Winter 2019 Class Schedule
Course | Title | Instructor | Lecture | Discussion | Cap |
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POLI_SCI 405 | Linear Models | McGrath | M 2:00-4:50 | M 5:00-5:50 | |
POLI_SCI 405 Linear ModelsTheory 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. This course is about linear models, the major workhorses of statistics for description and prediction - and the most common quantitative methods in political science. We will use a linear models framework to discuss significance tests, graphical displays, tests of assumptions, interpretation of coefficients and interactions, and questions of causal inference. We will also work through statistical computing skills such that students can use all of the above in their own work. | |||||
POLI_SCI 411 | Theories of American Political Institutions | Harbridge-Yong | Th 2:00-4:50 | 15 | |
POLI_SCI 411 Theories of American Political InstitutionsThis course provides a broad overview of the literature on American political institutions, introduces some of the major theoretical perspectives and controversies, and encourages a wide-ranging familiarity with the substance of American politics. Although not all subjects are covered nor is the entirety of any topic covered, my hope is that each student will gain a better understanding of the field and some of the newest directions of research on institutions.
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POLI_SCI 443 | International Law and International Politics | Alter | Tu 9:00-11:50 | 15 | |
POLI_SCI 443 International Law and International Politics | |||||
POLI_SCI 451 | Comparative Political Economy of Developing Countries | Gans-Morse | Th 11:00-1:50 | 15 | |
POLI_SCI 451 Comparative Political Economy of Developing CountriesExamines political explanations for the divergence in economic performance among developing countries. Topics include the developmental state, collective action, property rights, and democracy. This graduate seminar explores key factors that shape the development trajectory of nations, drawing on work from political science, economics, and sociology. We will examine various aspects of development, with a particular focus on economic growth. A primary area of inquiry is how political institutions influence development outcomes. Topics covered include the relationship between democracy and development, the role of the state, consequences of natural resources and corruption, and the impact of foreign aid. Throughout the course, there is also a focus on methodological debates concerning the pros and cons of quantitative vs. qualitative analysis, macro vs. micro-level data, and observational vs. experimental research. | |||||
POLI_SCI 490 | Special Topic: Religion, Race, and Politics: Global and Imperial Perspectives | Hurd | W 9:00-11:50 | 20 | |
POLI_SCI 490 Special Topic: Religion, Race, and Politics: Global and Imperial PerspectivesThis seminar is an experiment in studying the intersections of religion, race, and global politics. We discuss how particular understandings of ‘religion’ and ‘race’ have informed contemporary scholarship and also shaped national and international legal and governmental practice. These questions are examined in contexts ranging from anti-superstition laws in Haiti, to religious aspects of the colonial encounter in the Dutch East Indies, to the celebration of “moderate” religion at the US State Department, to the politics of secularism, magic and spirituality in India and China, and beyond. Cross-cutting themes include religion and the rise of the nation-state; the politics of religious establishment and religious freedom; the role of race in the formation of the disciplines of religious studies and international relations; the formation of modern vocabularies of religious and racial exclusion; the role of race and secularism in American history at home and abroad, and the international politics of religion and race in colonial and postcolonial contexts. Readings are comprised of books and articles, including new and not yet published work, which draw on international politics, religion, political theory, law, anthropology and history. | |||||
POLI_SCI 490 | Special Topic: Global Environmental Politics | Suiseeya | Th 9:00-11:50 | 15 | |
POLI_SCI 490 Special Topic: Global Environmental PoliticsGlobal environmental problems are amongst the most intractable challenges facing our global community. As a subfield that emerged from international relations, scholars of global environmental politics seek to understand and explain the ways in which international politics shape the global environment. This seminar addresses fundamental and emerging questions in Global Environmental Politics, such as: What explains global environmental problems? How do politics influence the global environment? Who are the key actors that shape the global environment and what explains their practices, especially related to global commons and transboundary environmental issues? What are the modes and sites that constitute global environmental governance? Under what conditions does cooperation emerge and with what effect? We will direct particular attention to the intersection of global environmental governance, international politics, and justice in the context of the global commons. | |||||
POLI_SCI 490 | Special Topic: Methods and Approaches to the Interpretation of Machiavelli | Dietz | W 2:00-4:50 | ||
POLI_SCI 490 Special Topic: Methods and Approaches to the Interpretation of Machiavelli | |||||
POLI_SCI 490 | Special Topic: Bayesian Analysis | Bouchat | MW 5:00-6:20 | ||
POLI_SCI 490 Special Topic: Bayesian Analysis | |||||
POLI_SCI 490 | Special Topic: Pragmatism, Marxism, and Critical Theory | Farr | M 2:00-4:50 | ||
POLI_SCI 490 Special Topic: Pragmatism, Marxism, and Critical TheoryThis graduate seminar addresses some fundamental issues related to political theory and social inquiry. In particular, it addresses the political-theoretic dimensions of social inquiry—one might even say “the political philosophy of social science”—in connection with claims that criticism or critique is essential to both political theory and social inquiry. The seminar will broach these issues and claims by attending to the changing traditions of Marxism, Pragmatism, and Critical Theory (as associated with the Frankfurt School). These traditions have complex and intersecting histories. At different times, they critique and criticize—not to mention challenge, condemn, or complement—one another in a process of mutual transformation. In different ways, they situate “critique” and “criticism” within the defining categories of science, method, and politics. It is the intent of the seminar, then, to investigate these traditions involved in mutual critique and criticism, and to take up their respective and changing understandings of “critique” and “criticism” in matters of political theory and social inquiry, as a contribution to the political philosophy of social science. As a matter or organization and presentation, the readings will unfold more or less historically, from the 1840s down to the present. Given this broad intent, the seminar involves intellectual history, political theory, and the philosophy of science. It pretends to be no more than an advanced introduction to the issues, figures, and traditions in question. As graduate students in the seminar, you are not expected to have any special preparation, aside from a general interest in the issues at stake and some basic course work in political theory, philosophy, or the social sciences. You are also encouraged to develop paper topics that play to your own particular ongoing research agendas, the better to make the seminar serve your longer-term intellectual growth and academic interests. | |||||
POLI_SCI 490 | Special Topic: Politics of Conflict - Civil Wars | Reno | W 5:00-7:50 | 15 | |
POLI_SCI 490 Special Topic: Politics of Conflict - Civil WarsEvents of the past two decades highlight the roles of state failure, ethnic strife, enterprising commanders, and elements of international politics in civil wars. Are ethnic tensions, great power strategies, religious extremism, colonialism, class warfare, resource competition, ideology or state failure causes of these conflicts or consequences of civil wars? Why and how do civil wars end? What is the impact of international efforts to mediate conflicts? This course will provide students with analytical tools to understand and evaluate different explanations of the causes of civil wars This course will be useful for those who are interested in the politics of ethnic conflict, the relationship between the character of civil wars and changes in the international system, the (potentially diverse) causes of civil wars, civil wars and state-building, and the causes for variations in the organization and behavior of armed groups. | |||||
POLI_SCI 490 | Special Topic: Race and Immigration | Merseth | Tu 2:00-4:50 | 15 | |
POLI_SCI 490 Special Topic: Race and ImmigrationThis course examines the role of immigration in American politics with a focus on influential theories and evidence of the relationship between race and immigration, historically and present-day.
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POLI_SCI 490 | Special Topic: Comparative Methods | Mahoney | M 9:00-11:50 | 20 | |
POLI_SCI 490 Special Topic: Comparative Methods |