Spring 2021 Advising Guide

The course list for Spring 2021 is shown below. While the list of courses is mostly self-explanatory, a couple of items are noteworthy. First, pay attention to the subfield of the course as you create your schedule. All political science majors must take a course in each subfield during their college career. Second, classes marked with an asterisk have a topic, which are listed below the course list.

For Spring 2021 courses, the modality (i.e., remote, Flex, or in-person sessions) that currently appears in PAWS may change prior to the start of the semester based on CDC guidelines, State of New Jersey guidelines, and/or local health conditions.

 

Spring 2021 Course List

Course	Title	Faculty	Day	Time	Room	Subfield
POL 110 01	American Government	Willse	M-TH	12:30 PM - 1:50 PM	SOCI 225	American
POL 110 02	American Government	Arndt	M-TH	3:30 PM - 4:50 PM	SOCI 223	American
POL 110 03	American Government	Willse	M-TH	11:00 AM - 12:20 PM	SOCI 225	American
POL 130 01	International Relations	Cho	M-TH	2:00 PM - 3:20 PM	SOCI 225	International
POL 130 02	International Relations	Cho	M-TH	3:30 PM - 4:50 PM	SOCI 225	International
POL 150 01	Comparative Politics	Chartock	M-TH	9:30 AM - 10:50 AM	SOCI 223	Comparative
POL 150 02	Comparative Politics	Chartock	M-TH	11:00 AM - 12:20 PM	SOCI 223	Comparative
POL 200 01	Political Analysis	Bowen	T-F W	2:00 PM - 3:20 PM 4:00 PM - 4:50 PM	SOCI 225 SOCI 021
POL 220 02	Judicial Politics & Process	Dumas	T-F	11:00 AM - 12:20 PM	SOCI 225	American
POL 275 01	Western Political Philosophy	Jovanoski	M-TH	9:30 AM - 10:50 AM	SOCI 225	Political Theory
POL 311 01	The Presidency and Congress	Garlick	M-TH	12:30 PM - 1:50 PM	SOCI 223	American
POL 315 01	Political Parties, Interest Groups, and the Media	Brindle	T	5:30 PM - 8:20 PM	SOCI 223	American
POL 321 01 (formerly POL 320)	Constitutional Law I: Institutions and Powers	Dumas	T-F	2:00 PM - 3:20 PM	SOCI 223	American
POL 321 02 (formerly POL 320)	Constitutional Law I: Institutions and Powers	Dumas	T-F	9:30 AM - 10:50 AM	SOCI 225	American
POL 328 01	State & Local Government In NJ	Healey	M	5:30 PM - 8:20 PM	SOCI 225	American
POL 345 01	Human Rights In International Relations	Holom-Trundy	TH	5:30 PM - 8:20 PM	SOCI 223	International
POL 358 01	Latin American Politics	Chartock	M-TH	2:00 PM - 3:20 PM	SOCI 223	Comparative
POL 361 01	The Middle East Through Literature and Film	Lowi	T	3:30 PM - 6:20 PM	SOCI 225	Comparative
POL 380 01	International Political Economy	Potter	T-F	8:00 AM - 9:20 AM	SOCI 223	International
POL 390 01	Tutorial In Political Science*	Garlick	M-TH	9:30 AM - 10:50 AM	SOCI 241
POL 390 02	Tutorial In Political Science*	Lowi	W	5:30 PM - 8:20 PM	SOCI 241
POL 395 01	Group Research In Political Science*	Bowen	T-F	9:30 AM - 10:50 AM	SOCI 131
POL 498 01	Seminar In Political Science*	Toloudis	M	3:30 PM - 6:20 PM	SOCI 241

Course Descriptions

Major Requirements and Program Planner

 

Special Topics & Seminars

 

POL 390-01: American Political Economy

Dr. Alex Garlick

Students in this seminar will study how economic and political systems are linked in the United States, with particular attention paid to how organized interests pursue their goals across the American federal system. American political economy broadly refers to the process by which public officials, businesses, lobbyists and citizens determine who gets what, when, how and where in the United States. We will pay particular attention to Congress and the state governments to observe how “rules of the game” affect policy outcomes that vary in substantial ways on socioeconomic, racial and regional lines.  Students will gain a greater understanding of quantitative research methods and produce group and independent research.

 

POL 390-02: The Politics of Oil

Dr. Miriam Lowi

The tutorial provides an in-depth study of the politics of oil within the fields of both comparative politics and international relations. In class meetings, we will first briefly explore the history of the oil industry since the early twentieth century, before addressing some of the key analytical issues in both the political economy of development literature and International Relations/Security Studies as they pertain to hydrocarbons (oil and natural gas). The Tutorial combines in-depth examination of a host of topics through assigned scholarly material and class discussion with independent research on a topic of students’ choice that will culminate in an oral presentation and final paper. Within comparative politics, students may explore such topics as the relationship between oil and instability in Venezuela today, between oil and poverty in West Africa, or between the state and the national oil company in Mexico. Within international relations, students may study, for example, superpower intervention in inter-state conflicts in oil-rich zones or the oil-dimension of the relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia.

 

POL 395-01: Group Research in Political Science

Dr. Dan Bowen

(Enrollment requires the permission of instructor)

This Political Science small group research course is less like a traditional course and more like a research team or lab, in which six exceptional students work on the active scholarship of the professor. Students will engage with recent scholarship on areas related to the project and will collect and analyze data that helps update the project’s empirical findings. At the end of the course, students will have in-depth experiential knowledge of what the qualitative social science research process looks like when the outcome is scholarly work meant for publication.

 

POL 498-01: Social Movements and Popular Protest

Dr. Nick Toloudis

This course will provide students with an overview of the prominent theories of social movements and popular protest. These theories are designed to answer a series of questions about social movements: where they come from, how and why they last, how and why they end, under what circumstances they have an impact on politics and policy, and how they respond to efforts to repress them. Students will write capstone papers that either conduct case study analysis of particular protests or social movements, or large-N analyses of protest data.

 

Course Descriptions

 

POL 110: American Government

Examines the strengths and weaknesses, problems and promise of representative democracy in the United States. Surveys the relationships of citizens to Congress, the president and the courts through political parties,
elections, interest groups, and the media. Considers the constitutional framework of government and the rights of the individual against governmental intrusion.

POL 130: International Relations

An examination of contemporary patterns of international interaction and their historic roots with attention to competing theoretical perspectives. Topics studied include foreign policy, international law and organization, and international political economy.

POL 150: Comparative Politics

Introduces students to some of the most important concepts, themes and approaches in the comparative study of politics. Comparative Politics is the study of the domestic or internal politics of particular countries. By comparing the processes, institutions and other political phenomena of one country in relation to others, those engaged in the study of comparative politics isolate the primary causes and consequences of these political phenomena and are thus able to create and test theories of politics around the world.

POL 200: Political Analysis

The course familiarizes students with the basic statistical, conceptual, and technical skills needed for research in political science. Topics include research design, hypothesis testing, statistical methodology common in the social sciences, and practical experience examining and analyzing quantitative data. This course provides students hands-on training with Stata, a commonly used statistical software package. Should normally be completed by the end of the sophomore year prior to taking POL 390.

POL 220: Judicial Politics & Process

This class is intended for students who are interested in law and politics and serves as a foundational course to prepare students for upper-division political science law classes.  The purpose of this course is to introduce students to types and foundations of U.S. law and the organization and jurisdiction of US courts in the federal system, with an in-depth focus on understanding the Supreme Court of the United States.  The course is intended to give students a broad understanding of the U.S. judiciary, as well as specific training in reading and briefing cases.  The class will also explore how politics and non-judicial actors’ impact judicial processes.

POL 275: Western Political Philosophy

Selected political questions that have intrigued Western society from time immemorial and theoretical solutions presented by some of the great political philosophers from classical Greece to the modern era.

POL 311: The Presidency and Congress

Problems of the modern American presidency and of the U.S. Congress, with an emphasis upon interrelationships and consequences for the national policy-making process.

POL 315: Political Parties, Interest Groups, and the Media

An examination of the role of political parties, interest groups, and the media as intermediaries between citizens and formal governmental institutions. The course will focus on the role of parties, interest groups, and the media in leadership recruitment, issue formulation, and public policy making.

POL 321: Constitutional Law I: Institutions and Powers (please note, the course number and name were recently updated. The course was formerly POL 320/Constitutional Law.)

An analysis of how the U.S. Supreme Court interprets the Constitution, focusing on the issues of how much power the U.S. Congress, president and courts should have and how the U.S. government should interrelate with the state governments.

POL 328: State & Local Government in NJ

This course provides an analysis of the institutions, the political processes, and the resultant policies of state and local government in New Jersey. Particular attention is given to the structure of state, county, and local government, related political organizations, the nature of politics in New Jersey, and the impact of the state’s cultural, economic, political, and social characteristics on political decision-making and public policy at the state and local level.

POL 345: Human Rights in International Relations

Examines the evolution of human rights movements since World War II and their influence on the behavior of nation states and other transnational actors. Includes discussion of human rights in American foreign policy, and the role of non-state actors such as intergovernmental institutions, multinational corporations, and non-governmental organizations, selected regional and current topics such as: women’s rights, terrorism, self-determination, globalization, and humanitarian intervention.

POL 358: Latin American Politics

An examination of the contemporary political, economic, and social structures of Latin American countries through a comparative-historical lens. Emphasis is on transformative shifts from state- led economies to free market (and perhaps back again), from military authoritarian governments to democracies, and from a focus on class identities to a greater role for racial and ethnic identities in politics.

POL 361: The Middle East through Literature and Film

In this seminar, students are exposed to Middle Eastern society and politics through cultural production — literature (in translation) and film — from the region, supplemented by social scientific writings. Organized around several topical themes, the course addresses Middle Eastern perspectives on critical issues that impact their lives – such as authoritarian governance, gender relations, conflict and war – and as they are treated in literary, mediatic and academic works. The aim is to enrich students’ knowledge and sensitivity while developing a critical lens regarding how we understand other cultures and societies.

POL 380: International Political Economy

A study of the politics of international economic relations. Economic theories of international trade and finance are presented in the context of their political origins and implications. Includes review of primary analytical perspectives, historical developments, and major contemporary institutions and processes bearing on the politics of international economics.