All information in this guide is tentative and subject to change. Check the Political Science Department Office for updates. Current Information on rooms and times for the classes listed can be obtained from the university-wide Time Schedule of Classes or from the Political Science office.
PSC 600
...
m003 Gender & Politics
Instructor: Keith Bybee Jenn Jackson
Class # : 4205220807
Offered: M/ W 112:00 45 pm – 2-3:15 30 pm
Meets with LAW 602 m002
Course DescriptionA
This course
...
examines the
...
intersection of gender and politics in the United States. We will begin the course by examining gender formation, naming, social group inclusion/exclusion, and the work of conforming to or transgressing gender norms. In the remainder of the course, we will cover the following topics: gender in society; media, politics, and gendered expectations and stereotypes; women’s social movements of the left—and the right; gender and power, political engagement and political participation; voice, choice and party identification; the gender gap in running for office; political representation and policy-making; the effects of public policy on gender; the political intersection of gender with race, class, sexual orientation, and embodiment; and gender and politics across countries.
PSC 681 m001 Comparative State, Society Relations
Instructor: S.N. Sangpam
Class # 20774
Offered: M 3:45 pm – 6
PSC 600 m301 European Integration
Instructor: Glyn Morgan
Class #: 41898
Offered: W 6:45 pm – 9:30 pm
Course Description
From 1986 until 2005, the project to build an economically and politically integrated Europe proved remarkably successful. In the last few years, however, this project has confronted a number of interlocking difficulties—"or polycrises.” These difficulties include: populist nationalism; immigration; demographic decline; geopolitical conflict, and now the war sparked by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. These polycrises prompt the questions: (i) Does European integration have a future: (ii) If so, what form must it take to survive? More generally, the EU represents the first genuine attempt to find an alternative to the nation-state. If the EU fails, then what does this tell us about the nature and durability of the nation-state as a macropolitical form?
PSC 602 m001 Public Policy Analysis *** Cancelled ***
PSC 611 m001 American Parties & Election
Instructor: Chris Faricy
Class #: 41883
To the extent that former Soviet-bloc East European allies and federated states have moved to the West while former Asian federated states of the Soviet Union are joining the non-Western world or the "Third World," cross-national comparative politics is and will be about Western and non-Western countries. Its observation units are European and North American countries or Western countries, on the one hand, and African, Asian, and South American countries or non-Western countries, on the other. This graduate course revolves around the question of how to compare Western and non-Western countries. It provides conceptual, methodological, and theoretical tools for defining, comparing/contrasting, and explaining the politically relevant features of these two types of countries as embodied by their respective type of state-society relations. The course deals with the question of the validity of the two dominant modes of inquiry in comparative politics that address the issue of state-society relations in Western and non-Western countries: macro-deductive theories which reflect "universalism" and micro-inductive theories which reflect "particularism."
PSC 691 m001 Logic of Political Inquiry
Instructor: Colin Elman
Class # 12192
Offered: W 9:30 am-Offered: Th 9:30 am – 12:15 pm
Course Description
This course examines the origins and consequences of American political parties and uses political science approaches to understand political parties and elections. By the end of the course, you should have a basic understanding of the classic works on parties, as well as a strong grasp of recent theoretical and empirical advances and important debates in the study of parties, party systems, and elections.
PSC 651 m001 Theories of International Relations
Instructor: Audie Klotz
Class #: 41884
Offered: W 12:45 pm – 3:30 pm
Course Description
This course explores alternative perspectives on power in the international system, covering global, state-centric and transnational approaches. Readings cover both classics and newer exemplars. While we will relate theories to contemporary controversies, you should be prepared to embark on more than a current events course. By introducing the basic vocabulary and some of the major debates of the field, the course serves as a foundation for the field exam, additional coursework, and dissertation research.
PSC 694 m001 Qualitative Political Analysis
Instructor: Audie Klotz
Class #: 31474
Offered: M 12:45 pm-3:30 pm
Course Description
This course introduces the three methodological techniques most often associated in Political Science with the qualitative label: ethnography, discourse analysis, and historiography. Through homework assignments, you will learn to apply each tool in research of your choice. To situate these methods within a research proposal—the final assignment—we will also query distinctions between qualitative and quantitative (as well as other) methods. Your research design will mimic a funding proposal, as appropriate for the project (e.g., master’s thesis, pilot study, or dissertation). Thus, the course should be useful both to those in the early stages of graduate work and to those starting dissertations.
PSC 700 m006 Politics of the Middle East
Instructor: Yael Zeira
Class #: 42049
seminar introduces students to the principles of research design in mainstream political science. We will begin with some questions in the philosophy of science as they apply to the social sciences. We will review the purpose of theories, as well as different approaches to generating and evaluating them. We will investigate concept formation and operationalization. We will discuss how different research designs (including the construction of counterfactuals, comparative case studies, large-N regression analysis, and experiments) may be used to help researchers make valid causal inferences.
PSC 693 m001 Intro to Quantitative Political Analysis
Instructor: Seth Jolly
Class # 11360
Offered: Tu 12:30 pm-2:30 pm; F 10:35 am-11:30 am Lab
Course Description
This course introduces students to the basic statistical methods used in the study of political science. In the seminars and labs, you will learn to describe and analyze social science data, such as national election surveys. Throughout the course, you will also learn to understand the importance of randomness in statistical research, conduct statistical tests, present your results, and evaluate the implications of quantitative analysis. You will learn to compute most of the techniques both ‘by hand’ and with Stata, a statistical software program commonly used in political science. Contemporary political science research in all subfields utilizes statistical techniques and, consequently, a basic understanding of these methods is crucial. The goal is this course to provide students with the statistical tools necessary to become a sophisticated consumer and producer of quantitative research.
PSC 700 m101 Ethics in International Relations
Instructor: Glyn Morgan
Class # 13218
Offered: W 6:45 pm-9:30 pm
Course Description
International Relations (IR) is a field of study that focuses on the behavior of international actors (typically states and international organizations). Ethics as a field of study focuses on the rights and wrongs of actions, policies, and institutions. The ethics of international relations focuses on the rights and wrongs of international actions, policies, and institutions. This class will read some of the classic works in International Political Theory (including works by Thucydides, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Kant, Morgenthau, Walzer, Habermas, and Rawls). We will discuss the pros and cons of the realist tradition. And we will examine a number of current ethical dilemmas, including terrorism, torture, global inequality, immigration, and climate change.
PSC 700 m301 Order and Change in International Systems
Instructor: Ryan Griffiths
Class # 20809
Offered: Th Offered: T 9:30 am – 12:15 pm
Course Description
In this course, seminar we will engage with key questions in the study of Middle East and North Africa politics and the politics of the Global South more broadly, with a special focus on authoritarian regimes and strategies, clientelism, opposition parties and movements, and the causes and consequences of the Arab Uprisings, including democratic transitions, reversals, and war. We will explore these questions using cases from across the region, including Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, and the Gulf, with an eye towards comparison with other world regions. The main goaof the course is to introduce you to some of the main questions driving contemporary research on Middle East and North Africa politics, the most important contributions made to answering these questions to date, and the gaps that remain in our understanding of these questions. In doing so, it aims to give you not only a survey of the relevant literature but also the tools you will need to engage with and evaluate new research, including your own.PSC 706 m001 US National Security Policyexplore a number of topics in international relations. We will begin by looking at theories of international order and the origins of the state system. We will then survey a set of related topics including theories of hierarchy and anarchy, legitimacy, regional variation in political order across time and space, the importance of borders, and the dynamics of international change. In doing so, we’ll engage with the latest research in these topic areas. The seminar is meant to not only prepare students for comprehensive exams, but to also assist them in identifying potential research projects.
PSC 700 m401 Politics of Africa
Instructor: Erin Hern
Class # 20810
Offered: M 9:30 am – 12:15 pm
Course Description
How can African politics deepen our understanding of concepts in comparative politics? Many theories of comparative politics were developed with the experience of Europe or European settler colonies in mind, while the experiences of other places were relegated to “regional studies” or “why don’t our theories work there” thinking. This course applies concepts of comparative politics to African cases, seeking to uncover what CP concepts can explain about politics in Africa, while also illuminating how African experiences enrich our understanding of comparative politics.
PSC 700 m501 Democratic Representation & Accountability
Instructor: Simon Weschle
Class # 20811
Offered: W 9:30 am – 12:15 pm
Course Description
In this seminar, we study the nuts and bolts of democracy. One of its core characteristics is that policy is supposed to represent the preferences of citizens, and that the latter can hold the former accountable if they don’t do a good job. How is this supposed to work, and what are factors that can impede democratic representation and accountability? Topics covered include, among others: forms of representation, accountability and retrospective voting, responsiveness, social identity, political/social inequality, political selection, special interest politics, clientelism, or election fraud.
PSC 700 m601 Politics & Media
Instructor: Emily Thorson
Class # 20812
Offered: Tu 9:30 am – 12:15 pm
Course Description
This seminar provides an overview of political communication research, including core concepts, major theories, and methodological tools. Readings will draw on political science, communication, and psychology. The course will cover both traditional mass media as well as newer forms of media (e.g. social media platforms and partisan media).
PSC 719 m001 Fundamentals of Post-Conflict Reconstruction
Instructor: Renee de Nevers
Class # : 3233512793
Offered: W Tu/Th 9:30 am- 1210:15pm50 am
Meets Cross – listed with PAI 718.719 m001
Course Description
This course will explore U.S. national security and foreign policy. We will examine U.S. policy during the cold war to establish a framework for understanding the policy challenges the U.S. faces today; foreign and security policy decision-making; and current policy issues. The course will use a combination of readings, case studies, exercises, and guest speakers to explore issues ranging from the U.S. national security structure, diplomacy and the use of force, and U.S. relations with allies and potential adversaries.
PSC 711 m001 American Constitutional Development
Instructor: Thomas Keck
The goal of this class is to familiarize students with the main concepts of post conflict reconstruction, the various dimensions and goals of post-conflict work, the types of actors that conduct it, the trade-offs and dilemmas they face, and the lessons learned from its application across various settings. The course will devote considerable attention to the applied side of post-conflict reconstruction; that is, the techniques and tools used by international intermediaries (states, IOs and NGOs) as well as local stakeholders to transition societies from violence to sustainable peace. It will also address many of the key issues that frame the debate in post-conflict reconstruction work: the tension between externally and internally generated recovery efforts; the possibilities and weaknesses of formal peace and reconciliation commissions; the challenges of civilian-military cooperation in post-conflict zones; the trade-offs between stability and liberty; and the quest for viable exit strategies for international actors.
PSC 767 m001 International Human Rights
Instructor: Lamis Abdelaaty
Class # 20799Class #: 41885
Offered: W 9:30 am – 12:15 pm
Course Description
In this course, we will explore the development of the American constitutional order over time. In doing so, we will examine questions like the following: Does the current American republic have a meaningful relationship to the one envisioned by the framers? To what extent, and in what ways, have our governing institutions changed since 1789? How have those changes been brought about, and by whom? Transformative judicial opinions? Reconstructive presidential actions? Popular demands? What role have constitutional ideas and institutions played in broader patterns of political development? Conversely, what role have such broader political developments played in shaping the Constitution? Is the United States currently at risk of constitutional crisis, democratic erosion, or other serious failing?
My principal goals for the course, the applicability of which will vary from student to student, are (a) to prepare you to write a doctoral dissertation in the field of law and courts; (b) to prepare you to teach undergraduate courses in Constitutional Law, which is a marketable skill whether or not you are planning to write a dissertation in the field; (c) to improve your grasp of American political and constitutional history in ways that will profitably inform a wide variety of research projects in American politics; and (d) to prepare you for qualifying exams in the fields of American Politics and Law & Courts. If none of those options seem relevant to you, the course should at least help you have informed conversations about American constitutionalism with present and future colleagues, and perhaps we can identify some other relevant goals as well.
The readings for the course will include selections from classic and contemporary works by historians, legal scholars, and political scientists, with an emphasis on works by contemporary political scientists.
PSC 713 m001 Congress and the Presidency
Instructor: Maraam Dwidar
Class #: 41886
This seminar introduces the student to the IR subfield of International Political Economy (IPE). At its core, IPE aims to answer one big question: What explains governments' international economic policy choices? Put differently, why do states choose to integrate (or, disintegrate) their economies with each other? Existing scholarship provides us with a range of theoretical and empirical answers to these questions across a variety of issue areas. While some work explains policy outcomes by focusing on international structure, other work emphasizes domestic interests and institutions. Though much of the work in the subfield is unequivocally materialist, we will also engage with a growing body of scholarship that explores how ideas and identity also shape policy. We will debate these diverse analytical approaches as we explore the major issue areas in the subfield including trade, foreign direct investment, capital account liberalization, exchange rates, sovereign debt, international currencies, and the rise of China.
PSC 768 m001 Law, Courts, and Human Rights
Instructor: Yuksel Sezgin
Class # 20801
Offered: M 3:45 pm – 6:30 pm
Course Description
The interaction between law, courts and politics is gaining increasing interest among scholars in recent years. This renewed interest in comparative study of judicial institutions, human rights and socio-legal change in non-American contexts have given rise to emergence of new schools of thought as well as theoretical, methodological innovations and challenges. This course aims to introduce graduate students to inner workings of judicial institutions in a comparative perspective, and familiarize them with various theories and methodologies employed by scholars, professionals and practitioners for conducting research on comparative legal systems and institutions. Drawing from comparative politics, comparative law, socio-legal studies, legal anthropology, and international relations literatures, the course will analyze dispute-resolution, policymaking, social control and regime legitimation functions of courts (state courts and non-state tribunals alike –i.e., tribal courts, religious tribunals, international courts etc.) and examine the question of which of these core functions courts in different societies choose to emphasize, and why. In other words, in respect to the function and role that courts have come to play in their respective social and political systems, there is a considerable variation across time and space, why that is the case; and what intrinsic or extrinsic factors determine the specific role and function a court plays at a given point in time and place.
PSC 785 m001 Comparative Civilian-Military Relations
Instructor: Brian Taylor
Class # 20802
Offered: Th 12:30 pm – 3Offered: T 3:30 pm – 6:15 pm
Course Description
This course will introduce students to the study of political institutions in American politics and policymaking. We will discuss the changing roles of, and relationships between, a range of formal and informal institutional actors, including the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, the federal bureaucracy, political parties, interest groups, the mass media, and social movements and intersectional activisms. In doing so, we will continuously consider the implications of institutional history, norms, and procedure for democratic function and legitimacy. Importantly, while this course will emphasize the legislative and executive branches, it will also survey the broader American political institutions literature.
PSC 752 m001 International Law and Organizations
Instructor: Lamis Abdelaaty
Class #: 41887
Offered: T 9:30 am-12:15 pm
Course Description
Global governance, from formal organizations to soft law, establishes the “rules of the game” in international affairs. This course surveys the varying character and density of these rules across issues. Topics may include war, intervention, human rights, trade, development, self-determination, migration, and environment. Students will delve deeper through research papers.
PSC 769 m001 Comparative Parties & Politics
Instructor: Seth Jolly
Class #: 41888
Offered: T 12:30 pm-3:15 pm
Course Description
The course provides an overview of concepts and theories employed in the study of political parties in competitive democracies. The course will develop theoretical arguments and employ empirical examples primarily from the literature on party systems in advanced postindustrial democracies. In the first section, we will focus on pure, general theories of parties as coalitions of politicians and party systems as arenas for competition among such coalitions.
In the second part of class, we consider democratic institutions, and more specifically electoral systems, as rules that constrain and enable politicians to choose strategies. In the third section, we consider societal (political-economic, cultural) conditions as forces impinging upon the nature of competition among parties and the internal process of strategy formation and resource pooling inside parties. In the final part of class, we consider change in both parties and party systems, paying special attention to the entry of new parties.
PSC 780 m001 Latin American Politics
Instructor: Matt Cleary
Class #: 41889
Offered: T 3:30 pm-6:15 pm
Course Description
This graduate seminar introduces students to many of the central concepts and puzzles relevant to understanding politics in Latin America. The course is structured thematically; we will analyze politics among a different subset of countries each week, depending on the context of the readings and discussion. Important themes in the course include political and economic development, democratization, institutional design and performance, social movements, economic policies/reforms, gender, ethnicity and indigenous politics, and socioeconomic inequality. We also draw on a wide variety of theoretical approaches to politics, including cultural, structural, institutional, and rationalist explanations for political outcomes. The reading list comes mostly from political science, but we also will draw from relevant literature in economics, history, sociology, anthropology, and other social sciences.
PSC 794 m001 Advanced Quantitative Political Analysis
Instructor: Dimitar Gueorguiev
Class #: 31476
Offered: Th 12:30 pm – 3:15 pm
Course Description
This course has several goals. First, to provide you with the ability to understand, utilize, and evaluate the classical linear regression model in an informed manner. Second, to explore alternative specifications and modeling approaches that better conform to the nature of your data and your questions. Third, to think carefully about the interpretations you draw from statistical analysis and to improve inference by design. Specific topics to be covered include, bivariate and multivariate linear regression, non-linear and limited dependent variables, panel and spatial data, experimental methods, and quasi-experimental methods like instrumental variables estimation and regression discontinuity. The connection between the course material and applied research will be highlighted throughout the course. Students will have regular problem sets, practice with statistical software, mainly Stata, and an exam.
PSC 997 Master’s Thesis
is a graduate seminar on the major themes and debates in the study of civil-military relations (CMR). In every modern state the question of the proper balance between the armed forces and the civilian political leadership is a key feature of politics. In the most extreme cases, the military itself takes power. In established democracies civil-military relations do not take this extreme form, but there are still important debates about the proper degree of military influence over defense and foreign policy, and the degree to which military policy should be responsive to broader social and cultural values. This course has four separate units: 1. Foundations: States, Militaries, Nations, and Military Professionalism; 2. Who’s In Charge? Military Intervention and Civilian Control; 3. Civil-Military Relations and the Use of Force; 4. New Challenges in Civil-Military Relations.
PSC 792 m001 Research Design
Instructor: Chris Faricy
Class # 12002
Offered: Tu 12:30 pm – 3:15 pm
Course Description
PSC 792 is required for Ph.D. students and should ideally be taken at the beginning of your third year, the same semester you are taking qualifying examinations. The primary goal of this course is to have each student produce a working draft of a dissertation proposal. Topics to be covered include: what makes for a good dissertation, what a prospectus should look like, how to situate your project in the existing literature, field research, funding, writing tips, and professional development. Each student will write and present several drafts of their proposal, and provide feedback to their colleagues. The course also will include discussions with junior faculty and current ABDs about their experiences, and meetings with university experts on human subjects research and external funding. In addition to the proposal, students will complete short assignments about different aspects of the dissertation process and professional development. Another important goal of the course is to develop the skills of providing feedback to your peers, and accepting constructive criticism from them. You should prepare to submit a 5-page description of your research area and the problem(s) you intend to address in your dissertation at the beginning of the semester. (Instructor consent required.)
PSC 796 m001 Formal Theories of Choice
Instructor: Minju Kim
Class #: 13219
Offered: M 12:45 pm – 3:30 pm
Course Description
This course provides an introduction to game theory in political science. In this class, you will learn models of non-cooperative individuals who are not bound by the direct preference aggregation rules. In game theory, preferences will be indirectly aggregated, under the name of “equilibrium,” with actions of the non-cooperative individuals.
This class has two main learning objectives. First, students will be able to comprehend static and dynamic games of complete and incomplete information. Second, the course will prepare students to independently analyze social science phenomena using game theory. Students will not only solve ready-made problems but will also construct a game on their own to critically analyze a real-world event of their interest. In doing so, students will learn how to apply game-theoretic tools to their own research.
PSC 800 m001 Seminar in Social and Political Philosophy
Instructor: Kenneth Baynes
Class # 20826
Offered: Tu 3:30 pm – 6:15 pm
Course Description
Two broad topics in recent Rawlsian and “post-Rawlsian” political philosophy have received a great deal of attention: One is the question of feasibility (or how “realistic” vs. “utopian” normative theorizing should be). A second concerns the role various economic institutions (including markets, property rights and, indeed, labor or work itself) should play in assumptions about a just society or “realistic utopia”. We’ll explore both of these with particular focus on the value (and future) of work, the critique of ‘private government’ (Anderson) and the feasibility of some form of democratic socialism (vs. Rawls’s idea of a ‘property-owners’ democracy’).
PSC 804 m001 Advanced Topics in Qualitative Methods
Instructor: Steven White
Class #: 12603
Offered: W 12:45 pm – 3:30 pm
Course Description
This class covers a range of theoretical and practical issues related to conducting qualitative historical research in political science. Topics will include differences between historical research in political science and political history; historiography and selection bias when working with secondary sources; and planning and conducting archival research. We will also look at examples of different types of historical research to see best practices in action, including process tracing and the use of historical narratives to develop new concepts or hypotheses. Other topics might include using historical research as part of a mixed methods approach; points of tension and overlap with quantitative historical work; and debates about what transparency should look like for qualitative researchers.
PSC 997 m001 Master’s Thesis
Register for class # 12193Register for class # 32336, PSC 997 m001, 6 credit hours –or-
Register for class # 3208912194, PSC 997 m002, 0 credit hours
PSC 999 m001 Dissertation Credits
Register for class # 30628 10484, for 1 to 15 credits
GRD 998 Degree in Progress (Zero Hour Registration)
Register for:
GRD 998m001, register for class number # 37039 - GRD 998.001-or-
Register for class number # 37040 - GRD 998.002
16528
GRD 998m002, register for class # 16529
GRD 998m003, register for class # 16531
If you have completed your political science coursework and When you have completed all of your coursework and your dissertation credits, you should be registered each fall and spring semester for register for GRD 998 “Degree in Progress” , each semester until you graduate.
Along with your GRD 998 registration, please remember to complete a Full Time Certification form each semester you are registered for zero credit hours to continue your Full-Time student status. You can find the form on the graduate school link below.
https://answers.syr.edu/display/GS/Forms
Your student status will be discontinued if you are not registered before the last day to add a class:
Please to maintain your active student status. Please see Candy Brooks if you have any questions about your credits .Remember to complete a “Certification of Full-Time Status” form each time you register for zero credit hours to continue your full time status. A copy is attached for your or registration.