All information in this guide is tentative and subject to change. Check with the Political Science Department Office for updates. The Real-time online schedule of classes is accessible through MySlice - Syracuse University
PSC 500 m001 Representation and Diplomacy
Instructor: Francine D’Amico
Class#: 42214
Offered: W 9:30 am – 12:15 pm
Frequency Offered: Special Offering
Prerequisites: None
Course Description
The seminar will explore practices and policies around diplomatic representation in various contexts/countries (such as USA, Sweden, Brazil, et al.) and in global governance (UN system) and the lived experiences of diplomats serving in the foreign services of those countries/institutions. There are no required textbooks for this course. All assigned readings will be available through the SU Library SUMMON system or through our PAIA 500 course Blackboard. Several seminar sessions will include guest lectures by researchers/authors, some of whom – like me - are participants in the University of Göteborg’s “Gender in Diplomacy Program.” GenDip: Gender in Diplomacy, University of Gothenburg (gu.se)
PSC 600 m001 Constitutional Law
Instructor: Keith Bybee
Class#: 42989
Offered: M/W 2:30 pm – 3:45 pm
Frequency Offered: Special Offering
Prerequisites: None
Meets with LAW 602 m002
Course Description
A course covering the jurisprudence of individual rights developed by the United States Supreme Court since the Civil War. The topics covered include substantive due process; desegregation; race and gender discrimination; affirmative action; free expression; religious freedom; the right to privacy; and the constitutional significance of the welfare state. The Tuesday, Thursday classes will be supplemented by a series tutorial meetings at which classic works in the field will be discussed. PSC 600: Constitutional Law II is open only to PhD students. Enrollment requires instructor permission.
PSC 600 m301 European Integration
Instructor: Glyn Morgan
Class #: 33729
Offered: W 6:45 pm – 9:30 pm
Course Description
From 1986 until 2005, the project to build an economically and politically integrated Europe proved remarkably successful. In the last few years, however, this project has confronted a number of interlocking difficulties—"or polycrises.” These difficulties include: populist nationalism; immigration; demographic decline; geopolitical conflict, and now the war sparked by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. These polycrises prompt the questions: (i) Does European integration have a future: (ii) If so, what form must it take to survive? More generally, the EU represents the first genuine attempt to find an
alternative to the nation-state. If the EU fails, then what does this tell us about the nature and durability of the nation-state as a macropolitical form?
PSC 602 m001 Public Policy Analysis Theory & Practice
Instructor: Sarah Pralle
Class #: 42136
Offered: W 9:30 am – 12:15 pm
Course Description
This course examines the politics of public policy processes. The policy literature is characterized by attention to how politics shapes the set of issues on the policy agenda; the policy programs, solutions and instruments selected by the public and policymakers; the implementation of public policy; and how policies affect subsequent politics. We begin by exploring what is sometimes referred to as a "policy-centered" approach to understanding politics, as well as some classic texts that lay the groundwork for such an approach. Next, we investigate different stages of the policy process, including agenda-setting, policy change, design, and implementation. We also investigate specific policy institutions, such as the bureaucracy and interest groups. The course concludes with an examination of how policies, once created, may in turn restructure political processes and shape subsequent polices. Throughout the course, special attention is given to the U.S. context, although some cross-national comparisons are included.
PSC 612 m001 Development of the American Administrative State
Instructor: Steven White
Class #: 42137
Offered: W 12:45 pm-3:30 pm
Course Description
This course examines major themes in the study of American political development (APD). Among other topics, we will explore the development of the American administrative state, the enactment and persistence of major social policies, and changes in the party system. Along the way, we will also study the role of race, class, and gender in American political development.
PSC 671 m001 Comparative Political Analysis
Instructor: Seth Jolly
Class #: 42138
Offered: Tu 12:30 pm-3:15 pm
Course Description
This seminar surveys the major substantive topics in comparative politics. Topics include: democratization, collective action, state formation, political institutions, political violence, identity politics (especially ethnic politics), representation, political parties and party systems, and comparative political economy.
PSC 694 m001 Qualitative Political Analysis
Instructor: Erin Hern
Class #: 31393
Offered: M 12:45 pm-3:30 pm
Course Description
This course introduces the three methodological techniques most often associated in Political Science with the qualitative label: ethnography, discourse analysis, and historiography. Through homework assignments, you will learn to apply each tool in research of your choice. To situate these methods within a research proposal—the final assignment—we will also query distinctions between qualitative and quantitative (as well as other) methods. Your research design will mimic a
funding proposal, as appropriate for the project (e.g., master’s thesis, pilot study, or dissertation). Thus, the course should be useful both to those in the early stages of graduate work and to those starting dissertations.
PSC 700 m101 Climate Change/Science/Perception/Policy
Instructor: Sarah Pralle
Class #: 42156
Offered: M/W 2:15 pm – 3:35 pm
Meets with LAW 891/PAI 770/CEE 600
Please note that due to differences between the Law School and Main Campus calendars, there will be one 3-hour class meeting on a weekend day to be determined.
Course Description
Climate change is one of the most pressing issues of the twenty-first century. This course examines it from a multidisciplinary perspective that blends natural science, politics, economics, and law. It will cover: the drivers behind anthropogenic changes in the composition of the atmosphere that are causing climate change; the response of the global climate system; the global carbon, water, and nutrient cycles; local vulnerabilities of natural and social systems to climate change, and the likely impacts on those systems; actions that could reduce the impacts of climate change through adaptation; and actions that could mitigate the problem by reducing changes in the composition of the atmosphere. The course is intended to bring together students from a diverse range of backgrounds and does not have specific prerequisites.
PSC 700 m201 Politics & Demographic Aging
Instructor: Margarita Estevez-Abe
Class #: 42142
Offered: M 3:45 pm – 6:30 pm
Course Description
Demographic change is one of the biggest problems facing mature economies. Demographic aging not only affects the welfare state but also the economy. The rising demands for healthcare and pension create fiscal pressures, while the ever-growing number of retirees reduces the size of the workforce and domestic demand. The future seems grim. Can politics rescue us from the demographic destiny? More immigration? More working mothers? This course compares why and how different OECD countries have addressed the problems differently; and, considers multiple political-economic trajectories of super-aging societies.
PSC 700 m202 Politics of Africa
Instructor: Erin Hern
Class #: 42148
Offered: M 9:30 am – 12:15 pm
Course Description
How can African politics deepen our understanding of concepts in comparative politics? Many theories of comparative politics were developed with the experience of Europe or European settler colonies in mind, while the experiences of other places were relegated to “regional studies” or “why don’t our theories work there” thinking. This course applies concepts of comparative politics to African cases, seeking to uncover what CP concepts can explain about politics in Africa, while also illuminating how African experiences enrich our understanding of comparative politics.
PSC 700 m203 Political Conflict & Violence
Instructor: Yael Zeira
Class #: 42149
Offered: Th 9:30 am – 12:15 pm
Course Description
In this course, we will engage with key questions in the study of Middle East and North Africa politics and the politics of the Global South more broadly, with a special focus on authoritarian regimes and strategies, clientelism, opposition parties and movements, and the causes and consequences of the Arab Uprisings, including democratic transitions, reversals, and war. We will explore these questions using cases from across the region, including Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, and the Gulf, with an eye towards comparison with other world regions. The main goal of the course is to introduce you to some of the main questions driving contemporary research on Middle East and North Africa politics, the most important contributions made to answering these questions to date, and the gaps that remain in our understanding of these questions. In doing so, it aims to give you not only a survey of the relevant literature but also the tools you will need to engage with and evaluate new research, including your own.
PSC 700 m301 Geoeconomics and Statecraft
Instructor: Daniel McDowell
Class #: 42151
Offered: M 12:45 pm – 3:30 pm
Course Description
Economic globalization is being reshaped by strategic considerations. The transformation under way reflects a variety of contemporary forces, including a shifting global distribution of power, intensifying interstate conflict, and the increased use of economic sanctions. These shocks to the “globalization status quo” are causing a foreign economic policy re-think in capitals around the world. The perceived benefits of deep integration are shrinking relative to expanding fears of strategic vulnerabilities from interdependence. This course surveys how strategic and security considerations are transforming interstate economic relations, including how states wield their economic power toward coercive ends, but also how they work to enhance their strategic autonomy and resilience in a riskier, more crisis prone world. The topics we will survey include economic sanctions, domestic reactions to economic coercion, financial statecraft, the weaponization of energy, private sector responses to geopolitical risk, de-risking in international trade and investment, and more. Weekly readings draw on academic research and some policy-oriented writing. We will engage with historical cases for additional context and comparison, though contemporary issues are the main event.
PSC 706 m001 US National Security Policy
Instructor: Renee de Nevers
Class #: 32127
Offered: W 9:30 am-12:15pm
Cross – listed with PAI 718.m001
Course Description
This course will explore U.S. national security and foreign policy. We will examine U.S. policy during the cold war to establish a framework for understanding the policy challenges the U.S. faces today; foreign and security policy decision-making; and current policy issues. The course will use a combination of readings, case studies, exercises, and guest speakers to explore issues ranging from the U.S. national security structure, diplomacy and the use of force, and U.S. relations with allies and potential adversaries.
PSC 722 m001 Surveys and Experiments
Instructor: Emily Thorson
Class #: 42059
Offered: Tu 9:30 am-12:15pm
Course Description
This class will explore the use and applications of surveys and experiments as social science methods. The course will cover the advantages and disadvantages of surveys of the mass public, survey experiments, field experiments, and natural experiments. Familiarity with quantitative methods is useful but not a prerequisite.
PSC 749 m001 International Security Theory
Instructor: Gregory Smith
Class #: 42139
Offered: Th 3:30 pm-6:15 pm
Course Description
This course is a graduate seminar on the main themes, literatures, and debates in the sub-field of security studies. The course is particularly appropriate for Political Science Ph.D. students interested in international relations and security studies; it also may be appropriate for M.A. students in International Relations, Political Science, and other programs, as well as Ph.D. graduate students from other departments. The key requirement is that students be interested in learning the theoretical literature in security studies. Although there are no prerequisites for the course, it is expected that students are coming into it with a basic familiarity with the general approaches and debates in international relations theory. Topics to be covered include: causes of war; balance of power, polarity, and hegemony; the security dilemma; coercion, deterrence, compellence, and bargaining; security institutions, cooperation, and collective security; civil war and internal conflict; military strategy and effectiveness; intervention and peacekeeping. Readings will be a mix of classics, review essays, and newer works, and draw from different theoretical and methodological traditions.
PSC 758 m001 Global Migration
Instructor: Audie Klotz
Class #: 42140
Offered: W 9:30 am-12:15pm
Course Description
People increasingly move across international borders. Some seek jobs in more prosperous regions; others flee political persecution, war, or ecological disasters. What are the social, economic and political consequences of these transnational population pressures? How should national governments and international institutions meet these new challenges? Are immigration restrictions justified? Can international institutions provide better or supplementary responses?
PSC 794 m001 Advanced Quantitative Political Analysis
Instructor: Baobao Zhang
Class #: 31395
Offered: Th 12:30 pm – 3:15 pm
Course Description
This course has several goals. First, to provide you with the ability to understand, utilize, and evaluate the classical linear regression model in an informed manner. Second, to explore alternative specifications and modeling approaches that better conform to the nature of your data and your questions. Third, to think carefully about the interpretations you draw from statistical analysis and to improve inference by design. Specific topics to be covered include, bivariate and multivariate linear regression, non-linear and limited dependent variables, panel and spatial data, experimental methods, and quasi-experimental methods like instrumental variables estimation and regression discontinuity. The connection between the course material and applied research will be highlighted throughout the course. Students will have regular problem sets, practice with statistical software, mainly Stata, and an exam.
PSC 997 Master’s Thesis
Register for class # 32128, PSC 997 m001, 6 credit hours –or-
Register for class # 31907, PSC 997 m002, 0 credit hours
PSC 999 Dissertation Credits
Register for class # 30597 for 1 to 15 credits
GRD 998 Degree in Progress (Zero Hour Registration)
Register for class number # 37133 - GRD 998.001-or-
Register for class number # 37134 - GRD 998.002
When you have completed all your coursework and your dissertation credits, you should register each fall and spring semester for “Degree in Progress”, GRD 998, to maintain your active student status. Please see Candy Brooks if you have any questions about your credits.
Remember to complete a “Certification of Full-Time Status” form each time you register for zero credit hours to continue your full time status. You can find an electronic Certification of Full-Time Status form for matriculated graduate students with the following link from the Answers page. Forms - Graduate School - Answers (syr.edu)