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Current information on rooms and times for classes can be obtained on your MySlice or from the Political Science office.
Maymester : May 24, 2021 - June 4, 2021
PSC 300 m800 Understanding Terrorism
Instructor: Katharine Russell
Class #: 70405
Offered: MTWThF, 9:00 am - 1:00 pm, Offered: ***ONLINE***
Prerequisites: None
Course Description
This course will examine the phenomenon of terrorism from a theoretical and historical perspective. Students will trace the historical development of terrorism and explore the major theoretical approaches to terrorism studies. Students will learn the major concepts within the subfield as well as compare and contrast its theoretical approaches. Through this theoretical study as well as the empirical examination of individual terrorist organizations, leaders, and counter-terrorism approaches, students will explore who engages in terrorism, how, why, where and when, and how governments respond.
PSC 300 m801 Politics of South Asia
Instructor: Sobia Paracha
Class #: 72294
Offered: MTWThF, 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm, Offered: ***ONLINE***
Prerequisites: None
Course Description
This course will look into various facets of political and military conflicts in South Asia including but not limited to irregular/asymmetric warfare, territorial disputes, water and natural resources, nuclear weapons, international alliances, democratization process etc. A lot of the conflicts between the South
Asian states (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka) are rooted in the history of colonization and decolonization process. That is why I will provide a primer on the history, but the main thrust of the course will be on the current timeframe and how different countries in South Asia are coping with transnational challenges that are a result of a dialectic between geopolitical imperatives and domestic factors of insecurity.
PSC 300 m802 Why Obey the Govt? Philosophy of Law
Instructor: Nilesh Sinha
Class #: 72295
Offered: MTWThF, 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm, Offered: ***ONLINE***
Prerequisites: None
Course Description
Was it ok to impeach President Trump? Should there be laws against abortion? Can the government force us wear to masks because of COVID 19? In this course we will pose fundamental questions about the nature of political obligation, our allegiance to the laws of the state, the nature of law itself, its place in our social scheme, and the interaction of law and the government with notions of justice and morality. We will also look at the role judges play and the role they ought to play, in the administration of law and justice.
Session I: June 7, 2021 – July 16, 2021
PSC 202 m001 Introduction to Political Analysis
Instructor: Kari Waters
Class #: 70352
Offered: MTWTh, 10:00 am - 11:45 am, Offered: ***ONLINE***.
Class will be synchronous on Tue/Thur and asynchronous Mon/Wed.
Prerequisites: None
Course Description
The purpose of this course, required for political science majors, is to build skills for conducting, interpreting, and presenting political science research. These skills include: basic research and data collection practices, techniques for measuring political science concepts quantitatively, hypothesis testing, interpretation of statistical evidence, and the presentation of findings in a clear and compelling manner. Tying these components together is a thematic focus on important political science concepts such as democracy, power, or representation.
PSC 300 m803 Political Psychology
Instructor: Heidi Stallman
Class #: 72296
Offered: MTWTh, 12:00pm – 1:45pm, Offered: ***ONLINE***
Prerequisites: None
Course Description
This course serves as an introductory exploration of the field of political psychology. We examine what psychology can tell us about political phenomenon – ranging from voting behavior to war and genocide. To do so, the students will be exposed to a variety of source materials, including traditional academic texts, videos, podcasts, and guest lectures. The goal is to expose students to the enormous complexity of human behavior and the significant role political psychology can play in improving the human condition. Political psychologists have applied insights of psychological science to a host of different research questions including: How do emotions influence political decision-making? What considerations go into individuals’ racial attitudes? What role does the media exert in how citizens think? This class will allow students to unpack the extent to which ones individual political being views the world and their respective place in it. Most importantly, this course will survey political psychology’s research agenda, namely focusing on illuminate the nexus between political elites and individual, domestic, and group behavior. In doing so, students will engage with contemporary political problems such as race relations, fault lines of democracy, terrorism, ethnic conflict and political decision making.
PSC 355 u800 International Political Economy
Instructor: Daniel McDowell
Class #: 70369
Offered: ***ONLINE***, Asynchronous
Prerequisites: None
Course Description
From the rise of Donald Trump’s economic populism to Great Britain’s “Brexit” from the European Union, it is impossible to deny the tenuous political underpinnings of economic globalization today. To borrow from Prof. Jeffry Frieden, globalization is a choice, not a fact. That is, the global economic integration we observe today is the product of governments’ policy decisions over a period of many decades. This course introduces the student to the field of international political economy (IPE). IPE studies how politics impacts the global economy and, in return, how the global economy impacts politics. There are two central questions that we will wrestle with in this class. First, what explains the international economic policy choices governments make? Second, what are the effects of those policy choices both within and across countries? Over the course of the session, we will engage with a number of key topics in IPE including: international trade, economic development, multinational corporations, international capital flows, exchange rates, sovereign debt, and financial crises. We will rely on two primary analytic tools: basic economic principles to explain how economic policies influence the distribution of income and political economy theories that explain how politicians set policies. Together, we will use these tools to help understand historical and contemporary phenomena.
Session II: July 19, 2021 – August 27, 2021
PSC 121 m001 American National Government & Politics
Instructor: Nathan Carrington
Class #: 70004
Offered: MTWTh, 10:45 am - 11:45 am, Offered: ***ONLINE***
Prerequisites: None
Course Description
How does the American political system operate? This course provides an introduction to American political ideas, institutions, behaviors, and processes. Topics include (among other things) public opinion, elections, Congress, the presidency, the mass media, civic participation, the Constitution, federalism, and public policy. Although we will cover the “nuts and bolts” of American government, our focus is on political science rather than civics, which means our task is to analyze and interpret political phenomena.
PSC 124 m800 International Relations
Instructor: Raza Raja
Class #: 72299
Offered: MTWTh, 2:00 pm – 3:45 pm, Offered: ***ONLINE***
Prerequisites: None
Course Description
This course introduces students to the main issues and actors in contemporary international relations, organized around three major topical perspectives: world structure and theoretical views of that structure; international political economy; and international conflict, cooperation and security. It will focus on current debates around global topics such as human rights, economic interdependence, nationalism, the global environment, and economic disparities.
PSC 125 m800 Political Theory
Instructor: Ugur Altundal
Class #: 72297
Offered: MTWTh, 12:00pm – 1:45pm, Offered: ***ONLINE***
Prerequisites: None
Course Description
(May 16 – 27)
PSC/PHI 125.m800 70451/70452 Political Theory Online sync (Secen)
Introduction to theories of major modern political philosophers (Locke, Rousseau, Hume, J.S. Mill, Marx). Contemporary theories of liberty, justice, and equality.
PSC 300.m301 70322 Introduction to International Environmental Politics Online sync (Montgomery)
This course serves to introduce students to the study of environmental politics from an international perspective. Students will engage with literature and discussion on how environmental problems transcend national borders and create intractable problems for our global community. We will discuss issues of collective action; international environmental agreements and the role international and domestic actors play in designing and securing environmental agreements across policy arenas. The goal of this course is to engage students with the critical topic of environmental crises at the intersection of International Relations and Public Policy. This class will cover the problems, institutions (both formal and informal), and politics that underlie global environmental governance. Additionally, students will engage with questions around understanding international cooperation and conflict as it relates to environmental justice, markets, science, and security. We will look at how global politics shape a variety of responses to specific environmental issues including: climate change, forest depletion, the disruption of ecological systems, and the mounting water crisis.
Session I (May 23 – July 1)
PSC 123.m800 72322 Introduction to Comparative Politics Online sync (Call)
Comparison of selected governmental institutions, individual and collective political actors, and issues across the industrialized and developing world. Particular attention to dynamics of socioeconomic and political change.
PSC 202.m001 70291 Introduction to Political Analysis Online sync (Wang)
Introduction to important political science concepts; basics of political argumentation and reasoning; and basic quantitative research and analysis techniques.
PSC 355.u800 70300 International Political Economy Online async (McDowell)
Institutions and politics of international economic relations. Trade, investment, macro-economic policy coordination, economic development, global resource issues, and the causes and consequences of global economic integration.
Session II (July 5 – August 12)
PSC 121.m001 70006 American National Government & Politics In person (Jones)
American political institutions. Basic principles embedded in structure and practices of American government. Practical consequences of this political system for the citizen. Credit is given for PSC 121 or PSC 129, but not both.
PSC 121.m002 72539 American National Government & Politics In person (Van Egdom)
American political institutions. Basic principles embedded in structure and practices of American government. Practical consequences of this political system for the citizen. Credit is given for PSC 121 or PSC 129, but not both.
PSC 124.m001 70453 International Relations In person (Paracha)
Foreign policy, decision making, comparative foreign policy, international transactions, and the international system. Credit is given for PSC 124 or PSC 139, but not both.This course presents some of the most important philosophers and themes in ancient, modern, and contemporary political philosophy. We will read selections from the works of Plato, Thomas Hobbes, John Stuart Mill, Isaiah Berlin, and John Rawls, and examine the concepts of justice, equality, liberty, and the role of the state. We will also use these concepts to reflect on the political debates in today’s world