328: United States Foreign Policy. Goal: To enhance students’ understanding of the institutions, interests, and events that shape the relations of the United States with the rest of the world. Content: The course examines the institutions and ideas that shape United States foreign policy. Particular attention is paid to the period since 1945. Case studies are used to examine the diplomatic, military, and covert policies the United States has used to pursue its national interests internationally. Taught: Fall. Alternate years. Credit: 3 hours. 330: State and Local Politics and Policy.
Goal: The course introduces the student to the institutions, processes, and policy-making of state and local government, providing the background for understanding the role of subnational governments in the political life of the United States.
Content: The course focuses on several trends in state and local governance, including the transfer of responsibility for public programs from the federal government to states and localities, and addresses major issues and problems associated with governance, administration, and the implementation of policy. Taught: Spring. Alternate years. Credit: 3 hours. 332: Research Methods in Political Science.
Goal: To introduce students to the scope and methods of political science. Required of all political science, history/political science, and international relations majors and political science minors; to be taken in the junior year.
Content: The course examines the different theoretical and methodological approaches of political science. Students are introduced to methods and tools of both qualitative and quantitative analysis. Over the course of the semester, students complete a major research project. Taught: Spring. Credit: 3 hours; S-course. 335: Politics of the Developing World.
Goal: To enhance student's understanding of the politics of underdevelopment. Content: The course is thematically organized to present an overview of the field of the political economy of development. Under each theme appear several country cases, taken from all parts of the developing world. The themes include the concept of development, poverty and inequality, strategies of development, the role of foreign capital, trade and technology, economic stabilization, and democracy and development. Taught: Fall. Alternate years. Credit: 3 hours; cross-cultural. 342: International Organizations.
Goal: To familiarize students with the development and role of international organizations in the international system. Content: The course explores the role of international organization in controlling and shaping the behavior of nation-states and other actors in the international system. Students explore the history and development of international organizations, such as the League of Nations, the United Nations, and the World Trade Organization. The course also looks at the roles of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and institutions of regional integration, such as the EU. Taught: Spring. Alternate years. Credit: 3 hours.
347: Modern Middle East Goals: This course will give students a basic understanding of the Middle East and its history and political systems. Content: The course begins by examining emergence and spread of Islam and then turns to the era of Ottoman domination. The bulk of the course focuses on the era of European imperialism in the Middle East and its legacy. Through scholarly studies, literature, and films students will examine the structural factors that transformed the Middle East during the late-nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including culture, modernization, industrialization, nationalism, war and evolution, racism, gender, and religion. Taught: Summer. Alternate Years. Prerequisite: None. Credit: 3 hours; cross-listed as HIS 347.
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