POLI 1101 Introduction to American Politics    3 Credits

Attributes: ASGW American Studies: Gateway, ASPO American Studies: Politics, PMAP Politics Major: American Politics

Students examine the American political system: the design and operation of Congress, the Presidency, and the Supreme Court; American political culture; elections; the ability of the political system to deal with societal problems, and proposals for reform of the political system. Previously PO 0101.

POLI 1102 Introduction to Comparative Politics    3 Credits

Attributes: INEL International Studies Elective, PMCP Politics Major: Comparative Politics

This course introduces students to the exciting facts, concepts, and theories necessary to understand the structures and processes of diverse political systems that exist around the world. Comparing similarities and differences among the different political systems in prominent countries provides insights into current events and enabled students to address important questions about politics in specific countries and regions. Previously PO 0102.

POLI 1103 Introduction to Political Ideas That Shape the World    3 Credits

Attributes: PMPT Politics Major: Political Theory

This course introduces students to some of the most important ideas in political theory. It analyzes the Western political theories of Thomas Hobbes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, John Locke, J.S. Mill, Karl Marx, and others, and compares and contrasts them to a variety of communitarian, socialist, and anarchist political theories. Previously PO 0103.

POLI 1104 Introduction to International Relations    3 Credits

Attributes: HACA Humanitarian Action Minor Context Course, PJST Peace and Justice Studies, PMIR Politics Major: International Relations

This course introduces students to important concepts, frameworks, events, and theories in International Relations and provides the tools need to improve their understanding of global politics both historically and today. The course familiarizes students with conceptual tools that can help them analyze, understand and address a variety of current international issues and policy challenges. Previously PO 0104.

POLI 2102 City Politics    3 Credits

Attributes: ASPO American Studies: Politics, ASTH American Studies Theme Course, PACG Public Administration City Government, PMAP Politics Major: American Politics

This course examines structures and processes of urban politics and considers the major participants and policy areas of urban political processes. It sets the evolution of urban areas in historical perspective, discusses major contemporary problems, and analyzes alternative solutions. Previously PO 0202.

POLI 2103 Public Administration    3 Credits

Attributes: ASPO American Studies: Politics, ASTH American Studies Theme Course, PMAP Politics Major: American Politics

Public administration is central to American government. It decides who gets what, when, and how at the local level. This course uses case studies, theoretical analyses, and skill-development activities to examines the practice and power of U.S. public administrators and the factors that impact their jobs and the effectiveness of their decisions. This course explores core public administration concepts, bureaucratic politics, organizational behavior, decision-making strategies, public management, and social issues; builds student knowledge and professional skills; and highlights the political, practical and managerial factors that affect public administration. Previously PO 0203.

POLI 2104 American Presidency    3 Credits

Attributes: ASGW American Studies: Gateway, ASPO American Studies: Politics, ASUP American Studies Upper Level, PMAP Politics Major: American Politics

This course examines President's role as chief executive, legislative leader, and administrative head of state, as well the expansion of presidential powers by 20th and 21st century presidents. It also explores differences and patterns among presidents in their domestic and foreign policy, explanations for these patterns and why some Presidents found more success, changes in Presidential primaries, nominating, conventions, and national elections, and how issues such as psychology, economic forces, political parties, "political time," and media impact the Presidency. Previously PO 0204.

POLI 2105 The American Congress    3 Credits

Attributes: ASPO American Studies: Politics, ASUP American Studies Upper Level, PMAP Politics Major: American Politics

This course examines the structure, rules, and procedures of Congress: the foremost national institution of political representation in American democracy. The course also explores the place of Congress place in contemporary American politics; its often-contentious relationship with the other parts of the national government, including the Presidency and Courts; and key theoretical approaches to the study of Congress as a deliberative body designed to produce national policy outcomes. Finally, the course will develop students' understanding of individual members of Congress: their relationship to constituents, their differing styles of representation, and the effects of race, gender, ideology, and money on their legislative work. Previously PO 0205.

POLI 2106 Supreme Court I    3 Credits

Attributes: ASPO American Studies: Politics, ASUP American Studies Upper Level, PMAP Politics Major: American Politics

This course examines the composition and operation of the Supreme Court, including how it reaches decisions. It also examines the relationship between the Court and the remainder of the political system; the political consequences of Court decisions; nomination and confirmation issues; and the Court's treatment of government power including Presidential authority, the commerce clause, taxing power, and relations between the branches. Previously PO 0206.

POLI 2107 Supreme Court II    3 Credits

Attributes: ASPO American Studies: Politics, ASUP American Studies Upper Level, PMAP Politics Major: American Politics

This course focuses on how the Constitution and the Supreme Court address issues related to individual freedoms. It examines Supreme Court decisions regarding civil liberties, including freedoms of speech, press, religion, and assembly. It also examines the rights of accused persons and the 14th amendment equal protection, emphasizing the political implications of these decisions as well as the political environment in which the Court functions. Previously PO 0207.

POLI 2108 Political Parties and Interest Groups    3 Credits

Attributes: ASPO American Studies: Politics, ASUP American Studies Upper Level, BSCC Black Studies Component Course, BSSS Black Studies: Social and Behavioral Sciences, PMAP Politics Major: American Politics

This course examines political parties, interest groups, and public opinion in terms of their impact on American politics, including who gets elected, what issues receive attention in Congress, and the content of legislation. The course considers: How responsive are decision makers in the American system to citizens' demands? What factors impact this responsiveness? What mechanisms do citizens have to express support for their policy preferences? What mechanisms exist that increase the chances of their policy preferences being enacted? Previously PO 0208.

POLI 2109 American Public Policy    3 Credits

Attributes: ASPO American Studies: Politics, ASUP American Studies Upper Level, PACG Public Administration City Government, PMAP Politics Major: American Politics

Public policy results from complex interactions between political actors, elected officials, bureaucrats, interest groups, political activists, corporations, citizens, the media, and governing structures and rules. The policy making process is the lifeblood of the American political system. This course explores current policy debates, key models and theories that seek to explain public policy, and the significant role politics plays in the policy making process. Students will learn how public policies are formulated, understand current tools and techniques used in making policy, and gain the ability to assess policy options. Previously PO 0209.

POLI 2111 Media and Politics    3 Credits

Attributes: ASPO American Studies: Politics, PMAP Politics Major: American Politics, SPEL Sports Media Elective

This course examines the impact of the media on the American political system and, conversely, how government attempts to influence the media for its purposes, and implications of the electronic media for a democratic and informed society. The course pays close attention to the media's impact on national elections and analyzes the media as an agent of political socialization. Previously PO 0211.

POLI 2112 United States Environmental Politics and Policy    3 Credits

Attributes: ASPO American Studies: Politics, ASUP American Studies Upper Level, EVME Environmental Studies Major Elective, EVPE Environmental Studies Elective, EVSS Environmental Studies: Social Science, PAEP Public Administration Environment Policy, PMAP Politics Major: American Politics

This course examines the creation, content, and implementation of U.S. environmental policy. The first section examines the history of U.S. environmental politics, the policy process, and prominent theories that seek to explain that process. The second examines the role and occasional preferences of key institutions, including the President, Congress, courts, federal agencies, environmental groups, and corporations. The third section examines key current issues, including, air and water pollution, toxic chemicals, public lands, endangered species, climate change, risk assessments, and the use of economic tools to effect change. Previously PO 0212.

POLI 2113 State and Local Government    3 Credits

Attributes: PMAP Politics Major: American Politics

This course examines the role of state and local governments within the United States. State and local governments are unique subnational governments with their own political culture and identity and very greatly within and across the American political system. This course explores the political processes and the institutions of state and local governments. The course highlights the multifaceted, and often difficult, issues facing sub-national governments; the philosophies of state and local governments; their responsibility and function regarding election administration and voting; and their role within the larger national government. Previously PO 0213.

POLI 2114 Public Opinion and Polling    3 Credits

Attributes: PMAP Politics Major: American Politics

A central feature to American democracy is that the public has the opportunity to play an active role in governing. This course invites students to think about and reflect on the role of public opinion, the tools used to measure it, and its impact on policies and elections in American democracy. Students will examine what public opinion is, public's knowledge of politics, how citizens are socialized politically, group differences in public opinions, and various methods employed to measure public opinion. By the end of the course, students will be able to determine when and how public opinion influences various aspects of American politics. Previously PO 0214.

POLI 2115 Campaigns and Elections    3 Credits

Attributes: PMAP Politics Major: American Politics

In a democratic political system, elections are the means by which the transition of power occurs. Thus, understanding the nature of American elections and campaigns is necessary to understand our political system. The class focuses on American elections: discussing how various actors seek to influence outcomes, the behavior of voters, the politics of election administration, and the laws that govern the rules to the game. Students will observe and analyze actual election activity as well as leading empirical research that seeks to shed light on this significant aspect of American democracy. Previously PO 0215.

POLI 2120 Politics of Care    3 Credits

Attributes: ASGW American Studies: Gateway, HSSS Health Studies: Social Science, PJST Peace and Justice Studies, PMAP Politics Major: American Politics

Many current social crises have roots that stretch back decades, to the practice and normalization of American politics as divisive, polarized, transactional, and winner-take-all. This course explores an alternative view: the notion of "caring" in systematic political ethics, political practice, and policy. We address the relationship between care and democracy, community, justice, and the formulation of healthcare, immigration, social welfare, and economic policy. The course will help prepare students to be open-minded, ethical leaders, effective communicators, and caring professionals in diverse career settings including education, healthcare, public policy, business, law, humanitarian action, and criminal justice.

POLI 2121 Women in Politics    3 Credits

Attributes: PMAP Politics Major: American Politics

This course examines the role that women play in American politics. Students will examine prominent explanations for gender inequality, in general and within politics, and efforts to alter the role of women in politics. These discussions will provide the backdrop for studying the impact of gender on political behavior, seeking and holding office. Students will also analyze selected public policy issues on gender.

POLI 2122 Comparative Political Institutions    3 Credits

Attributes: PMCP Politics Major: Comparative Politics

The course introduces students to the comparative study of political institutions, which includes the study of formal and informal rules and organizations. Political institutions influence the behavior of citizens, voters and politicians, and ultimately the policy outcomes we observe. Students will think critically about the role that political institutions play in structuring competition for power within a polity. The course will take students through the design, maintenance and reform of political institutions. Some of the topics covered include Democracy, Autocracy & Development; Presidentialism V. Parliamentarism; Coalitions & Coalition Bargaining; Political Parties & Electoral Systems.

POLI 2250 European Politics and the European Union    3 Credits

Attributes: PMCP Politics Major: Comparative Politics

This course examines the history, operation and impact of the European Union (EU) as well as the key political institutions and dynamics of individual European countries, including Great Britain, France, and Germany. It considers the relationship between political culture and political systems and examines and EU and national European approaches to addressing societal problems. Previously PO 0250.

POLI 2251 Islam and Muslim Politics    3 Credits

Attributes: INEL International Studies Elective, IWSS Islamic World Studies: Social Sciences, PMCP Politics Major: Comparative Politics, RECS Russian, Eastern European, and Central Asian Studies

Islam is most often treated as a monolithic force when in fact the relationship between Islam, politics, and society is varied and dynamic. The course introduces students to the diverse pluralism of Islam-influenced practices in politics, education, charitable aid, and business, drawing on examples from many different countries and regions, including Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. Previously PO 0251.

POLI 2252 Politics in Africa    3 Credits

Attributes: BSFC Black Studies Focus Course, BSSS Black Studies: Social and Behavioral Sciences, HACA Humanitarian Action Minor Context Course, INEL International Studies Elective, PMCP Politics Major: Comparative Politics

This course examines political patterns in Africa with an emphasis on the relationships between politics and culture, and politics and economy. Themes and concepts, not country studies, structure the course, which extracts patterns that are universal or typical in sub-Saharan Africa, examines the colonial legacy on which contemporary states build, and considers the political problematic that the colonial experience imparts with respect to cultural issues of identity, tribalism, and ethnicity in Africa. The course also examines the role of force and violence in consolidating political rule, the economic constraints that fetter Africa, and potential future developments in Africa's politics. Previously PO 0252.

POLI 2253 Latin American Politics    3 Credits

Attributes: DEIE Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion Elective, INEL International Studies Elective, LCEL LACS Minor: Elective, PMCP Politics Major: Comparative Politics

This course examines contemporary Latin American politics, with particular attention to the challenges and opportunities for democracy and human rights in the region. The course explores key historical developments, the challenges and opportunities presented by domestic and international dynamics in the region, the causes and consequences of democratic breakdowns in the past, the transition to democracy in the later part of the twentieth century, the difficulties several young democracies face today, and the continuous and uneven efforts to advance human rights in the region. Previously PO 0253.

POLI 2255 Middle East Politics    3 Credits

Attributes: INEL International Studies Elective, IWSS Islamic World Studies: Social Sciences, PJST Peace and Justice Studies, PMCP Politics Major: Comparative Politics

This course examines the modern Middle East by familiarizing students with the most significant contemporary problems and controversies in the region. Themes and concepts, not individual country studies, structure the course. Some of the topics covered are youth, war, revolution, oil, political Islam, economic reform, and the Arab spring. Previously PO 0255.

POLI 2256 Asian Politics    3 Credits

Attributes: ANMC Asian Studies Elective, PMCP Politics Major: Comparative Politics

This course examines the domestic politics of Asian countries. Asia is a vibrant region politically and economically and is very important to the United States for international security and economic stability. Given its importance, this course provides broad and essential knowledge about Asian nations. The course begins with historical background of various countries in Asia, and then examines politics in selected Asian countries. Country studies are intended to introduce major issues in comparative politics such as democracy, economic development, ideology and political conflict. Previously PO 0256.

POLI 2257 Northern Ireland: Politics of War and Peace    3 Credits

Attributes: CAOT Catholic Studies: Non-Religious Studies, INEL International Studies Elective, PJST Peace and Justice Studies, PMCP Politics Major: Comparative Politics

This course focuses on "the Troubles" in Northern Ireland from 1969 to the present beginning with historical background that emphasizes England's role from the 17th century through the present. It examines the 20th century conflict primarily as a national liberation struggle against a sectarian regime in the North supported by England. The course follows a chronological format starting with the civil rights marches in the late 1960s, the state repression that followed and subsequent community responses including the hunger strikes and electoral campaigns. It concludes with the peace process and grassroots efforts by former paramilitaries from both Catholic and Protestant communities to work together on issues of common concern. Previously PO 0257.

POLI 2258 Political Violence    3 Credits

Attributes: HACA Humanitarian Action Minor Context Course, INEL International Studies Elective, PMCP Politics Major: Comparative Politics

This course offers a comparative study of political violence including civil war, terrorism, and separatist movements and explores a variety of theoretical and empirical approaches to violence. The course introduces students to core debates as well as cutting-edge research and includes several important single country studies. Previously PO 0258.

POLI 2259 The Development Gap    3 Credits

Attributes: INEL International Studies Elective, PJST Peace and Justice Studies, PMCP Politics Major: Comparative Politics

This course employs a comparative approach to studying the forces affecting development in developing countries. Examples and studies are drawn from Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East in order to examine the roots of wealth and poverty, obstacles to development, responses to globalization, and current debates over development prospects. Previously PO 0259.

POLI 2260 Politics and Business in China    3 Credits

Attributes: ANMC Asian Studies Elective, INEL International Studies Elective, PMCP Politics Major: Comparative Politics

This course offers an overview of China’s recent economic development and its political system under a comparative political context. It provides a foundation that will enable the non-specialist to make informed use of China as a case in more general arguments and give the intended China specialist a solid footing from which to pursue more in-depth study of China’s political and economic topics. The course takeaway is an understanding of how the Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party work and organized, and what are the political, social, cultural, and ideological factors that stand behind its organizations.

POLI 2261 Authoritarianism and Film    3 Credits

Attributes: MSID Magis Core: Interdisciplinary, PMCP Politics Major: Comparative Politics

Almost half of the world population lives under authoritarian or totalitarian regimes. Moreover, several democracies around the world are far from consolidated and exist at risk of democratic breakdowns. This interdisciplinary course combines politics and film studies to introduce students to the enduring phenomena of authoritarianism and totalitarianism. Political science furthers our understanding of the causes and enduring legacies of authoritarianism and totalitarianism. Film studies helps us understand how cinema communicates specific narratives in such a way that they strengthen or challenge these regimes. Previously PO 0261.

POLI 2331 Introduction to Peace and Justice    3 Credits

Attributes: ASGW American Studies: Gateway, ASPO American Studies: Politics, CAOT Catholic Studies: Non-Religious Studies, EDCG Educational Studies Cognate, INEL International Studies Elective, PJST Peace and Justice Studies, PMPT Politics Major: Political Theory

This course introduces students to the concepts of peace and justice, the connections between them, and the relationship of these concepts to the idea of faith. The course focuses on case studies beginning with an analysis of the crisis of America's cities and finds the causes in de-industrialization and its resulting poverty. In both cases, the course views poverty resulting from unjust economic and social structures including exaggerated military budgets at home and the militarization of developing countries. Examining these fundamental problems in peace and justice from a variety of perspectives, including Western liberalism, Marxism, and Catholicism, provides a theoretical basis for the study. Each of these traditions has its own perspective for understanding and responding to these problems. In this way the course provides an awareness of the major problems in peace and justice as well as an understanding of the different ways to think about them. Previously PO 0201.

POLI 2332 Utopian Politics    3 Credits

Attributes: PMPT Politics Major: Political Theory

This course examines the nature and function of utopian thinking and utopian communities. What is the value of utopian reflection? What forms of critical thinking and imaginative speculation does it enable? What are the limits to or dangers of utopian thought and practice? What kinds of challenges do utopian communities face? This course explores and critically assesses utopian and dystopian themes from recent and classic novels, political theory, science fiction, film, and popular culture. The course involves students in building model utopias that resolve major world problems. Previously PO 0232.

POLI 2333 American Political Thought    3 Credits

Attributes: ASGW American Studies: Gateway, ASPO American Studies: Politics, PMPT Politics Major: Political Theory

This course considers the philosophical roots of American political thought and the influence on the contemporary American mind and institutions of the American revolutionaries, constitution-makers, Federalists, Jeffersonians, Jacksonians, Alexis de Tocqueville, examiners of the welfare state, pragmatists, and key current voices. The course also explores challenges and reform of the American political system, via analytical lenses related to human nature, idealism, the Constitution and key Amendments, and nationalism. Previously PO 0233.

POLI 2334 Sex, Sexuality, and Gender    3 Credits

Attributes: ASGW American Studies: Gateway, ASPO American Studies: Politics, PJST Peace and Justice Studies, PMPT Politics Major: Political Theory, SPEL Sports Media Elective, WSGF Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies: Gender Focused

This course focuses on how men and women ally together and separately to alter the landscape of sex, sexuality, and gender in the U.S. as part of a global wave of political change. The course examines how race, class, religion, age, disability, and other identity variables intersect with male and female, masculine and feminine, and the full range of sexualities in order to understand the theories and practices related to identity that shape twenty-first century politics. Previously PO 0234.

POLI 2335 Modern Political Ideologies    3 Credits

Attributes: PJST Peace and Justice Studies, PMPT Politics Major: Political Theory

This course primarily examines the political belief systems in the United States including conservatism, liberalism, democratic socialism, and others. It analyzes these "isms" with reference to democracy's ability to deal with the contemporary problems of American society. It also racism, authoritarianism, totalitarianism, and the basic political and economic ideas of Marx and Engels and the modifications made to their system by Lenin. Previously PO 0235.

POLI 2336 Politics of Race, Class, and Gender    3 Credits

Attributes: ASGW American Studies: Gateway, ASPO American Studies: Politics, BSCC Black Studies Component Course, BSSS Black Studies: Social and Behavioral Sciences, DEIE Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion Elective, PJST Peace and Justice Studies, PMPT Politics Major: Political Theory, SPEL Sports Media Elective, WSGF Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies: Gender Focused

This course investigates how race, class, and gender function in American political culture. Students explore how the theoretical ideas of central thinkers such as Thomas Jefferson, Martin Luther King Jr., and Susan B. Anthony shape the political practices of the people who express themselves in songs, speeches, art, and music. The focus on race, class, and gender enables students to engage with historically challenging questions about equality, freedom, individualism, republicanism, liberalism, and American exceptionalism from alternative perspectives. The course does so by assessing whether or not the contemporary Hip Hop movement can overcome the barriers of race, class, and gender. Previously PO 0236.

POLI 2471 United Nations Security Council Crisis Simulation    3 Credits

Attributes: HACA Humanitarian Action Minor Context Course, PMIR Politics Major: International Relations

This course provides students a hands-on learning experience by simulating a United Nations Security Council crisis in international peace and security. The objective is to introduce students to the challenges of global governance in light of the different perspectives they encounter representing different constituencies of the UN Security Council who come from diverse cultural, historical, and geopolitical regions of the world. A key goal of the course is to bring to light whether and how power disparities in the structure of the Council limit the effective representation of many countries and global South as a whole and the stakes in reform of the Security Council. Crosslisted with INST 2471. Previously PO 0271.

POLI 2472 Politics of Humanitarian Action    3 Credits

Attributes: HAFD Humanitarian Action Foundation Course, INEL International Studies Elective, PADE Public Administration Disaster and Emergency Management, PJST Peace and Justice Studies, PMIR Politics Major: International Relations

This course introduces students to complex humanitarian crises and the challenges of responding. Students explore why the often-troubled governance practices of humanitarian intervention makes this a highly contested, yet indispensable arena of global politics. The course examines enduring political and normative tensions at the core of the international humanitarian system run by states, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the United Nations and its lead agencies, and increasingly, the private sector. Students use critical theories, ethical frameworks, and other skill sets to explore questions such as the accountability of humanitarian actors to the people they aid in risk-laden operational environments. Previously PO 0272.

POLI 2473 Humanitarian and Disaster Response Field Training    3 Credits

Attributes: HASM Humanitarian Action Minor Skills/Method Course, PADE Public Administration Disaster and Emergency Management, PMIR Politics Major: International Relations

This course offers training in humanitarian action and disaster response in collaboration with local emergency response agencies and related regional, national, and global networks. Students acquire training and certification in humanitarian standards, become registered volunteers with the American Red Cross, learn from local FEMA Community Emergency Response Teams, and participate in immersion experiences and simulations on international humanitarian crises. The course contextualizes aid work through a range of critical, ethical and moral theories. The course first introduces competing paradigms, second explores principles and field training, and third concludes with intersectionality and other critical perspectives on responding to needs. Previously PO 0273.

POLI 2474 International Environmental Policy    3 Credits

Attributes: EVME Environmental Studies Major Elective, EVPE Environmental Studies Elective, EVSS Environmental Studies: Social Science, INEL International Studies Elective, PAEP Public Administration Environment Policy, PMIR Politics Major: International Relations

This course examines important issues in the practice and study of international environmental policy. The course consists of four interrelated sections designed to provide the factual knowledge and conceptual frameworks required for working in this field: the process and difficulty of creating effective International environmental policy; factors that assist effective policy; history, trends, and actors; and key current issues including climate change, biodiversity, toxic pollution, trade and the environment, sustainable development, and environment and security, among others. Previously PO 0274.

POLI 2475 Climate Change: International Policy and Politics    3 Credits

Attributes: EVME Environmental Studies Major Elective, EVPE Environmental Studies Elective, HACA Humanitarian Action Minor Context Course, MSID Magis Core: Interdisciplinary, PMIR Politics Major: International Relations

This course examines key political, scientific, and economic issues surrounding global climate change and international attempts to address it. Topics include the causes and impacts of climate change, policy-making under uncertainty, key technological, energy and economic issues, key actors and their interests, the history, creation, and content of international climate policy, obstacles to more effective international climate policy, and options for potentially increasing that effectiveness. Students will gain the ability to understand and analyze climate policy options at the global, national and local levels. Previously PO 0275.

POLI 2476 United States Foreign Policy    3 Credits

Attributes: ASGW American Studies: Gateway, ASPO American Studies: Politics, INEL International Studies Elective, PMIR Politics Major: International Relations

How is foreign policy made in the United States? This course examines the impact of domestic and international actors and processes in the formation and conduct of United States foreign policy. It also provides historical background and explores contemporary issues in United States foreign policy, including key security, economic, and environmental issues as well U.S. promotion of democracy and human rights in different regions of the world, including Asia, Latin America, Western Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Previously PO 0276.

POLI 2477 Politics of the Global Economy    3 Credits

Attributes: INEL International Studies Elective, PMCP Politics Major: Comparative Politics

This course explores important issues and theories at the intersection of politics and economics in the international arena. Topics include globalization and its impacts; international trade policy and politics; financial relations among nations, including investment and monetary policies; relations between and among developed and developing countries; factors and policies that enhance, inhibit, or shape economic development in poor countries; and/or how different, important theories and analytical approaches attempt to explain economic interactions among countries. Previously PO 0277.

POLI 2478 The Politics of International Law    3 Credits

Attributes: HACA Humanitarian Action Minor Context Course, INEL International Studies Elective, PJST Peace and Justice Studies, PMIR Politics Major: International Relations

This course provides an introduction to international law. It addresses questions such as: What is international law? What are the major sources? Who makes international law and how? Who is bound by it? What is its impact in different issue-areas? And why do states and other actors usually obey international law even though there is not a world government or police force to enforce it. The course also explores the content and effect of international law in different issue-areas, including human rights, the environment, and the use of military force. Students will also gain a practical overview to the United Nations system, including the Security Council, General Assembly, Secretariat, International Court of Justice, and several specialized agencies, such as UNICEF and UNDP. Previously PO 0278.

POLI 2479 Threats to Global Security in the 21st Century    3 Credits

Attributes: HACA Humanitarian Action Minor Context Course, INEL International Studies Elective, PMIR Politics Major: International Relations

This course provides a comprehensive introduction to global security. It examines a variety of traditional and new security topics, including wars between states, civil wars, proliferation, environmental degradation, and famine. Students explore these topics through the lenses of major paradigms in International Relations (IR) theory, such as realism, liberalism, and constructivism, as well as perspectives drawn from critical theory, peace studies, and other literatures. In addition to learning to think about global security in a systematic and critical way, students will consider the political, ethical and social dimensions of threats to global security today. Previously PO 0279.

POLI 2480 Border Politics    3 Credits

Attributes: HACA Humanitarian Action Minor Context Course, INEL International Studies Elective, PJST Peace and Justice Studies, PMIR Politics Major: International Relations

This course explores how border politics has evolved from historical practices of territoriality and the rise of the nation-state system, including the social construction of "imagined communities" and the boundaries that define them. Yet this system faces many challenges. Drawing from critical theories of identity, state formation, and intersectionality, students explore erosions of state sovereignty through globalization, climate change, crisis migration, refugee flows, asylum seekers, transnational crime, and terrorism. As case studies from the global north and south illustrate, states are increasingly turning to global and domestic disciplinary regimes to wall up, fence out, surveillance, detain, and deport the "other." Students examine these trends in the context of the moral, political, security, corporeal, and human rights questions at stake. Previously PO 0280.

POLI 2481 International Human Rights    3 Credits

Attributes: HACA Humanitarian Action Minor Context Course, PJST Peace and Justice Studies, PMIR Politics Major: International Relations

This course explores human rights, actors, and advocacy in a global context. It covers the origin and development of international human rights, the need to apply and enforce legal obligations and establish accountability for human rights violators, and procedures used by the international community to contest human rights violations. In this context, students learn about the progress as well as gaps and erosions of human rights on a range of issues, such as women's rights, disability rights, or protection of human rights defenders in higher education. Students apply these understandings to strategic thinking and advocacy on human rights cases. Crosslisted with INST 2481. Previously PO 0281.

POLI 2501 Research Methods    3 Credits

Attributes: PAPS Public Administration Research Methods/Data Analysis, PMAP Politics Major: American Politics

This course examines how to study and think about policy and politics scientifically and in methodologically useful ways. Students learn how to identify research questions about the political world, generate meaningful measurements of the concepts being studied, create a research design for collecting data (i.e. evidence), construct testable hypotheses, conduct the necessary statistical analysis to test the hypotheses, interpret the results of the statistical analysis, and apply these results to the original theory of inquiry in a meaningful way. Previously PO 0295.

POLI 2900 Special Topics (Shell)    3 Credits

This course offers a focused examination of a significant political issue or topic in American politics, public policy, political theory, comparative politics, or international relations. Content varies in successive offerings of this course. May be repeated for credit when topic varies. Previously PO 0299.

POLI 3980 Internship    3 or 4 Credits

Prerequisites: POLI 1101; two other politics courses.

Politics majors gain firsthand experience working off campus in fields related to their major. Typically, a three-credit internship requires 10 to 12 hours of work per week on site and could require a journal or paper. An on-site supervisor and a politics professor evaluate student work. Students must have a GPA or 3.0 or higher. Enrollment by departmental permission only. Previously PO 0298.

POLI 3981 State Legislature Internship    6 Credits

Prerequisites: POLI 1101; two other politics courses.

Politics majors participate in the Connecticut General Assembly Legislative Internship Program, where students become acquainted with the legislative process by serving as aides to a legislator. Students complete a required research paper. Students must have a GPA of 3.0 or higher. Enrollment by departmental permission only. Previously PO 0296.

POLI 3982 Washington Semester Internship    3-9 Credits

Prerequisites: POLI 1101; two other politics courses.

Politics majors work as interns in a variety of public and private sector positions in the nation's capital, giving them the opportunity to experience governmental problems firsthand and apply what they have learned. Students may earn up to nine credits for working as an intern, and may also take one or two classes (three credits each) that count toward the politics major or general electives. Students must have a GPA of 3.0 or higher. Enrollment by departmental permission only. Previously PO 0297.

POLI 3990 Independent Study    1-4 Credits

Prerequisites: POLI 1101; two other politics courses.

Upon request and by agreement with an individual professor in the department, a politics major may conduct a one-semester independent study on a defined research topic or field of study. Students must have a GPA of 3.0 or higher. Enrollment by departmental permission only. Previously PO 0398.

POLI 3997 Independent Research    1-4 Credits

Upon request and by agreement with an individual professor in the department, a politics major may conduct a one-semester independent study on a defined research topic or field of study. Students must have a GPA of 3.0 or higher. Enrollment by departmental permission only. Previously POLI 3990.

POLI 4301 The Battle Over Family Values in American Politics    3 Credits

Attributes: ASPO American Studies: Politics, ASUP American Studies Upper Level, MSID Magis Core: Interdisciplinary, PMAP Politics Major: American Politics, WSGF Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies: Gender Focused

Contemporary American politics is marked by numerous debates about the family. Issues such as same-sex marriage, abortion, abstinence and pre-marital sex, shifting gender roles within the family, and new parenting and reproductive methods are among the most hotly debated policy issues in the United States, illustrating the political struggle to define the soul of America and the role of the family within. This course explores contemporary political debates over the family, their policy implications, and significance to current elections, as well as the historical context and previous ideological battles that characterize the tumultuous relationship between the family and the American state. Previously PO 0301.

POLI 4302 Seminar on Feminist Theory    3 Credits

Attributes: ASPO American Studies: Politics, ASUP American Studies Upper Level, PJST Peace and Justice Studies, PMPT Politics Major: Political Theory, WSGF Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies: Gender Focused

This course explores advanced topics and a number of trends in contemporary feminist theory. Topics include conceptions of the female body in Western culture, feminist theories of the family, global feminisms, theories of feminist subjectivity and gender performativity, and the intersections among gender, race, class, and sexuality. Previously PO 0302.

POLI 4303 Gender, War, and Peace    3 Credits

Attributes: HACA Humanitarian Action Minor Context Course, INEL International Studies Elective, PMIR Politics Major: International Relations, WSGF Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies: Gender Focused

This course examines the complexities of the gendered impact of war on men, women, families and children. Students learn about the gendered dimensions of war institutions, social structures and narratives of war. They explore the topic especially from the voices and perspectives of women in war zones and post-conflict settings around the world, including historical memories. Students learn how aspects of globalization and conditions of structural violence make women extremely vulnerable as societies slide toward war. Crosslisted with INST 4303. Previously PO 0303.

POLI 4304 Seminar on Global Environmental Politics    3 Credits

Attributes: EVME Environmental Studies Major Elective, EVPE Environmental Studies Elective, MWID Magis Core: Writing in the Discipline, PMIR Politics Major: International Relations

The causes, consequences, and potential solutions to environmental problems are increasingly important subjects in global politics. This seminar explores critical, current issues in the theory and practice of global environmental politics. Readings and class discussion examine important new debates, including those on: reasons why some policies are created and effective and others are not, accountability, the 2015 Paris climate agreement, current policy for toxic chemicals, why global ozone policy remains a relatively unique example of effective global environmental policy, and the activities of international institutions. Previously PO 0304.

POLI 4305 Seminar on the Middle East    3 Credits

Attributes: IWSS Islamic World Studies: Social Sciences, PMCP Politics Major: Comparative Politics

The Middle East justifiably engages a great deal of international attention. This course offers the opportunity to examine a significant problem or issue concerning politics in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) conducted in a seminar format. In various semesters the seminar may be taught with a different focus. Previously PO 0305.

POLI 4306 Democracy and Dictatorship    3 Credits

Attributes: PMCP Politics Major: Comparative Politics

Over the past twenty years, there has been a well-documented erosion in the quality of democracy around the globe. Through a survey of the fundamental attributes of democratic and non-democratic forms of government, we endeavor to understand why some countries have adopted democratic norms and institutions while others continue to struggle under various types of authoritarian rule. We begin the semester investigating the major characteristics of democratic regimes. In short, what makes democracy work? Next, we will consider how democracies are sustained through economic development, formal institutions, and political culture. Part III prompts us to identify internal threats to democracy (including, but not limited to) political polarization, disinformation, and elite power grabs. As this is a course in Comparative Politics, which largely focuses on political phenomena within states, external threats to democracy (interstate war, climate change, terrorism) will have to be considered elsewhere. The penultimate section focuses on major non-democratic regime types such as personalist dictatorships, electoral autocracies, military dictatorships, and totalitarianism. The final part of the course considers pathways out of authoritarianism, examining the effects of domestic protests and global civil society on democratization. Throughout the course, we will apply theoretical knowledge to our study of specific case studies, notably, the Philippines, Turkey, Thailand, North Korea, Belarus, and Tunisia. During Week 6, we will engage in a democracy simulation whereby you will formulate strategies designed to counter an impending authoritarian power-grab by a democratically elected president. At the end of this course, you will have developed a clear understanding of democratic processes as well as the threats posed by anti-democratic forces. Most importantly, you will have constructed a new toolkit for supporting democracy at home and abroad. Successful completion of this course counts toward the Politics major/minor requirements.

POLI 4307 The Political Economy of War    3 Credits

Attributes: INEL International Studies Elective

How and why do nations find themselves in the throes of war? What role do economic interests play in shaping the intricate web of international relations? Delving into the intricate interplay between politics, economics, and warfare, this seminar offers a comparative exploration of key political elements. Through a nuanced case study approach, we will unravel diverse theories within the realm of the political economy of war. Embarking on a comparative political approach, the seminar will scrutinize the origins, evolution, transformation, and consequential impact of wars on global politics, all while considering the manifold influences of economic factors.

POLI 4310 War on Voting: Election Laws and Administration in the United States    3 Credits

Attributes: PMAP Politics Major: American Politics

The war on voting is as old as America itself. People of color, women, and the poor all fought for the vote. Universal suffrage is a democratic ideal, but groups, particularly people of color, continue to be systematically disenfranchised because the laws governing elections are increasingly being weaponized for political gain. Examining the history of the vote, what the Constitution says (and doesn’t say) about voting, how and why election laws have changed over time allows us to understand their impact on voters, elections, and American democracy. Particular attention is paid to the Black voting experience.

POLI 4311 Religious Dimensions of Political Thought    3 Credits

Attributes: PMAP Politics Major: American Politics, PMCP Politics Major: Comparative Politics, PMPT Politics Major: Political Theory

This seminar covers the concept of “civil religion” in Western political theory and American political thought. Civil religions emerge in the liminal space between sacred and secular. Building upon previous coursework in political theory, students will consider differing interpretations of the “correct” balance between Church and state in various philosophical works (like those of Machiavelli, Hobbes, Rousseau, and others). Additionally, students will consider the American civil religion as an application of this theory. Sources will include primary texts of the Founders, as well as numerous secondary sources. This class prepares students for scholarly presentations at academic conferences in political science.

POLI 4314 International Perspectives on International Politics: Moving Beyond Western Paradigms    3 Credits

Attributes: INEL International Studies Elective, PMIR Politics Major: International Relations

This course examines International Relations (IR) theory from a global perspective. A great deal of the IR theory taught in the United States and Europe mirrors Western, and in particular American, views on international affairs. Because enduring cultural and material differences across countries and regions can lead to different perspectives on global affairs, this limited perspective is problematic both intellectually and instrumentally. This course engage constructively with contributions to IR theory from other perspectives, in particular the Global South, and compares and contrasts them with prevailing Western oriented paradigms, in an effort to better understand our world.

POLI 4320 Politics Seminar    3 Credits

Prerequisite: Junior standing.

This course offers an in-depth investigation of a significant political issue or topic and is conducted in a seminar format and contains a significant research component. Open by permission only. Previously PO 0300.