Political Science Courses by Fields
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Introduction
The University of Rochester's program in political science helps students understand processes and outcomes of political conflict both from an abstract theoretical perspective and as explored systematically in a wide variety of real-world settings--not only in American governmental institutions but also in global warfare, international trade, and social movements, for example.
The faculty at the University of Rochester are highly acclaimed for their research. Our department is regularly ranked in the top handful of political science departments in the country. Our faculty include a former president of the American Political Science Association, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, three fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the former Managing Editor of the American Political Science Review, Guggenheim fellows, Fulbright scholars, a visiting scholar at the Russell Sage Foundation, and a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Professors Fenno and G. B. Powell have each won the Woodrow Wilson Foundation Award, given for the year's best book in political science. Professor Primo's book on budgets and legislative rules won the 2008 prize recognizing work of practical importance for legislators. Professor Gamm's book on Boston's urban exodus was recognized as the year's best book in community and urban sociology and the year's best book on contemporary Jewish life in the United States. Professor Fenno's book on changing styles of representation was recognized in 2001 as the outstanding book in Southern politics. Professor G. B. Powell's book on the electoral foundations of democracy was recognized in 2002 as the year's best book in comparative politics. And Professor Stone's book Lending Credibility won the 2003 Ed A. Hewett Book Prize.
We are proud of our reputation as top researchers. We are equally proud of our accomplishments as top teachers in one of the most popular undergraduate majors in the College and in one of the nation's leading PhD programs. In 2005 the Political Science Department received the College's highest honor for excellence in undergraduate education, receiving the Goergen Prize for curricular achievement. Professor Primo won two major awards for his teaching in 2005, the Goergen Award for excellence in undergraduate teaching as well as the Students' Association award as the College's outstanding professor of the year. In 2004 Professor Signorino received the University-wide Curtis Prize in recognition of his superb work as a graduate and undergraduate teacher. In 2003 Professor Johnson won one of the College's prestigious Goergen Awards for "distinguished achievement and artistry in undergraduate teaching." Professor Gamm won a Goergen Award in 1998. And in 1999 Professor G. B. Powell received the University Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching, the institution's highest honor for graduate education. We have a strong commitment to both undergraduate and graduate education. We know well that research and teaching go naturally together: the creation and dissemination of knowledge are two sides of the same coin.
Where can an undergraduate go with a political science degree? In addition to providing instruction in "a science of politics," a major in political science at the University of Rochester provides students with strong training in the valuable skills of writing, communications, and analytical thinking that are integral to a liberal arts education and are an excellent preparation for a variety of careers. Political science is also a good preparation for participation in community organizations, electoral politics, and movements to support specific policies. Not least of all, political science also has a specific professional application-in the sense that its object of study is of particular interest to those planning a career in law, government, or journalism.
Fields in Political Science
Political scientists are a diverse lot, and the faculty and courses at the University of Rochester reflect this fact. While the effort to generalize about politics is found in all courses in political science offered in the College, there is a wide variety of theoretical perspectives and substantive content. This variety is partly reflected in the organization of our courses into different fields. These fields of political science, described below, are widely used by political scientists to describe their general areas of interest and expertise.
You may already know you have a strong interest in a particular field or fields, but it is also likely that you are unfamiliar with many of them. To introduce you to the diversity that makes up political science, we require undergraduates to sample courses from at least four fields--but we also allow you to specialize. In fact, this notion is a basic organizing principle of the major in political science: you must sample, but you may specialize. We think the combination works. It exposes you to a variety of perspectives and substantive knowledge, all of them part of political science, and then allows you to explore a field or fields in greater depth, based on your own particular interests. For a complete list of requirements for undergraduate and graduate degrees, see information for undergraduates and graduate students.
Note on Courses
The courses of instruction listed below constitute a complete list of courses currently offered. Many courses are linked to syllabi, usually representing the most recent time that a course was taught. Not every course is offered every year, and new courses are constantly added to this list. The department's website also contains lists of courses offered this semester and next semester, including full course descriptions.
Courses offered in past years are not listed below if they are not expected to be offered in the near future. However, they still count toward the major or minor in political science. You should always check with a department adviser if you have a question about a course that is not listed here.
A few courses fit intellectually into two different fields. They can be used to satisfy only one field requirement, however.
Required Course
- PSC 202 Argument in Political Science
Techniques of Analysis
Techniques of Analysis, sometimes called political methodology, refers to a set of commonly used quantitative methods to analyze real-world data that can help us answer political questions. We consider it essential that students develop an understanding of the scientific method, master the role of deductive and inductive logic in answering research questions, and learn basic statistical techniques to summarize and analyze data. These sorts of skills will serve students well, regardless of their ultimate choice of career. For example, lobbyists, campaign fund raisers, lawyers, politicians, employees of government agencies, and academic political scientists all need to be able to read and easily comprehend reports in which numerical summaries of data (statistics) are used as evidence to support the claims of one group or another. The ability to determine whether these data are being used appropriately is invaluable in many careers that our students choose. In addition, in many of these careers, a person finds it necessary to do his or her own quantitative research to find answers to questions related to politics. For these reasons, courses that give particular emphasis to quantitative techniques of analysis are an important component of an education in political science. While there are a number of alternatives from which you may choose to fulfill the field requirement in techniques of analysis, the courses offered by political science faculty in the department teach techniques by asking and answering important substantive questions about politics. These courses are, therefore, particularly well suited to students majoring in political science.
Graduate CoursesAmerican Politics
American Politics is both a primary laboratory for developing an understanding of politics generally and a means for acquiring an understanding of our contemporary political system. As one of the largest areas of study in political science (and the largest in our department), the study of American politics is extremely varied in terms of subject matter, level of government examined, and analytic and methodological approach. As for subject matter, courses in American politics typically explore the attitudes or behavior of the mass public, or some combination of the two-for example, in terms of public opinion, voting choices, or decisions about political participation-or the actions of elites in formal political institutions (such as courts, legislatures, bureaucracies, and executive offices such as the presidency) and in non-governmental organizations (interest groups). The focus of analysis varies from localities (cities or counties), to states, to the national level-as well as to the relationship between these different levels of government. The analytic approach taken to answer questions is diverse, as focus can shift from historical examples, to data amenable to statistical analysis, to in-depth interviews with political elites, to mathematical models of political processes. Courses in American politics reflect this diversity, and you will find a wide range of alternatives from which to choose.
- PSC 103 Great Debates in American Democracy
- PSC 105 Introduction to American Politics
- PSC 121 Democracy in America
- PSC 124 Race and Politics in American History
- PSC 194 Rochester Politics and Places
- PSC 209 Interest Groups in America
- PSC 210 Development of the American Party System
- PSC 211 Public Opinion and Voting
- PSC 212 Supreme Court in U.S. History
- PSC 213 The U.S. Congress
- PSC 214 Political Participation
- PSC 215 American Elections
- PSC 216 Legislative Politics
- PSC 217 Politics and the Mass Media
- PSC 218 Emergence of the Modern Congress
- PSC 220 Social Movements in the United States
- PSC 222 The Presidency
- PSC 223 Constitutional Structure and Rights
- PSC 224 African-American Politics
- PSC 225 Race and Political Representation
- PSC 226 Black Political Leadership
- PSC 231 Money in Politics
- PSC 234 Law and Politics in the U.S
- PSC 237 Domestic Social Policy
- PSC 238 Business and Politics
- PSC 239K The Nature of Entrepreneurship
- PSC 241 Urban Change and City Politics
- PSC 243 Environmental Politics
- PSC 244K Politics and Markets: Innovation and The Global Business Environment
- PSC 245 Aging and Public Policy
- PSC 247 Green Markets: Environmental Opportunities and Pitfalls
- PSC 249 Sports and the American City
- PSC 280 Political Accountability
- PSC 291 First Amendment and Religion
- PSC 310 Political Parties and Elections
- PSC 313 Voter Participation and Elections
- PSC 316 Political Participation
- PSC 318 Emergence of the Modern Congress
- PSC 319 American Legislative Institutions
- PSC 535 Bureaucratic Politics
- PSC 535 Bureaucratic Politics
- PSC 510 Political Parties and Elections
- PSC 511 Public Opinion and Electoral Behavior
- PSC 512 Voting and Elections
- PSC 513 Interest Groups
- PSC 516 Political Participation
- PSC 518 Emergence of the Modern Congress
- PSC 519 American Legislative Institutions
- PSC 523 American Politics Field Seminar
- PSC 525 Race and Political Representation
- PSC 530 Urban Change and City Politics
- PSC 540 Models in American Politics: Theory & Data
Comparative Politics
Comparative Politics employs a comparative perspective to study political institutions, political processes, political cultures, and policy outcomes in settings other than our own country. The comparative perspective stimulates us to develop general explanations about politics and test them by considering experiences in different contexts. The comparative approach to politics may take the form of explicit cross-national comparison of two or more countries, designed to answer general questions about important relationships in politics-the relationship between different sorts of constitutional arrangements (such as electoral rules and executive-legislative arrangements) and the accountability of governments to citizens, for example. The comparison may employ quantitative methods (such as statistical analysis or mathematical modeling) or may be qualitative. It may restrict itself to several countries that are considered to be similar in some way or may be very wide-ranging. Alternatively, the comparative approach may focus on the politics of a single country. What makes such study comparative is the perspective adopted, which acknowledges and explores politics in a single country as one piece in a larger framework. The larger framework is the effort in the field of comparative politics to understand what is exceptional and what is general about politics in any context including our own. Courses in comparative politics exhibit the diversity described above, in terms of scope of comparison, regional focus, and thematic content.
- PSC/IR 101 Introduction to Comparative Politics
- PSC/IR 250 Conflict in Democracies
- PSC/IR 251 Political Economy of Development
- PSC/IR 252 Ethnic Politics
- PSC/IR 253 Comparative Political Parties
- PSC/IR 255 Institutions and Economic Underdevelopment
- PSC/IR 256 Theories of Comparative Politics
- PSC/IR 258 Democratic Regimes
- PSC/IR 261 Latin American Politics
- PSC/IR 262 Globalization Past and Present
- PSC/IR 263 Comparative Law and Courts
- PSC/IR 264 Comparative Political Institutions
- PSC/IR 265 Civil War and the International System
- PSC/IR 267 Identity, Ethnicity and Nationalism
- PSC/IR 268 Economics and Elections
- PSC/IR 271 Russia and Eastern Europe: Politics and International Relations
- PSC/IR 274 Introduction to International Political Economy
- PSC/IR 276 The Politics of Insurgency and Terrorism
- PSC/IR 350 Comparative Politics Field Seminar
- PSC/IR 351 Western European Politics
- PSC/IR 355 Democratic Processes
- PSC/IR 356 Political Economy of Reform
- PSC/IR 364 Comparative Political Economy
- PSC/IR 373 Territory and Group Conflict
- PSC 465 Civil War and the International System
- PSC 471 Russia and Eastern Europe: Politics and International Relations
- PSC 550 Comparative Politics Field Seminar
- PSC 551 Western European Politics
- PSC 553 Ethnic Politics
- PSC 555 Democratic Processes
- PSC 556 Political Economy of Reform
- PSC 558 Comparative Parties and Elections
- PSC 561 Latin American Politics
- PSC 564 Comparative Political Economy
- PSC 565 Comparative Political Economy of Development
- PSC 573 Territory and Group Conflict
- PSC 580 Political Economy of Development
International Relations
International Relations is the study of conflict and cooperation in the interstate system and the world economy. The players are diverse: nation-states, international organizations, sub-national actors (such as unions and firms), and transnational actors (such as the Catholic Church). Major questions include the origins of war and peace, the effects of a global economy on domestic politics, and the causes of international integration. For example, it is an empirical fact that democracies are less likely to fight each other than are non-democracies. Why is this the case? There is a panoply of competing explanations, many of which are mutually exclusive. The task for the student of international politics is to find general explanations for such observations: for example, wars may be caused by strategic bluffing during crises; if democratic politics makes it more difficult to hide true objectives from opponents, unintended wars may be avoided. How could this hypothesis be tested? We could carefully compare cases to determine whether this is in fact what distinguished democratic from non-democratic belligerents, or we could use statistical analysis to determine whether democracies are in fact less likely than non-democracies to bluff in a variety of contexts. Courses in international politics provide students with the historical background necessary to understand current events and train them to study international phenomena with the tools of social science. Courses offered in the department range in content and approach and include historical surveys, courses on particular international conflicts or the foreign relations of particular countries, and courses on theoretical approaches to international relations.
- PSC/IR 106 Introduction to International Relations
- IR 204 Dictatorship and Democracy
- IR 217 States and Markets
- IR 218 Federalism in Comparative Perspective
- IR 219 Democracy in Latin America: Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico
- PSC/IR 251 Political Economy of Development
- PSC/IR 252 Ethnic Politics
- PSC/IR 255 Institutions and Economic Underdevelopment
- PSC/IR 262 Globalization Past and Present
- PSC/IR 265 Civil War and the International System
- PSC/IR 270 Mechanisms of International Relations
- PSC/IR 271 Russia and Eastern Europe: Politics and International Relations
- PSC/IR 272 Theories of International Relations
- PSC/IR 274 Introduction to International Political Economy
- PSC/IR 276 The Politics of Insurgency and Terrorism
- PSC/IR 279 War and the Nation State
- PSC/IR 356 Political Economy of Reform
- PSC/IR 364 Comparative Political Economy
- PSC/IR 372 International Politics Field Seminar
- PSC/IR 373 Territory and Group Conflict
- PSC/IR 374 International Political Economy
- PSC 465 Civil War and the International System
- PSC 471 Russia and Eastern Europe: Politics and International Relations
- PSC 479 War and the Nation State
- PSC 553 Ethnic Politics
- PSC 556 Political Economy of Reform
- PSC 564 Comparative Political Economy
- PSC 568 International Organization
- PSC 571 Quantitative Approaches to International Politics
- PSC 572 International Politics Field Seminar
- PSC 573 Territory and Group Conflict
- PSC 574 International Political Economy
- PSC 576 Modeling International Conflict
- PSC 577 Theories of Conflict
- PSC 578 International Conflict: Theory and History
- PSC 579 Politics of International Finance
Positive Theory
Positive Theory is the study of political processes by using logical or mathematical reasoning to deduce conclusions about political behavior and outcomes from precise initial assumptions about political actors' preferences, information, and opportunities. You will encounter three important examples of positive theory in many political science courses-not only courses in the positive theory field. First, there is a well developed positive theory of voting and elections. This theory is used to analyze the strategies candidates use to gain victory, based on voters' preferences about the results of government policies. The same theory is often used to understand how legislators vote on bills. Second, the positive theory of collective action is often used to understand the problems involved in getting people with different individual goals to work together toward a common goal. Third, the positive theory of social choice is concerned with problems inherent in creating democratic processes for influencing government policies when public opinion about those policies is mixed. Courses in positive theory focus on how this sort of formal reasoning works, no matter what the particular political situation, and teach you how to use positive theory to draw extremely important, general lessons about politics across a wide variety of situations.
- PSC 107 Introduction to Positive Political Theory
- PSC 108 Introduction to Political Economy
- PSC/IR 272 Theories of International Relations
- PSC 280 Political Accountability
- PSC 281 Formal Models in Political Science
- PSC 285 Strategy and Politics
- PSC 286 Political Economy
- PSC 288 Game Theory
- PSC/IR 374 International Political Economy
- PSC 407 Mathematical Modeling
- PSC 408 Positive Political Theory
- PSC 574 International Political Economy
- PSC 575 Political Economy I
- PSC 575 Political Economy I
- PSC 576 Modeling International Conflict
- PSC 580 Political Economy of Development
- PSC 582 Political Economy II
- PSC 584 Game Theory
- PSC 585 Dynamic and Computational Modeling
- PSC 586 Voting and Elections
- PSC 588 Bargaining Theory and Applications
Political Philosophy
Political Philosophy addresses basic conceptual and normative questions and probes the intuitive, seemingly obvious answers we give to them. What are rights and why do we value them? How do we conceive of freedom and what limits, if any, may government legitimately impose on individual freedom? What is power, how does it operate in politics, and when is the exercise of power justified? Politicians and ordinary citizens regularly answer such questions, and they regularly do so in very different ways. The answers they offer, although seemingly common sensical, often raise complex, unforseen philosophical problems. Political philosophy deals with problems that arise when politicians and ordinary citizens attempt to specify and justify basic political commitments. The approach of political philosophy can be historical or analytical, and it is usually both. Historically, it attempts to learn from how great writers of the past address foundational questions. It asks, for example, how Socrates, Antigone, Henry David Thoreau, or Martin Luther King, Jr. justified civil disobedience, and how and why their respective justifications differ. Analytically, it explores the structure of political concepts. For example, it asks not only what rights are, but more precisely whether rights protect the choices or the interests of actors, and whether we can coherently ascribe rights to groups or only to individuals. Courses in political philosophy engage, to varying degrees, in both historical and analytical inquiry. In this way, they prompt students to engage with the fundamental issues of politics.
- PSC 104 Introduction to Political Philosophy
- PSC 108 Introduction to Political Economy
- PSC 121 Democracy in America
- PSC 221 Philosophical Foundations of the American Revolution
- PSC 282 Art and Politics
- PSC 283 Contemporary Political Theory
- PSC 284 Democratic Theory
- PSC 291 First Amendment and Religion
- PSC 292 Rousseau to Revolution
- PSC 380 Scope of Political Science
- PSC 383 Culture and Politics
Introductory Courses
Note: Introductory courses count toward their respective fields.
- PSC/IR 101 Introduction to Comparative Politics
- PSC 103 Great Debates in American Democracy
- PSC 105 Introduction to American Politics
- PSC/IR 106 Introduction to International Relations
- PSC 107 Introduction to Positive Political Theory
- PSC 108 Introduction to Political Economy
- PSC 117 Introduction to American Government
- PSC 121 Democracy in America
- PSC 124 Race and Politics in American History
Individual Research
Internship
- PSC 394 Local Law and Politics Internships
- PSC 396 Washington Semester
- PSC/IR 397 European Political Internship
Associated Courses
Associated Courses are typically taught by faculty with a long-standing association with the department or scholars invited to the department for research and teaching. They include professors with doctorates in disciplines other than political science as well as professors with significant practical experience in law, politics, and public policy.
- PSC 117 Introduction to American Government
- PSC 161 Introduction to International Politics
- PSC 162 Business and Foreign Policy
- PSC 164 Politics of Authoritarian Regimes
- PSC 167 Politics of the Middle East
- PSC 169 Politics of New Europe
- IR 201 Comparative Legislatures and Executives
- IR 202 India, Pakistan, and the Politics of South Asia
- IR 210 Russian Politics
- IR 211 Political Economy of Africa
- IR 212 Democratization in Non-Western Societies
- IR 213 Political and Economic Development in Post-Colonial Societies
- IR 214 Political Violence in Comparative Perspective
- IR 215 Corruption and Good Governance
- IR 220 Non-State Actors in World Politics
- IR 221 International Politics of Development
- IR 222 Preventive Wars
- IR 223 Cycles of War and Peace
- IR 224 Domestic Politics and International Relations
- IR 225 International Negotiations
- IR 226 America's 21st Century Wars
- PSC 227 The Black Arts Movement
- IR 227 Peace and War
- IR 228 International Security
- PSC 229 The Civil Rights Era and Its Legacy
- IR 229 Terrorism
- IR 230 The Tools of U.S. Foreign Policy
- IR 231 Counterinsurgency in Theory and Practice
- IR 232 Political Economy of Europe
- PSC 233 Community Development and Political Leadership
- IR 233 Internal Conflict and International Intervention
- PSC 236 Health Care and the Law
- PSC 240 Criminal Procedure and Constitutional Principles
- PSC 242 Courts, Communities, and Injustice in America
- PSC 246 Women in Politics
- PSC/IR 248 Politics of the Middle East
- PSC/IR 251 Political Economy of Development
- PSC/IR 257 Poland in the New Europe
- PSC/IR 259 Democratic Consolidation
- PSC/IR 260 The Cold War: Europe between the US and the USSR
- PSC/IR 266 Politics of the European Union
- PSC/IR 269 Russian Politics
- PSC/IR 273 Political Economy of East Asia
- PSC/IR 275 American Foreign Policy
- PSC/IR 277 International Security
- PSC/IR 278 War and Political Violence
- IR 280 Communism and Democracy in Eastern Europe
- IR 281 Business and Politics in Eastern and Central Europe
- IR 282 Eastern Europe: Philosophy and Reform
- IR 283 Post-Soviet Politics: Democracy, Authoritarianism, and Elections