Graduate

This course is a  seminar which can be taken for 0 - 2 units, Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory with the following course description:

A forum for the presentation and discussion of research in progress by graduate students. To receive credit for the course, the student will participate fully, including, as asked, either making a presentation of work in progress or serving as lead  discussant for another student's work. Appropriate works-in-progress include  (but are not limited to) a paper in preparation for submission to a journal, a dissertation prospectus (including early drafts), a dissertation chapter, or a job market paper. Anyone working on theory is welcome.

Please see click on the link below for more information regrarding MIRTH

http://polisci.berkeley.edu/research-and-teaching/lectures-colloquia/monday-international-relations-thoughts-series-mirth

A forum for the presentation and discussion of research in quantitative modeling. Anyone working on quantitative modeling or empirical testing of quantitative models is welcome to attend. To receive credit for the course, a student must attend regularly and participate actively.  Some weeks we will invite external speakers to present their work.  In other weeks, students may present their own work-in-progress or lead a discussion of work by other scholars (including both influential/classic works or interesting current working papers).

Variable Unit Course: 1.0 to 3.0

This colloquium exposes graduate students and faculty to work by leading scholars of comparative politics working in diverse substantive areas. Graduate students are expected to read circulated papers of visiting speakers ahead of the colloquium and participate actively in raising questions and making comments.  They are encouraged to meet visiting speakers in their areas of interest in group or one-on-one sessions. 

This description is from Spring 2015

A forum for the presentation and discussion of research in progress by graduate students. To receive two units of credit, a student must make at least one presentation of work in progress and serve as a discussant for another student's presentation. To receive one unit of credit a student must regularly attend class and participate in discussion, but will not be required to make a presentation. Appropriate works in progress include (but are not limited to) a paper in preparation for submission to a journal, a dissertation prospectus (including early drafts), a dissertation chapter, or a job market paper. Anyone working on American politics, political behavior, public law, or public administration is welcome.

The main aims of this workshop are met through a forum in which faculty and graduate students at various career stages work closely together. It is an applied workshop with an emphasis on learning by doing and on learning how to be a more constructive colleague. Rather than segregate PhD students by cohort, the workshop is designed to bring cohorts together in order to facilitate the student-to-student transfer of skills and knowledge.

The goal of this yearlong course is to provide a forum in which students propose, develop, and complete a research project that produces a journal-length paper of publishable quality. This paper will typically serve as students' second-year M.A. essay, and the course is intended as a complement to that requirement. This course is primarily oriented towards second-year Ph.D. students in any subfield (students in other years may participate with the professors’ consent). The course meets regularly during parts of the fall semester and irregularly during the spring semester. In the first few weeks of the course, we discuss the process of moving from research topic to research question; and we survey published articles by recent Ph.D. students/assistant professors, focusing on the structure and nature of the writing and presentation as well the quality of the argument and evidence. We then move to students’ research proposals for the rest of the fall semester. During the spring semester, students meet individually with the course instructors and their advisors, develop and revise drafts of their papers, and present their work at a department “APSA-style” conference. In order to complete the course and receive credit, students must complete the requirements for both semesters.

This seminar is designed to acquaint students with current research approaches in various subfields of American Politics. Particular attention will be given to debates over theory, methodology, and substance. The seminar is not designed to provide a complete survey of the field. Students planning to be examined in American Politics are expected to master recommended readings on their own and should review additional readings included in versions of this seminar offered in the past years.

This course analyzes the politics of social protection in Western Europe and the United States. After describing different national welfare regimes, we turn to contemporary challenges, notably globalization, persistent poverty, and changes in family forms and gender roles. We also look at the politics of welfare retrenchment and adjustment, paying particular attention to the prospects for progressive social policy. Must reform inevitably scale back protections for the weak and vulnerable, or can equity be safeguarded while promoting efficiency?

This course emphasizes the application of the formal analytic tools to current or significant research in political science.