Impact of judicial decisions on public policy and influences on judicial decision making at the federal, state, and local levels.
This class provides students with a comprehensive overview of the process for writing proposals for grant funding. Students will learn to research funding opportunities and write the various sections of a funding proposal. Differencecs in seeking grants from foundation, corporate, and government funders will be explored. In addition to individual projects, the class will work as a group to research, write, and submit a funding proposal for a nonprofit or municipal government program.
This course will explore a major aspect of public management, an advanced management tool that can help managers gain efficiencies and increase accountability. Theoretical foundations and practical applications of performance measurement and management techniques will examine how managers, government and non-profit, might utilize performance measurement to make budgetary decisions and improve organizational performance.
Policy and program evaluation of federal, state, and local governmental enterprise; focuses on the politics, practices, and methods of evaluative investigation. Evaluation as a technique for providing rational information for budgetary and policy-making decisions.
Advanced study of powers, politics, political cultures, and constitutional settings of American state and local government.
Examines the legal rules governing regulatory agencies, in the US. Topics include regulatory adjudication and rulemaking, legislative and executive control over administrative agencies, judicial review and public participation. Course examines federal and state levels of government.
Examination of the role of public opinion in democracy. Research, design, implementation and analysis of a public opinion survey.
Exploration of the major theoretical approaches to leadership, including students' and others' leadership skills, styles, roles, and practices. Students will refine their own conceptual and practical approaches to leadership in a variety of settings.
Identification, analysis, evaluation and application of effective communication and negotiation skills. Course will include case studies and simulation/role-playing exercises.
Selected topics in public administration, emphasis on specific aspects of management in public and non-profit sectors.
Exploration of various strands of feminist political theory; taking a specifically political view of the challenges of feminist activism and philosophy. Issues of public space, power, social transformation and democracy addressed.
Seminar: Advanced work in exploring classical and contemporary works of literature to illustrate perennial issues in political philosophy.
This seminar explores the comparative politics of selected countries and conflicts in the contemporary Middle East and North Africa. We focus on understanding the causes and consequences of popular uprisings, civil wars, and protracted conflicts. The class is taught through discussion, with students taking active, participatory roles. Themes include changing forms of governance, changing practices of warfare, gender and minority rights, economic and environmental problems, protest and activism, state-society relations, and migration and refugees. Students read memoir, journalistic accounts, and theoretical articles in comparative politics to understand important developments. Specific country and issue cases change each year; recent seminars have addressed Israel-Palestine, Syria, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. Writing, reading, and discussion intensive class. Designed as follow-on course to POLT 559, Comparative Politics of the Middle East, counts as capstone course for the Middle East Minor.
Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India are strategically important states and potential flashpoints of conflict. Nuclear neighbors, India and Pakistan have been in conflict for 70 years while Afghanistan remains internally unstable. The politics of these countries are also intimately involved with each other. The class will focus both on the internal politics of these states and their foreign relations with each other and the United States. Students will develop expertise in a crucial world region.
This course investigates the evolution of wine and foods politics over the past few decades. Food and wine politics provides a lens through which to analyze contrasting perspectives on production, markets, quality, consumer preferences, health, and safety. This course draws upon texts from economic history, political economy, economic sociology, and public policy to shed light on the differences and similarities in political and market organization across Europe, the United States, and emerging market economies. The first half of the course will focus on wine politics and the seconf half of the course will focus on food politics.
Why are some countries rich while others are so poor? This course answers this question by examining several theories of economic development: political culture, modernization, dependency, regime types, urban bias, rent-seeking institutions, and international aid. The immediate goal of this course is for students to understand the causes of international inequality in the distribution of wealth. Students also improve their ability to evaluate theoretical arguments and empirical evidence critically, and develop reading and writing skills.
Environmental politics and policy across national boundaries and at different levels of governance. Comparisons of the U.S. and European Union environmental policies to build a foundation for comparisons across national boundaries and sub-national authorities. Students improve their understanding of how and why comparative methods are used to gain insight into politics and policymaking. Central concepts and debates addressed include the roles of expertise, sustainability, precautionary principle, the use of market mechanisms in policy, environmental justice, policy devolution and flexibility, environmental performance assessment, NGO roles, activism, and social movements. Using a range of theoretical approaches and historical and contemporary events and case studies, students will evaluate the claims and explanatory power of various concepts and theories. Includes ethical issues emerging from the theory and practice of environmental politics.
Theoretical approaches of international politics, international organization, and international political economy with particular emphasis on systems theories, domestic determinants of foreign policy, and theories of decision making.
This course has been designed to introduce advanced undergraduates and graduate students to the current theoretical discussions in international political economy. The course analyzes the development of current international ecomonic regimes, as well as looks at systemic theories (interdependence, hegemonic stability), domestic determinants (bureaucratic, interest group) and decision-making theories (rational choice). By monitoring current economic and political news, students are challenged to apply these ideas to explain the current problems in political economy.
The goal of the Security Intelligence Study course is to provide an opportunity for students to apply research and analysis models used by intelligence professionals to a real world problem. Using unclassified public sources, students research and present an analytical product to help limit risk for a government decision maker. Participants learn about and use publicly available data and intelligence analysis models.
This course is about cooperation at the international level. With a focus on international organizations, we examine what roles international institutions (both IGOs and NGOs) play in global governance and their effects in various issue areas. We examine their historical origins, functions, and the international and domestic political forces that impact their effectiveness. The course also considers the role of international organizations on world order including conflict resolution, peacekeeping, development, and human rights.
Explores international/global environmental politics and policymaking, multilateral negotiations, the role of science and technology in policymaking, state capacity, the making of international law, implementation, and compliance. Other issues include climate control, marine pollution, long-range air pollution, United States leadership in the global political arena, North-South divisions in global politics, environmental justice, sustainable development, and the role of the United Nations and other international organizations.
Advanced analysis focusing on government and politics in foreign nations or regions. Areas of interest may include: constitutional structures, political parties and interest groups, legislatures, bureaucracy, and public policy. Topics address such concerns as: religion and politics, patterns of economic development, ethnic strife, and political leadership.
Advanced analysis focusing on problems of theory and contemporary issues in international politics. Areas of interest may include: democratic norms in international relations, NATO expansion and European security, the peace process in the Middle East, etc. See department listings for semester offerings.
Advanced analysis and individual research, including opportunities for direct observation of governmental administration.
Each student carries out original research that culminates in a master's thesis. Permission required. Cr/F.
Familiarizes students with political science as a profession. Briefly surveys the scope of the discipline in terms of the substantive fields and methodological approaches. Examines the logic of research design and explores diverse methods of inquiry (e.g., archival, experimental, case study, comparative analysis, field study, survey, etc.), including the process of generating a presentable research paper.
Quantitative research, design and analysis methodology, and techniques for political science and public policy and administration.
Introduction to essential aspects of public and non-profit administration. Critical concepts and theoretical bases; operational nature of public and non-profit administration; contributions of key scholars and practitioners to the study and understanding of public and non-profit administration.
Though the use of case studies, analysis and assessment of legal, institutional, social, political and economic settings within public and non-profit sectors.
Introduction to key actors, theories, and concepts in the fields of organizational theory and behavior.
Introduction to analytic decision-making and planning techniques applicable to public sector management.
Examination of the administration, politics, and strategies of effective public human resource management.
Analysis, goal setting, and strategic planning in a governmental setting, with particular emphasis on budgetary processes as a means for controlling policy effectiveness.
Introduction to governance and management in the non-profit sector: finance, development, personnel management, strategic planning, and risk management.
A) American Politics; B) Comparative Politics; C) International Politics; D) Political Thought; E) Public Administration; F) Public Policy. The graduate student engages in independent study under the direction of one of the faculty members of the department. Permisson required.
A) American Politics; B) Comparative Politics; C) International Politics; D) Political Thought; E) Public Administration; F) Public Policy. The graduate student engages in independent study under the direction of one of the Faculty members of the department. Permission required.