Political Science

College of Arts & Sciences

  • Introduction to American Politics

    CAS PO 111

    Undergraduate core course. Study of the national political structure; emphasis on Congress, the executive, administrative agencies, and the judiciary. Relations between formal institutions, parties, and interest groups. Carries social science divisional credit in CAS. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, Critical Thinking. 4 cr. Tuition: $3180

    Summer 1 (May 22-June 26)

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  • Introduction to Comparative Politics

    CAS PO 151

    Undergraduate core course. Examines different patterns of political development and contemporary politics in Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Introduces the comparative method in political science and competing theories of political development and political change. Carries social science divisional credit in CAS. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Critical Thinking. 4 cr. Tuition: $3180

    Summer 2 (July 1-August 7)

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  • Introduction to International Relations

    CAS PO 171

    Undergraduate core course. Explores major issues in international relations, including conflict, cooperation, and governance. Addresses dominant international relations theories and their application. Investigates state system, international law and organization, transnational actors, state behavior, and globalization. Carries social science divisional credit in CAS. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy. 4 cr. Tuition: $3180

    Summer 2 (July 1-August 7)

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  • Race and the Politics of Criminal Justice Policy

    CAS PO 316

    Online offering. Considers the following questions: How many people are affected by the criminal justice system? What is the relationship between crime and race? What criminal justice policies, if any, should change? Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking. 4 cr. Tuition: $3180

    Summer 1 seven-week course (May 14-June 28)

    Summer 1 Section O1: As a special provision of this summer online BU Hub course, BU financial aid may be available to BU need-based scholarship recipients for up to one course in summer 2024. For more information, please contact BU Financial Assistance at 617-353-2965 or finaid@bu.edu.
    For information about technology requirements for online courses at Boston University, see bu.edu/online/online-learning/technology. BU Virtual can be reached at buvirtual@bu.edu or 617-358-1960 for additional information.

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  • International Political Economy

    CAS PO 329

    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. 4 cr. Tuition: $3180

    Summer 2 (July 1-August 7)

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  • Bombs and Bombshells: Gender, Armed Conflict, and Political Violence

    CAS PO 346

    Prereq: sophomore, junior, or senior standing. Interdisciplinary course surveying women's relationship to political violence with a focus on the evolution of women's international participation in non-state, religiously-motivated groups. Women's roles in political violence throughout Western Europe, North America, and the Middle East are explored. 4 cr. Tuition: $3180

    Summer 1 (May 22-June 26)

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  • Democracy and Protest in the Global South

    CAS PO 375

    Explores roots, dynamics, and implications of recent popular protests both for democracy (e.g. 2011 Arab Spring) as well as challenges to established democracies (e.g. South Africa, Brazil). Focus on North and Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and Asia. 4 cr. Tuition: $3180

    Summer 2 (July 2-August 8)

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  • Religion and Politics

    CAS PO 379

    Introduction to the comparative study of the political role of religious institutions and beliefs. Covers issues such as religion's relationship to violence and terrorism, democracy and human rights, group identity, gender and sexuality, and modernity and secularism. Effective Spring 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Teamwork/Collaboration. 4 cr. Tuition: $3180

    Summer 1 (May 21-June 27)

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  • The European Enlightenment

    CAS PO 393

    Survey of the intellectual and social transformation of Europe from the 1680s to the French Revolution. Readings draw on both eighteenth-century sources (including Voltaire, Diderot, Condorcet, Lessing, Smith, and Hume) and recent work by historians. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings. 4 cr. Tuition: $3180

    Summer 2 (July 1-August 7)

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  • Domination/Liberation

    CAS PO 395

    This political theory course examines dilemmas surrounding domination and liberation in political theory and practice. We ask what liberation is, how diverse forms of domination obstruct it, and whether freedom can be sustained in a lasting way. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking. 4 cr. Tuition: $3180

    Summer 1 (May 21-June 27)

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  • Data Science for Politics

    CAS PO 399

    Prereq: any 100-level course in Political Science. 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 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression, Quantitative Reasoning I. 4 cr. Tuition: $3180

    Summer 1 (May 22-June 28)

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  • Political Economy of China

    CAS PO 548

    Prereq: First-Year Writing Seminar (e.g., CAS WR 100 or CAS WR 120) and junior standing or consent of instructor. Provides a historical and comparative study of China's rise domestically and internationally and introduces China's national power, local governments, globalization, finance, and strategic concerns. Students learn to evaluate scholarly and policy pieces, compile evidence, and write research reports. Effective Spring 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Social Inquiry II. 4 cr. Tuition: $3180

    Summer 1 (May 22-June 26)

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