Fall 2023 Courses

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PSCI/INTR 101 Introduction to Comparative Politics
Bonnie M. Meguid
Fall 2023 — MWF 10:25 - 11:15
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This course is an introduction to the study of domestic political institutions, processes, and outcomes across and within countries. The course surveys key concepts and major theoretical contributions in the field of comparative politics, including the challenges for democratization and democratic consolidation, the possibility of revolution, how countries vary in their political and electoral institutions and why these variations matter, and the power of social forces such as ethnicity, culture, and social capital. Country cases are drawn from different regions of the world and historical periods to ground students in the set of tools of comparative analysis.


PSCI 104 Introduction to Political Philosophy
Alexander Moon
Fall 2023 — MWF 11:50 - 12:40
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This course is most aptly called Thinking About Politics. It aims to examine a range of contemporary issues and to explore the political and philosophical conflicts and controversies that those issues raise. So, for example, we might examine the concepts of patriotism and explore the tensions that arise between it and such other concepts as democracy or freedom or dissent or security. Readings will be drawn both from contemporary sources and classic political thought.


PSCI/INTR 106 Introduction to International Relations
Hein Goemans
Fall 2023 — MWF 14:00 - 14:50
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International relations is the study of how states interact with each other. This course builds a working knowledge of our field, introducing the background, theoretical, and empirical tools necessary to understand international relations today. Students will learn about important findings in a variety of subfields, including war, international political economy, institutions, and nuclear proliferation. To do so, the course emphasizes readings from original research material rather than from a textbook. Further, students will solve problem sets and work with common international relations datasets to obtain a working understanding of the discipline's methodological foundations.


PSCI 107 Introduction to Positive Political Theory
Stuart Jordan
Fall 2023 — TR 12:30 - 13:45
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This course introduces students to positive political theory, a rigorous set of tools that helps clarify key questions in political science. Through examples drawn from all aspects of politics (from elections to protest movements to wars) as well as from everyday life (Why is housing so expensive? Why don't cities prepare for natural disasters?), we will study how the rules of the game affect the decisions citizens and politicians make as well as the policy outcomes we observe. NOTE: YOU MUST SIGN UP FOR A RECITATION WHEN REGISTERING FOR THIS COURSE.


PSCI 116 Introduction to the U.S. Health System
Mical Raz
Fall 2023 — TR 9:40 - 10:55
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The organization, financing, and functioning of the United States health care system. Also historical perspectives and the insights of international comparisons. Topics covered include the economics of U.S. health system, access to care, health policy and politics, and disability and disability politics.


PSCI 121 Democracy in America
James Johnson
Fall 2023 — TR 9:40 - 10:55
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Democracy literally means "rule by the people." This seminar in political theory will explore various questions that this basic definition raises in the context of 21st-century American politics. What can we expect of "the people"? How, indeed, do we even envision "the people"? What is the role of communication, especially modern media, in creating and sustaining "the people"? How might we think about the ways in which power and communication intersect in modern democracies? In many respects this course is experimental. It aims to draw connections between texts and theorists that have not been made before. So we will be exploring new terrain. Students will learn what it means to think like a political theorist. Enrollment is restricted to first-year students - no exceptions. Grades will be based on class participation - given that this is a small seminar, be prepared to talk! - and several short papers (meaning about five pages each) on assigned topics that emerge from the readings and class discussion. Course open to first-year and sophomores only.


PSCI 200 Data Analysis I
Curtis S. Signorino
Fall 2023 — TR 12:30 - 13:45
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Data analysis has become a key part of many fields including politics, business, law, and public policy. This course covers the fundamentals of data analysis, giving students the necessary statistical skills to understand and critically analyze contemporary political, legal, and policy puzzles. Lectures will focus on the theory and practice of quantitative analysis, and lab sessions will guide students through the particulars of statistical software. Core topics include descriptive statistics, probability, hypothesis testing, and linear regression. RESTRICTION: Students who have taken ECON 230, PSCI 205, PSY/CSP 211, STAT 212, STAT 213, or STAT 214 may not take the course. Must have laptop on which you can run R and R Studio.


PSCI 202W Argument in Political Science
Gerald Gamm
Fall 2023 — MWF 10:25 - 11:15
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This course introduces students to the questions, concepts, and analytical approaches of political scientists and emphasizes careful reading and analytical writing. For its subject matter, this class focuses on the tension between majority rule and minority rights in the American political tradition. Topics include tyranny of the majority, slavery, constitutional design, representation, the paradox of voting, collective action problems, political ambition, the development of the American party system, congressional organization, racism and civil rights, women's rights, substantive due process, the politics of contraception and abortion and LGBTQ rights, partisan polarization, and democratic erosion. Readings are drawn from classic texts in American thought—the Declaration of Independence, The Federalist, Tocqueville's Democracy in America, speeches by Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln, Supreme Court cases—as well as from books and articles written by contemporary political scientists. Written requirements include a midterm, a final exam, and several short papers on the assigned readings.


INTR 205 Global Sustainable Development
Milena Novy-Marx
Fall 2023 — R 14:00 - 16:40
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With world population of nearly 8 billion and global GDP of $85 trillion, human impacts on the environment have already reached dangerous levels. By 2050, world population could reach 9 billion and global GDP $200 trillion. Despite unprecedented growth in countries such as China and India, over 700 million people still live in extreme poverty-concentrated especially in South and Central Asia and Africa. The central challenge for humanity in the 21st century is the triple endeavor of ending extreme poverty, improving social inclusion, and achieving sustainability for the planet. Any effort to address these three complex, interlinked challenges must be interdisciplinary. Policies at the local, national and global level will need to draw on the best of our knowledge and innovation across sectors such as energy, biodiversity and conservation, health, sustainable business practices, food and nutritional security, social service delivery, and good governance. Interventions and policies in these sectors must be gender sensitive, address racial inequalities and discrimination, and be in keeping with international standards of human rights. They must involve governments, the private sector, and civil society. In September 2015, the world adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2015 to 2030 at the UN General Assembly while the historic Paris Climate accord was also reached under the UN Framework Convention for Climate Change.


PSCI 209 The Politics of Punishment
Sidak Yntiso
Fall 2023 ("W" Optional) — TR 11:05 - 12:20

Voters elect nearly all local prosecutors, sheriffs, and trial judges in the United States. In this seminar, we will explore the influence of political institutions on the decisions of those law enforcement officials. Topics include constitutional design, public opinion, racial disparities, electoral accountability, special interest politics, and the collateral consequences of incarceration. While rooted in recent phenomena, this course will also focus on historical perspectives. Likewise, while substantively focused, the class will also provide insights into social science research.


PSCI 210 Pandemic Politics
David Primo
Fall 2023 ("W" Optional) — M 12:30 - 15:15

The initial governmental responses to the COVID-19 pandemic rocked the foundations of the world's economy. Decisions to "shut down the economy," however, were not universally praised and remain controversial. Science became more politicized during the pandemic, and Americans could not even agree on whether mask wearing was necessary, often dividing along party lines. In this seminar, we will study the COVID-19 pandemic from a political economy perspective, focusing on the United States and asking difficult questions. Did the shutdowns go too far, or were they necessary to protect public health? Was the run-up in government debt due to the pandemic fiscally irresponsible or necessary to prevent an economic depression? Did political polarization make the pandemic worse? Were dissenters who challenged dominant scientific explanations for the pandemic silenced or given a fair hearing? In the spirit of free and open inquiry, seminar participants will consider cutting-edge research and discuss competing viewpoints on these and other pandemic-related topics.


PSCI 213 Black Politics
Alexander Moon
Fall 2023 — MW 9:00 - 10:15

This course is about the politics of racial subordination and emancipation in the United States. We begin by thinking about different explanations of the rise, dynamics, and persistence of racial domination in the United States and of the cultural and political challenges to it. We will pay special attention to the Great Migration, the subsequent emergence of blacks as an important constituency of the Democratic Party, the Civil Rights Movement, and the role of race in structuring current party divisions. Next, we will examine the politics of black communities. Topics include the legacy of demobilization of the Civil Rights Movement and the channeling of political activity into electoral institutions; the politics of urban regimes; the challenge to political solidarity posed by increasing social economic and social inequality within the black community; the Black Lives Matter movement; and debates about the effectiveness of identity-based, class based, and coalitional strategies of political mobilization. In conclusion we will reflect upon the differences between the nature and dynamics of racial subordination today compared with the past and what, if any, prospects for change there are.


PSCI 223 Constitutional Structure and Rights
Alexander Moon
Fall 2023 — MWF 15:25 - 16:15
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Through the lens of the Constitution and Supreme Court cases, examines the structure of the American legal system (both separation of powers at the federal level and the authority of, and relationship among, states and the federal government), as well as the nature of civil rights of citizens.


INTR 227 War and Memory in Eastern Europe
Marcin Jarzabek
Fall 2023 — MW 16:50 - 18:05
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Current political conflicts and open wars both use the memory of past confrontations. Central and Eastern Europe is no exception here; only the Russian aggression on Ukraine in 2022 made us fully aware of those historical interconnections. Using various examples from the region (Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Belarus), the course has two parallel aims: (1) to present the main (collective) memory conflicts in that region in the 21st century and (2) to examine the usage of the past in current memory politics. We will focus on an in-depth study of selected historical conflicts on the "Bloodlands" (to use the term by Timothy Snyder) and their role in creating a politics of memory: the legacy of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (16th-18th century) and the Habsburg Empire (16th-20th century), World War One (1914-1918) and "wars of Pygmies" that followed, World War Two and the Shoah, Polish-German and Czech-German reconciliation, Russian imperialism and its implications in Ukraine and Belarus, communism and anticommunism. The course will have a form of a seminar which includes some lecture introductions from the instructor but predominantly students' presentations on chosen case studies and in-class discussions.


PSCI 235 The Political Economy of U.S. Food Policy
Dan Alexander
Fall 2023 ("W" Optional) — MW 10:25 - 11:40
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The course examines how reforms to food policy in the United States make their way through the democratic process and how these reforms constitute efforts to democratize our food system, exploring how these efforts confront the same challenges that a democracy faces more broadly. How does our political system approach the task of reconciling the diverse preferences of the American public and the corporations that feed it, agricultural and health agencies, and the food activists and advocacy groups? How do we think about the concepts of representativeness, access, information, centralization, externalities, and regulation in the context of our food system?


PSCI 236 Health Care and the Law
Molly McNulty
Fall 2023 — TR 14:00 - 15:15
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An introduction to the legal foundations of the biomedical healthcare system; topics include national health reform, bioethics, the right to health care, genetic discrimination, and access to reproductive care. Primary law (judicial opinions, legislation) comprises the bulk of the reading assignments; students will learn how to brief cases and interpret statutes. Pre-requisite: PHLT 116 highly recommended.


PSCI 243 Environmental Politics
Lawrence Rothenberg
Fall 2023 ("W" Optional) — TR 11:05 - 12:20
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An examination of environmental issues from a social scientific perspective. Topics covered include the reasons for environmental regulation, the history of environmental policy, the state of contemporary environmental policy, the role of state and local governments, the impact of environmental activists, and a comparison of domestic and international regulation of environmental affairs. Although there is considerable time devoted to lecture, students are encouraged to participate. Each student will also develop and briefly present a research paper which investigates a relevant issue of interest.


PSCI 248 Discrimination
Kevin A. Clarke
Fall 2023 ("W" Optional) — TR 12:30 - 13:45
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An examination of discrimination from a social scientific perspective. Topics covered include defining discrimination, types of discrimination under the law, testing for discrimination, discrimination experiments, and a survey of what social scientists have discovered about discrimination in the areas of policing, bail, retail sales, automobile sales, and home mortgages. Although there is considerable time devoted to lecture, students are encouraged to participate.


INTR 249 Israel/Palestine
Aaron Hughes
Fall 2023 ("W" Optional) — TR 12:30 - 13:45
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This course will provide a non-partisan introduction to the conflict between these two national movements. Discussion will focus on an examination of historical documents, in addition to understanding of how it plays out in literature and film.


PSCI/INTR 264 Comparative Political Institutions
Tasos Kalandrakis
Fall 2023 ("W" Optional) — T 14:00 - 16:40
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This seminar deals with political institutions and their implications for the behavior of political actors and their effects on social outcomes. We will emphasize both theoretical ideas and empirical research on political institutions and consider some of the core topics of scientific inquiry in modern comparative politics. These include: electoral systems, political parties and party systems, legislatures, parliamentary government, government and coalition formation, presidential institutions, courts and judicial power, federalism, etc. In addition to examining existing institutional arrangements, questions of institutional design will also be emphasized where appropriate. Prerequisite: Any course in statistics, econometrics, techniques of analysis, or the equivalent


PSCI/INTR 265 Civil War and the International System
Bethany Lacina
Fall 2023 — TR 9:40 - 10:55
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Addresses the question of when and where civil wars occur and what their effects are domestically and internationally. Also examine role played by external actors in civil war, such as financial support to governments or insurgents, armed interventions, and peacekeeping missions.


PSCI 288 Game Theory
Paulo Barelli
Fall 2023 — TR 9:40 - 10:55
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Game theory is a systematic study of strategic situations. It is a theory that helps us analyze economic and political strategic issues, such as behavior of individuals in a group, competition among firms in a market, platform choices of political candidates, and so on. We will develop the basic concepts and results of game theory, including simultaneous and sequential move games, repeated games and games with incomplete information. The objective of the course is to enable the student to analyze strategic situations on his/her own. The emphasis of the course is on theoretical aspects of strategic behavior, so familiarity with mathematical formalism is desirable.


PSCI/INTR 299 Communicating Your Professional Identity - Law, Policy, and Social Good
Kellie Hernandez
Fall 2023 — W 15:25 - 16:40
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This interactive course teaches 'real life' communication skills and strategies that help students present their best professional selves and develop a fulfilling career. Students will explore and articulate their internship, career and graduate school goals for distinct audiences and purposes as they develop a professional communication portfolio of materials such as resumes, cover letters, application essays, electronic communications, elevator pitches, project descriptions and abstracts, and online profiles (e.g., LinkedIn). Students will revise and refine their written and spoken work across the semester based on feedback from peers, instructors, and alumni. By the semester's end, students will have gained extensive experience with the communication skills expected in today's competitive environment. Course is designed for juniors and seniors with an interest in law, policy, and social good careers. This course may not be used to satisfy any major or minor requirements in Political Science or International Relations. Courses in the WRTG 27X series may not be taken more than once for credit. Prerequisite: Completion of the Primary Writing Requirement.


PSCI/INTR 389W Senior Honors Seminar
Scott Abramson
Fall 2023 ("W" Required) — W 14:00 - 16:40
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Through reading and critiquing political science research in American politics, comparative politics, and international relations, students learn how to select a research question, formulate testable hypotheses, find and evaluate relevant literature, locate or collect data that addresses their research question, analyze the data, and write a research report. Course requires instructor's permission.


PSCI 394 Local Law and Politics Internships
Stuart Jordan
Fall 2023
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Students in the Local Law and Politics Internships work 10-15 hours per week in one of a variety of internships in policy, politics and law in the Rochester area. Possible internship placements include the district offices of state and federal legislators, the City of Rochester municipal government, policy research and advocacy organizations, and the Monroe County District Attorney's and Public Defender's offices. Students supplement their hands-on learning with a series of short research-based writing assignments related to their internships. Contact professor Stu Jordan to learn how to apply. Students must have a B average and must be a sophomore, junior or senior to be eligible.


PSCI/INTR 394C Washington Semester Internship
Stuart Jordan
Fall 2023
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Please contact Professor Stu Jordan for more information.


PSCI 394F Health Policy Internship
Stuart Jordan, Molly McNulty
Fall 2023
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These internships are designed to give students knowledge and skills to contribute to policy and program development and operations related to health policy in the Greater Rochester community. This course requires an application. Pre-requisites: PHLT 116 or PHLT 236; juniors & seniors only. Students must use UR Student to register for this course; this course is not an independent study.


PSCI 404 The Art and Practice of Data Analysis
Kevin A. Clarke
Fall 2023 — TR 15:25 - 16:40
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This course in mathematical statistics provides graduate students in political science with a solid foundation in probability and statistical inference. The focus of the course is on the empirical modeling of non-experimental data. While substantive political science will never be far from our minds, our primary goal is to acquire the tools necessary for success in the rest of the econometric sequence. As such, this course serves as a prerequisite for the advanced political science graduate courses in statistical methods (PSC 405, 505, and 506).

Prerequisites: Undergraduates must obtain the instructor's (or a Political Science advisor's) permission to take this course. Students must have taken a sequence in calculus and have attended the Political Science two-week Math Bootcamp. The Math Bootcamp may be waived in rare cases where a student has already taken courses in multivariable calculus, linear algebra, and probability.


PSCI 407 Mathematical Modeling
John Duggan
Fall 2023 — MW 10:00 - 12:00
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This course is the first half of a two-course sequence consisting of PSC 407 and PSC 408. The goal of the sequence is to give a rigorous introduction to the main concepts and results in positive political theory. At the same time, we will teach you the mathematical tools necessary to understand these results, to use them and (if it suits you) to surpass them in your own research in political science. The course will emphasize rigorous logical and deductive reasoning - this skill will prove valuable, even to the student primarily interested in empirical analysis rather than modeling. The sequence is designed to be both a rigorous foundation for students planning on taking further courses in the positive political theory field and a self-contained overview of the field for students who do not intend to do additional coursework in the field.

Prerequisites: Undergraduates must obtain the instructor's (or a Political Science advisor's) permission to take this course. Students must have taken a sequence in calculus and have attended the Political Science two-week Math Bootcamp. The Math Bootcamp may be waived in rare cases where a student has already taken courses in multivariable calculus, linear algebra, and probability.


PSCI 505 Likelihood + Topics
Curtis S. Signorino
Fall 2023 — WR 14:00 - 15:15
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The classical linear regression model is inappropriate for many of the most interesting problems in political science. This course builds upon the analytical foundations of PSC 404 and 405, taking the latter's emphasis on the classical linear model as its point of departure. Here students will learn methods to analyze models and data for event counts, durations, censoring, truncation, selection, multinomial ordered/unordered categories, strategic choices, spatial voting models, and time series. A major goal of the course will be to teach students how to develop new models and techniques for analyzing issues they encounter in their own research.


PSCI 541 U.S. Political Behavior
Mayya Komisarchik
Fall 2023 — T 12:30 - 15:15
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This graduate-level course focuses on mass political behavior within the American political system. The goal of this course is to give students an introduction to some of the major questions in the study of American political behavior, and how people have gone about answering them. The background goal is to help students practice reading work critically and think through the difficulties of social science research in preparation for individual research projects. The course examines political ideology, public opinion, voting behavior, media effects, racial attitudes, mass-elite relations, and opinion-policy linkages.


PSCI 551 State Building and Conflict
Scott Abramson
Fall 2023 — TR 9:40 - 10:55
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Civil order under girds all other political processes. When order exists, institutions that regulate violence within a specific population or jurisdiction. This course covers where order comes from, how it is sustained or challenged, and the emergence of states as the most common order-providing institutions. We also discuss how the boundaries between civil orders are created and eroded. We examine the roles of geography, political economy, ethnic identity, and nationalism in the boundaries between political communities.


PSCI 566 International Relations Field Seminar I
Bethany Lacina
Fall 2023 — F 9:30 - 12:00
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This is the first of two courses in the International Relations field seminar sequence. It is required of all students who will take the field exam in international relations. The course is not open to undergraduates.


PSCI 576 Graduate Research Seminar
Sergio Montero, Casey Petroff
Fall 2023 — W 15:30 - 17:00
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Designed as a forum for upper-level doctoral students who have completed formal coursework to present ongoing research. Students regularly present research either stemming from their dissertations or from ancillary projects.


PSCI 584 Game Theory
Mark Fey, Scott Tyson
Fall 2023 — MW 10:30 - 12:00
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This course is the third semester of the formal theory sequence for graduate students. It focuses on teaching students more sophisticated tools for modeling more complex games. Specifically, the course concentrates on games of incomplete information such as signaling games and communication games and develops analytical tools such as Bayesian-Nash equilibrium, perfect Bayesian equilibrium, and equilibrium refinements. The course also covers repeated games, bargaining games and equilibrium existence in a rigorous fashion. The prerequisites for the course are PSC 407 and 408, or an equivalent background in complete information game theory. Grading is based on homework assignments and a midterm and final exam.


PSCI 587 Structural Modeling and Estimation
Sergio Montero
Fall 2023 — TR 11:05 - 12:20
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By blending formal theory and statistical inference, structural models enable social scientists to conduct rich analyses of how institutions and public policy shape individual or collective decision-making. The structural approach to empirical research is particularly useful in settings where more traditional methods cannot be applied, such as when agents behave strategically or when we wish to predict the consequences of never-before-observed policy interventions. This course covers the fundamentals of structural modeling and estimation, running the gamut from individual choice to strategic interaction, both static and dynamic. Depending on student interest, applications from political science, economics, finance, and marketing may be considered, but emphasis will be placed on the methodology with the aim of helping students expand their research toolkit.