Courses

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.

• CAS PO 582: North Atlantic/European Security Issues
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: junior standing or consent of instructor. - Examination of the post Cold War security environment in the North Atlantic and greater European context. Exploration of threats to security, mechanisms in place and emerging (NATO, CSCE, CFE, WEU), and challenges posed by changes since fall 1989. Effective Spring 2026, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Critical Thinking, Social Inquiry II, Writing-Intensive Course.
  BU Hub Learn More

  • Critical Thinking
  • Social Inquiry II
  • Writing-Intensive Course
• CAS PO 583: Gender and War
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: junior standing or consent of instructor. - Examines gender constructions in world politics. Topics include gender biases in international relations theories, female and male roles in war, and rape as an instrument of warfare. Also assesses roles of women as leaders, actors, and objects of foreign policy.
• CAS PO 587: Ethics and International Relations
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: junior standing or consent of instructor. - Examines important ethical approaches to normative controversies of contemporary world politics. Such questions as: Is my nation always right? Can war be justified? Is terrorism always wrong? What is the place of human rights in foreign policy?
• CAS PO 589: Religion and International Relations
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: junior standing or consent of instructor. First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120). - Explores the role of religion in contemporary international relations in the context of questions about the common core of modernity. Reviews scholarly and policy literature, and case studies, in order to elucidate religion's intellectual and operational diversity in international relations. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Oral and/or Signed Communication, Writing-Intensive Course, Critical Thinking.
  BU Hub Learn More

  • Critical Thinking
  • Oral and/or Signed Communication
  • Writing-Intensive Course
• CAS PO 590: Readings in Political Theory
  Topics vary. May be repeated for credit as topics change.
• CAS PO 591: Seminar in Political Philosophy
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: junior, senior, or graduate standing. - An in-depth study of a major political philosopher, historical period, or topic in political philosophy.
• CAS PO 594: Advanced Feminist Theory
  This course explores themes in advanced feminist theory. Specific themes vary by semester. Effective Fall 2025, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
  BU Hub Learn More

  • Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
• CAS PO 595: Race and Capitalism
  Students engage with the political thought of philosophers, legal scholars, writers, and historians who have explored the global history of capitalism and race, covering topics such as labor, climate change, colonialism, slavery, and mass incarceration. In this course, students learn to compare different authors, place thinkers within their historical context, understand the roots of contrasting arguments, as well as develop their own questions, analysis, and arguments. Effective Fall 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Critical Thinking, Historical Consciousness, Oral and Signed Communication.
  BU Hub Learn More

  • Critical Thinking
  • Historical Consciousness
  • Oral and/or Signed Communication
• 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.
  BU Hub Learn More

  • Ethical Reasoning
  • Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
  • Writing-Intensive Course
• CAS PO 598: Power, Identity, Equality
  Examines classic and contemporary theories of identity as well as their manifestation in political practice. We critically examine specific manifestations of identity including the role of race, ethnicity, sexuality, gender, ability, and foreignness in democratic politics. Spring 2025, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: Ethical Reasoning.
  BU Hub Learn More

  • Ethical Reasoning
• 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.
  BU Hub Learn More

  • 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 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 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 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.