The objective of this course is to provide Political Science Ph.D. students with statistical tools useful for making inferences about politics. We will cover fundamentals of probability theory, estimation, and hypothesis testing, emphasizing application to research questions in American Politics, positive Political Theory, Comparative Politics, and International Relations.

The objective of this course is to provide Political Science Ph.D. students with statistical tools useful for making inferences about politics. We will cover fundamentals of probability theory, estimation, and hypothesis testing, emphasizing application to research questions in American Politics, positive Political Theory, Comparative Politics, and International Relations.

International Relations Theory is designed to prepare doctoral students for the political science comprehensive exam in international relations. The course focuses on the foundational concepts and theories used in the analysis of international relations (including both international security and international political economy), starting from power, anarchy, and realism, and moving through institutionalism, social constructivism, and domestic political approaches. Additional weeks of the course cover the history of the international relations discipline, the logic of inquiry in the social sciences, and fundamental topics in international relations including the causes of war, international order, international diplomacy, and the significance of public opinion for foreign policy.

The main goal of this course is to familiarize students with experiments, quasi-experiments, survey experiments and field experiments as they are widely used in the social sciences. Some introductory level statistics background will be assumed, though this is a research design course, not a statistics course. By the end of the course, students will be expected to develop their own original experimental design that makes some original contribution to knowledge. Throughout the course of the semester, we will also consider how to deal with the issue of causality as it occurs in observational studies, and draw parallels to experimental research.

This seminar is aimed primarily at graduate students planning to take doctoral exams in comparative politics. It provides a critical survey of the field of comparative politics, tracing the intellectual history of the field, examining shifts in conceptual frameworks and research traditions, and comparing alternative methodological approaches. The first half of the course generally examines how processes of political, economic, and social change have been theorized in the social sciences from the mid-19th century to the present. In this process, particular attention is paid to the bifurcation between theories that emphasize the "universal" (e.g. the homogenizing effects of specific processes or variables) and the "particular" (e.g. the persistence of distinctive historical legacies and trajectories). Since this bifurcation is reinforced by distinct styles and methods of research, the seminar also probes the recent battles between rational-choice, cultural, and structuralist scholars, while considering the trade-offs between varieties of formal, quantitative, and qualitative methods. In the second half, the focus shifts to the range of substantive problems investigated by scholars in the field of comparative politics. These topics cover the complex relations among nations, states and societies; the origins, consolidation, and patterns of democratic governance; political economy in relation to development processes and social policies; the intersection of international/global economy and domestic politics; the dynamics of revolutions and social movements; and alternative problematiques constructed from the point of view of real actors such as workers, women, and local communities. In all cases, As a whole, the course is designed to provide an introduction to important issues and debates that comparativists have regularly engaged in; to help you understand the assumptions behind, and differences between, particular approaches, methods, and styles of research; to examine whether current debates are spurring new or better research in a given field in light of past approaches; and to gauge whether there has been progress, fragmentation, or stagnation in the field of comparative politics as a whole.

Consult department for detailed descriptions. More than one course may be taken in a given semester. Recent titles have included: Race Development and American International Relations, Hegel and Marx, and Logic of the West.

This course provides an introduction to non-cooperative game theory and its applications to political science. The goal of the course is to provide students with the background and understanding necessary to read published game-theoretic work in political science journals. To that end, the course covers the basic concepts of game theory, including Nash equilibrium and its main refinements, simultaneous and sequential games, repeated games, evolutionary game theory, and games of incomplete and private information. In addition, we will cover some of the central models used in political science, notably models of public choice (such as the median voter theorem) and models of bargaining.

The study of modern and contemporary political theory tends to focus on European and American thinkers. By contrast, this seminar is an advanced, reading-intensive course focused on modern and contemporary Islamic political thought. Topics and concepts covered include Muslim philosophies of history; critiques of Western imperialism; the relation between reason and revelation; the status of women; travel and knowledge; democracy and sovereignty; jihad and violence; what it means to be a Western Muslim; what the War on Terror means to American Muslims; and what makes a thinker or book “Islamic.” The course has three goals: 1) to introduce students to a rich tradition of political thought beyond the Euro-American canon of political theory; 2) to critically analyze some of the most important ideas, debates, and dilemmas that characterize modern and contemporary Islamic political thought; and 3) to engage with major figures from the recent history of Islamic political thought on as close to their own terms as possible, with an eye toward understanding their continuing political significance.
Advanced undergraduates require instructor permission.

This course will examine the theoretical, historical and political foundations of contemporary human rights debates. The course will cover not only broad conceptual issues, but also specific issue areas (e.g., civil rights, economic rights, women's rights, business and human rights), as well as the question of how new rights norms emerge and diffuse in the international arena. Undergraduates are not permitted.

This research seminar is designed for graduate students and advanced undergraduates. It explores the meaning and consequences of borders and boundaries in international relations. How do borders, border regions, and border activities speak to national encounters with neighbors and the rest of the world? How do international borders influence war and peace between states? How do they affect international trade and development? When and how are international borders “securitized,” and how does this affect the flow of goods, people, and illicit activities around and across the border? How do states cooperate across international borders? While this course is designed primarily as a seminar in international relations, we will examine the meaning and function of boundary-making between states from multiple perspectives. Borders, border regions and border crossings have multiple significance as designations of state authority, security buffers, expressions of social meaning and opportunities for economic integration. As a seminar designed primarily to stimulate research ideas, this course will be concerned with historical and current problems relating to international borders around the world. We will concentrate on formulating interesting research questions, bringing data to bear on specific hypotheses, becoming familiar with data sources, and designing our own research. All assignments are related to developing research skills; there are no in-class exams.