Eastern Europe. The course will provide students with knowledge of contemporary Romani identities, challenges, and achievements, and also with an understanding of how the Roma people emerged as the biggest and most marginalized community in Europe. We will focus on countries in Central and Eastern Europe, but offer comparisons to the situation in Western Europe and in the rest of the world. We will also examine the obstacles standing in the way of equal status for minorities in Europe.

Through intensive reading and discussion, we examine the politics and history of American cities. While we read scholarship drawing on the experiences of an array of cities—including Chicago, New York, Detroit, Boston, Philadelphia, Phoenix, New Haven, Atlanta, Buffalo, and Charlotte—our emphasis is on commonalities in the urban experience as well as on systematic differences. We analyze the relationship of cities to their hinterlands in the early stages of urban development, the rise of ethnic neighborhoods, suburbanization, industrialization, de-industrialization, housing and jobs, concentrated poverty, and population changes. Race, ethnicity, and class are central to this course, not only in understanding changes in neighborhoods but also in the nature of politics and governmental arrangements.

The fall of the communist regime in 1989 allowed Poland to reorient its foreign policy. For the first 25 years after the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the withdrawal of Soviet/Russian combat troops from Poland, policy priorities, including membership in NATO and the EU, were rarely questioned by any Polish government. Since the 2015 elections, however, when the conservative and populist Law and Justice Party (PiS) gained the majority in parliament, the foreign policy of Poland has been undergoing substantial changes. The political and military alliance with the United States is still an undisputed priority, but the role of Poland in the EU has been slowly marginalized, and the PiS government has focused instead on building regional alliances in Central Europe at the cost of strategic bonds with Ukraine. In this course, we will examine the relationship of Poland to the rest of Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries, the transformation of Poland's ties to the United States, Russia, and European countries following the fall of communism, and the role of domestic politics and decision makers in shaping contemporary Polish foreign policy.

This seminar will confront the legal and social conditions that promote injustice and the ways diverse communities yield to the judicial system\'s failings. Our inquiry will identify how the problem of injustice is situated at the local and national levels. Foundational legal doctrines will be mined, including the shift from lawyer-free to lawyer-driven trials, right to counsel, burden of proof, and the development of plea bargaining. We will then turn to the shapers of justice and examine the problem from the perspective of the prosecutor, police, defense attorney, and judge. In the end, a view of how the system works, and does not work, will emerge. And finally, we will ask what social forces perpetuate the misdiagnosis of this state of affairs.

This course offers students the opportunity to work as part of a research collaborative between the University of Rochester and a non-governmental organization devoted to criminal justice reform. The organization, Measures For Justice, is building the first database ever created to track the performance of the thousands of county-level criminal justice systems that process most criminal cases in the United States. Through hands-on research work under the joint supervision of UofR faculty and Measures For Justice staff, students in the course will learn powerful social science research skills, gain insight into the key challenges facing the U.S. criminal justice system, and contribute directly to data-driven policymaking.

This course explores the topic of collective identity, politics of identity, and related social, political, and cultural phenomena. After developing a common set of conceptual tools, we will focus on examples from Poland, Iran, and Tajikistan. We will analyze various aspects of identity, including nationalism, ethnicity, culture, religion, class, and gender in these specific contexts. We will also reflect on the influence of the politics of identity on individuals’ attitudes and beliefs. And we will consider the importance and impact of regime change and historical breakthroughs, such as the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, the 1989 political transition in Poland, and Tajikistan’s 1991 independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The main course activities include lectures with multimedia presentations, class discussions, and readings. The course culminates in an independent research paper.

An examination of environmental issues facing the United States from a social scientific perspective. Topics include the reasons for environmental regulation and the means to deals with associated problems, the history of environmental policy, the state of contemporary environmental policy and current efforts at change, the role of state and local governments, the impact of environmental activists, and the state of climate change policies. Although there is considerable time devoted to lecture, students are strongly encouraged to participate. Each student will also develop and briefly present a research paper which investigates a relevant issue of personal interest.

This course aims to present various contexts of social media communication. We will discuss historical conditions, as well as current challenges, comparing the situation in Polish and American social media space. We will focus primarily on the perspective of the social and political consequences of these media presence. The topics discussed will concern interpersonal and public communication changes caused by the emergence of social network platforms. We will also discuss the cultural, ethical, and legal contexts of social media, including issues such as Web 2.0 and the new media audience, the impact of social media on journalism, filter bubbles, algorithms, privacy concerns, and online disinformation. During this course, we will learn from each other: I will provide you with examples of various types and forms of communication from Polish social media, and you will present me examples from American social media. We will compare and discuss similarities and differences, as well as put it in a broader social, political, or cultural perspective. We will also discuss legal issues because new media law is slightly different in the European Union and the United States. The course aims to increase awareness of social media's role, advantages, challenges, and threats as well as to improve digital and media literacy.

Innovation is a driving force behind the massive increases in wealth that occurred in the 20th century, and the globalization of business is causing changes in the world's economy that we are only beginning to understand. In this course, we will spend several weeks studying how entrepreneurship and innovation are affected by government institutions. We will then spend several weeks studying business strategy in the global business environment, focusing on the role of regulations imposed by foreign governments and international organizations. Class meetings will be a mix of lecture and discussion, use real-world cases, and feature guest speakers. By the end of the course, you will have a stronger understanding of how businesses shape and are shaped by government policies. There are no prerequisites for this course, though some exposure to political science or economics is useful.

The course will cover policies in such areas as social security, public assistance, health care, and social services for the elderly. The factual and philosophical assumptions underlying each policy will be examined, as will the division of responsibilities between public and private institutions and individuals. A variety of books, articles, and official publications that bear on the issues covered will be assigned.

The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of scientific expertise in crafting policy, and policymakers depend on expert advice in many other arenas, including climate policy, regulation, and economic policy. However, recent polling demonstrates a deterioration and polarization of public trust in scientific experts. This course examines the politics of science and expertise. It covers theories and evidence about topics such as the motivations of experts, the roles of scientific communities, interactions between experts and policymakers, and public views of experts' credibility. Students will engage with both relevant social science research and with case studies of policy-relevant scientific work to draw connections to the theories considered in class.

This course will explore women's evolving roles in American politics. Topics include: a brief historical review of women's rights; women's roles in social movements; and women in electoral politics and as elected officials. Students will examine the quality of women's political leadership, comparing and contrasting it to the traditional gender-based models. Course readings will be supplemented by video presentations and guest lectures.

An examination of federal environmental law and policy from a practical and historical perspective. This course will provide a basic foundational understanding of U.S. environmental law and help students develop the tools necessary to critique and improve environmental policy making. Topics include an overview of key federal environmental laws, some of the major loopholes, how environmental laws are shaped through agency regulation, judicial interpretation, political pressure, and their efficacy at safeguarding the environment and the public. The course will be taught through a combination of lectures, a group project focused on a specific case study, and student-led discussions about key aspects of environmental laws. Students will finish by considering emerging environmental issues and ways to address them.

Recent years have seen a renewed sense of nationalism, only this time tinged with an underlying and powerful religious dimension. This class seeks to illumine this religious nationalism from a comparative perspective. Using an analytical frame, we will examine the historical rise of religious nationalism, its key elements and defining features, before examining a set of particular case studies (e.g., India, Pakistan, Israel, the United States).

In recent years, there has been much discussion of the possibility of a green economy. This course examines the potential for "green markets," focusing on three drivers-social, political, and economic-that can both constrain firms and potentially condition whether issues of environment and sustainability can be exploited as a means for competitive advantage. Among issues covered will be demand and willingness to pay for green goods, the roles of NGOs and investors, regulation and its alternatives, firm reputation and product differentiation, supply chain management, and green production processes. Special attention will be given to the need of firms to deal with climate change now and in the future.

This course explores the emergence and developments of Zionist ideologies in the 19th and 20th centuries. Following this, we will consider a number of recent explorations of Zionism in practice as well as Jewish and Palestinian critics of the Zionist project.

This course introduces students to the contemporary politics of the Middle East from both comparative politics and international relations perspectives. It starts with a brief historical introduction to the region, and focuses on patterns of decolonization and the formation of the state. Then the course looks at aspects of current domestic politics of three smaller regions within the larger Middle East: the Levant, the Gulf, and North Africa. Major attention is paid to regimes, institutions, ethnic and religious cleavages, and energy politics. The second part discusses the international linkages of the Middle East with major powers such the United States and the European Union, as well as with states that have an increased interest in the region, such as Russia and China. It finishes with a discussion on how the Middle East relates to non-traditional security threats such as international terrorism and illicit trafficking, and to larger forces of globalization, such as economic liberalization and identity politics.

An examination of discrimination from a social scientific perspective. Topics covered include defining discrimination, types of discrimination under the law, testing for discrimination, discrimination experiments, and a survey of what social scientists have discovered about discrimination in the areas of policing, bail, retail sales, automobile sales, and home mortgages. Although there is considerable time devoted to lecture, students are encouraged to participate.

This course consists of two parts. First, we will discuss the origins and resolution of Israel's rivalry with Egypt. Second, we will discuss the escalation and persistence of conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. In addition to historical analysis, game-theoretic models will appear periodically throughout the course, but no prior background is assumed or required. Students are strongly encouraged to keep up with current events.

This is a course on the American city. We examine issues of suburbanization, neighborhood change, political conflict, urban poverty, economic development, and the fragmentation of cities over the last century. We encounter these issues through the prism of sports. Industrialization, urbanization and population migration, which created the great cities of the 19th century, also created organized athletics. Race, class, and gender, which have circumscribed the worlds of American urban residents, have shaped the emergence and development of sport. And the decisions of sports franchises to build ballparks and stadiums, relocate teams, and seek governmental funding all reflect forces that drive urban politics.

This course will provide a non-partisan introduction to the conflict between these two national movements. Discussion will focus on an examination of historical documents, in addition to understanding of how it plays out in literature and film.

An examination of the role of environmental organizations in the development and implementation of environmental policy through experiential and academic learning. This is a small class that meets once a week. Through assigned readings, discussion and lectures, we will examine how environmental groups are formed, organized, funded and staffed to fulfill various objectives, and how the role/mission they play in developing and implementing environmental policy has evolved. Students will deepen their understanding of these issues through first-hand experience working on "real world" research for a local environmental organization. Each student will be responsible for a final paper examining these issues through the lens of a particular conservation or environmental group, completion of the project for the environmental group partner, and class discussion/participation. This course is instructor permission only and is limited to upper level students. PSC 246 or PSC 239 is a prerequisite.

Why are some democracies able to keep political conflict within constitutional boundaries while others are not? This problem is very closely related to the creation and survival of democratic regimes. Theories about the political setting and theories of choices made by citizens and leaders will be used to explore the nature of democratic conflict. The theories will be applied to the politics of several specific contemporary democracies, such as Germany, Italy, Russia, India, and Northern Ireland. A maximum of 10 students will be accepted for upper-level writing, which requires two additional papers.

This course introduces the concept and practice of political representation in contemporary democracies, focusing largely on the developed world. After discussing goals of representation, it traces representation from the values and electoral behavior of citizens through the formation of legislatures and executives to the implementation of public policies. It compares the consequences of different institutional arrangements and party systems for party and policy congruence, and considers other benefits and costs as well.

This course focuses on the inter-relationship between politics and development. It will examine how political factors influence both the economic and human aspects of development, and how development, in turn, affects nations' political systems. Some of the major questions to be addressed by the course are: Do historical legacies influence development? How do formal and informal institutions affect economic and human development? What is the relationship between development and socio-political factors such as ethnic fractionalization, conflict, and corruption? And, does foreign aid promote development?

Despite three waves of democratization, many countries around the world are still governed by leaders who hold power by means other than free and fair elections. In this course we will examine topics including how authoritarian regimes survive, the conditions under which they democratize, and their human welfare consequences. We will cover historical authoritarian cases such as twentieth-century communist and fascist regimes, and current authoritarian regimes in China, the Middle East, and Africa. The course will cover political science theories of authoritarian regimes and individual country case studies. Class will be conducted in a weekly discussion format.

This course takes up three questions: What is ethnicity and when is it politically important? How does ethnic politics matter for economic outcomes? What is the relationship between ethnic politics and political violence? Class materials will include theoretical accounts of ethnic politics and research from a variety of countries, including Nigeria, India, Thailand, Syria, France, and the United States. One of the themes of the course will be comparing research on ethnic politics conducted in the United States to research from other contexts. Students will be evaluated based on weekly individual and/or group projects, preparation to discuss weekly readings; participation in class; and a take-home final essay.

This seminar examines the nature of political parties and political competition across democracies in the developed and developing worlds. Issues analyzed include the formation of different types of parties, their role in agenda-setting, policy-making and representation, and their transformation in the post-World War II era.

What are the United States' foreign policy interests in countries such as Syria, Iran, or Saudi Arabia? What determines those interests and how are they pursued? This course will focus on the processes by which U.S. foreign policy is formulated and executed, using examples from the Middle East as its subject material. Readings and lectures will examine the relationship between U.S. government agencies (White House, State Department, Defense Department, CIA, Congress, etc.) and specific foreign policy instruments (declaratory policy, diplomacy, military presence, arms transfers, covert action, etc.) in the pursuit of national goals. Special attention will be devoted to the analysis of U.S. regional policy in the Middle East starting in the second half of the 20th century.

Fascism is a common term of political opprobrium, but few know what it actually means. This course examines the ideologies and practices of fascist movements to understand both the past and the present. Students learn about the economic, political, and cultural circumstances from which fascism emerged, and we consider the fascist obsession with national, sexual, and racial identity. Class time is divided between lecture and discussion; students are encouraged to participate.

Why are some countries poor, while others enjoy a high standard of living? Why some enjoy stability and freedoms, while others suffer with corruption, repression and violence? Why countries stagnate or decline in their economic development. This course is designed to provide a broad theoretical framework for thinking about these problems, focusing on the political and institutional causes of differences in economic development across countries.

Introduces theories in the field of comparative politics. Leads to understanding how the national and international environment, the political culture, the political institutions and the choices of citizens and leaders affect political performance. Explains democratization, stability, competition, citizen influence, and policy outcomes as consequences of the environment, culture and institutions—and human choices in these contexts.

This course will provide an introduction to Poland's modern history: from the downfall of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth at the end of the 18th century, to the re-emergence of an independent Poland following World War I, to Poland's tragic experience during World War II, to the establishment of Communist rule, and finishing with the collapse of the Communist system in 1989 and the rise of an independent, democratic state. Poland's history will be placed in the context of broader regional developments, and comparisons with neighboring countries will be made where possible. Although special emphasis is placed on 20th century history, careful attention will be paid to key events and developments of the previous century. This course focuses primarily on political and social history, highlighting significant cultural phenomena and developments where appropriate.

This course is designed to give students a background in the causes and consequences of the changes in political, economic and social changes that have so profoundly altered the world over the past five centuries, and a basic knowledge of both classic and contemporary scholarly accounts of these changes. After describing political and economic conditions in the pre-modern world, it describes how a distinctively ''modern'' political economy emerged in Western Europe, how this political economy became pervasive over the rest of the world, and the long term and continuing consequences of these changes. The reading mixes classic historical and social scientific accounts. While there are no prerequisites, students should note that the course will involve an unusually high, and enforced, level of required reading.

At present, most people live under democratic regimes. Yet democracies vary in the extent to which citizens can exercise their rights and hold leaders accountable. In this course we will read major historical and contemporary works on issues such as clientelism, democratic accountability, party and party system institutionalization, and incomplete state capacity. Weekly class discussions will explore applications of theoretical readings to contemporary democratic regimes in Latin America, Asia, and Africa.

Why are some societies plagued by endemic violence and others peaceful? How do peaceful, ordered societies emerge and persist? This course answers these questions by examining the origins of political order over a long-span of human history. Using the tools of modern social science as well as historical and anthropological source material we will explore how states emerged from anarchy, how they have come to control the use of force, and the implications of political order for material well-being and prosperity. Each student is expected to develop and briefly present a research paper which investigates a relevant issue of interest.

The Cold War is typically seen as a political struggle between the U.S. and the USSR, yet it was played out on and directly affected the peoples of Western, Central, and Eastern Europe. The course will trace the splitting, and then deepening, divides in Europe as well as the consequences of the Cold War for states across the continent. From a socio-political perspective focused on Central Europe, we will analyze the most dramatic and significant turning points, such as the Berlin Airlift in 1949 and the Polish Solidarity strikes in 1980, as well as survey internal and external actions and reactions across nearly five decades until the implosion of the entire communist system between 1989 and 1991. The course will close with a look at currently rising tensions between Europe and Russia.

This course provides an introduction to the major issues in contemporary African politics. The questions we will consider include: What are the legacies of slavery and colonialism? What accounts for the variation in political institutions across Africa? Why have so many African countries experienced political violence? And, how do political institutions influence development in Africa? We will do so by examining individual countries, as well as evidence from broad cross-national studies.

Is American democracy under threat? What about democracy in the West, or the world more generally? How can we detect if democracies are eroding? Democratic Erosion is a new upper-level undergraduate seminar, based on a cross-university collaboration, which is aimed at evaluating threats to democracy both in the United States and abroad through the lens of theory, history and social science. Importantly, the class is not intended as a partisan critique, but rather teaches students how to answer questions about democratic erosion using both analytical and empirical tools. Not open to first years and sophomores.

Since the end of the Cold War, Latin America has undergone periods of both economic downturn and sustained growth. The region has seen more stable democratic regimes, however, than at any time in its history. The course begins with a brief overview of twentieth-century Latin American history. We will investigate the sources of democratic stability, whether a supposed "Pink Tide" has occurred, and remaining problems for democratic governance. We will also examine the relationship between contemporary politics and economic development and crisis, and investigate whether national economies have moved beyond chronic boom-and-bust economic cycles. Class will be a structured mix of lectures and in-class participatory exercises.

This course examines the implications of economic globalization for domestic and international politics. Emphasis will be given to the lessons of 19th-century globalization for politically relevant issues of the present such as the effect of greater factor mobility on income distribution, economic growth, political coalitions, policy-setting autonomy, and the viability of the welfare state. Classes will feature a short introductory lecture followed by active discussion of the week\'s topic(s) and readings.

Examines the implications of economic globalization for domestic and international politics.

This course examines courts from a comparative perspective. Although long a central focus of American politics, increasingly courts have become important political institutions around the world. Among the questions that we will examine throughout the course include: Why are some judiciaries more independent than others? What effect does independence have on economic development and democratic consolidation? What role do formal institutional guarantees play in shaping the role of courts? How accountable are judges to the public or elected officials? What factors account for judicial decision-making? Taking the U.S. experience as a starting point, the course will explore answers to these questions by drawing on the recent literature on judicial politics from Europe, Russia, Africa, and Latin America.

By conventional definitions, the United States was the world's first modern democracy because of its early adoption of competitive elections, strong legislative constraints on the executive, and relatively large franchise. Yet in other ways the United States has been notably undemocratic, in particular when compared to contemporary democracies: persistent countermajoritarian institutions, partisan manipulation of vague rules, and disputes over the basic right to vote. This course examines democratic and authoritarian elements of U.S. political institutions both over time and across institutions. The first part examines the foundations of U.S. democracy, including legislative constraints, mutual forbearance and agreeing to lose, and franchise expansion. Second, we discuss elements of racial bias: territorial expansion and adding states, electoral authoritarianism in the Solid South, polarization, and contemporary voting rights. Third, we examine biased institutions: constitutional hardball, gerrymandering and malapportionment, and the Electoral College. We conclude by discussing unique aspects of the Trump presidency.

This seminar deals with political institutions and their implications for the behavior of political actors and their effects on social outcomes. We will emphasize both theoretical ideas and empirical research on political institutions and consider some of the core topics of scientific inquiry in modern comparative politics. These include: electoral systems, political parties and party systems, legislatures, parliamentary government, government and coalition formation, presidential institutions, courts and judicial power, federalism, etc. In addition to examining existing institutional arrangements, questions of institutional design will also be emphasized where appropriate. Prerequisite: Any course in statistics, econometrics, techniques of analysis, or the equivalent

Civil wars are now the most common form of armed combat in the world. However, as recent American forays in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya have illustrated, civil wars are rarely fought in isolation. Each side looks to foreign actors for military support or outright intervention. Meanwhile, international organizations like the United Nations mediate conflicts and initiate peacekeeping missions. As such, this course analyzes how the international system interacts with civil conflict. There are two midterms and a cumulative final, all based on essay prompts distributed in advance of the test.

Why do European countries differ in terms of economic development and political institutions? Why do they want to pool sovereignty? How can we explain episodes of deadlock and progress? This course considers the past, present, and future of European integration. After a brief introduction to the major themes of the course, we will survey theories of European integration, focusing on explanations of conflict and cooperation. We will then study the governance of the EU, concentrating in turn on the institutional structures, policymaking processes, and the problems for political identity and democratic legitimacy at the European and national levels. Several classes will be devoted to studying public policy issues, including economic, and social issues, immigration, foreign and security policy, enlargement, and the draft constitution. Finally, we will consider individual country experiences more closely.

This course examines the politics of India and Pakistan, and uses the history of these countries to examine broader issues in the politics of the developing world. Topics examined include the appeal of caste, class, regional and religious identities, the influence of institutions such as parties, armies and bureaucracies, and outcomes such as authoritarianism, poverty, corruption and insurgency.

This course explores the concepts of identity, ethnicity and nationalism from a comparative perspective. Drawing upon theories from political science, anthropology, sociology and economics, we will examine how identity is defined and how societies use these constructions in, among other things, nation-building, war, and party competition. Theoretical readings will be supplemented with empirical studies from developed and developing countries across different time periods.

This undergraduate seminar examines the effect of elections and electoral systems on economic outcomes as well as the converse, how economic variation influences elections and the choice of electoral systems. More specifically, we will examine topics such as how electoral competitiveness and electoral institutions influence taxation, price levels, income distribution and trade protectionism as well as how change in domestic and international economic aggregates affect the probability of incumbent reelection, opportunistic election timing, and institutional reform. This course is organized as a seminar in which students present and critique each week\'s readings. While neither PSC200 nor PSC201 is a prerequisite, elementary familiarity with statistics is helpful for understanding much of the reading in this course.

This course focuses on a key mechanism facilitating international cooperation—international institutions. The course examines institutions ranging from informal institutions, or regimes, to formal, intergovernmental organizations. We ask the following questions: how are institutions established? What makes them change over time? What impact (if any) do they have? How do they influence government policies? How do they operate? How do they structure decision-making? How do international institutions affect domestic politics? The course will begin by focusing on different theoretical perspectives on these questions, and continue by examining international institutions in specific issue areas.

This course will focus on the politics of the Russian Federation in the post-Soviet period. After a brief review of the decline and fall of the USSR, it will concentrate on Russian political development under the presidencies of Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin, especially on the power politics of elections, parties, struggles between center and periphery, the increasing dominance of the executive branch and the decline of competitive politics. In mapping the emergence of Russia\'s political terrain, it will address some of the forces that have contributed to shaping it, including the results of economic transition, and the interplay of domestic politics and Russia\'s changing geo-political status, including the Chechen wars and Russia\'s interests in other former Soviet republics such as Georgia and Ukraine.

A high level of migration within and between countries is the most controversial feature of our globalized and technologically integrated world. This class will review the economic and non-economic causes of trends in migration and discuss the political conflict that migration can spark. The course will deal with both international and internal migration. The primary focus will be on comparing nativist politics in the US and Europe to political conflict over migration in poorer countries. There will be two in-class midterms and a comprehensive final exam.

This seminar examines a long neglected topic: the role of territory in group politics. The goal is to build a basic understanding of why, when, how and which territory becomes contested. We will read from a broad range of disciplines. Students will write short papers that form the background against which we will discuss the readings in class. As in other seminars, the course will be conducted almost exclusively through discussion. Hence it is crucial that students do the reading in advance, to set aside time to reflect on the readings, and to prepare comments and questions.

For the small countries of Eastern Europe, politics has always taken place in the shadow of larger actors, and continues to be decisively influenced by events beyond national borders. Meanwhile, the dramatic shifts in international affairs in the last century had their origins in domestic upheavals, often in Russia. The course will survey the politics and international relations of the region in the second half of the twentieth century, devoting roughly equal attention to the Cold War and post-Cold War periods.

How do we explain patterns of war and peace? Why do states with common interests often fail to cooperate? This course surveys theories of international relations, focusing on explanations of conflict and cooperation. In particular, it examines the roles of individual choice, strategic interaction, uncertainty, power, domestic politics, and anarchy. Students participate in an internet-based simulation of an international crisis. The course also serves as an introduction to game theory, and students will be expected to solve game theory problems in homework and exams. Students taking this course for writing credit register for PSC 272W and write a substantial research paper in addition to the other course requirements.

This course focuses on three East Asian countries – China, Japan, and South Korea – from the perspective of international political economy. The course will examine the postwar developmental strategies of these countries and how the globalized world economy has transformed their state-led economies. It will address the challenges posed for East Asian countries by the Asian financial crisis and how the financial turbulence has led to institutional and policy reforms in these countries. We will also discuss the international trade relations between these countries and the U.S. and explore the domestic and international political implications of their trade relations.

Over the past century, terrorism has become a common feature of world politics, enabling small groups of individuals to have a disproportionate influence on the politics of both developed and underdeveloped countries. This course explores some of the fundamental questions of terrorism: Why individuals join terrorist groups, why terrorist groups adopt certain tactics such as suicide bombing, how terrorist groups organize themselves, and what counterterrorism strategies are effective? No previous knowledge of the subject is required.

This course explores the interaction between politics and economics at the international level as well as between the international and domestic levels, involving various actors such as governments, interest groups, and multinational corporations. As an interdisciplinary field related to both international politics and international economics, international political economy examines the management and openness of the international economy, the determinants of foreign economic policy-making on topics such as trade, foreign exchange, capital controls, the politics of economic development, the effects of domestic political competition on international trade and capital flows, the determinants of regional integration, as well as the spread or containment of international financial crises. Students are expected to complete oral and written assignments which are designed to help them develop their problem solving, writing and presentation skills.

This course examines both the historic roots and contemporary practice of U.S. foreign policy. It will begin with a brief survey of U.S. foreign policies from the earliest days of the Republic to the challenges of the 21st century, with a particular emphasis on debates over the best strategy and role for the U.S. in the world. It will then move to an analysis of the policy process and the determinants of U.S. policy, with a particular focus on the relationships between the executive, public opinion, the Congress, and the bureaucracy, as well as relationships with allies and international organizations. Last, it will analyze in detail the challenges, options, and limits of contemporary American foreign and national security policy, including the rise of China, increasing globalization, and terrorism.

This course focuses on the political economy of the European Union (EU) and the historical process that led to its formation. We will address four main questions. First, how can European integration be described and explained? Has integration led to increased economic and political cooperation? Second, what are the problems of democracy and legitimacy in the EU? How democratic is the EU as a political system? Third, how does the EU function as a representative political system? Finally, we ask how recent major crises, economic turmoil, Brexit, increased refugee flows, and global warming have impacted the likelihood that the Union will survive?

This seminar examines the military, political, and social factors that determine how non-state actors can win conflicts against governments and the problems of recruitment, control, and targeting faced by rebel and terrorist groups. The grade in this class is based on attendance, participation, two group presentations, and writing assignments building toward a final, 20-page research paper.

This course surveys the field of international security. It starts by examining the nature of security, force and the threat of force in the international realm. It then examines the international security problems that emerge from the interactions of the great powers, and considers important historical cases including the August 1914 crisis, the initiation of the Second World War, and the end of the Cold War. During the second half of the course, it examines asymmetric international security problems, including wars with weak states, nuclear proliferation, terrorism, ethnic conflicts, and rising powers. It concludes by considering some of the solutions that have been proposed for the problems of international security, including international organizations, democracy promotion, and integration.

Human societies organize social inequality in a variety of different ways. This course focuses on three important structures of discrimination and inequality, caste, class and race. It examines the changing and interrelated meanings of these concepts, their origins, their influence on society and politics and attempts to reduce their influence through social and political change. It draws on a global set of cases, with a special focus on the United States and India. This is an interdisciplinary course, which mixes approaches from anthropology and political economy. No prior knowledge of the subject is required.

This class addresses several key questions about war and political violence: What is war? How does it relate to other forms of political violence? How do states decide how to fight a war? Why do wars end when they do? How should we think about the nature of war? We will delve into these issues by addressing the theoretical and empirical literature on how wars are fought and how they are ended. Then we will address non-traditional forms of political violence like guerilla warfare and insurgency, civil wars, terrorism, and rioting. The domestic politics of war-fighting, particularly those involving public opinion and civil-military relations will also be examined, as will some of the challenges of conflict resolution. Readings will include both classics of military theory by the likes of Clausewitz, Sun Tzu, and Mao, and work on ethnic conflict, rioting, genocide, and the nature of war and war termination by modern political scientists.

The bargaining model of war is the main theoretical tool in the study of international conflict these days. But the model brackets, i.e., ignores, the question of what gets put on the bargaining table in the first place, and what leaders and states choose not to contest. In this course, we examine the issues states fight over from both a historical as well as contemporary perspective. The course will involve some basic new analytical tools such as GIS (Geographical Information Systems) and some very basic data analysis.

Examines the development of warfare and the growth of the state from the French Revolution to the end of the Second World War. Further examines the phenomenon of war in its broader socio-economic context, focusing on nationalism, bureaucratization, industrialization and democratization.

The course will provide an introduction to the post-war political and social history of Eastern Europe from the establishment of the Communist regime until the present. The aim of the course is to explore and explain the nature of communist dictatorship, its impact on Eastern European societies, and the process of transformation toward democracy taking place since 1989. The course will analyze the complexity of the present situation in the region and the prospects for future development of the European Union. It will be illustrated by fragments of documentaries and feature films.

This class surveys positive theories of political accountability - theories of the mechanisms that cause governments to act (or prevent them from acting) in the interests of their citizens. In the first few weeks students are trained to analyze basic principal-agent models. These models were initially developed in economics, and are now widely used in the studies of political accountability. The rest of the course is divided into two units - theories of political accountability in representative democracies, and theories of political accountability in autocracies. In addition to basic positive models, both units examine empirical studies of accountability, and problems of "reform" - i.e. the possibility of designing institutions that would improve accountability.

Over the past two decades, China has experienced spectacular economic growth. Yet its institutions seem ill-suited to achieve such a result, and they suffer serious shortcomings that may hinder further development. This course provides an introduction to political institutions and economic development of China. It will focus on the fundamental institutional features of authoritarian governance in China, including: regionally decentralized authoritarianism, deliberative governance and legislative representation, civil service exam system, and rural governance and elections. We will analyze the functions of those institutional arrangements, discuss their historical origins, and make relevant comparisons with other countries. Topics regarding some on-going deep institutional transformations will also be covered, such as politics-driven urbanization, the reform of fiscal and bureaucratic hierarchy, the reform of state-owned enterprises, and the financial sector. The style of the course is half lecture and half discussion. Basic knowledge of comparative politics (PSC 101) or microeconomics (ECO 108) is desirable though not required.

Positive political theory is an approach to thinking about political behavior and the institutions that shape voting and policy making. This course develops the analytical tools taught in PSCI 107 (Introduction to Positive Political Theory), and it applies those tools to shed light on theoretical problems and contemporary political issues. Topics may include the properties and pathologies of alternative voting rules, the so-called paradox of voting, the antecedents and consequences of polarization, the centripetal influence of the median voter, the power of the agenda setter, and the design of optimal constitutions. The goal is to give students the skills to think rigorously about politics, to see structure in seemingly chaotic events, and to understand the incentives of political actors and the choices they make. Prerequisite: PSCI 107 or another course in rational choice theory, game theory, or positive political theory.

This course explores the rational choice approach to understanding political phenomena. The main results of social choice theory, game theory, and spatial modeling are presented through application to a broad range of political situations: voting, legislative politics, political campaigns, comparison of electoral systems, the evolution of cooperation, and international relations. While there are no formal mathematical prerequisites for the course, some familiarity with mathematical reasoning and formalism is a must.

After the collapse of the Communist system in Eastern and Central Europe, some countries-- Hungary, Poland, and the Baltic states-- created institutions that have effectively safeguarded economic actors from arbitrary governmental intervention, while others - for example, Russia-- have failed to protect the private sector from politically motivated interrogations by tax police, bribe extraction by street-level bureaucrats, and unfair practices by politically connected organized crime groups. What factors account for such cross-country variation in business-government relations, quality of property right protection, and corruption levels? How do formal and informal institutions that regulate business-government relations affect a country's economic performance? Who are the losers and the winners of existing business-government relations? This course will examine how political factors, such as electoral systems, competitiveness of elections, bargaining power of NGOs, EU membership, and capital mobility, shape the development of business-government relations in Eastern and Central Europe and analyze how business-government relations affect macro-economic outcomes.

This course on the interactions between art and politics in the twentieth century will be conducted as an intensive and advanced seminar. Drawing on art history, literature and political theory we will explore the ways that politics and the practices of artistic representation intersect. Much of the course will treat questions of race and identity. Our focus will primarily include French and American examples including but not limited to the representation and theorization of torture, forced migration, lynching, globalization and racial categories. Students will be expected to look at art, read poetry and literary texts, analyze and understand political theory and participate in a series of speakers and symposia outside of the class. This course has been designed for students from across the humanities and the social sciences.

The course presents the philosophical ideas (Marxism, liberalism, Catholic social teaching) at the roots of economic reforms and transformations in Eastern and Central Europe. The course will analyze the philosophical basis of the communist/socialist economy as well as economic practice - its successes and malfunctions. It presents the western critics of socialism (Mises, Hayek) and their impact on the rebirth of classical liberalism in Central and Eastern Europe in the 1960s, and 1980s. It will also expound other, non-liberal attempts at reform taken by two groups: the revisionist one with a Marxist background that requested only the adjustment of the communist/socialist system and another inspired by the Catholic social teaching that demanded the abolition of socialism. It will use the case of particular countries (Hungary, Romania, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and former Yugoslavia) to present theoreticians who became politicians and have had a major impact on the contemporary situation.

What should governments do? What can governments do? What do policymakers want to do? This course examines these questions from the perspective of modern political economy. The perspective is twofold: it comprises both a set of tools (mathematical modeling and rigorous empirical analysis) and a fundamental premise that public policy is the outcome of rational, strategic choices by self-interested policymakers who face institutional constraints that shape their incentives and limit their scope of action. The course begins by discussing normative considerations about what might constitute "good" public policy. It then explores areas where public policy has the potential to improve social welfare in a modern economy. Finally, it analyzes how the political process influences policymakers' actual choices. Special attention is given to key differences between developed and developing countries.

This course deals with the role of vision and representation in current political thought. This is a broad theme. To explore it we will read a variety of critics and theorists such as John Dewey, Hannah Arendt, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Michel Foucault, and Susan Sontag. We also will explore efforts in a broad range of visual media such as graphics and photography, to envision such matters as race and color, migrations and boundaries, material inequality, power and its manifestations, and so forth. By analyzing these resources, students will develop their skills, both oral and written, at formulating their own arguments on important political themes. The course is writing intensive. It is not open to first-year students. Pre-requisite: PSC 202 Argument in Political Science.

This course uses cases from the post-Soviet world to examine general questions in the study of regime change, political institutions, and non-democratic politics. We will examine questions such as: Why are some countries in the region more democratic than others? What is the role of cultural, sociological, historical, institutional, and economic factors in explaining regime differences? Do these regime differences matter for other political and economic outcomes? How do these regimes rule? And, what is the role of nominally democratic institutions in non-democratic regimes? Throughout the course there will be a focus on how formal institutions, such as elections, parties, and legislatures, structure competition and political exchange. We will also examine political machines, clan politics, and clientelist linkages. As the largest and most studied post-Soviet country, Russia will receive special attention in our course, but we will also have readings on Ukraine, Belarus, Central Asia, and the Caucasus.

The course is designed to provide students with in-depth knowledge and foster in them a sound understanding of the achievements and challenges of the European Union (EU). The course is divided into three parts. The first part seeks to familiarize the students with the institutional structure of the EU with a heavy focus on the functioning of the institutions of the European Union and the provisions of the Treaties on which the institutional life of the EU is premised. The study of the institutional life, political dilemmas and historical background of the European integration process will allow us to critically examine policymaking in the EU. The second part of the course will observe the complex processes that underpin decision-making in the EU, the juxtaposition and harmony between supranational and intergovernmental modes of decision-making, the co-existence and interaction between European and national policies. The third part of the course covers the current developments within the European Union and will address the EU's fight against corruption within its Member States, the recent migration crisis, the problem of enlargement and the rise of right- wing populist parties and other Eurosceptic actors.

This advanced undergraduate course in political theory focuses on various topics in democratic theory such as the relation between democracy and other basic political principles (liberty, equality, justice) and the character of democratic decision-making mechanisms. Readings are drawn from both advocates and critics of democratic politics and will encompass historical and contemporary theorists. The class format will combine lecture and discussion.

The fundamental assumption of this course is that in most important political and social settings the ability of any actor to achieve her objectives is dependent on what she expects other relevant actors to do. This sort of interdependency is the defining feature of strategic interaction. We examine the implications of this basic assumption for a range of important political questions. To this end we focus on a range of concrete examples and explore them with sets of analytical models - drawn mostly from game theory and social choice theory. While the models necessarily are abstract and so are formulated in symbols, this is not a course in mathematics, and NO special mathematical knowledge is needed for this course. Instead, all that is presupposed is a willingness to address analytical concepts head on.

This course will help students understand the patterns of legal reasoning and argument and to develop skills in formulating, presenting and critiquing legal arguments. Students will learn the theory behind the adversarial system and the various procedural and evidentiary rules in place to achieve the system's goals. Drawing on theories of legal argument from texts such as "Legal Argument: The Structure and Language of Effective Advocacy" and "The Five Types of Legal Argument," students will practice the techniques used to conduct legal trials, including opening statements, direct examinations, cross examinations, closing arguments, and objections. Grading will be based on a combination of traditional assignments and quizzes as well as on practical exercises performed individually as well as in teams. The final examination will consist of a mock trial between two or more teams using a fictional fact pattern involving a civil or criminal case.

What determines the size of government, the extent and type of public good provision, the effect of interest groups and lobbying on legislators, and the connection between business and electoral cycles? These are the types of questions that this course will address -- questions that investigate the intersection of politics and economics. Other topics include regulation and bureaucracy, monetary policy and central banks, and taxation and redistribution. The course will draw on a broad range of theoretical perspectives from positive political theory, public choice, and economics. Therefore, although there are no formal prerequisites for the course, some exposure to basic game theory or microeconomics would be helpful.

This course examines the link between states and markets, between political institutions and their economic consequences. Students will be introduced to a variety of methods such as historical analysis, formal models, case studies and statistical analysis. This course seeks to answer several questions: (1) What is the role of government in the economy? (2) How has this role varied in time and across regions? (3) What do changes in this balance mean for political and economic institutions? Examples will be drawn from Eastern Europe, Russia, China, Brazil, and other parts of the developing world.

In the past decade or so themes of poverty, inequality and power have taken center stage at the intersection of political science, philosophy & economics. This course will examine those themes. Our point of departure is local. The premise of the course is that Rochester and much of Western NY state are a developing country. We will focus on both the dire circumstances that make this characterization plausible and on potential innovative political and policy responses to those circumstances. We will address the nature of property, poverty, markets, development, firms and financial institutions. And overriding concern will be with the role of democratic commitments in political economic institutions. Readings will be drawn from John Dewey, Ronald Coase, Charles Lindblom, Jessica Gordon-Nembhard, Amartya Sen, Elinor Ostrom, and Roberto Unger among others. Some prior course work in economics or political science will be helpful but is not required

Game theory is a systematic study of strategic situations. It is a theory that helps us analyze economic and political strategic issues, such as behavior of individuals in a group, competition among firms in a market, platform choices of political candidates, and so on. We will develop the basic concepts and results of game theory, including simultaneous and sequential move games, repeated games and games with incomplete information. The objective of the course is to enable the student to analyze strategic situations on his/her own. The emphasis of the course is on theoretical aspects of strategic behavior, so familiarity with mathematical formalism is desirable.

The debate on the role of the state versus that of the free market in the socioeconomic process is as old as the history of political economy. We discuss wheconomics of state policy and the long-run historical processes that created the political & economic conditions. Students' performance is based on three short essays (four typed pages each) presented to the class for discussion and thereafter revised for grading. No mid-term & final examinations.

The 2010 Brazilian national census shows 97.2 million Afro-Brazilians and 90.6 million Whites. These two ethnic nationalities have developed unequally since the establishment of colonial Brazil by Portugal in the sixteenth century. The 2010 census shows the average income of Afro-Brazilians was less than half that of White Brazilians. In 2009, the wealth gap between White and Black American families was $236,500. The most populous African nation, Nigeria, shows similar inequality among its major ethnic nationalities. This magnitude of inequality among ethnic nationalities has given rise to serious problems in inter-group relations in the three countries. This course aims to trace, comparatively, the historical origins of the phenomenon, examine the political and economic consequences, and discuss the politics and economics of state policy designed to address it. NOTE: Students taking this Course for ECO credit must have previously taken ECO 108.

The Constitution helps define, as it perhaps reflects, American society. In this scheme, religion has a special role. It, arguably uniquely, is given both constitutional protection (free exercise) as well as a constitutional limitation (no establishment). Religion's placement in the Bill of Rights (as a part of the First Amendment) suggests its importance (both in protection and in limitation) to the founders, and religion's role in society today remains important and controversial. This course examines the historical forces that led to the adoption of the religion clauses of the First Amendment, the subsequent development of those clauses (importantly through the close reading of key Supreme Court opinions), and the nature of contemporary controversies, both judicial and academic, over the scope and meaning of the religion clauses of the First Amendment.

This course will study the political philosophy of Rousseau and the French Revolution.

This course deals with ethics in markets and in the public domain. It will enable students to analyze ethical challenges arising in business and in public policy. The course begins by looking at the place of ethics in a competitive economy and in public policy. Next, it addresses ethical issues faced by decision-makers in complex institutions, including the nature of managerial and political responsibilities, and the problem of dirty hands. It explores ethical questions in health policy, drug development, corporate philanthropy and environmental protection. We will also consider morally controversial uses of markets in goods such as votes and bodily organs. Finally, we will look at questions of distributive justice in relation to labor protection, executive and employee compensation. No prior knowledge of political philosophy is required.

This course will be an in-depth study of Frederick Douglass's political philosophy. Often thought of as a political activist, orator, or statesman, we will read Douglass's work as that of a political theorist who offers novel insights into the nature of freedom, power, equality, race, and citizenship. We will begin by familiarizing ourselves with two traditions of political thought that Douglass worked within: republicanism and prophetic social critique. We will then spend the majority of the semester carefully reading most of Douglass's work -his autobiographies, his speeches, and writings- in historical context, in order to understand his theory of politics and society. Depending on time, we may also consider the impact of Douglass's thought on 20th century figures like Du Bois and Malcolm X. This course is an upper-year seminar, which assumes some familiarity with political philosophy; the reading load will be heavy and the seminar format will require a lot of student participation.

This course analyzes major social and political problems from the multi-disciplinary perspectives of politics, philosophy, and economics. Topics covered may include: Income inequality and wage gaps, environmental policy and climate change, race and incarceration, democratic structures and norms, and immigration.

The purpose of this course is to explore what has been called "democratic community economics" (Jessica Gordon-Nembhard) and its relevance for addressing deep, persistent political-economic problems in African American Communities. The focus will be on a set of alternative institutional arrangements including producer and consumer cooperatives, community development credit unions and community land trusts and specifically their roots in African American politics, their various current manifestations, and their potential contemporary policy relevance for promoting sustainable, local, community development.

What is the Good Society, one that is fair and just and best satisfies the aspirations of its people? The question has been a fundamental quest of philosophy, religion and political theory for millennia. In this seminar we will consider six alternative versions of a Good Society, specifically Plato's Republic, Exodus, the New Testament, the Koran, Marx and Communism and Constitutional Democracy. Throughout the course, we will use the term society to describe governance, faith or ideology, and relations among those who live within a society and with those outside of the society. We will study each articulation of a Good Society within the context of the culture in which it originated. We will conclude the seminar by asking each student to write and present a paper describing her, his or their version of the Good Society.

This course is a survey of some of the canonical and some of the most exciting contemporary works in the field of African-American political thought. We begin with foundational texts from Walker, Delany, Douglass, Wells, Du Bois, Garvey, Baldwin, King, and Malcolm X. In the first half of the course we will focus on questions such as: What is the nature of the wrong(s) African Americans have suffered in the United States? What sustains systems of domination and exclusion? What responses, in addition to condemnation, do these systems of domination merit? What does the long history of white domination in the United States say about ideals of liberalism and democracy? And what is the way forward? In the second part of the course, we will read contemporary works dealing with reparations, collective responsibility, obligations to solidarity/allyship, and epistemologies of ignorance.

Two-credit course. Cannot be used to satisfy any requirements for the major or minor in Political Science or International Relations. This interactive course teaches "real life" communication skills and strategies that help students present their best professional selves and develop a fulfilling career. Students will explore and articulate their internship, career and graduate school goals for distinct audiences and purposes as they develop a professional communication portfolio of materials such as resumes, cover letters, statements of purpose, electronic communications, elevator pitches, and online profiles. Students will revise and refine their written and spoken work based on feedback from peers, instructors, and alumni. By the semester's end, students will have gained extensive experience with the communication skills expected in today's competitive environment. This course is suitable for second-semester sophomores through first-semester seniors; all others require permission of the instructor.

This course offers a unique opportunity for students to engage critically with justice in courthouses in local communities. Students will participate in hands-on experiential work in a selected area of focus at the Monroe County Courthouse in Rochester. Areas of focus to choose from include adult criminal justice, juvenile justice, treatment courts, domestic violence court, court-community partnerships, or equity disparities in the court. Weekly class meetings include university faculty and Judge Craig Doran, Chief Supervising Judge of all courts in the region, who share their perspectives, research, and experience on the matters addressed by students at the courthouse. This provides students with immediate immersion in both the theoretical and practical applications of justice in society. This course requires students spend 6 hours per week at the Monroe County Courts at the Hall of Justice in Rochester.

This course will discuss on some of the major issues of contemporary poverty and mental health.Topics will include post-incarcerative re-adjustments, post-traumatic stress and military veterans, the black church as a therapeutic center, the effect of music on depression and other forms of mental hygiene, historical and contemporary mental health issues and immigration, and domestic violence, child abuse, suicidal ideation and its impact on the poor black family. Wherever relevant, patterns of racism and substance abuse will also be discussed. Students will be expected to attend each session, engage in verbal discussion with instructor and guest presenters, and through the composition of a personal paper demonstrate an understanding of and commitment to a poor urban community.

Why did parties emerge? How have political parties changed? Is politics today more candidate-centered than party-centered? If so, so what? If parties are losing their grip on the loyalties of the voters, why are parties growing stronger and more meaningful as organizations and in Congress? Is democracy workable without political parties? This is a reading course addressing these and related questions. Undergraduates wishing to take this course must discuss their interest with the instructor and secure his permission prior to registering. This course may be taken for upper level writing credit.

This seminar examines the scope, modes, and theoretical perspectives on political participation in the United States. We consider demographic and socio-economic theories on political participation (race, class, and gender) as well as how social context and rational decision-making influence individuals\' decisions to participate in the political process. Students are required to write weekly summary papers and write a research paper.

In this advanced seminar, students will learn about prior epidemics and pandemics primarily in the United States, and asses the policy responses to these events. They will learn about a number of key case studies in the history of pandemic response, and examine the political history of these responses. They will critically examine primary sources to shed light on contemporary understandings of pandemics and the responses to them, and how these responses were negotiated. With this knowledge and analysis, students will learn to think critically about current pandemics and tie them to a longer history of pandemic responses.

This course examines the formation and evolution of American health policy from a political and historical perspective. Concentrating on developments from the early twentieth century to the present, the focus of readings and discussions will be political forces and institutions and historical and cultural contexts. Among the topics covered are periodic campaigns for national health insurance, efforts to rationalize and regionalize health care institutions, the creation of Medicare and Medicaid and the further evolution of these programs, the rise to dominance of economists and economic analysis in the shaping of health policy, racial and gender disparities in access to care and in quality of care, the formation and failure of the Clinton administration's health reform agenda, health reform in the George W. Bush administration and the 2008 presidential campaign, and national health reform and pushback during the Obama administration. Instructor permission required for 2nd year students. Sophomores should request a Pre-requisite override to gain entry to the course. Restriction: Not open to First Year and Sophomore - AS&E.

Through intensive reading and discussion, we will analyze major issues in congressional history and legislative institutions. We will examine the basic institutions of the House and Senate--committees, parties, leaders, and rules. We will also examine the development of careerism, the seniority system, agenda-setting, electoral concerns, the relationship between Congress and the president, divided government, and efforts at institutional reform. The course is designed to introduce students to the principal approaches used by political scientists to study Congress, with special emphasis on the development of congressional institutions over time. This is an advanced seminar, primarily for graduate students but open also to juniors and seniors with substantial background in political science, economics, and history.

The United States Congress has always dominated the modern study of legislatures. In recent years, however, legislative scholars have paid increasing attention to the value of comparative studies. American state legislatures, in particular, offer a rich field for examining the impact (and origins) of institutional differences. In this course, we will look side-by-side at the U.S. House, the U.S. Senate, and the 99 state legislative chambers. We will consider the major institutions within a legislative chamber, including the role of committees, leaders, parties, and rules in legislative organization. But, taking advantage of this comparative approach, we will also gain insight into the effects of term limits, bicameralism, party competition, seniority systems, professionalization, careerism, ideological heterogeneity, money in politics, and links between campaigns and governance.

This course provides general conceptual background and an introduction to some major works in the comparative field and subfields. Comparative politics is a field that attempts to develop and test theories that can be used to explain political events and patterns across political systems, especially nation-states. Topics include political culture, development and democratization, political regimes, violence and revolution, elections, social movements, parties, coalitions, institutions, and comparative public policy. The works are discussed and compared both in terms of the major substantive arguments and the methodological approaches taken to enhance the credibility of the arguments. The reading load is heavy and students are expected to write a number of short papers, which are presented in class, as well a midterm and one longer analytic essay.

This is a graduate-level seminar on the domestic institutions and political processes defining Western Europe since 1945. Several countries, including Britain, France and Germany, will be examined in the context of comparative themes. These topics include political parties, interest groups, and changing patterns of interest articulation and representation; the politics of federalism and regionalism; governmental and electoral types; concepts of race, ethnicity and citizenship; and the Europeanization of domestic politics.

This course is a graduate seminar, involving collective discussion of core readings and student presentations on special topics and specific countries. The comparative democratic political processes subfield focuses on the process of choosing political leaders and making political decisions in the context of competitive elections and relative freedom of political action. We begin by discussing the empirical meaning of contemporary democracies, the nature of democratic transitions, and the effect of social and economic context. We then take quick looks at differing citizen values, constitutional rules, and the comparative study of citizens' attitudes and behavior. The second half of the course focuses on groups and, especially, political parties: competition, organization, coalitions, legislative and executive behavior, connections between citizens and policy makers. Although for graduate students the course fulfills requirements for the democratic political processes subfield in comparative politics, no specific background is assumed and the course is appropriate for any graduate student.

Contemporary theory in political science and economics increasingly emphasizes the role of institutions. In Central Europe and the former Soviet Union, meanwhile, institutions have seen an unprecedented degree of experimentation, reform and variation since 1989. This course will integrate recent theoretical developments with contemporary case studies. Emphasis will be on the political and economic consequences of the choice of institutions, and the politics of institutional design. The course will focus on five topics: central planning, simultaneous political and economic transitions, macroeconomic stabilization, privatization and property rights, and the politics of regulation.

This course introduces the most distinctive configurations of democratic political institutions and the behaviors of citizens and elites that they induce. The political institutions include election rules, parliamentary and presidential executives, strong and weak legislatures, political parties and party systems. The behaviors studied include ideological and clientelistic party strategies and citizen voting, government formation and policymaking, and efforts to influence and to avoid constraints. We will consider multiple research approaches, the dynamics of stability and change, comparisons to electoral authoritarianism, and the effects of context. NOTE: PSCI 356 undergraduates need instructor permission.

This course will involve a deep look at the comparative political parties and party competition literature. The focus will be on recent work on party types (e.g., mainstream, niche, radical right, populist); party strategies (programmatic, valence, issue emphasis, issue ownership, clientelism); polarization; emergence of "new" constituencies and issues (e.g., ethnic, gender, environmental/nationalist/single issue, LGBT), among other topics. The course will cover theoretical and empirical literature with country cases from around the world. The course will highlight the range of methodological approaches employed in the field, and students will have an opportunity to engage in their own research on these topics; the course culminates in a research paper. This topics course will count as an optional 5th course in the comparative sequence, and will be open to any PhD student and advanced undergraduate, by instructor permission.

This seminar offers a broad survey of research in comparative political economy. More specifically, we will study how various political institutions, processes, and events affect economic policy and outcomes as well as the converse, how economic performance and interests influence the development of institutions and political outcomes. The primary goal of this course is to help students identify research opportunities in the literature. Accordingly, emphasis will be placed on the generation of research proposals that reflect a sound understanding of the state of the field. Students will be evaluated on short assignments, participation, presentations, and a final research proposal. This is a graduate seminar but it is open, with the instructor's approval, to undergraduates who have shown extraordinary promise and interest in the subject.

An advanced course intended to prepare Ph.D. students for comprehensive exams in international relations. The course conducts a broad survey of influential works in the field and of current research into the causes of international conflict and cooperation. Extraordinarily well-prepared undergraduates may be admitted.

This graduate seminar examines a long neglected topic: the role of territory in group politics. The goal is to build a basic understanding of why, when, how and which territory becomes contested. We will read from a broad range of disciplines. Each student is expected to write two short papers for two different sessions, which are not to exceed 1500 words. Each paper should provide an independent commentary of you own on some aspect of that week's readings. These papers form the background against which we will discuss the readings in class. In addition, each student is required to write a 20-25 page research paper, which focuses in depth on one of the discussed emerging research agendas. As in other graduate seminars, the course will be conducted almost exclusively through discussion. Hence it is crucial that students do the reading in advance, to set aside time to reflect on the readings, and to prepare comments and questions.

This seminar treats in detail at an advanced level key issues in the study of international political economy. Students should be prepared for very considerable responsibilities of critical reading and preparation for informed participation in discussion. Topics examined include the following: paradigmatic debates, hegemonic stability and international institutions, linkage strategies and economic sanctions, classes and coalitions, domestic institutions, bilateralism and multilateralism, credibility and macroeconomic coordination, international debt, international environmental policy, and the collapse of the Soviet bloc.

Note: Instructor permission required. The aim of the seminar is to encourage students to examine political science in a reflective, disciplined, critical way. It is primarily designed for entering Ph.D. students, but may be appropriate for undergraduate seniors considering graduate work in political science. We use basic concepts in the philosophy of science to explore a range of specific examples of research in the discipline with the aim of discerning more clearly what it means to say that social and political inquiry is scientific.

Social scientists often claim that there is an intimate relationship between culture and politics. They, unfortunately, have made scant progress in elaborating the theoretical resources needed to analyze that relationship. This has led several observers to conclude that the "systemic study of politics and culture is moribund". Our aim in this seminar is to remedy this sorry state. More specifically, we will try to identify the theoretical resources that might allow more cogent analyses of the relation between culture and politics. In the process we will range across disciplines, with readings drawn from anthropology, economics, history, philosopy, political science and sociology. The course is run as a seminar, which means that all students must participate actively.

This course will help students understand the patterns of legal reasoning and argument and to develop skills in formulating, presenting and critiquing legal arguments. Students will learn the theory behind the adversarial system and the various procedural and evidentiary rules in place to achieve the system's goals. Drawing on theories of legal argument from texts such as "Legal Argument: The Structure and Language of Effective Advocacy" and "The Five Types of Legal Argument," students will practice the techniques used to conduct legal trials, including opening statements, direct examinations, cross examinations, closing arguments, and objections. Grading will be based on a combination of traditional assignments and quizzes as well as on practical exercises performed individually as well as in teams. The final examination will consist of a mock trial between two or more teams using a fictional fact pattern involving a civil or criminal case.

Democracies are distinguished among political systems by the use of non-violent methods for the resolution of social disagreements, but do not preclude and, in fact, encourage organized action to influence social policy. The course aims to provide a cohesive treatment of mathematical models of key democratic processes with particular attention paid to legislative/parliamentary policy-making; electoral competition and voter participation; and coalition and party formation. Precedence will be placed on dynamic models and on models that are actionable, in the sense that they are amenable to analytical or numerical computation. Suitable methods and algorithms for numerical analysis will be covered in depth when appropriate. The course is designed primarily for PhD students in Political Science, but advanced undergraduate students with mathematical background are also welcome (with instructor permission).

This course will teach students how to write an original social scientific research paper. Students enrolled in the class are expected to complete a thesis in the spring. In this course, they will choose a research topic and question, find an advisor in the political science department, read the relevant literature, generate hypotheses, begin collecting data, learn strategies for addressing confounding concerns, and produce a paper of roughly 12-15 pages that constitutes a draft of the final thesis. Along the way, students will read high-quality published articles, learn how to interpret regression tables and how to produce their own, understand pros and cons of various research design techniques, replicate a published research article, and learn how to organize and to write a research paper. This course is primarily geared toward teaching students how to write statistical empirical research papers, although it will also provide guidance for writing theses using game theory or qualitative methods.

A year-long research project supervised by a faculty member in the department and culminating in a written work.

Most internship placements are in the District Attorney's or Public Defender's offices or in the local offices of U.S. members of Congress or Senators. Other internships are available depending on student interest. Interns work 10-12 hours per week through the entire semester. Grades are primarily based on a research paper. Applicants should have an appropriate course background for the internship and at least a B average. Students must be accepted in the course before approaching an agency for an internship. Applications are available from Professor L. Powell and an interest meeting is held just before preregistration each semester.

Internships are available for students in Edinburgh, London, Brussels, Bonn, Berlin and Madrid. Internships are in English in Edinburgh, London, and Brussels: students need proficiency in the language for the latter four placements. For applications and information, students should contact the Study Abroad Office in Dewey Hall 2147. Please contact Professor Stu Jordan for more information.

[G] Special application required. Please contact Professor Stu Jordan for more information.

Please contact Professor Stu Jordan for more information.

These internships are designed to give students knowledge and skills to contribute to policy and program development and operations related to health policy in the Greater Rochester community. This course requires an application. Pre-requisites: PHLT 116 or PHLT 236; juniors & seniors only. Students must use UR Student to register for this course; this course is not an independent study.

[G] Special application required.

[G] Special application required.

[G] Special application required.

These internships provide an opportunity to learn experientially one or more of the following: how government functions; how public policies are created, adopted and implemented; and how political campaigns work. Students intern in Congress, the executive branch, party campaign committees, and lobbying and advocacy groups. For applications and information, students should contact Professor L. Powell. An interest meeting is held each semester.

This course provides students with the mathematical background that is needed for the graduate program in Political Science. Topics covered include set theory, functions, basic calculus, and probability. The course involves both lecture and problem-solving sessions. Instructor permission required for undergraduate students.

This course in mathematical statistics provides graduate students in political science with a solid foundation in probability and statistical inference. The focus of the course is on the empirical modeling of non-experimental data. While substantive political science will never be far from our minds, our primary goal is to acquire the tools necessary for success in the rest of the econometric sequence. As such, this course serves as a prerequisite for the advanced political science graduate courses in statistical methods (PSC 405, 505, and 506).

The goal of this course is to give students a comprehensive toolbox for reading and producing cutting-edge applied empirical research, with focus on the theory and practice behind causal inference in social sciences. We will cover treatment effects, experiments, panel data, differences-in-differences, instrumental variables, nonparametric regression, regression discontinuity, matching, synthetic control, and more. Students will read applied papers from both political science and economics, and write review reports examining research designs, identification strategies, and causal claims. They will also produce research proposals that will be presented in class. Applications will be taught with R.

This course is the first half of a two-course sequence consisting of PSC 407 and PSC 408. The goal of the sequence is to give a rigorous introduction to the main concepts and results in positive political theory. At the same time, we will teach you the mathematical tools necessary to understand these results, to use them and (if it suits you) to surpass them in your own research in political science. The course will emphasize rigorous logical and deductive reasoning - this skill will prove valuable, even to the student primarily interested in empirical analysis rather than modeling. The sequence is designed to be both a rigorous foundation for students planning on taking further courses in the positive political theory field and a self-contained overview of the field for students who do not intend to do additional coursework in the field.

This course is part of a rigorous introduction to the main concepts and results in positive political theory. It is the second half of a two-course sequence consisting of PSC 407 and PSC 408. This course will focus on the basics of game theory, which analyzes individual behavior in strategic situations. It will also cover the mathematical tools required to express the theory. Examples and applications will be drawn from several different areas in political science, including the American Congress, voting, international relations, political economy, and law.

An examination of federal environmental law and policy from a practical and historical perspective. This course will provide a basic foundational understanding of U.S. environmental law and help students develop the tools necessary to critique and improve environmental policy making. Topics include an overview of key federal environmental laws, some of the major loopholes, how environmental laws are shaped through agency regulation, judicial interpretation, political pressure, and their efficacy at safeguarding the environment and the public. The course will be taught through a combination of lectures, a group project focused on a specific case study, and student-led discussions about key aspects of environmental laws. Students will finish by considering emerging environmental issues and ways to address them.

In recent years, there has been much discussion of the possibility of a green economy. This course examines the potential for "green markets," focusing on three drivers-social, political, and economic-that can both constrain firms and potentially condition whether issues of environment and sustainability can be exploited as a means for competitive advantage. Among issues covered will be demand and willingness to pay for green goods, the roles of NGOs and investors, regulation and its alternatives, firm reputation and product differentiation, supply chain management, and green production processes. Special attention will be given to the need of firms to deal with climate change now and in the future.

An examination of the role of environmental organizations in the development and implementation of environmental policy through experiential and academic learning. This is a small class that meets once a week. Through assigned readings, discussion and lectures, we will examine how environmental groups are formed, organized, funded and staffed to fulfill various objectives, and how the role/mission they play in developing and implementing environmental policy has evolved. Students will deepen their understanding of these issues through first-hand experience working on "real world" research for a local environmental organization. Each student will be responsible for a final paper examining these issues through the lens of a particular conservation or environmental group, completion of the project for the environmental group partner, and class discussion/participation. This course is instructor permission only and is limited to upper level students.

Civil war is by far the most common form of armed conflict in the contemporary world. Internal wars, such as those in Iraq and Afghanistan, are also central to the major foreign policy debates in the United States and the United Nations. The first half of this course addresses the question of when and where civil wars occur and what their effects are domestically and internationally. The second half of the class examines external actors role in civil war, such as financial support to governments or insurgents, armed interventions, and peacekeeping missions. Students will be evaluated based on two midterms and a final.

For the small countries of Eastern Europe, politics has always taken place in the shadow of larger actors, and continues to be decisively influenced by events beyond national borders. Meanwhile, the dramatic shifts in international affairs in the last century had their origins in domestic upheavals, often in Russia. The course will survey the politics and international relations of the region in the second half of the twentieth century, devoting roughly equal attention to the Cold War and post-Cold War periods.

This course examines the development of warfare and the growth of the state from the French Revolution to the end of the Second World War. We examine the phenomenon of war in its broader socio-economic context, focusing on nationalism, bureaucratization, industrialization and democratization. We will go into some detail on the two major conflicts of the twentieth century, the First and Second World Wars. Students are required to do all the reading. Every student will make a presentation in class on the readings for one class (25% of the grade), and there will be one comprehensive final (75%).

The aim of the seminar is to encourage students to examine political science in a reflective, disciplined, critical way. It is primarily designed for entering Ph.D. students, but may be appropriate for undergraduate seniors considering graduate work in political science. We use basic concepts in the philosophy of science to explore a range of specific examples of research in the discipline with the aim of discerning more clearly what it means to say that social and political inquiry is scientific. The discussion covers the strengths and weaknesses of a variety of tools of empirical social science.

This course on the interactions between art and politics in the twentieth century will be conducted as an intensive and advanced seminar. Drawing on art history, literature and political theory, we will explore the ways that politics and the practices of artistic representation intersect. Much of the course will treat questions of race and identity. Our focus will primarily include French and American examples, including but not limited to the representation and theorization of torture, forced migration, lynching, globalization and racial categories. Students will be expected to look at art, read poetry and literary texts, analyze and understand political theory and participate in a series of speakers and symposia outside of the class. This course has been designed for students from across the humanities and the social sciences.

What should governments do? What can governments do? What do policymakers want to do? This course examines these questions from the perspective of modern political economy. The perspective is twofold: it comprises both a set of tools (mathematical modeling and rigorous empirical analysis) and a fundamental premise that public policy is the outcome of rational, strategic choices by self-interested policymakers who face institutional constraints that shape their incentives and limit their scope of action. The course begins by discussing normative considerations about what might constitute "good" public policy. It then explores areas where public policy has the potential to improve social welfare in a modern economy. Finally, it analyzes how the political process influences policymakers' actual choices. Special attention is given to key differences between developed and developing countries. Students are expected to have taken PSCI 107 or a similar introductory course on formal models of decision-making.

This advanced course in political theory focuses on various topics in democratic theory such as the relation between democracy and other basic political principles (liberty, equality, justice), whether democratic institutions should best be aggregative or deliberative, and the role of referenda, lotteries and new telecommunications technology in democratic decision-making. Readings are drawn from both advocates and critics of democratic politics and will encompass historical and contemporary theorists. The class format will combine lecture and discussion.

Restriction: Instructor permission required. In recent decades a number of important intellectual intersections have emerged between political science and economics. The course will explore these intersections as they appear in the work of scholars such as Amartya Sen, Elinor Ostrom, Roberto Unger, Dani Rodrik. Our aim is to explore the analytical, explanatory and normative implications of this work in hopes of discerning lessons for thinking about enduring political issues and institutions such a property, markets, and democracy. Some prior course work in economics or political science will be helpful but is not required.

This course introduces the process of conducting research in political science and presenting this research orally and in writing

Social networks pervade political and economic life. They shape how we acquire political knowledge, how we discover job opportunities, and how we shape and maintain norms. The multitude of ways that networks affect the world make it critical to understand how network structures impact behavior, which network structures are likely to emerge, and why we organize ourselves as we do. Drawing on a wide variety of fields, this course will review the literature, both theoretical and empirical, on social, economic, and political networks. Topics will include basic network structures, network formation, games on networks, learning, diffusion, and methods for network analysis.

Comparative politics is concerned with a variety of questions. For example: What are the consequences of different political institutions on various outcomes? What are the causes and motivations for mass political movements, and what is the mechanism by which they are organized? What are the political causes of underdevelopment? How are identities created, and what role do they play in politics? Why are redistribution and the size of government greater in some countries than others? And many other questions can be addressed using formal models. This course is designed to provide students with the skills to develop their own models for answering these and related questions. We will begin with a brief review of established modeling techniques. Then, we will study particular models that have been developed by the previous literature in comparative political economy. We will conclude by discussing new modeling techniques and their relevance for comparative politics.

The goal of this course is to give students a comprehensive toolbox for reading and producing cutting-edge applied empirical research, with focus on the theory and practice behind causal inference in social sciences. We will cover treatment effects, experiments, panel data, differences-in-differences, instrumental variables, nonparametric regression, regression discontinuity, matching, synthetic control, and more. Students will read applied papers from both political science and economics, and write review reports examining research designs, identification strategies, and causal claims. They will also produce research proposals that will be presented in class. Applications will be taught with R.

The classical linear regression model is inappropriate for many of the most interesting problems in political science. This course builds upon the analytical foundations of PSC 404 and 405, taking the latter's emphasis on the classical linear model as its point of departure. Here students will learn methods to analyze models and data for event counts, durations, censoring, truncation, selection, multinomial ordered/unordered categories, strategic choices, spatial voting models, and time series. A major goal of the course will be to teach students how to develop new models and techniques for analyzing issues they encounter in their own research.

This course covers advanced statistical methods that go beyond linear models and maximum likelihood estimation. Course content will vary year to year and will be determined by the interests of the students and the instructor. Typical topics will include Bayesian markov chain monte carlo methods, ideal point estimation, non-parametric and semi-parametric estimation, causal inference, and machine learning techniques. As a research workshop, this course also allows students to pursue areas of individual interest in more depth. Students are assumed to have taken graduate courses in mathematical probability and inference (PSC 404), linear models (PSC 405), and maximum likelihood estimation (PSC 505). Students will be expected to know how to program their own estimators in R.

An introduction to computational methods with particular emphasis on applying these techniques in methods and formal theory. Being on the cutting edge of political methodology and formal theory increasingly requires detailed knowledge of computational techniques. We will cover such topics as numerical differentiation and integration, simulation methods, numerical linear algebra, numerical optimization, computation of equilibria, and various other topics. Each of these techniques will be applied to a number of core applications: Bayesian estimation, estimation using the Simulated Method of Moments, nonparametric estimation, multiplayer games, dynamic optimization problems, and structural estimation.

Researchers in comparative politics, American politics, international relations, political methodology, and political theory increasingly rely on data collected from various types of experiments to answer important questions in their fields. This graduate-level class is designed to introduce students to experimental techniques and the applications of experiments in political science. Students who take this course should have completed causal inference (PSC 504). While this is primarily a seminar course, students will cover statistical material and get a hands-on introduction to programming tools for experimental research in R. This course is not specific to a particular subfield; students will get exposure to a wide range of experimental methods (lab experiments, field experiments, surveys, etc.) used across different research areas.

Scholars of political science, economics, and business are increasingly interested in the empirical analysis and/or testing of formal models. This course will survey a wide range of methodological issues at the intersection of formal models and empirical analysis, ranging from broad epistemological questions (e.g., What is the empirical content of a formal model? What does it mean to "test" a formal model?) to working through advanced statistical techniques. Topics may include: experiments vs field data, case studies as evidence or illustration, comparative statics and partial tests of formal models, structural estimation, econometrics of auctions, strategic discrete choice models, ultimatum games, dynamic games, and multiple equilibria. PREREQUISITES: Students must have taken the equivalent of PSC 404, 405, 505, have some familiarity with nonparametric and semiparametric methods, and have taken a graduate course in noncooperative game theory.

Implicit in all research designs are (traditionally under-appreciated) strategic interactions relevant to the interpretation and validity of empirical work. Recently, social scientists across several sub-disciplines, and especially political scientists, have begun to analyze these theoretical implications of empirical models (TIEM). This course surveys the work being done in this nascent field of scholarship and, necessarily, the dominant empirical methodologies employed in political science and economics. For context and guidance, we will also draw upon work from adjacent lines of research, such as the decision-theoretic underpinnings of empirical models, the rationalization of behavioral regularities, and the evolutionary grounding of preferences, as well as upon philosophical perspectives on the interplay between theory and empirics.

This course is designed for graduate students intending to pursue political methodology as a major field. It covers advanced statistical methods that are not yet standard fare in political methodology courses. Course content will vary year to year, and this semester will focus more heavily on nonparametric methods, the bootstrap, computational methods, and estimating structural models. As a research workshop, this course also allows students to pursue areas of individual interest in more depth, and therefore course content is determined based on the interests of both the professor and the students. Prerequisites: PSC 404, PSC 405, and PSC 505.

Why did parties emerge? How have political parties changed? Is politics today more candidate-centered than party-centered? If so, so what? If parties are losing their grip on the loyalties of the voters, why are parties growing stronger and more meaningful as organizations and in Congress? Is democracy workable without political parties? This is a reading course addressing these and related questions. Undergraduates wishing to take this course must discuss their interest with the instructor and secure his permission prior to registering. This course may be taken for upper level writing credit.

This course explores how to use surveys to make inferences in the social sciences. A broad view is taken by starting with discussion about the relationship between theory and empirical research design. This includes some coverage of the place of experimental and non-experimental research in the social sciences. Then, after a brief discussion of the history of survey research, the focus turns to the key elements of surveys: sampling, measurement, and inference. The course also covers ongoing debates about probability and non-probability samples and how to evaluate the credibility of contemporary survey research.

This course principally introduces students to the political science and political economy literatures on interest groups, with a special focus on how these groups operate in the context of American politics (however, contrast with other advanced and the European Union are included). This will include developing an understanding of the makeup of the group system, the contribution decision, the internal politics of organizations, and the role that groups play with respect to formal political institutions.

This seminar examines the scope, modes, and theoretical perspectives on political participation in the United States. We consider demographic and socio-economic theories on political participation (race, class, and gender) as well as how social context and rational decision-making influence individuals\' decisions to participate in the political process. Students are required to write weekly summary papers and write a research paper.

Through intensive reading and discussion, we will analyze the major institutional features of Congress, with an emphasis on historical development. We will examine the basic institutions of the House and Senate--committees, parties, leaders, and rules. In doing this, we will consider the rise of careerism, the seniority system, agenda-setting, electoral concerns, divided government, efforts at institutional reform, party polarization, gridlock, and the Senate filibuster. This is an advanced seminar, primarily for graduate students but open also to juniors and seniors with substantial background in political science, economics, and history.

The United States Congress has always dominated the modern study of legislatures. In recent years, however, legislative scholars have paid increasing attention to the value of comparative studies. American state legislatures, in particular, offer a rich field for examining the impact (and origins) of institutional differences. In this course, we will look side-by-side at the U.S. House, the U.S. Senate, and the 99 state legislative chambers. We will consider the major institutions within a legislative chamber, including the role of committees, leaders, parties, and rules in legislative organization. But, taking advantage of this comparative approach, we will also gain insight into the effects of term limits, bicameralism, party competition, seniority systems, professionalization, careerism, ideological heterogenity, money in politics, and links between campaigns and governance. This is an advanced seminar, designed for graduate students, but open to qualified undergraduates with permission of the instructors.

This seminar provides students with the necessary historical background and methodological tools to conduct original research on the US Congress. We will examine the basic institutions of the House and Senate - committees, parties, leaders, and rules-with an interest in how these institutions have changed over time. The course emphasizes how Congress provides structure that scholars must embrace (and from which they may often benefit) when applying the more abstract concepts and techniques of political economy. This course is designed for PhD students, but is open, with permission of the instructors, to advanced undergraduates.

This seminar will introduce you to classic as well as contemporary research in American politics. We will discuss the literature both in political institutions (e.g., Congress) and in political behavior (e.g., voting). By covering an array of topics in these areas, the course will provide a foundation for developing a comprehensive understanding of the field and the various directions in which it is now moving.

The course introduces democratic theory, the civil rights movement, the Voting Rights Act, African-American public opinion and electoral behavior, and the effect of electoral rules and districting decisions on representation.

This course will familiarize students with the "workhorse" models of domestic political institutions. Students will further develop their ability to consume and create models in contexts ranging from elections to interest groups to interbranch relationships. Throughout, we will explore and emphasize principles of applied modeling. Accordingly, students will complete problem sets and present published papers, as well as take an exam that prompts them to come up with a model of a given political phenomenon. The class is intended for graduate students in the social sciences who are familiar with game theory, though advanced undergraduates may take the course with instructor permission.

This research seminar surveys the literature on race and ethnic politics in the United States. We will focus on the causes and consequences of electoral rules, the political representation of minority groups, and the mechanisms through which government policy coordinates social inequities. This course will incorporate diverse analytical perspectives while highlighting recent theoretical and empirical innovations in political science.

Through intensive reading and discussion, we examine the politics and history of American cities. While we read scholarship drawing on the experiences of an array of cities—including Chicago, New York, Detroit, Boston, Philadelphia, Phoenix, New Haven, Atlanta, Buffalo, and Charlotte—our emphasis is on commonalities in the urban experience as well as on systematic differences. We analyze the relationship of cities to their hinterlands in the early stages of urban development, the rise of ethnic neighborhoods, suburbanization, industrialization, de-industrialization, housing and jobs, concentrated poverty, and population changes. Race, ethnicity, and class are central to this course, not only in understanding changes in neighborhoods but also in the nature of politics and governmental arrangements.

This course will survey recent research on the politics of bureaucracy. We will begin with a study of why and when elected politicians create bureaucracies and delegate authority to them. We will then study a series of topics regarding the operation and design of existing bureaucracies. Depending on the interest of students, topics may include: oversight and control of bureaucracies by elected politicians; bureaucratic capacity and performance; the political economy of regulatory bureaucracies; "red tape" and corruption; judicial control of bureaucracy; institutions and practices for the staffing of bureaucracies (e.g. patronage systems); advisory bureaucracies and bureaucratic expertise in policymaking; and military and intelligence bureaucracies. The course will draw heavily, but not exclusively, on formal theories and statistical evidence. Prerequisite: permission of the instructor, or at least one course in Techniques of Analysis at the 200 level or above and one course in Positive Theory at the 200 level or above.

This multidisciplinary Ph.D. course will study the role of corporations in the political process. Topics will include integrated strategy, political risk, the returns to political activity, and corporate social responsibility. Readings will be drawn from the management, economics, accounting, finance, and political science literatures. In this course, students will develop a deeper understanding of the interplay between business and government, consider the benefits of a multidisciplinary approach for studying this subject, and explore future directions for research.

This course aims to provide graduate students with a foundation from which to conduct original research on U.S. political institutions. We will survey theoretical and empirical literature across areas of focus in the sub-field of U.S. politics. We will also explore perspectives on the institutions-based approach to research, especially in the context of U.S. politics. In addition to reading published research, students will gain exposure to a set of "workhorse" models and empirical strategies that practitioners rely upon when conducting research on U.S. political institutions. Students will be expected to participate actively in class discussions as well as to lead some discussions of assigned articles. The central assignment will be the development of a research proposal that demonstrates promise for development into a publishable paper.

This course is one of two core courses in the U.S. politics sequence, with the other laying the foundation for conducting original research on U.S. political behavior. The two may be taken in either order. The prerequisites for this class include the first semester of the graduate theory and methods training.

This graduate-level course focuses on mass political behavior within the American political system. The goal of this course is to give students an introduction to some of the major questions in the study of American political behavior, and how people have gone about answering them. The background goal is to help students practice reading work critically and think through the difficulties of social science research in preparation for individual research projects. The course examines political ideology, public opinion, voting behavior, media effects, racial attitudes, mass-elite relations, and opinion-policy linkages.

How do judges decide cases? Are judges more similar to other political actors than we might think? This course will address these questions by exploring contemporary political science scholarship on the U.S. courts. The class will cover the importance and measurement of judicial ideology, the role of ascriptive and professional characteristics of judges, strategic opinion assignment and writing, and the relationship of higher and lower courts. At the end of the course, students will be familiar with all major research areas within the field of judicial politics and will be able to undertake their own original research in the field.

This course is the required field seminar for the comparative politics field of the Ph.D. program. Comparative politics is a field that attempts to develop and test theories that can be used to explain political events and patterns across and within political systems, especially nation-states outside the United States. The course is designed to introduce students to classic and contemporary works across a range of topic including: democracy, dictatorship and development; revolutions and violence; culture and social movements; parties and electoral systems; representation and accountability; institutions of governance and political economy. It will also introduce various methodological approaches and issues in the comparative field, including research design and case selection. The reading load is heavy and students are expected to make several presentations and lead discussion of readings, as well as to take two exams. Undergraduates may on enroll only with consent of the instructors.

This is a graduate-level seminar on the domestic institutions and political processes defining Western Europe since 1945. Several countries, including Britain, France and Germany, will be examined in the context of comparative themes. These topics include political parties, interest groups, and changing patterns of interest articulation and representation; the politics of federalism and regionalism; governmental and electoral types; concepts of race, ethnicity and citizenship; and the Europeanization of domestic politics.

Civil order under girds all other political processes. When order exists, institutions that regulate violence within a specific population or jurisdiction. This course covers where order comes from, how it is sustained or challenged, and the emergence of states as the most common order-providing institutions. We also discuss how the boundaries between civil orders are created and eroded. We examine the roles of geography, political economy, ethnic identity, and nationalism in the boundaries between political communities.

Why are some political regimes more stable than others? Why do democracies endure or unravel? Why do dictatorships last or crumble? To answer these questions, this course offers a survey of the empirical and theoretical literatures on democracy and dictatorship in comparative politics. The first part of the course will be devoted primarily to examining competing theories about the conditions and causes of the transition to and consolidation of democracy. The second part of the course examines theories about democratic erosion and the emergence and instantiation of autocracy. Class will be conducted in a weekly discussion format.

What motivates the adoption of or identification with one ethnic group over another? How does ethnic identity shape an individual\'s political decisions or outcomes such as public goods provision, economic growth, and political violence? This course explores the growing literature on ethnic politics in the comparative politics and international relations sub-fields. We consider multiple methodological approaches to these questions and explore the dynamics of ethnic identity formation, ethnic-based political behavior, and ethnic cooperation and conflict in a range of empirical contexts.

This course is a graduate seminar, involving collective discussion of core readings and student presentations on special topics and specific countries. The comparative democratic political processes subfield focuses on the process of choosing political leaders and making political decisions in the context of competitive elections and relative freedom of political action. We begin by discussing the empirical meaning of contemporary democracies, the nature of democratic transitions, and the effect of social and economic context. We then take quick looks at differing citizen values, constitutional rules, and the comparative study of citizens' attitudes and behavior. The second half of the course focuses on groups and, especially, political parties: competition, organization, coalitions, legislative and executive behavior, connections between citizens and policy makers. Although for graduate students the course fulfills requirements for the democratic political processes subfield in comparative politics, no specific background is assumed and the course is appropriate for any graduate student.

Contemporary theory in political science and economics increasingly emphasizes the role of institutions. In Central Europe and the former Soviet Union, meanwhile, institutions have seen an unprecedented degree of experimentation, reform and variation since 1989. This course will integrate recent theoretical developments with contemporary case studies. Emphasis will be on the political and economic consequences of the choice of institutions, and the politics of institutional design. The course will focus on five topics: central planning, simultaneous political and economic transitions, macroeconomic stabilization, privatization and property rights, and the politics of regulation.

This course introduces the most distinctive configurations of democratic political institutions and the behaviors of citizens and elites that they induce. The political institutions include election rules, parliamentary and presidential executives, strong and weak legislatures, political parties and party systems. The behaviors studied include ideological and clientelistic party strategies and citizen voting, government formation and policymaking, and efforts to influence and to avoid constraints. We will consider multiple research approaches, the dynamics of stability and change, comparisons to electoral authoritarianism, and the effects of context.

This course will involve a deep look at the comparative political parties and party competition literature. The focus will be on recent work on party types (e.g., mainstream, niche, radical right, populist); party strategies (programmatic, valence, issue emphasis, issue ownership, clientelism); polarization; emergence of "new" constituencies and issues (e.g., ethnic, gender, environmental/nationalist/single issue, LGBT), among other topics. The course will cover theoretical and empirical literature with country cases from around the world. The course will highlight the range of methodological approaches employed in the field, and students will have an opportunity to engage in their own research on these topics; the course culminates in a research paper. This topics course will count as an optional 5th course in the comparative sequence, and will be open to any PhD student and advanced undergraduate, by instructor permission.

How and why do political parties emerge? What are the causes and consequences of adopting different electoral rules? Under what conditions do voters behave strategically? This course examines the growing literature on parties, electoral systems, and voting in comparative politics. We consider multiple methodological approaches to these questions and explore the dynamics of voting, elections, and party competition in a range of empirical contexts.

This course will introduce students to the vast and growing literature that uses modern methodological techniques to examine historical events and the historical origins of the modern world. Topics include colonialism, social inequality, the effects of conflict and critical junctures.

This seminar focuses on key questions facing scholars of contemporary Latin American politics: Under what conditions do democratic regimes emerge and endure? Under what conditions are politicians responsive to citizens? Does the choice of political institutions matter? What factors affect institutional instability and weakness? The first part of the seminar considers a variety of approaches to regime transition, including explanations based on class, culture, and individual preferences. The second part of the course begins with an analysis of the quality of democracy and representation in Latin America. To evaluate the impact of specific institutions on democracy, the course considers the advantages and drawbacks of presidential democracy. Particular emphasis is placed on understanding variation in inter-branch relations over time and across countries. The course concludes with a survey of emerging research on timely topics including indigenous movements, corruption, and institutional instability.

This course deals with theoretical and empirical questions in the study of individual political preferences over alternatives (candidates, parties, legislative bills, etc.). The emphasis is on the default scenario that the analyst has finite data on choices/preferences over political alternatives that are themselves (partially) unobserved. On the theoretical side, the goal is to thoroughly study the reach of joint restrictions leveraged from such data under various shape and dimensionality assumptions. On the empirical side, the theoretical results are connected with existing and novel estimation strategies, both non-parametric and parametric (including the classic IRT model), along with specification tests of the various assumptions that underpin these methods and with (select) applications to questions of collective choice.

This course presents basic issues in empirical research in the social sciences. Classes will alternate between discussion of readings on approaches to empirical research and applied weeks, where students will present successive iterations of their own research in-progress. The research design topics covered will be generating observable implications of theory; case selection; collection of large-n observational and archival data; narrative case study; experiments and natural experiments; elite interviews; and participant observation. The course is intended for students preparing for their second year paper, third year students writing a dissertation prospectus, or ABD students with an empirical project that is at a fairly early stage. First-year PhD students should consult with the instructor prior to enrolling in the course. Students who take both PSC 562 and 563 may use either, but not both, to satisfy the course requirements for the Comparative Politics field.

This course will examine some of the most common solutions to problems of causal inference in social science, and how they can be fitted to larger programs of hypothesis testing. Techniques to be covered include instrumental variables, regression discontinuity, natural experiments, field experiments, difference in difference and matching. Students will be asked to read and critique recent work from comparative politics and American politics that use these techniques, with an emphasis on applications to substantive questions rather than methodological details. Students will be asked to produce multiple research proposals that use these techniques, and present them in class. Students who take both PSC 562 and 563 may use either, but not both, to satisfy the course requirements for the Comparative Politics field.

This graduate seminar offers a broad survey of research in comparative political economy. More specifically, we will study how various political institutions, processes, and events affect economic policy and outcomes as well as the converse, how economic performance and interests influence the development of institutions and political outcomes. The primary goal of this course is to help students identify research opportunities in the literature. Accordingly, emphasis will be placed on the generation of research proposals that reflect a sound understanding of the state of the field. Students will be evaluated on short assignments, participation, presentations, and a final research proposal.

This course examines the politics of poor countries, classic social scientific theories of development, and empirical methods of analysis in comparative politics. Topics include clientelism, corruption, economic growth, colonialism and identity.

This course surveys selected topics in the extensive literature on political and economic development. We will focus on differences in formal and informal institutions across countries. Topics will include the determinants of economic growth, the modernization hypothesis, distributional conflict, government corruption, the success and failure of states to deliver of public goods, among others.

This is the first of two courses in the International Relations field seminar sequence. It is required of all students who will take the field exam in international relations. The course is not open to undergraduates.

This is an advanced course intended for Ph.D. students. The course surveys theories of international organization, the development of formal and informal international institutions, and important recent contributions to research in the field. Course requirements include a research paper and a final exam.

This course surveys major topics and theoretical contributions in the literature(s) on state formation. We will focus on three broad themes: anarchy & the construction of political order, the development of the modern state, and the evolution of the international system. With the explicit goal of exploring how research in international relations & comparative politics should be pursued in the future, each session assigns readings from both traditional macro-historical research and more recent analytical approaches.

The course will cover theoretical and empirical scholarship on how political order is maintained and how it breaks down. Four literatures will be covered: canonical theories of social order and change; the origins and nature of the state; revolution; and civil war. Evaluation will be based on class participation and multiple, short writing assignments over the course of the semester. Graduate students in political science may count this course toward the international relations or comparative politics subfield.

This course examines statistical issues relevant to the study of international politics. We will consider issues such as strategic decision making, geographic interdependence, temporal dynamics, and the operationalization of major concepts, such as power. Of particular interest will be the use and limitations of dyadic data and cross-sectional time series data. Prerequisites: PSC 505 and PSC 572 (or similar course) required; PSC 506 recommended.

An advanced course intended to prepare Ph.D. students for comprehensive exams in international relations. The course conducts a broad survey of influential works in the field and of current research into the causes of international conflict and cooperation. Extraordinarily well-prepared undergraduates may be admitted.

This is an advanced course intended to prepare Ph.D. students for comprehensive exams in international relations. The course conducts a broad survey of major works in the field and current research into the causes of international conflict and cooperation.

This is an advanced course intended to prepare Ph.D. students for comprehensive exams in international relations. The course conducts a broad survey of major works in the field and current research into the causes of international conflict and cooperation.

This graduate seminar examines a long neglected topic: the role of territory in group politics. The goal is to build a basic understanding of why, when, how and which territory becomes contested. We will read from a broad range of disciplines. Each student is expected to write two short papers for two different sessions, which are not to exceed 1500 words. Each paper should provide an independent commentary of your own on some aspect of that week's readings. These papers form the background against which we will discuss the readings in class. In addition, each student is required to write a 20-25 page research paper, which focuses in depth on one of the discussed emerging research agendas. As in other graduate seminars, the course will be conducted almost exclusively through discussion. Hence it is crucial that students do the reading in advance, to set aside time to reflect on the readings, and to prepare comments and questions.

This seminar treats in detail at an advanced level key issues in the study of international political economy. Students should be prepared for very considerable responsibilities of critical reading and preparation for informed participation in discussion. Topics examined include the following: paradigmatic debates, hegemonic stability and international institutions, linkage strategies and economic sanctions, classes and coalitions, domestic institutions, bilateralism and multilateralism, credibility and macroeconomic coordination, international debt, international environmental policy, and the collapse of the Soviet bloc.

This course covers selected topics in political economy. The course content is selected by the instructor and varies from year to year. Possible topics include social choice theory, voting models, political agency, legislative bargaining, macro political economy, network theory, political economy of conflict, and development. Students may take this course more than once from different instructors.

This course is intended for advanced graduate students interested in formal and quantitative analysis of international conflict. It pulls together various techniques for such analysis and applies those techniques in a systematic manner to issues in international conflict. Particular attention will be paid to formalizing theories of conflict and then testing those theories with statistical models derived from the formalizations. The goal will be for students to (1) derive or prove results presented by the various authors, (2) identify contributions made by the authors, and (3) identify ways to improve upon the research. Because the course involves the application of game-theoretic and statistical techniques, students must have completed graduate courses in (1) mathematical statistics, (2) introductory econometrics, and (3) introductory game theory.

Designed as a forum for upper-level doctoral students who have completed formal coursework to present ongoing research. Students regularly present research either stemming from their dissertations or from ancillary projects.

This course examines the literature on conflict that has developed in the last decade. We will examine recent formal literature as well as the latest substantive (non-formal) literature on conflict. The course will help graduate students identify the broad direction of international conflict studies and will also permit graduate students to pursue topics or ideas of their own interest. To that end, we set aside two classes for "model building sessions" where students can explore approaches to formalize some of the ideas in the substantive literature, or explore extensions of the current formal literature. Students should have taken or be concurrently taking PSC 584 or have an equivalent knowledge of complete and incomplete information game theory.

This is a course intended to provide graduate students with a survey of the history of international conflict, focusing on European and U.S. diplomatic history from 1763 to 1989.

This course surveys the politics of international movements of capital, focusing on money as a power resource, the evolution of international cooperation in monetary policy, international financial institutions, and the domestic politics of macroeconomic adjustment.

This course will study game theoretic models that address core themes in comparative politics, focusing on non-democratic settings. Substantive questions include: How do authoritarian rulers maintain power? Why do countries democratize? How do states monopolize violence and prevent civil wars? The goal of the course is to understand the mechanics of important models from the literature as well as the broader research agendas to which these models contribute. This goal will enable students to identify cutting edge research questions in these literatures. The only requirement is completion of the first-year formal theory sequence or an acceptable alternative. Grading will be based primarily on problem sets and a final paper.

This is a course in political theory. We will address a set of topics situated at the intersection of democracy and political economy. The central focus will be on the entanglement of justification and analysis in political science. Readings will be drawn from both classical texts and contemporary sources. This course is required of all PhD students in political science. Others wishing to enroll should speak to the instructor before doing so.

In this graduate seminar we will examine the growing formal and quantitative literature on political violence with a special emphasis on insurgency and civil war. The course will draw heavily on game theory and the potential outcome approach, and will require careful reading of 2-4 articles each week on topics including: terrorism, the causes and duration of civil war, revolution, and the institutional and organizational structure of insurgent organizations. The goal of the course is to improve students' ability to theoretically isolate and empirically identify important mechanisms when studying conflict and violence.

Social scientists often claim that there is an intimate relationship between culture and politics. They, unfortunately, have made scant progress in elaborating the theoretical resources needed to analyze that relationship. This has led several observers to conclude that the "systemic study of politics and culture is moribund". Our aim in this seminar is to remedy this sorry state. More specifically, we will try to identify the theoretical resources that might allow more cogent analyses of the relation between culture and politics. In the process we will range across disciplines, with readings drawn from anthropology, economics, history, philosophy, political science and sociology. The course is run as a seminar, which means that all students must participate actively.

This is a course intended to provide graduate students with a survey of the history of international conflict, focusing on European and U.S. diplomatic history from 1763 to 1989.

This course is the third semester of the formal theory sequence for graduate students. It focuses on teaching students more sophisticated tools for modeling more complex games. Specifically, the course concentrates on games of incomplete information such as signaling games and communication games and develops analytical tools such as Bayesian-Nash equilibrium, perfect Bayesian equilibrium, and equilibrium refinements. The course also covers repeated games, bargaining games and equilibrium existence in a rigorous fashion. The prerequisites for the course are PSC 407 and 408, or an equivalent background in complete information game theory. Grading is based on homework assignments and a midterm and final exam.

Dynamic considerations are becoming increasingly important in the study of such political processes as legislative policy making, the impact of the political cycle on macroeconomic performance, the stability of international systems, the conduct of war, and regime change. The course develops the theory of dynamic models in decision and game theoretic environments, develops numerical methods for the computation of these models, and culminates with a thorough treatment of statistical estimation of dynamic models. The goal of the course is to equip graduate students with analytical, numerical, and statistical tools that can be used in their future research on applied topics, and specific applications will be considered at some length. Some familiarity with a programming language (such as Matlab or R) is a plus, but the dedicated student should be able to acquire basic programming skills needed for the course.

This course covers much of the modern game-theoretic literature on models of voting and elections. It is meant to expose students to the techniques and models used in this line of research. Some of the topics covered include probabilistic voting, policy-motivated candidates, candidate entry, strategic voting, and issues of information in elections, including uncertainty on the part of voters and candidates, and problems associated with private information in elections. The course covers both complete and incomplete information models and thus students must have a working knowledge of Bayesian games prior to taking this course.

Structural models enable social scientists to conduct rich analyses of how institutions and public policy shape individual or collective decision-making. The structural approach to empirical research is particularly useful in settings where more traditional methods cannot be applied, such as when agents behave strategically or when we wish to predict the consequences of never-before-observed policy interventions. This course covers the fundamentals of structural modeling and estimation. Depending on student interest, applications from economics, marketing, and political science will be considered.

This seminar focuses on the theory of non-cooperative bargaining and its applications in the study of political institutions. Our maintained assumption is that agents are optimizers of some sophistication and behave in order to have their preferences prevail, possibly at the cost of efficiency. The theory of multi-agent bargaining will be covered in depth. Areas of application include parliamentary government formation; endogenous legislative organization (rules of procedure, seniority, committees); debate and information; lobbying; political parties; courts; bureaucracy; formation and breakup of nation-state; federalism; etc. Emphasis on particular topics may vary with the configuration of class interests. Research directions will be discussed.

Democracies are distinguished among political systems by the use of non-violent methods for the resolution of social disagreements, but do not preclude and, in fact, encourage organized action to influence social policy. The course aims to provide a cohesive treatment of mathematical models of key democratic processes with particular attention paid to legislative/parliamentary policy-making; electoral competition and voter participation; and coalition and party formation. Precedence will be placed on dynamic models and on models that are actionable, in the sense that they are amenable to analytical or numerical computation. Suitable methods and algorithms for numerical analysis will be covered in depth when appropriate. The course is designed primarily for PhD students in Political Science, but advanced undergraduate students with mathematical background are also welcome (with instructor permission).

The course covers the primary results in the literature on preference aggregation and applies them to models of elections and policy-making. The focus of the course is especially on dynamic models of politics, with an emphasis on structural similarities between models of bargaining and elections. We begin by studying Arrow's theorem and majority voting, and we review the workhorse models of agenda setting and static elections in the political economy literature, including the setter model of Romer and Rosenthal and the Downsian and probabilistic models of elections. The analysis moves to the study of the Baron-Ferejohn model of bargaining and dynamic models of elections, including the two-period model of political agency with adverse selection and moral hazard. We end by considering the fully dynamic bargaining model, in which the status quo evolves endogenously over time, and the infinite-horizon political agency model. The course will consist of a mix of lectures, discussion, and student presentation of assigned readings.