Spring 2024 Courses

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PSCI/INTR 102 Introduction to International Political Economy
Randall Stone
Spring 2024 — MW 10:25 - 11:40
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All politics are global politics. Global flows of trade, capital and labor transform societies, unleash new political movements and challenge existing political institutions. States and other actors respond in ways that impose costs on other states, creating crises and opportunities for cooperation. This course will broadly survey the politics of international economics, focusing in particular on trade and finance. Along the way, it will introduce students to a range of economic models, but it will assume no prior exposure to economics.


PSCI 105 Introduction to U.S. Politics
Dan Alexander
Spring 2024 — TR 9:40 - 10:55
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This course will introduce students to the foundations of the United States government. Students will examine important political institutions and the interactions among them to understand how they shape the behavior of political actors and ordinary U.S. citizens. Specific topics will include: the need for a state, the purposes of elections, federalism, the three branches of U.S. government, and the role of interest groups in U.S. politics. Throughout, the course employs concepts from the rational-choice approach to political science to model key concepts; however, no background in this is necessary. This course is appropriate for majors and non-majors with an interest in understanding how and why the U.S. political system works as it does.


PSCI/INTR 108 War in Our Time
Hein Goemans
Spring 2024 — TR 12:30 - 13:45
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This course is a response to current events. We will examine the war in Ukraine, its origins, its causes, the conduct, and the prospects for termination. Rather than impose a theoretical framework up front, the course begins with historical background and a large amount of reading of publicly available sources starting in November 2021. I will then schedule one or two full class discussions, to solicit from the students what they think are the "causes" of this war. We then proceed to examine the specific conduct of the war -- which unfortunately will have a lot of content that will make you uncomfortable. (Students are of course free to skip over some of the more graphic aspects.) I will then schedule a session or two on how the conduct of this war address the causes of war. After all, war is supposed to do something that makes peace possible. A question to keep in mind, thus, is what that something actually is. We then turn to the prospects for peace. We will read various peace proposals and discuss their feasibility. At the end of this class you'll hopefully have a thorough understanding of this war, which is likely to shape global affairs for decades to come. Where appropriate, I will invite guest lectures with expertise on specific issues. You must also register for a recitation for this course.


PSCI 205 Data Analysis II
Curtis S. Signorino
Spring 2024 — TR 9:40 - 10:55
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This course builds on PSCI 200, Data Analysis I, taking the linear regression model as its starting point. We will explore various statistical techniques for analyzing a world of data that is relevant to political science in particular, and to the social sciences more broadly. In addition to the classical linear regression model, we will examine models for binary data, durations, counts, censoring and truncation, self-selection, and discrete choice, among others. These models will be applied to topics such as international conflict, civil war onset, parliamentary cabinet survival, international sanctions, campaign contributions, and voting. Students will be taught how to (1) frame research hypotheses, (2) analyze data using the appropriate statistical model, and (3) interpret and present their results. Statistical analysis will be conducted using R and RStudio.

Prerequisite: Students must have taken at least one course in statistics that (1) covers probability, confidence intervals, hypothesis tests, and linear regression; and (2) uses R for data analysis -- e.g., ECON 230, PSCI 200, or STAT 212/213/214. Prior courses in calculus or linear algebra are not required.

Note: Students will need to bring a laptop computer to class with R and RStudio installed. Most tablets will not suffice.


PSCI 211 Conspiracy Theories in American Politics
Scott Tyson
Spring 2024 ("W" Optional) — TR 14:00 - 15:15
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Conspiracy theories are becoming an organizing principle in American politics. This course will explore the history and trends of conspiracy theories, the psychological and strategic underpinnings of persuasion in these theories and misinformation, and the political implications of current conspiracy theories. In order to understand the use (or misuse) of evidence and logic in conspiracy theories, several weeks will be dedicated to extended examples. These conspiracy theories are polarized and polarizing, a unit of the course will discuss political science research on polarization and place conspiracy theories within this trend. Assignments for the course include writing an individual short paper and group presentation on a conspiracy theory that applies the concepts in class. Readings include classics (e.g., Hofstadters The Paranoid Style in American Politics) and contemporary academic articles and books (e.g., Knights Conspiracy Nation: The Politics of Paranoia.


PSCI 214 Race and the Law
Spring 2024 — MW 15:25 - 16:40
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This course deals with questions raised at the intersection of constitutional law and sociological and political science studies of the politics and practice of race in the United States. While studying major court decisions concerning race and slavery, voting, property rights, segregation/de-segregation, criminal justice, voting, discrimination, and affirmative action, we will examine questions such as: what is the role of the legal system in constituting and perpetuating the racial order of the United States? To what extent do court rulings reflect more than they shape what actually happens outside of the legal system? How, if at all, do they shape public opinion? What are the advantages and disadvantages of courts as a tool for social change? Do answers to these questions vary by area of law and/or historical period? The course is largely discussion-based and will include readings in case law, critical legal studies, critical race theory, and works in political science and sociology.


PSCI 215W American Elections
James Druckman
Spring 2024 ("W" Optional) — MW 10:25 - 11:40
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What explains the current state of the American political system? How do elections and political campaigns work? Are voters manipulated by slick media-based election campaigns? What about campaign ads or social media? Do polls help or harm voters? Do differences in how states regulate voting matter? The goal of this seminar is to enhance our understanding of the contemporary political environment, how elections work, how politicians conduct campaigns, how campaigns and media coverage affect voters, and how we study election campaign dynamics. We will not only examine the academic literature on these topics, but we will also follow the ongoing events of the 2024 presidential primary campaigns. Through a combination of group projects, short assignments, and a research paper, we will arrive at an understanding of elections and campaigns. We also will consider the place of elections and campaigns in contemporary American democracy.


PSCI 217 Public Policy and Black Communities: Education, Poverty, Affirmative Action, and Crime
Spring 2024 — MWF 9:00 - 9:50
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This course examines some of the major public policy issues affecting the Black community. We begin with a survey of the public policy making process at the local and federal levels. The rest of the course deals with the specific groups, conflicts, institutions, and structural constraints governing the formation of public policy in the areas of education, poverty, affirmative action, and crime. We will ask questions about the origin and nature of the problems in these areas, the explanations of why some policies and not others have been adopted, and the strengths and weaknesses of competing policy solutions.


PSCI 226W Act Locally? Local Government in the U.S.
Mitch Gruber
Spring 2024 ("W" Required) — W 18:15 - 20:55
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Reformers and activists sometimes say that we should "think globally, act locally," meaning that we should try to address widespread needs by taking action in our neighborhoods, towns and cities. What happens when you apply this maxim to government and public policy in the United States? This course will introduce you to local government policymaking in the United States, with a focus on urban areas. You'll gain a familiarity with the powers local governments have over key policies and services—such as policing and criminal justice, housing and land-use regulation, transportation, public education and public health—and learn to think systematically about what local governments can do to address public needs. What you learn will be applicable throughout the U.S., but we'll focus on examples of policymaking currently underway in the City of Rochester and the surrounding region—offering you a chance to learn more about the University's local community.


PSCI 228 Race, Ethnicity, and American Politics
Mayya Komisarchik
Spring 2024 ("W" Optional) — TR 11:05 - 12:20
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This is an undergraduate course designed to explore the role that race and ethnicity play in American politics. In this class students will focus on the 'big questions' surrounding race: What is race? Can race be measured - and, if so, how? How have questions about race and ethnicity shaped American legal, social, cultural, and political institutions? How have Americans thought about race and immigration throughout the 21st century, and how have these opinions shaped political engagement and behavior? This course will focus on political science theories and research about race and politics, though we will also draw on work from history, sociology, law, and economics.


PSCI 229 Environmental Health Policy
Katrina Smith Korfmacher
Spring 2024 — TR 12:30 - 13:45
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Public health professionals, researchers, government agencies, and community groups recognize that the physical environment has significant impacts on health equity but often lack the policy skills, concepts, and experiences needed to effect change. This advanced course develops tools for understanding and promoting effective environmental health policy.

Pre-requisites: PHLT 101 . If you have not taken PHLT 101, contact the instructor for permission (provide an overview of your prior experience and/or coursework on environment and/or policy) .


PSCI 230 Public Health Law and Policy
Molly McNulty
Spring 2024 — MW 14:00 - 15:15
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The course introduces the legal and social justice frameworks for urgent public health issues, such as vaccinations, tobacco regulation and gun control. Pre-requisites: PHLT 116 or PHLT 236; juniors & seniors only. Restrictions: Instructor Permission.


PSCI 231 Maternal Child Health Policy and Advocacy
Molly McNulty
Spring 2024 ("W" Optional) — TR 14:00 - 15:15
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Students will learn how government funds, organizes and delivers health care, broadly defined, to mothers, children, and adolescents; as well as legal and policy writing skills relevant to advocacy, such as issue fact sheets, legislative testimony, and letters to the editor. Pre-requisites: PHLT 116, PHLT 236, or PHLT 230 required; juniors & seniors only. Restrictions: Instructor Permission.


PSCI 232 Disagreement in a Democratic Society
David Primo
Spring 2024 ("W" Optional) — M 14:00 - 16:40
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Is consensus overrated? In this seminar course we will study the role of disagreement in a democratic society. Topics will include the causes and consequences of political polarization, academic freedom and viewpoint diversity on college campuses, and practical tools for managing disagreements.


PSCI 238 Business and Politics
David Primo
Spring 2024 — MW 11:50 - 13:05
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Consider this real-world scenario: You are the CEO of a major corporation, and a new US president takes office who has pledged to implement government rules that would hurt your industry. How do you respond? You may think this scenario refers to President Donald Trump, but he was hardly the first president to attack corporations (although his tactics were certainly unorthodox). In 2008, presidential candidate Barack Obama promised to enact a windfall profits tax on oil companies if elected, and in 2021, President Joe Biden laid out an agenda to take on "Big Tech." The lesson? Regardless of who is control of government, managers must incorporate factors outside of markets - including government, public opinion, activists, and the mass media - into decision making and strategy building. In this course we will use the tools of political science and economics to study how businesses affect and are affected by politics. In addition to studying how laws and regulations get made in the United States, we will devote several classes to corporate social responsibility, brand activism, and employee activism. Class sessions will be interactive and feature in-depth discussions of real-world topics and cases in industries including finance and e-commerce.


PSCI/INTR 239 International Environmental Law
Milena Novy-Marx
Spring 2024 — TR 11:05 - 12:20
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An examination of international environmental law and policy with a special focus on efforts to address climate change, including efforts to forge an international climate change agreement at the 2015 United Nations Paris Climate Change Conference. This course serves as a companion to PSC 246, but PSC 246 is not a prerequisite. The goal of this course is to provide a foundational understanding of this rapidly developing, controversial field. Topics include consideration of the scientific, political, and economic drivers of international environmental law; the variety of tools (e.g., treaties, agreements, "soft law," voluntary incentive programs and market based approaches); and examples of how some international environmental issues have been addressed to date. Finally, we will examine the results of the 2015 Paris Climate Change Conference - are we any closer to a "grand climate solution"? This course will be taught through lectures, discussion, several concise papers, and a group project.


PSCI 240 Criminal Procedure and Constitutional Principles
Edward L. Fiandach
Spring 2024 — MW 16:50 - 18:05
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Through analysis of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, we examine criminal procedure as elaborated by federal and state court decisions. Topics include arrest procedures, search and seizure, right to counsel, and police interrogation and confessions. We will discuss the theoretical principles of criminal procedure and the application of those principles to the actual operation of the criminal court system.


INTR 242W Identity Politics in Poland, Tajikistan, and Iran
Paulina Niechcial
Spring 2024 ("W" Required) — MW 10:25 - 11:40
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This course explores the topic of collective identity, politics of identity, and related social, political, and cultural phenomena. After developing a common set of conceptual tools, we will focus on examples from Poland, Iran, and Tajikistan. We will analyze various aspects of identity, including nationalism, ethnicity, culture, religion, class, and gender in these specific contexts. We will also reflect on the influence of the politics of identity on individuals’ attitudes and beliefs. And we will consider the importance and impact of regime change and historical breakthroughs, such as the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, the 1989 political transition in Poland, and Tajikistan’s 1991 independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The main course activities include lectures with multimedia presentations, class discussions, and readings. The course culminates in an independent research paper.


PSCI/INTR 245 The Politics of Science and Expertise
Casey Petroff
Spring 2024 ("W" Optional) — TR 11:05 - 12:20
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The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of scientific expertise in crafting policy, and policymakers depend on expert advice in many other arenas, including climate policy, regulation, and economic policy. However, recent polling demonstrates a deterioration and polarization of public trust in scientific experts. This course examines the politics of science and expertise. It covers theories and evidence about topics such as the motivations of experts, the roles of scientific communities, interactions between experts and policymakers, and public views of experts' credibility. Students will engage with both relevant social science research and with case studies of policy-relevant scientific work to draw connections to the theories considered in class.


INTR 246 Religious Nationalism
Aaron Hughes
Spring 2024 — TR 14:00 - 15:15
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Recent years have seen a renewed sense of nationalism, only this time tinged with an underlying and powerful religious dimension. This class seeks to illumine this religious nationalism from a comparative perspective. Using an analytical frame, we will examine the historical rise of religious nationalism, its key elements and defining features, before examining a set of particular case studies (e.g., India, Pakistan, Israel, the United States).


PSCI 246 Environmental Law and Policy
Stephen Daly
Spring 2024 — MW 18:15 - 19:30
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This course provides a foundational understanding of U.S. environmental law, with a focus on existing federal environmental statutes and regulatory programs. Topics include the common law origins of environmental law, the historical genesis of federal regulation over human impact on the environment, the enduring role of the States in environmental regulation, along with an overview of critical federal environmental laws (such as the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, and CERCLA/Superfund). Students will be introduced to how agencies implement and enforce these laws and how judicial decisions shape them. The course also touches on how and whether these decades-old laws are suited to address 21st-century challenges like climate change and environmental injustice.


PSCI/INTR 253 Comparative Political Parties
Bonnie M. Meguid
Spring 2024 ("W" Optional) — T 14:00 - 16:40
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This seminar examines the nature of political parties and political competition across democracies in the developed and developing worlds. Issues analyzed include the formation of different types of parties, their role in agenda-setting, policy-making and representation, and their transformation in the post-World War II era.


PSCI/INTR 254 Fascism: Politics, History, and Culture
Kevin A. Clarke
Spring 2024 ("W" Optional) — TR 12:30 - 13:45
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Fascism is a common term of political opprobrium, but few know what it actually means. This course examines the ideologies and practices of fascist movements to understand both the past and the present. Students learn about the economic, political, and cultural circumstances from which fascism emerged, and we consider the fascist obsession with national, sexual, and racial identity. Class time is divided between lecture and discussion; students are encouraged to participate.


PSCI/INTR 267 Identity, Ethnicity and Nationalism
Bonnie M. Meguid
Spring 2024 — MW 14:00 - 15:15
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This course explores the concepts of identity, ethnicity and nationalism from a comparative perspective. Drawing upon theories from political science, anthropology, sociology and economics, we will examine how identity is defined and how societies use these constructions in, among other things, nation-building, war, and party competition. Theoretical readings will be supplemented with empirical studies from developed and developing countries across different time periods.


PSCI/INTR 269 Migration, Economic Change, and Conflict
Bethany Lacina
Spring 2024 ("W" Optional) — M 14:00 - 16:40

A high level of migration within and between countries is the most controversial feature of our globalized and technologically integrated world. This class will review the economic and non-economic causes of trends in migration and discuss the political conflict that migration can spark. The course will deal with both international and internal migration. The primary focus will be on comparing nativist politics in the US and Europe to political conflict over migration in poorer countries. There will be two in-class midterms and a comprehensive final exam.


PSCI/INTR 270 Mechanisms of International Relations
Hein Goemans
Spring 2024 ("W" Optional) — W 15:25 - 18:05
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The last ten years or so have seen a major revolution in the social sciences. Instead of trying to discover and test grand "covering laws" that have universal validity and tremendous scope (think Newton's gravity or Einstein's relativity), the social sciences are in the process of switching to more narrow and middle-range theories and explanations, often referred to as causal mechanisms. Mechanisms play a crucial role in this new conception of theory in the social sciences. In this course we will examine one particular mechanism each week and see how it has been applied in international political economy and/or security studies. Students will be introduced to formal reasoning in an informal manner. We will explore several substantive themes, such as the "democratic peace," ethnic conflict and international trade to illustrate the mechanisms and cumulative potential of this research approach.


PSCI 281 Formal Models in Political Science
Anna Denisenko
Spring 2024 — MW 12:30 - 13:45
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This course explores the rational choice approach to understanding political phenomena. The main results of social choice theory, game theory, and spatial modeling are presented through application to a broad range of political situations: voting, legislative politics, political campaigns, comparison of electoral systems, the evolution of cooperation, and international relations. While there are no formal mathematical prerequisites for the course, some familiarity with mathematical reasoning and formalism is a must.


PSCI 288 Game Theory
Romans Pancs
Spring 2024 — MW 14:00 - 15:15
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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 293 Politics, Philosophy, and Economics: How to Change the World
James Johnson
Spring 2024 — MW 9:00 - 10:15
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Consider the litany of problems we humans encounter across the globe: Environmental exploitation and degradation, dire poverty, profound and growing political-economic inequality, deep, often deadly divisions within nations along, among other dimensions, race gender and class, massive migration of populations (whether voluntary or not) across borders. The list goes on. It is daunting to the point of being intellectually and practically debilitating. For citizens, activists, government officials, and economic actors it is difficult to know where and how to start thinking about responses. In the face of such difficulties (and others) we urgently require responses that are both effective and justifiable. In order to identify and implement them we must not only understand how markets or individual elements of political systems work, or even how the various elements of our political and economic systems interact. We also must be able to think carefully about our obligations to our fellow human beings, and the values that we ultimately want our shared world to insatiate and be anchored by. Changing the world (let alone "saving" it!), then, requires a deeply interdisciplinary approach.

This course will be focused on helping students to develop the skills to bring ethical, microeconomic, and game theoretic analysis to bear on fundamental problems like those we mention above. Students should leave the course with a better understanding not just of how our political-economic practices and institutions do work - but also how they could work, how they should work, and how to make them work that way. (Offered every fall, teaching alternates between philosophy and politics, but all offerings satisfy the same requirements)
[Prerequisite: One previous course in Philosophy]


PSCI 294 Political Economy of African-American Communities
James Johnson
Spring 2024 ("W" Optional) — MW 12:30 - 13:45

The purpose of this course is to explore what has been called "democratic community economics" (Jessica Gordon-Nembhard) and its relevance for addressing deep, persistent political-economic problems in African American Communities. The focus will be on a set of alternative institutional arrangements including producer and consumer cooperatives, community development credit unions and community land trusts and specifically their roots in African American politics, their various current manifestations, and their potential contemporary policy relevance for promoting sustainable, local, community development.


PSCI 296 Freedom and Domination in Black Political Philosophy
Spring 2024 — MWF 11:50 - 12:40
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This course is a survey of some of the canonical and some of the most exciting contemporary works in the field of African-American political thought. We begin with foundational texts from Walker, Delany, Douglass, Wells, Du Bois, Garvey, Baldwin, King, and Malcolm X. In the first half of the course we will focus on questions such as: What is the nature of the wrong(s) African Americans have suffered in the United States? What sustains systems of domination and exclusion? What responses, in addition to condemnation, do these systems of domination merit? What does the long history of white domination in the United States say about ideals of liberalism and democracy? And what is the way forward? In the second part of the course, we will read contemporary works dealing with reparations, collective responsibility, obligations to solidarity/allyship, and epistemologies of ignorance.


PSCI 317W American Health Politics and Policy
Mical Raz
Spring 2024 — R 14:00 - 16:40
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This course examines the formation and evolution of American health policy from a political and historical perspective. Concentrating on developments from the early twentieth century to the present, the focus of readings and discussions will be political forces and institutions and historical and cultural contexts. Among the topics covered are periodic campaigns for national health insurance, efforts to rationalize and regionalize health care institutions, the creation of Medicare and Medicaid and the further evolution of these programs, the rise to dominance of economists and economic analysis in the shaping of health policy, racial and gender disparities in access to care and in quality of care, the formation and failure of the Clinton administration's health reform agenda, health reform in the George W. Bush administration and the 2008 presidential campaign, and national health reform and pushback during the Obama administration. Instructor permission required for 2nd year students. Sophomores should request a Pre-requisite override to gain entry to the course. Restriction: Not open to First Year and Sophomore - AS&E.


PSCI/INTR 393W Senior Honors Project
Scott Abramson
Spring 2024
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A year-long research project supervised by a faculty member in the department and culminating in a written work.


PSCI 394 Local Law and Politics Internships
Stuart Jordan
Spring 2024
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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
Spring 2024
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Please contact Professor Stu Jordan for more information.


PSCI 394F Health Policy Internship
Stuart Jordan, Molly McNulty
Spring 2024
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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 405 Causal Inference
Anderson Frey
Spring 2024 — TR 9:40 - 10:55
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The goal of this course is to give students a comprehensive toolbox for reading and producing cutting-edge applied empirical research, with focus on the theory and practice behind causal inference in social sciences. We will cover treatment effects, experiments, panel data, differences-in-differences, instrumental variables, nonparametric regression, regression discontinuity, matching, synthetic control, and more. Students will read applied papers from both political science and economics, and write review reports examining research designs, identification strategies, and causal claims. They will also produce research proposals that will be presented in class. Applications will be taught with R.

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 408 Positive Political Theory II
Mark Fey
Spring 2024 — MW 10:30 - 12:00
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This course is part of a rigorous introduction to the main concepts and results in positive political theory. It is the second half of a two-course sequence consisting of PSC 407 and PSC 408. This course will focus on the basics of game theory, which analyzes individual behavior in strategic situations. It will also cover the mathematical tools required to express the theory. Examples and applications will be drawn from several different areas in political science, including the American Congress, voting, international relations, political economy, and law.

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 508 Theoretical Implications of Empirical Models
Scott Tyson
Spring 2024 — W 14:00 - 16:40
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Implicit in all research designs are (traditionally under-appreciated) strategic interactions relevant to the interpretation and validity of empirical work. Recently, social scientists across several sub-disciplines, and especially political scientists, have begun to analyze these theoretical implications of empirical models (TIEM). This course surveys the work being done in this nascent field of scholarship and, necessarily, the dominant empirical methodologies employed in political science and economics. For context and guidance, we will also draw upon work from adjacent lines of research, such as the decision-theoretic underpinnings of empirical models, the rationalization of behavioral regularities, and the evolutionary grounding of preferences, as well as upon philosophical perspectives on the interplay between theory and empirics.


PSCI 513 Interest Group Politics
Lawrence Rothenberg
Spring 2024 — F 9:30 - 12:00
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This course principally introduces students to the political science and political economy literatures on interest groups, with a special focus on how these groups operate in the context of American politics (however, contrast with other advanced and the European Union are included). This will include developing an understanding of the makeup of the group system, the contribution decision, the internal politics of organizations, and the role that groups play with respect to formal political institutions.


PSCI 527 Models of Domestic Institutions
Dan Alexander
Spring 2024 — TR 12:30 - 13:45
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This course will familiarize students with the "workhorse" models of domestic political institutions. Students will further develop their ability to consume and create models in contexts ranging from elections to interest groups to interbranch relationships. Throughout, we will explore and emphasize principles of applied modeling. Accordingly, students will complete problem sets and present published papers, as well as take an exam that prompts them to come up with a model of a given political phenomenon. The class is intended for graduate students in the social sciences who are familiar with game theory, though advanced undergraduates may take the course with instructor permission.


PSCI 529 Race and Ethnic Politics in the United States
Sidak Yntiso
Spring 2024 — TR 11:05 - 12:20
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This research seminar surveys the literature on race and ethnic politics in the United States. We will focus on the causes and consequences of electoral rules, the political representation of minority groups, and the mechanisms through which government policy coordinates social inequities. This course will incorporate diverse analytical perspectives while highlighting recent theoretical and empirical innovations in political science.


PSCI 564 Development and Political Economy
Anderson Frey
Spring 2024 — TR 11:05 - 12:20
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This course examines the politics of poor countries, classic social scientific theories of development, and empirical methods of analysis in comparative politics. Topics include clientelism, corruption, economic growth, colonialism and identity.


PSCI 572 International Relations Field Seminar II
Scott Abramson
Spring 2024 — T 14:00 - 16:40
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This is an advanced course intended to prepare Ph.D. students for comprehensive exams in international relations. The course conducts a broad survey of major works in the field and current research into the causes of international conflict and cooperation.


PSCI 576 Graduate Research Seminar
Sergio Montero, Casey Petroff
Spring 2024 — F 14:00 - 15:30
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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 577 Theories of Conflict
Mark Fey
Spring 2024 — M 14:00 - 16:40
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This course examines the literature on conflict that has developed in the last decade. We will examine recent formal literature as well as the latest substantive (non-formal) literature on conflict. The course will help graduate students identify the broad direction of international conflict studies and will also permit graduate students to pursue topics or ideas of their own interest. To that end, we set aside two classes for "model building sessions" where students can explore approaches to formalize some of the ideas in the substantive literature, or explore extensions of the current formal literature. Students should have taken or be concurrently taking PSC 584 or have an equivalent knowledge of complete and incomplete information game theory.