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Course Descriptions

Courses Primarily for Graduate Students

POLI SCI 407 – Experimental Political Science

No description available.

POLI_SCI 403 – Introduction to Probability and Statistics

Set theory, sample spaces, combinatorics, conditional probability, Bernoulli and binomial random variables and distributions. Some discussion of estimation and inference.

POLI_SCI 405 – Linear Models

Theory and application of linear regression and extensions such as limited dependent variables. Consequences of violating the assumptions underlying the classical linear regression model. Prerequisites: Knowledge of introductory econometrics.

POLI_SCI 406 – Quantitative Causal Inference

Topics include maximum-likelihood estimation, time-series regression, simultaneous-equation models, and measurement models. Prerequisites: POLI_SCI 405 or equivalent.

POLI_SCI 408 – Methods of Political Inquiry

This seminar is intended for graduate students in political science and related fields who are interested in empirical research using interpretive methods.  It examines a wide range of logics of research and argument and considers their utility for the study of politics.

POLI_SCI 410 – American Political Institutions and Behavior

Introduction and review of major studies in American politics on such topics as the presidency, the Congress, the courts, interest groups, political parties, and voting behavior. A basic course for graduate students.

POLI_SCI 411 – Theories of American Political Institutions

No description available.

POLI_SCI 412 – Political Participation

Participation of the masses in various political systems; the functions these activities serve. Modes and distribution of activity, protest and other unconventional forms of action, relationship to social stratification, social-choice theories of participation, and effects of different modes and levels of participation.

POLI_SCI 413 – Theories of Political Behavior

Contrasting approaches to the study of voting, theories of the survey response, psychological theories of mental process, models of public opinion, dispositional explanations of behavior, political participation, and mathematical models of social interaction.

POLI_SCI 414 – The Presidency

No description available.

POLI_SCI 415 – Bureaucracies

No description available.

POLI_SCI 416 – Interest Groups

No description available.

POLI_SCI 417 – Legistlatures

Structure and function of legislative bodies in political systems. Focus on the US Congress; comparison with state and foreign legislatures. Political representation, legislative-executive relations, explanation of legislative behavior, and legislative leadership.

POLI_SCI 418 – American Political Parties

Organizational structure of political parties and its consequences; the nature and redefinition of political party coalitions; conflict and consensus building within parties; changes within the parties and their effect on power distributions; parties in governmental decision making; party activists; and policy formation and its implications within the parties.

POLI_SCI 419 – American Political Development

The historical construction of politics in the U.S. Topics include liberalism and conservatism; state-building and party-building; industrialization and the welfare state; political traditions, regimes, and orders; electoral realignments; constitutional development; social movements; and racial politics. Historical-institutional themes of timing and sequence, critical junctures, path dependence, policy feedback, political entrepreneurship, and intercurrence.

POLI_SCI 424 – Public Opinion Media Democracy

This course is concerned with public opinion, the mass media, and the role of the public in making U.S. foreign and domestic policy. Topics include the micro foundations of public opinion (especially policy preferences), the influence of public opinion on policy, leadership or manipulation of opinion, and the quality of political information made available to the public through the media, including the systematic biases or deficiencies.

POLI_SCI 440 – International Relations Theory

Contemporary international relations theory. Basic concepts on the philosophy of social science and substantive theories of international relations, including neorealism, neoliberalism, marxism, and constructivism.

POLI_SCI 441 – International Political Economy

Assessment of the relative importance of systemic and domestic factors in the evolution of international economic relations, particularly among advanced industrialized democracies; the structure of dynamics of those relations.

POLI_SCI 442 – International Organization

Introduction to theories about the origin and role of international institutions in world politics. Why do states cooperate? Implications for democratic accountability and political legitimacy.

POLI_SCI 443 – International Law and International Politics

This seminar examines contemporary social science scholarship regarding international law. International law is a growth area of international relations.  Scholars and practitioners recognize that international law and international legal institutions are increasingly important in international politics.  The study of international law is also an intellectual arena for theoretical innovation.  International law is a place to study the interaction of material and normative forces, and a place where one can employ all of the newest methods and approaches in political science.  The new international law scholarship is being built in an unusually interdisciplinary fashion. We read work that builds on economic theories, sociological theories, and traditional international relations approaches.   We will also be examining questions of broad interest within political science, sociology and philosophy-- the social construction and influence of norms in international affairs, the importance of murky issues like legitimacy and fairness in shaping public perceptions and actor behavior, and how institutions of international law including international treaties and international courts implicitly and explicitly shape the international political process and state behavior.

POLI_SCI 445 – International Security

Introduction to theories about the origin and role of international institutions in world politics. Issues include: cooperation, covenants, agreements, norms, democratic accountability, and political legitimacy.

POLI_SCI 447 – Critical Studies in World Politics

Scholarship on world politics in the Frankfurt School, Gramscian, and postmodern traditions.

POLI_SCI 450 – Comparative Politics Proseminar 1

No description available.

POLI_SCI 451 – Comparative Political Economy of Developing Countries

Examines political explanations for the divergence in economic performance among developing countries. Topics include the developmental state, collective action, property rights, and democracy.

POLI_SCI 452 – Democratization

The interrelationships between socioeconomic structures and democracy, the importance of political leadership, the historic relationship between capitalism and democracy, and contemporary tensions between market reform and democratization.

POLI_SCI 453 – Modern Africa

Interdisciplinary survey of current conditions in Africa; the place of Africa in the modern world.

POLI_SCI 454 – Social Movements and Mobilization

This graduate-level seminar explores the political conditions and processes shaping social and political mobilization, examining major theories from the fields of sociology and political science about social movements: collective challenges to authority that aim to change society or institute structural changes in an existing state or states.

POLI_SCI 455 – Politics of Latin America

This course provides an advanced introduction to the field of Latin American politics.  The material is designed to familiarize students with both the substantive areas and the different theoretical and methodological orientations that characterize work in comparative politics on Latin America.  The course assumes no prior knowledge of Latin America and is appropriate for graduate students who work mainly on other parts of the world.

POLI_SCI 456 – Comparative Federalism

No description available.

POLI_SCI 457 – Politics of Western Europe

Impact of historical development on contemporary institutions, political and political-economic institutions, interest groups and parties, policy making, and social and economic policy.

POLI_SCI 458 – Political Institutions

The new institutionalism is one of the most important recent advances in political science. This course surveys the main varieties of institutionalism - historical, rational choice, sociological - focusing on their main methods and major findings.

POLI_SCI 459 – Comparative Political Parties

Theory and methods of studying political parties in different societies; roles of parties in government; effects on public policy; interrelation of parties and electoral systems; types of party systems; environmental change and party change.

POLI_SCI 460 – Proseminar in Comparative Politics II

Survey of major topics in comparative politics. Contemporary state of the subfield, its evolution, and emerging research questions and controversies.  Themes include institutions, identities, the state, regimes, inequality.

POLI_SCI 461 – Ancient & Medieval Political Thought

Close reading of Greek sources with attention to literary, cultural and historical context and problems of translation. Texts include works in history, philosophy oratory, drama (e.g., Aristophanes, Thucydides, Plato, Aristotle). May be repeated for credit with different texts.

POLI_SCI 462 – Early Modern Political Thought

Close reading of late Medieval and Renaissance to early Enlightenment sources. Topics: the separation of church and state; social division and political unity; politics between anthropology and cosmology; the rise of individualism; the state as work of art. may be repeated for credit with different topics and authors.

POLI_SCI 463 – Late Modern Political Thought

No description available.

POLI_SCI 464 – Contemporary Political Thought

No description available.

POLI_SCI 465 – American Political Thought

This seminar is an advanced introduction to the development of American political thought in the United States, from the Revolutionaries to the Pragmatists. It will attempt to convey the spirit and substance of some of the most important debates that have identified American political thought at different times, especially over the revolution against British subjection, the founding of a compound republic, federalism and the relationship between the states, the representation of citizens, the varieties of individualism and nationalism, the socialist utopia, the pragmatist vision, and the character of State and Nation. No single theme can adequately capture the richness, diversity, and divisiveness of these debates. However, the seminar will attempt some thematic organization by attending to citizens and the state(s) (and, by implication, nation and subjects, institutions and individuals, federalism and union), as these are discussed in our primary texts. The seminar will also take note of the different kinds of ¿texts¿ of theorizing: from systematic treatises to letters, speeches, pamphlets and even a novel. The texts and debates will be presented roughly in chronological order.

POLI_SCI 468 – Problems in Democratic Theory

Consideration of issues such as whether democracy presupposes a demos that is socially unified. What are democracy's prospects in an age of globalization and transnationalism?

POLI_SCI 469 – Knowledge & Politics

Examination of the crisis - or promise - of meaning that results from the multitude of ways in which political and linguistic theorists have responded to the challenge to think about language in non-referential terms.

POLI_SCI 481 – Politics of Preindustrial Societies

No description available.

POLI_SCI 482 – Political Economy of Industrial Society

No description available.

POLI_SCI 484 – CHSS Workshop

This course is an interdisciplinary seminar designed for graduate students interested in comparative and historical work, broadly defined.  Some of the work is more comparative and some is more historical.  The workshop includes presentations of new work by Northwestern graduate students, Northwestern faculty, and leading outside scholars in the field of comparative-historical analysis.

POLI_SCI 486 – Politics of the Middle East

Middle East Politics Advanced seminar on topics including state formation, regimes, political economy, political culture, political institutions, identity, social movements, and religion in politics. From late Ottoman era through 2011 uprisings.

POLI_SCI 490 – Special Topics

No description available.

POLI_SCI 490 – Special Topics: Advanced Feminist Theory

No description available.

POLI_SCI 490 – Special Topics: Global Capitalism and Law

No description available.

POLI_SCI 490 – Special Topics: Global (In)Justice

No description available.

POLI_SCI 490 – Special Topics: Law & Politics in Authoritarian/Developing Countries

No description available.

POLI_SCI 490 – Special Topics: Machine Learning and Text as Data

No description available.

POLI_SCI 490 – Special Topics: Nation-Building and State Formation After WWII

No description available.

POLI_SCI 490 – Special Topics: Political Theories of Membership

No description available.

POLI_SCI 490 – Special Topics: Political Power in the United States

No description available.

POLI_SCI 490 – Special Topics: Public Opinion and Representation

No description available.

POLI_SCI 490 – Special Topics: Race and Political Behavior

No description available.

POLI_SCI 490 – Special Topics: Race and Public Policy

No description available.

POLI_SCI 490 – Special Topics: Research Design

No description available.

POLI_SCI 490 – Special Topics: War and Society

No description available.

POLI_SCI 495 – Qualitative Methods

No description available.

POLI_SCI 499 – Independent Study

No description available.

POLI_SCI 519 – Responsible Conduct of Research Training

No description available.