POLS g301 Political Parties and Interest Groups 3 credits. The nature and development of political parties and interest groups as exemplified in the United States.
POLS g403 The Presidency 3 credits. Evolution and development of the office of the president; its major responsibilities in domestic and foreign affairs, with emphasis on particular power problems that confront the president.
POLS g404 The Legislative Process 3 credits. Nature and functions of the U.S. Congress. Topics covered: Legislative campaigns, the politics of law-making, congressional investigations, and major problems facing the Congress.
POLS g405 The Administrative Process 3 credits. Analysis of the principles of public administration with an introduction to theories of organization and administration.
POLS g406 Intergovernmental Relations 3 credits. Analysis of patterns of intergovernmental relations including changing patterns of program and fiscal responsibility in the federal system. The emerging role of new federal structures, state and substate regional organizations will be reviewed in the context of "new" federalism and its implications for intergovernmental relationships.
POLS g408 Metropolitan and Urban Studies 3 credits. Analysis of metropolitan and smaller urban systems with emphasis on relationships among general groups, political organizations and institutions. Federal, state and interlocal programs will serve as a focus for analyzing particular problems of metropolitan and urban systems in the 20th century.
POLS g409 Community and Regional Planning 3 credits. Steps involved in planning will be analyzed in the context of community and regional decision-making processes. Two perspectives will be stressed--that of the decision-maker, the social structure within which the decision-maker operates and strategies for implementing decision; and that of the citizen or group interest which lies outside the power structure of the community. Each perspective will be used as a framework for analyzing power configurations, techniques of identifying patterns of decision making, and various forms of citizen participation.
POLS g427 Voting and Public Opinion 3 credits. Analysis of the way citizens and government communicate with each other. Elections, public opinion, and media influence are studied.
POLS g453 Public Policy Analysis 3 credits. Theoretical and practical analyses of public policies, including theories of policy formation and their political implementation through governmental institutions. Case studies will provide the means of analyzing specific policy problems.
POLS g455 Environmental Politics and Policy 3 credits. Study of the political forces affecting environmental policy and investigation of several specific policies affecting the environment, such as pollution control, energy production, hazardous chemicals, and the public lands.
POLS g456 Labor Organization 3 credits. Evolution of economic systems and labor's response to changing patterns of production is studied, and a counter perspective to traditional management views of "efficiency" is presented. Emphasis is on governmental employee unions.
POLS g412 Modern Political Analysis 3 credits. Methods of political inquiry and theories and doctrines of politics, with emphasis on modern developments.
POLS g419 Political Research Methods 3 credits. This class investigates the theory and application of various research methods and statistical techniques common to the social sciences, with particular reference to their use in political inquiry.
POLS g419L Political Research Methods Lab 1 credit. Application of, and practice in research methods.
POLS g441 Administrative Law 3 credits. Introductory survey of the legal principals defining governmental administrative processes. Topics include judicial review, tort liability of governments and offices, rules and rule-making, due process, and the limits of administrative discretion.
POLS g451 Organizational Theory and Bureaucratic Structure 3 credits. Introduction to the study of complex organizations and organizational behavior in the administration of public policy. Emphasis on public institutions.
POLS g452 Financial Administration and Budgeting 3 credits. Emphasis on different approaches to financial administration, ranging from incremental and short-term planning to more recent and comprehensive emphases on management by objectives and zero-based budgeting. The development of the Office of Management and Budget and its relationship with the President, Congress and the Federal bureaucracy will be considered as well as political, organizational and behavioral constraints on budgetary decision-making.
POLS g454 Public Personnel Administration 3 credits. Operations and processes of personnel management in public institutions. Major topics include personnel processes, public employee rights and duties, employee motivation and morale, the political environment of public personnel administration, and the impact of professionalism, technology, and participatory democracy on public personnel practices.
POLS g318 Topics in Political Theory 3 credits. This course requires examination, analysis and investigation of selected texts and topics in political philosophy. May be repeated for a maximum of 6 credits.
POLS g411 American Political Theory 3 credits. Political ideas in the United States from Colonial and Revolutionary times through the controversies of the Civil War to the present.
POLS g425 Topics in International Politics 3 credits. This course requires examination, analysis and evaluation of selected topics in international politics. May be repeated for a maximum of 6 credits.
POLS g332 Comparative Politics: Change and Political Order 3 credits. The nature of political change is examined in a multifaceted framework consisting of concepts such as political order, progress and decay, revolutionary violence, and political culture. The technological and post-industrial revolutions are examined as they relate to political change and stability in developed societies.
POLS g433 Politics of Developing Nations 3 credits. Study of problems in the political analysis of rapidly changing and unstable "developing" nation states with an emphasis on problems of the political, economic, and social development of selected states.
POLS g442 Constitutional Law 3 credits. Analysis of opinions of the United States Supreme Court concerning the distribution of authority between the national government and the states and the relationship among the branches of the national government.
POLS g443 Constitutional Law 3 credits. Analysis of opinions of the United States Supreme Court with a special emphasis on criminal cases and civil liberties.
POLS g459 Government Internship 1-9 credits. Directed student internship in government and organizations or associations related to public policy and the selection of public officials involving supervised work experience in research, staff management practices, or making and implementing public policies. The student will be placed in a supervised position commensurate with his or her abilities as determined and approved by faculty in the department. May be repeated up to 9 credits.
POLS g491-492 Seminar 1-3 credits. Research, reading, discussion, and the preparation of reports on selected topics. Ordinarily for seniors majoring in government and having the instructor's consent.
POLS 597 Professional Education Development Topics. Variable credit. May be repeated. A course for practicing professionals aimed at the development and improvement of skills. May not be applied to graduate degrees. May be graded S/U.
POLS 611 Seminar: Political Theory 3 credits. Review of the primary and recent literature of political theory.
POLS 612 Seminar: State and Local Politics 3 credits. Analysis of state, local and regional political institutions and processes from the federal and comparative perspectives.
POLS 613 Seminar: American Politics--Behavior 3 credits. Micro inquiry and analysis into political behavior. Areas relevant to such inquiry may include but are not limited to, political psychology, political socializations, attitude and opinion formation, and voting behavior.
POLS 614 Seminar: American Politics--Institutions 3 credits. Macro inquiry and analysis into the basic institutional structures and processes of the American political system. Areas of emphasis include, but are not limited to, executive, legislative and judicial processes, political parties and interest groups.
POLS 615 Seminar: World Politics 3 credits. World politics is analyzed both from the perspective of relationships between nation-states and the domestic political sources which influence and determine these relationships.
POLS 620 Seminar: Philosophy of Social Science 3 credits. The application of mathematical and scientific methods to the study of social, economic, and political life will be considered through the reading of certain seminal writings. Attention will be given to the fundamental assumptions about the nature of scientific rationality. Required of all D.A. students.
POLS 621 Seminar: Interdisciplinary Topics in Social Science 3 credits. Examination of selected topics in the social sciences from the analytic orientations and perspectives common and peculiar to the disciplines of political science economics and sociology. Required of all D.A. students.
POLS 649 Independent Studies 3 credits. Preparation and presentation of a major research paper/project on political science pedagogy. Required of all Doctor of Arts students.
POLS 650 Thesis 1-6 credits.
POLS 669 Independent Problems-Tutorial 3 credits. A directed project emphasizing individual study, research, or the development of expository writings according to the needs of the individual student.
POLS 700 Supervised Teaching Internship variable up to 9 credits.
POLS 701 Supervised Administrative Internship in Higher Education variable up to 6 credits.