2021-2022 Academic Catalog

POS-Political Science

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Course Descriptions By Program

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POS100 - Introduction to Political Science

This course is designed to introduce students to key ideas, institutions, processes and actors in the political world. It is intended to be a general, not detailed, examination, and attempts to encourage understanding, reflection and critical thinking.

POS102 - American Government for Elementary Education Majors

American Government is a course for elementary education majors, and provides an introduction to the major institutions and processes in the American political system.

POS105 - American Politics

This is an introductory course in American government focusing on the major institutions and processes in the American political system. Topics discussed in the course include separation of powers, checks and balances, civil liberties, political parties, the Congress, the president, the Supreme Court, federalism, and policy-making processes.

POS300 - Public Policy

The course covers theoretical and applied components of public policy and analysis, including an examination of decision making concepts and models and their application to various policy areas, policy development, implementation, and adjustment, the political context, and report writing.

POS301 - Research Methods in Political Science

A scope and methods course with an emphasis on research methods, research design, writing techniques, and statistics used in political science.

POS303 - The Mass Media and American Politics

The interaction of politics and the mass media within American society is covered. Topics include media effects on political socialization, techniques of opinion manipulation, propaganda, press responsibility, public opinion polling and government control of the media. Special attention is devoted to the use of television as an instrument of communication.

POS306 - Congress

In this intensive examination of the legislative problems and procedures of Congress, students are introduced to such topics as the representational functions of Congress, the role of parties and leaders in Congress, the importance of the committee system, and the forces affecting congressional decision making.

POS307 - Revolution

A comparative study of the phenomenon of revolution, encompassing the causes, events and principal actors in those periods that culminate in the outbreak of violent political change.

POS310 - The Presidency

Intensive study of the American presidency, focusing on personality, organization of the office, use and misuse of power, and policy making.

POS311 - Cyberpolitics

An examination of the impact of the Internet on American democratic institutions and processes, focusing on campaigns and elections, civil liberties, law enforcement, national security, and public policies, including cyber democracy, cyber terrorism, law enforcement issues of wire tapping and encryption, education, taxes, entitlements, business, and medicine.

POS312 - Politics of the World Economy

This course will be concerned with understanding the politics of the world economy. The emphasis will be on the contemporary structure of the international political economy, how it emerged, and what actions and policy responses – by international institutions, governments, multinational corporations and labor unions – continue to shape its order. Students will also gain knowledge of how their lives are impacted by the world economy and what future opportunity exists there.

POS314 - Constitutional Law: Governmental Powers

A study of the major provisions of the American Constitution and the growth of American constitutional law based on analysis and discussion of leading judicial decisions.

POS315 - Constitutional Law: Civil Liberties & Civil Rights

A study of the development and meaning of the rights and liberties guaranteed to persons under the Constitution of the United States. Special emphasis is placed on the antecedents of and the adoption of the Bill of Rights and a description of the court structure through which the meaning of civil liberties is determined in specific situations.

POS316 - Judicial Policy & Politics

Intensive study of the judicial process in the United States and the relationship between the judicial system and the larger American social system.

POS318 - Political Parties & Pressure Groups

This course examines the roles political parties and pressure groups play in electoral politics and policy making.

POS319 - Campaign Management

A course on political campaigns and elections that combines theory and practice. The emphasis is placed on campaign strategy.

POS322 - Politics of the Middle East

This course will consider the nature and types of politics found throughout the Middle East. Consideration will begin with the diversity of peoples in this area, both in terms of religion and ethnicity, and how these were shaped by the Ottoman and European imperial systems of government. This will be followed by an examination of how contemporary Arab, Israeli, Turkish and Iranian governments have dealt with this legacy even as they respond to the challenges of the modern world.

POS325 - Politics of Asia

A comparative analysis of the institutions, processes and policies of China, Japan, and India and how these nations relate to the system in the United States.

POS326 - Politics of Africa

A comparative analysis of the institutions, processes and politics of selected African nations and their place in the international arena.

POS327 - Contemporary Political Thought

A general survey of the major political ideas and representative thinkers of the 19th and 20th centuries, drawing connections between these ideas and contemporary developments in philosophy, religion, psychology, sociology, and the natural sciences.

POS329 - Internship in Political Science

Application of political science methodologies to various professional environments under faculty supervision.

POS330 - American Political Ideas

An advanced course in political theory: the major political ideas and controversies that are associated with the development of American political thought.

POS340 - The Politics of Empires

This course will explore the political ideas, traditions and institutions associated with the idea of empires and imperial organization in international order. It will also focus on how empires not only organize foreign policy and foreign affairs, but equally the social and economic lives and cultures of their citizens and subjects. The course will begin with an overview of political science thinking on the values and ethics associated with the idea of empire, and how much of this political thought views empire as the key to peace, progress and prosperity. The course then considers the evolution of the imperial idea throughout political history to its current manifestations in our own age. The classical expression of empire is will first be considered in the examination of the Egyptian, Greek and Roman empires. The course then subsequently will consider the Asian practice of empire in both its Islamic forms (Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal) and Chinese forms. Following this, the course will turn to a treatment of the great trading and colonization empires (British, French, Dutch) and their influence in determining the modern economic and Western international political order. The age of ideological empires will be the fourth section of the course and it will explore not only the Nazi and Communist empires, but those patterns of world and imperial international order influenced by the French Revolution and the liberal internationalism of the United States of America. The course will conclude with a consideration of imperial order and international organization in the current era of globalization and increasing economic integration. In studying the aforementioned, the student will not only meet the general objectives, but also the following political science objectives.

POS344 - Intergovernmental Relations

The course is an examination of the legal, political, fiscal, and administrative dimensions of intergovernmental relations in the United States.

POS346 - Introduction to International Relations

This course considers the nature of world politics and how it has evolved. Emphasis will be on the nature of power in international relations, and why this often leads to conflict, from war to economic competition. Following this, the student will consider what measures and institutions have been created to deal with such issues, from diplomacy to international organizations like the United Nations to the emergence of international human rights law and citizen advocacy groups. There will also be consideration of careers available in international relations, and the students will be exposed to this through playing the role of a diplomat in an international relations simulation or game.

POS347 - Development of Political Thought: Classical and Medieval

The basic ideas, values, and method of the profound political thinkers and philosophers from the Axial Age, including Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Daoism, Jainism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Platonism, Legalism, and Aristotelianism.

POS348 - Political Thought: Medieval and Modern

This course will explore and develop an understanding of the nature and content of political thought from the medieval period to the modern world. The student will also develop an understanding of how political thought shapes government and political institutions and through them, the larger world. Among the thinkers considered will be Dante, Machiavelli, More, Luther, Calvin, Jefferson and Burke. The course will conclude with an examination of how the modern political world was, in large part, a creation of these thinkers and their institutions from modern representative government to trading empires to emergent international organizations.

POS355 - Public Administration

Topics covered in the course include both theoretical and applied components, with an emphasis on public bureaucracies, administrative leadership, intergovernmental relations, organized interests, and making rules and implementing government decisions.

POS375 - Public and Nonprofit Strategic Planning

The course focuses on strategic planning as it relates to public and nonprofit organizations, including theories and methodologies, organizational dynamics, and frameworks.

POS415 - Public Opinion & Political Behavior

A course on the fundamentals of public opinion research, including measurement methods. The study of political behavior as it relates to political participation and public policy.

POS450 - Seminar in Politics

A seminar designed to provide an intensive examination of a specific and narrowly focused problem or controversy in the discipline.