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The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular term. Please refer to the published schedule of classes on the MyBU Student Portal for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.

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  • CAS PO 596: Colonization/Decolonization
    Prerequisite: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120). - This seminar introduces you to the political, theoretical, and historical study of colonization and decolonization. Topics include various kinds of colonialism, such as settler colonialism, internal colonialism, and domestic colonialism, as well as debates over the contemporary call to decolonize. Effective Spring 2024: Writing-Intensive Course, Ethical Reasoning, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
    • Ethical Reasoning
    • Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
    • Writing-Intensive Course
  • CAS PO 599: Data Science for Politics
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: any 100-level course in political science and either enrollment in the PO Honors or BA/MA program, or consent of instructor. - Data science is changing how we understand and study politics, policy, and decision-making. This course introduces students to the fundamental tools of data science, including collecting, modeling, and visualizing data, and how to apply these tools to study political and policy questions. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Quantitative Reasoning I, Digital/Multimedia Expression.
    • Digital/Multimedia Expression
    • Quantitative Reasoning I
  • CAS PO 702: Professional Development for PhD Candidates in Political Science
    For political science PhD students in their second or third year of study and who are preparing for comprehensive exams or are working on a PhD prospectus. Addresses core issues in numerous fields and is taught by members of the GFPS.
  • CAS PO 705: Special Topics in American Politics
    Topic for Spring 2022: Race at the Center of U.S. Politics. Scholarship tends to treat race and ethnic politics (REP) as an isolated subfield. This course takes a different approach, placing REP at the center. This will lead to the reinterpretation of canonical topics and claims in U.S. politics.
  • CAS PO 711: Approaches to the Study of American Politics
    Graduate Core Seminar. Introduces students to major theoretical, substantive, and methodological problems in the study of American politics by examining two sets of literature: scholarly debates and discussion of theory and research, and the concrete research of leading Americanists.
  • CAS PO 751: Approaches to the Study of Comparative Politics
    Graduate Core Seminar. Provides an overview of major theoretical approaches and areas of research in comparative politics, including the comparative method, statebuilding, nationalism, democratization, revolution, culture and identity, electoral and party systems, systems of government, economic development, business politics, and the welfare state.
  • CAS PO 771: Approaches to the Study of International Relations
    Graduate Core Seminar. Focuses on the ongoing conversations in the discipline of International Relations. The course addresses the various ways international relations scholars understand and study the world. It also addresses the types of questions international relations scholars ask and how they answer them.
  • CAS PO 786: Conflict and State-Building in Africa
    Meets with GRS IR 786. Examines conflict in contemporary Africa at both the international and domestic levels. Addresses the dynamics of insurgency and inter-state war, as well as the ways in which these conflicts have affected African state-building.
  • CAS PO 789: International Relations of Asia-Pacific
    Focuses on the Asia-Pacific region. Analysis of issues that have defined international relations; the impact of the Cold War, of regional economic growth and dynamism, and the emergence of contention over regional identity and its relations to global politics.
  • CAS PO 791: Approaches to the Study of Political Theory
    Graduate Core Seminar. An overview of some of the more significant texts for the study of political theory today, with attention to both substantive and methodological issues. Selections may vary from year to year.
  • CAS PO 841: Quantitative Research Methods
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: Social Science Math Boot Camp or consent of instructor. - An introduction to probability, descriptive statistics, hypothesis testing, and ordinary least squares regression analysis as used in the social sciences. Emphasizes both theory and applications.
  • CAS PO 842: Qualitative Approaches to the Study of Political Science
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: Graduate student or consent of instructor. - Introduces the analytical tools and methods that underpin qualitative and multi-method research in the social sciences. Covers conceptualization and measurement, process tracing, comparative historical analysis, archival research, ethics, ethnography and participant observation, interviews, content and discourse analysis, and mixed methods.
  • CAS PO 843: Techniques in Political Analysis: Maximum Likelihood Estimation
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: (GRSPO841) or equivalent, or consent of the instructor. - An applied course in quantitative empirical analysis using the method of maximum likelihood. Covers models for binary, ordered, unordered, count and duration dependent variables. Focus is on social science data and computation in R.
  • CAS PO 844: Methods for Causal Inference
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: GRS PO 841 or consent of instructor. - Research methods for causal inference in political science. Randomized experiments (lab, survey, and field), natural experiments (including regression discontinuity and instrumental variable designs), difference-in-differences and fixed effects models, multiple regression and matching, comparative case studies, process tracing, and multi-method designs.
  • CAS PO 845: Special Topics in Methodology
    Topics vary; may be repeated for credit if the topics are different. Topic for Spring 2022: Survey Methods: Survey research. Methods in political science. Sampling techniques, questionnaire design, survey modes (in-person, phone, and online), interviewing, survey ethics, survey experiments, international surveys, analyzing survey data.
  • CAS PO 903: Research Workshop
    Graduate Prerequisites: enrollment in the Political Science PhD program. - This course is for Political Science PhD students of all years. It includes preparation for the second year paper, the dissertation prospectus, the dissertation, job talks, and grant and fellowship proposals.
  • CAS PO 904: Research Workshop
    Graduate Prerequisites: enrollment in the Political Science PhD program. - This course is for Political Science PhD students of all years. It includes preparation for the second year paper, the dissertation prospectus, the dissertation, job talks, and grant and fellowship proposals.
  • CAS PS 101: General Psychology
    Basic introduction to field of psychology; topics include theories and findings governing learning, memory, perception, development, personality, social and abnormal psychology. Three hours large lecture and one hour discussion section or three hours of small lecture class with no discussion sections. Students are required to participate as subjects in psychology studies. 4 cr. either sem. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, Critical Thinking. Effective Fall 2019, this course will fulfill a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, Critical Thinking, Ethical Reasoning.
    • Critical Thinking
    • Ethical Reasoning
    • Social Inquiry I
  • CAS PS 211: Introduction to Experimental Design
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASPS101) - Introduction to the logic and processes involved in descriptive and inferential statistics for psychology. Topics include statistical inference, significance, t-tests, ANOVAs, correlation, regression, and statistical software analysis. This is a hybrid class - class time is reserved for hands on activities. Does not count toward the principal courses required for the major or minor. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Scientific Inquiry II, Quantitative Reasoning I.
    • Quantitative Reasoning I
    • Scientific Inquiry II
  • CAS PS 212: Introduction to MATLAB Programming for Research in Psychological & Brain Sciences
    Teaches computer programming concepts, core statistical concepts, and related skills via MATLAB. Programming examples that cover four steps of neuroscience research (experiment control; random samples; data analysis; brain process simulation) promote "constructive" understanding of the quantitative reasoning behind decisions based on descriptive and inferential statistics (e.g., confidence intervals, linear regression models, model-specific anovas). Explains numerical integration programs in two settings: probability distributions, and simulations of neural dynamics. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Quantitative Reasoning I, Critical Thinking.
    • Critical Thinking
    • Quantitative Reasoning I

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