Provides students with the opportunity to be directly involved with the research, programming, operations, and outreach of the University's non-profit, non-partisan Center for Politics. Includes projects focused on state and national politics, political history, civic engagement, voter behavior, media and politics, campaign finance and political analysis. Prerequisite: instructor permission.

This course explores the historical development of the American economic system since the Founding, and its relationship with political institutions. We will examine various economic regimes such as mercantilism, Progressivism, the welfare state, and neoliberalism, among others. While some basic economic principles will occasionally be drawn upon, no previous knowledge of economics is required for the course.

Analysis of selected issues and concepts in comparative politics.

Special Topics in International Relations

Special topics in political theory.

Examines politics surrounding claims that large-scale issues (e.g. terrorism, climate change) are emergencies and responses to those claims. Should laws accommodate emergencies or should emergency responses be "outside" the law? What happens if emergency action violates democratic and justice-based norms?  What is the difference between bottom-up and top-down emergency response? Readings draw primarily from political theory, sociology, and law.

A seminar introducing students to the study of political psychology. Topics include authoritarianism, tolerance, altruism, ethnocentrism, the role of affect and cognition in political choice, the role of racial stereotyping in political campaigns, and psychological challenges to rational choice models of political decision-making. Prerequisite: One course in PLAP or instructor permission.

Explores why policies on issues like health care, social welfare, education, and immigration differ markedly from nation to nation, focusing on how contrasting cultures, state institutions, and societal organizations shape the historical trajectory of public policies. The primary focus of the course is on policies in advanced industrialized nations such as Britain, the U.S., Japan, and Sweden.Prerequisites: Prior course work in American and/or comparative politics is required.

Explores the connections between economics and national security from three angles. First, does economic interdependence between nation-states foster a peaceful world, as liberals argue, or does it increase the likelihood of war, as realists contend? Second, what are the economic causes of the rise and decline of great powers? Third, what are the economic roots of great power imperialism against smaller states? Prerequisite: One course in international relations, history, or economics.

Examines political parties in a variety of institutional and socioeconomic settings, focusing on parties in the democratic political systems of Europe, the United States, and Japan.