Open All | Close All

•  

  POL 1000 Introduction to Political Science

  POL 1000 Introduction to Political Science

  Credit Hours: 3

  An overview of the discipline and introduction to the basic concepts and vocabulary of political science and its subfields. Its purpose is to enable students to grasp the nature and scope of the discipline and to equip them with the conceptual tools with which to examine the complexities of politics in greater depth.

•  

  POL 2010 Introduction to Law and the Judiciary

  POL 2010 Introduction to Law and the Judiciary

  Credit Hours: 3

  Surveys the American legal system. Provides an understanding of the strengths and weakness of law and the role law plays in a complex modern society. The course is a blend of theory and case analysis in areas such as constitutional interpretation, due process, criminal law, civil law, torts, contracts, and property.

•  

  POL 2020 Criminal Law and Procedure

  POL 2020 Criminal Law and Procedure

  Credit Hours: 3

  A study of criminal law and procedure that focuses on the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. A survey of the process from the arrest stages through sentencing and appeals. Included in the survey is search and seizure, right to an attorney, and the exclusionary rule.

•  

  POL 2030 Topics in Legal Issues

  POL 2030 Topics in Legal Issues

  Credit Hours: 3

  Provides students with an opportunity to fully investigate a legal issue from all aspects of the political arena and at all levels. Topics may include: civil, criminal, civil rights, gender rights, right to privacy, or sexuality.

•  

  POL 2040 Tort Law

  POL 2040 Tort Law

  Credit Hours: 3

  A survey of the areas of tort law including intentional, negligence, and strict liability. Topics include assault and battery, false imprisonment, defamation, the right of to privacy, malpractice, duty of care, and product liability.

•  

  POL 2050 Political Fiction

  POL 2050 Political Fiction

  Credit Hours: 3

  Exploration of the premise that significant insight into politics can be gained through the medium of political fiction. The class, by reading fictional accounts of politics from a variety of historical eras and settings, attempts to define political fiction and discern political meaning from these fictional artifacts.

•  

  POL 2100 American Politics

  POL 2100 American Politics

  Credit Hours: 3

  An introduction to the study of American politics. Familiarizes students with the basic concepts of the American political system: its foundations (or roots), its primary institutions and their interaction with one another, its primary actors and their political behavior, and its public policy-making process.

•  

  POL 2510 International Relations

  POL 2510 International Relations

  Credit Hours: 3

  An examination of the various approaches to the study of international relations, the evolution of world politics, the forces that motivate nation-states behavior toward one another, and the sources and instruments of both conflict and cooperation in international politics.

•  

  POL 2600 Introduction to Comparative Politics

  POL 2600 Introduction to Comparative Politics

  Credit Hours: 3

  Through the use of political system types and representative country studies, this course explores the historical and cultural sources of politics in contemporary nation-states. Topics include the institutional and behavioral dimensions of politics, the making of public policy, and the challenge of change in a variety of settings.

•  

  POL 2800 Legal Research

  POL 2800 Legal Research

  Credit Hours: 3

  Develops basic skills in researching and analyzing legal problems. Emphasis is giving to preparing and writing legal complaints, memoranda, and attorney briefs.

•  

  POL 3020 Race and Political Thought

  POL 3020 Race and Political Thought

  Credit Hours: 3

  This course serves as an introduction to the study of race and political thought. Historically, race has enabled regimes of discourse and power that have granted privilege to some and not others. As a complex system of social and political categorization, race has been a key marker of difference, inequality and power. Taking our orientation from the tradition of political theory, an enterprise devoted to the study of such topics like justice, equality, identity and power, we will attempt to (1) develop a political conception of race, (2) survey key debates that animate questions of racial identity and power, (3) consider ethical arguments and political solutions for the achievement of racial justice. We will consider the following questions in more detail: What exactly is race? How has it been constructed by the modern state? How does language work to codify racial distinctions? What is anti-black and colonial racism? What is "whiteness," and how is it constituted? What role does gender play in racial identity? Should race be abandoned? Are reparations or affirmative action ever a desirable policy for the achievement of racial justice?

•  

  POL 3100 Women and Politics

  POL 3100 Women and Politics

  Credit Hours: 3

  This course provides a broad analysis of women and politics as a field of study. It examines the way in which women and politics interact and influence each other. Focus is not just on the role of women in political life but on gender as an analytic category, and how theories of sex and gender apply to politics. The course examines the role that women play in politics in the United States and around the world. Women’s rights, political participation, and feminism and its interpretation and manifestation across nations and cultures, are examined. An analysis of the role of women in political life, the suffrage movement, gender gap in political attitudes and voting; and variation in representation, employment and economic status is offered. The approach will be both historical and contemporary. In this regard, a historical analysis of the women’s movement in the US will be covered in comparison with other women’s movements around the world. By the end of the semester you should have had a deep reflection and understanding of whether women think, believe, and act differently from men in politics; and what accounts for the existing differences. You will be more familiar with women’s and feminist movements and their relevance in contemporary politics and society. Movies, documentaries and scholarly journal articles to augment the required textbook are utilized.

•  

  POL 3200 Public Administration

  POL 3200 Public Administration

  Credit Hours: 3

  The interface of politics and administration, value and fact are examined in order to understand the unique characteristics of the environment of decision-making experienced by public and quasi-public administrators, including those serving in health care organizations and welfare agencies. Topics include legislative relations, budgeting, organization theory, personnel and labor relations, conflict resolution and collective bargaining decision-making, and administrative law.

•  

  POL 3390 Issues in Public Policy

  POL 3390 Issues in Public Policy

  Credit Hours: 3

  Focuses on United States domestic policy. Topics may include civil rights, energy, housing, the environment and transportation, health and welfare. These topics are examined within the framework of policy analysis. See the course schedule for the topic focus in any one semester.

•  

  POL 3400 American Political Thought

  POL 3400 American Political Thought

  Credit Hours: 3

  This course serves as an introduction to American political thought. American political thinkers have inquired into the nature of freedom, justice, equality and rights from a distinctly American vantage point and have advanced divergent perspectives on the merits of radicalism, reform and reaction. In surveying the key thinkers, beginning with colonial America and moving through the American Revolution, the abolitionist movement, Reconstruction and its aftermath, Progressivism and Democratic Reform, the Civil Rights Movement, and concluding with the rise of the New Right and contemporary American Empire, we will ask the following questions: What is American political culture? Are equality and freedom important political values? What is justice and how does it relate to power? Is democracy the best way to organize political life, and what commitments underpin this question? Does racial domination structure American life? What is the usefulness of radical thought compared to reformism?

•  

  POL 3410 Introduction to Environmental Politics

  POL 3410 Introduction to Environmental Politics

  Credit Hours: 3

  This course serves as an introduction to the core issues related to environmental politics and political thought. As issues concerning global climate change are more pressing than ever before, it is imperative to consider the implications for citizens, nations and the international sphere. Through an examination of the political and intellectual history of the struggle around responding to the environment, among the questions we will ask are: what is nature and the environment? How do we respond politically to climate change? What are the competing frameworks--neoliberalism, feminism, deep ecology, anti-racism and indigenous rights--for doing so? What are the core and contested issues surrounding environmental politics--power, justice, equality, capitalism, and industrialization.

•  

  POL 3420 American Constitution and Public Law

  POL 3420 American Constitution and Public Law

  Credit Hours: 3

  A case law course on the American constitutional system. Topics include: presidential and congressional powers; impeachment; federal-state relations; major state powers; commerce and general welfare clauses.

•  

  POL 3460 Civil Liberties and Equality

  POL 3460 Civil Liberties and Equality

  Credit Hours: 3

  A case law course examines the recent developments and court decisions on the frontiers of civil rights and liberties. Recent cases such as abortion, homosexuality, right-to-die, the limits of protected speech and artistic expression, and the conflict of religious values and state authority are discussed as is the evolving multi-tiered standards of equality under current interpretations of the 14th Amendment.

•  

  POL 3530 Violence, Justice and Reconciliation

  POL 3530 Violence, Justice and Reconciliation

  Credit Hours: 3

  The question of how citizens should respond in the aftermath of violence has been of principal interest for contemporary political theory, especially within the context of the 20th century. This course examines the relationship between violence and politics. It considers whether violence is inextricably linked to politics and what this means for the prospect of justice. Among the questions we will address are: why is violence central for politics? What effect does it have on freedom? Is violence ever a legitimate instrument of politics? Are rectificatory justice mechanisms--trials, truth commissions and reparations appropriate for reconciliation? Is memory a necessary condition for corrective justice? What role does public mourning and forgiveness have in democracy?

•  

  POL 3700 Political Radicalism

  POL 3700 Political Radicalism

  Credit Hours: 3

  This course serves as an introduction to political radicalism. Through a historical and intellectual survey of the ideas and politics of communism, anarchism, fascism, psychoanalysis, radical feminism, black radicalism, post structuralism and radical democratic thought as well as others, we will explore the following questions: what does it mean to be radical? What is radicalism and what value does it have for contemporary politics? What visions of revolution, freedom, justice, equality, democracy and society do radicals espouse?

•  

  POL 3800 Elements of Political Thought

  POL 3800 Elements of Political Thought

  Credit Hours: 3

  Traces the development of political ideologies most relevant to contemporary politics. Examines themes germane to the study of political theory: political obligation (the relationship between the individual and the state), justice, freedom, equality, democracy, and the tension between individual rights and social responsibilities.

•  

  POL 3860 Politics and the Media

  POL 3860 Politics and the Media

  Credit Hours: 3

  The development of the media as an agency of political change, i.e., as a force in shaping our view of reality. Also examined are image creation, the development of public relations, the shaping of policy and candidates, capital intensive electronic high technology and its impact on elections, the weakening of political parties and reduced attention to issues as opposed to the election, and media relations practices of regulated industries and foreign firms. Differences in press-government relations in the U.S. and Canada are also examined. Research paper, field trip.

•  

  POL 3900 Governmental Internship

  POL 3900 Governmental Internship

  Credit Hours: 1 TO 9

  Open by permission to select undergraduates with 12 or more credits in political science. Students are offered an opportunity to correlate classroom material with practical experience in public affairs. The intern working 20 hours a week or less in a public agency or non-governmental agency related to a governmental function may earn up to three hours of academic credit a semester. The undergraduate intern who works full-time may earn up to nine hours per semester. See department advisor for further information.

•  

  POL 3910 Washington Seminar

  POL 3910 Washington Seminar

  Credit Hours: 3

  A required course taken in conjunction with the Washington Center Internship. Classes are offered through the Center one evening a week in Congressional studies, policy evaluation, law, and justice studies.

•  

  POL 3940 Washington Internship

  POL 3940 Washington Internship

  Credit Hours: 1 TO 12

  Full-time placement in government agencies, public interest law firms, congressional committees, foreign affairs lobbies, and the public communications media. Arranged through the Washington Center in the area of the student's interest. Open to Majors and non-majors with second semester sophomore status and 2.5 QPA. Only nine hours count toward the major although all count toward graduation. Admission at the discretion of the political science faculty. Shorter seminars available for reduced credit. Summer sessions available for 7 credits.

•  

  POL 4630 Third World Politics

  POL 4630 Third World Politics

  Credit Hours: 3

  A comparative study of the processes and issues of political and economic modernization in select Asian, African, and Latin American countries. It provides an inquiry into the economic, social and psychological dimensions of politics, and studies the issues of stability, order, revolution, and political development.

•  

  POL 4670 Politics in Africa

  POL 4670 Politics in Africa

  Credit Hours: 3

  A comparative study of politics in selected countries and regions of Africa, touching on such problems as apartheid, education, standard of living, and modernization. The course examines the social and political changes as well as stagnation in Africa, including some of the evolution of governmental, educational, commercial, and religious institutions which shape African society, and the different patterns of political and social change which have emerged since independence.

•  

  POL 4950 Directed Studies

  POL 4950 Directed Studies

  Credit Hours: 1 TO 6

  Directed readings and research in a field of the student's special interest. Assignments vary according to the number of credits.

•  

  POL 4990 Senior Seminar

  POL 4990 Senior Seminar

  Credit Hours: 3

  Designed to provide the student with an opportunity to integrate a specific problem with the total field of Political Science. Intensive research and/or reading of a particular theme or topic. Course content varies from term to term.