Graduate

The goal of this course is to introduce advanced political science graduate students to current debates in the field of international security and to prepare these students for conducting dissertation research in their own areas of interest within this field. Its orientation is theoretical but also empirical, and it focuses on both reading and research.

This graduate seminar introduces students to the rapidly evolving field of qualitative and multimethod research. The seminar is designed to provide students with an overview of qualitative methods essential to political science research. In addition, we will consider a range of ways in which qualitative methods can be integrated with each other, as well as other research methodologies, such as field and natural experiments, formal models, and statistical modeling. Required readings cover classic texts, recent innovations, and applied examples.

Note that this means there is a lot of reading! Students are expected to become familiar with both the methodological ideas and their substantive application.

The overriding goal of the course is to provide students with the background necessary to use qualitative and multimethod techniques in their own original research. It will enable students to master core tools, understand basic problems, and explore advanced topics. Students should ultimately be able to apply these methods in writing a dissertation prospectus, grant proposal, or research paper.

Dissertation Writing Workshop for students in all empirical subfields.   Students working on all phases of their dissertations, from prospectus to post field work writing and post-research article preparation, are welcome.

A weekly seminar on contemporary approaches to political theory.

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This seminar provides an introduction to the major debates in comparative political economy. Although the empirical focus is on the affluent democracies, many of the debates and issues analyzed have implications for other regions. The course is divided into two main parts. The first part examines leading theoretical perspectives on political economy, such as Friedman, Marx, Weber, and Polanyi. The second part of the course is more topical. It probes a number of examples of economic development, crisis, and change, with an eye to assessing alternative theoretical perspectives.

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Why do political cleavages often divide along lines of race and ethnicity? Does human psychology tend towards ‘groupism’? How do government institutions like schools, police and elections increase or decrease the salience of various ethnic and religious boundaries? This course investigates the relationship between identity, groups and politics in the U.S. and around the world. We will consider theories of group identity development; assess empirical approaches to the study of racial and ethnic groups in politics; evaluate intersections of salient identities and look at how politically relevant aspects of identity can be measured for conducting original research.