American Politics
Field of Study for the PhD: American Politics
American politics is the study of institutions and behavior, both in isolation and as they interact, as they relate to national and subnational government and policy choices. As such, areas of study can involve political beliefs and preferences, voting, organized interests, institutions (legislatures, executives, courts, bureaucracies), and explicit areas of public policy. Scholarship may focus on the present day or be historical; it may involve the analysis of local, state, and national politics and the federal system that defines the United States; and it may link the United States to politics in other countries.
American Politics at Rochester
The American politics field at Rochester provides students with a strong foundation to study the areas of American politics that interest them and, as part of this process, helps them define meaningful research questions. Sensitivity is given to matching the skills that students acquire and develop elsewhere in the program, along with their personal interests and strengths, with research programs to which they can make substantial contributions. Methods can include a wide variety of techniques including surveys and experiments, the collection and analysis of field data, and the specification of formal theoretic models. For the major field, a student must take two courses, American Political Institutions and U.S. Political Behavior, and two additional advanced graduate seminars from the list below (or another course approved by the field coordinator and DGS), receiving an average GPA of 3.5 across the four courses with no grade lower than B-. For the minor field, a student must take three courses—American Political Institutions, U.S. Political Behavior, one advanced seminar course—passing each course with a grade of B- or better. Recognizing the breadth and diversity of American politics, effort is made to offer topics of interest to students.
Required Courses
- PSCI 540: American Political Institutions
- PSCI 541: U.S. Political Behavior
Electives
- PSCI 513: Interest Group Politics
- PSCI 518: Emergence of the Modern Congress
- PSCI 527: Models of Domestic Institutions
- PSCI 529: Race and Ethnic Politics in the United States
- PSCI 530: Race, History and Urban Politics
- PSCI 535: Bureaucratic Politics