Courses

• CAS PO 315: The Judicial Process
  Introduction to the judicial process. Topics include the role of lawyers and judges, the structure of the court system, juries, and legal reasoning. Primarily intended for students who have little or no exposure to law courses. (Offered alternate years.)
• CAS PO 317: Presidential Leadership
  Presidential power and functions; relations with Congress, political party, and the public; personality and leadership; and comparative study of selected presidents.
• CAS PO 318: United States Political Parties
  Detailed consideration of the political party as a functional organization: party leaders and followers, partisanship and electoral strategy, shifts and realignments in party politics.
• CAS PO 323: Public Opinion and Electoral Politics
  Determinants and consequences of public opinion in the American political system. Social, psychological, and economic influences on opinion formation; role of mass media, parties, and interest groups. Public and private propaganda. Measurement of opinion; sampling techniques; interviewing; data analysis.
• CAS PO 324: Media and Politics in the United States
  Examines changes over time in the American polity's assumptions about what the press ought to do. In particular, relates our understanding of the press's role to contemporary media developments including technological changes, corporate media ownership, and the re-amateurization of journalism.
• CAS PO 333: Non-State Actors in International Relations
  Meets with CAS IR 333. Examines the important role of non-state actors in international relations. Non-state actors include subnational governments, international organizations, multinational corporations, non-governmental organizations, religious groups, violent groups, for-profit security firms, social movements, and grassroots organizations.
• CAS PO 341: Comparative Public Policy
  Meets with CAS IR 340. Comparative study of the public policies of advanced societies in such areas as health training, unemployment, poverty, and budget. Explores why countries develop different solutions to policy needs, and evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of various national approaches.
• CAS PO 342: Women and Politics
  (Meets with CAS WS 350.) Readings, discussion, and field research on issues of women?s relationship to the processes of political influence, change, and empowerment. Analysis of public policy related to women and children.
• CAS PO 343: Foundations of American Public Policy
  Investigates the social and political roots of U.S. policy solutions. Cross-national comparisons and historical perspectives are used to shed light on seemingly unique American solutions to pressing social and economic problems.
• CAS PO 351: The Politics of Race and Ethnicity
  Definitional hypotheses of race and ethnicity based on cultural, sociological, and biological determinants tested against concrete examples of plural societies in Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Correlations between racial/ethnic differentiation and sociopolitical stratification and cleavages examined.
• CAS PO 352: North-South Relations
  Employs a multidisciplinary approach to analyze the relations between the industrialized nations of the "North" and the developing nations of the "South." Addresses historical and current issues in North-South relations, including trade, investment, migration, regional economic integration, and the environment.
• CAS PO 355: International Political Economy
  (Meets with CAS IR 390.) Emphasizes the dynamic interaction between politics and economics to understand and explain historical and contemporary issues in international political economy, including international monetary, trade, investment, financial, and environmental relations. Considers emerging challenges and structures in the international political economy.
• CAS PO 360: British Political Institutions
  Meets with CAS IR 359. The institutions of British democracy and political participation. Voting patterns, interest groups, and political parties; the role of Parliament, the cabinet, the monarchy, and civil service.
• CAS PO 361: European Politics
  Meets with CAS IR 362. Comparative study of politics in member states of the European Union, with emphasis on political development, institutions, major issues in contemporary politics, and the impact of European integration. Selective references to original and new member states of the EU.
• CAS PO 363: Soviet Politics, 1917-91
  (Meets with CAS IR 363.) Analysis of the structure and functioning of major political institutions - government bureaucracy, Communist party, and others - and polity-society relations during the 74 years of the USSR's existence. Prime focus is institutional rather than historical and deals with the Soviet political "game" as it was played.
• CAS PO 364: The Politics of Post-Communist Russia
  (Meets with CAS IR 364.) Analysis of the emergent political forces, institutions, and alliances in the post-Soviet Russian Federation, against the background of the unresolved economic, ethnic, and social problems that are the USSR's legacy to the "new Russia"; prospects for stabilization are assessed in the context of the multiple crises facing Russia today.
• CAS PO 365: The Pacific Challenge
  (Meets with CAS IR 275.) The dynamic growth of the Pacific Rim countries poses an impressive array of challenges for the U.S. and the world. Analyzes Japanese trade and defense policies, the rise of the "mini-dragons" (Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore) and "new mini-dragons" (Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia), "Confucian capitalism," democratization (and its failure in China), and legacies of the Indochina war.
• CAS PO 366: History of American Foreign Relations since 1898
  Meets with CAS HI 287. Analysis of the history of American foreign policy from the perspective of the changing world and regional international systems; emphasis on the effect of these systems and the impact of America on the creation and operation of international systems.
• CAS PO 367: Introduction to Latin American Politics and International Relations
  Introduction to the patterns and complexities of Latin American politics and foreign policies. Focuses on the distinctive Latin American political experience and alternative explanations for it, including colonization, the international economy, and human and material resource capacity and utilization.
• CAS PO 369: China: from Revolution to Reform
  (Meets with CAS IR 370.) Explores the economic, political, and social upheavals that followed the Chinese revolution in 1949 and the cause of subsequent inauguration of reform in the late 1970s. Analyzes the tensions that brought about the 1989 upheaval in Tiananmen Square, as well as the implications of China's emergence as an economic power.

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