Where available, syllabi may be accessed by clicking on the NUMBER of the course. If the course number is not linked, please contact the instructor directly for a copy of the syllabus or check for the syllabus on the Courseworks website.
Please note:
1) "X"-denominated courses (ie: G6601x) are courses being offered in the fall semester. "Y"-denominated courses (ie: G6403y) are courses being offered in the spring semester.
2) Graduate courses in Political Science are numbered 4000 and above. However, 4000-level courses are mixed-level lectures, open to both undergraduates and graduate students.
3) Except where indicated, graduate courses are numbered as follows:
X2XX courses are in the subfield of American Politics
X4XX courses are in the subfield of Comparative Politics
X6XX courses are in the subfield of Political Theory
X8XX courses are in the subfield of International Relations
Methodology courses do not follow this numbering system.
4) With one or two exceptions, courses at the 6000-level are graduate "field surveys." These courses are intended for PhD students in Political Science. Other students should obtain the permission of the instructor before registering
5) 8000- and 9000-level courses are graduate colloquia and seminars; enrollment in these courses requires instructor permission.
6) If the course number begins with "8" (eg: 84145Y) rather than with a letter (eg: V1601, C3930, W4210, G4415, U8715, L9823, etc.), the course is cross-listed in another department. The second number will indicate the course level. Thus 84145Y is a 4000-level course cross-listed in the Philosophy Department, not a graduate colloquium (8000-level).
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American Politics
Robert Erikson, Field Coordinator
W4226x
American Politics and Social
Welfare Policy
Instructor: Robert Lieberman
Day(s): MW
Time: 9:10a-10:25a
The politics and development of the American welfare state. Study and analysis of the origins and growth of domestic social programs that provide income support (welfare and Social Security), employment opportunities, health care, and protection against poverty.
G6210x
Theories and Debates in
American Politics (Field Survey)
Instructors: Robert Erikson
and Jeffrey Lax
Day(s): W
Time: 2:10p-4:00p
A survey of a broad range of important contemporary debates in the field of American politics.
G8203x
Colloquium on State Politics
Instructor: Justin Phillips
Day(s): R
Time: 2:10p-4:00p
G8210y
Colloquium on
Political Behavior
Instructor: Robert Shapiro
Day(s): T
Time: 2:10p-4:00p
G8223x
Legislative Behavior and
Institutionalism
Instructor: Sharyn O'Halloran
Day(s): R
Time: 2:10p-4:00p
Instructor permission required. Examination of the interactions between individual incentives and political institutions in shaping policy. The course presents an approach to the study of politics that emphasizes individual incentives in an electoral system, examines how reelection-minded legislators organize to solve collection dilemmas, and focuses on the effects of these political institutions on policy choice.
G8230x
Judicial Institutions
Instructor: Jeffrey Lax
Day(s): M
Time: 2:10p-4:00p
Instructor permission required. The focus is on the study of law and courts as political institutions and judges as political actors. Primary topics will include judicial behavior and decision-making, the internal politics of the Supreme Court, politics within the judicial hierarchy, politics between the judiciary and other branches, and the impact of courts.
G8245y
Controversies in American
Politics
Instructor: Robert Erikson
Day(s): W
Time: 2:10p-4:00p
G8247y
Mass Mediated American and
Global Politics
Instructor: Brigitte Nacos
Day(s): T
Time: 11:00a-12:50p
Instructor permission required. Readings and class discussions explore the domestic and global news media at the beginning of the 21st century as they relate to and impact on mass-mediated domestic and international politics. The focus is on post-World War II and post-9/11 conditions and changes in terms of ownership, audience, technology, organizational and individual values and imperatives, and, especially, on the media's role during conflicts--in particular the ongoing "war on terrorism."
G8248y
Bureaucracy and Organizations
Instructor: Michael Ting
Day(s): R
Time: 2:10p-4:00p
G9208y
Legislatures in Historical
and Comparative Perspective
Instructor: Gregory Wawro
Day(s): W
Time: 10:00a-11:50a
G9290y
Qualitative Methods in
Political Science
Instructor: Dorian Warren
Day(s): W
Time: 6:10p-8:00p
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Comparative Politics
Andrew Nathan, Field Coordinator
W4431y
Religion & Secularism in Multicultural Societies
Instructor: Dmitri Glinski
Day(s): MW
Time: 7:40p-8:55p
W4445y
Politics of the Middle East and North Africa
Instructor: Azzedine Layachi
Day(s): T
Time: 4:10p-6:00p
Why is this region so prone to conflict and violence? Taking a step
back from the headlines, this course examines the political economy and
history of the Arab states, Israel, Turkey, and Iran. The first third
of the course surveys defining historical moments from the 18th century
to 1948: the Ottoman Empire, European colonial penetration, the rise of
nationalisms, and the formation of the Arab states and Israel. Part II
examines the political economy of the region from 1948-1979: the
geopolitics of oil, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and the Cold War on the
structuring of state-society relations. The last third focuses on the
rise of citizen demands, exemplified by the Iranian Revolution of 1979.
What kinds of citizen actions have been resurfacing in response to
incompetent and/or repressive states? Cases include Islamist movements,
human rights movements, the peace movement in Israel, the student
movement in Iran, and the rise of new media in the Arab world.
W 4471x
Chinese Politics
Instructor: Scott Harold
Day(s): F
Time: 2:10p-4:00p
Selected aspects of contemporary Chinese politics, including the causes
and character of the Chinese revolution, the transformation worked in
Chinese society by the revolutionary government, political conflict,
and the goals of government policies and the policies of carrying them
out.
G4472x
Japanese Politics
Instructor: Gerald Curtis
Day(s): R
Time: 2:10p-4:00p
Analysis of contemporary Japanese politics and government policymaking.
Topics include patterns of political leadership and popular political
participation, political party organization and behavior, public policy
decision-making processes, and the domestic politics of foreign and
defense policies.
W4491x
Post-Soviet States and Markets
Instructor: Peter Rutland
Day(s): R
Time: 2:10p-4:00p
An introduction to the political and economic challenges facing the post-Soviet states.
W4496x
Contemporary African Politics
Instructor: Kimuli Kasara
Day(s): TR
Time: 9:10a-10:25a
G6403x
Issues in Comparative Politics
Instructor: M. Victoria Murillo and Kimuli Kasara
Day(s): T
Time: 4:10p-6:00p
Instructor permission required. This seminar surveys major questions
that motivate contemporary research in comparative politics. The course
is specifically designed to introduce PhD students to the modern
subfield, and to help prepare them for success on the comparative
comprehensive exam. The course should also help students to develop
skills that are necessary to become successful teachers and scholars in
the comparative subfield.
G8427y
Comparative Ethnic Politics
Instructors: David Epstein & Macartan Humphreys
Day(s): M
Time: 4:10p-6:00p
G8428y
Democracy, Autocracy and Regime Change
Instructor: Kimuli Kasara
Day(s): M
Time: 2:10p-4:00p
G8432y
Issues in Comparative Secularism & Democracy
Instructor: Alfred Stepan
Day(s): W
Time: 2:10p-4:00p
Empirical predictions and normative prescriptions about
secularism once dominated many of the foundational works in social science,
particularly in modernization theory. However, recently scholars as diverse as
Jürgen Habermas and Charles Taylor in political theory, Peter Katzenstein in
international relations,
and Stathis
Kalyvas , Ronald Inglehart, and José Casanova in their comparative work have
been engaged in a fundamental rethinking of religion, secularism, and desecularization.
Some of the issues we will explore in the seminar are the following. In a
lecture series organized by Jack Snyder and myself in Lindsay Rodgers that
immediately follows this seminar, five scholars over the course of the
semester, will argue that some of the fundamental categories used in IR theory
and in comparative politics make religion almost impossible to study. Are they
right? If so, what new approaches might be called for?
How can social science survey analysis help
us explore issues of religion and politics? Most religions have been at times
restrictive of full women’s rights. What can we learn from successful patterns
of contestation in this area? Can we identify, from the perspective of
democratic theory, what the minimal degree of freedom democracy needs from
religion to function, and the minimal degree of freedom that religion must be
allowed if the polity is to be a democracy.
If so, what do these “twin tolerations” say about secularism?
Finally, just as we now understand that there
are “multiple modernities” does it make more analytic sense to speak of the
“multiple secularisms of modern democracies”?
We will explore this last question by exploring at least four different
patterns of state-society relations that actually exist in contemporary
democracies;
“freedom of the state from
religion separatism ” (France and Turkey), “freedom of religion from the state
separatism” (USA), “ a state with an established religion” ( most of the
Scandinavian countries, UK, and Greece), and the under-theorized
pattern that Rajeev Bhargava (who will
participate in the seminar) calls the“ respect –all, support-all, principled
distance” model for India. Are two of the more successful new democracies in
Islamic majority states, Indonesia
and Senegal,
close to this model?
For any given polity
can we say anything about what conditions are most, and least, supportive for
each model if the goal is democracy and relative peace in a specific polity? Do
Holland, Germany,
and Switzerland
have more in common with the Indian model than they do with “separatist” or one
“established religion”: model?
G8434y
Latin American Politics in the Comparative Perspective
Instructor: Robert Kaufman
Day(s): F
Time: 11:00a-12:50p
G8446x
Political Science of the Middle East
Instructor: Lisa Anderson
Day(s): T
Time: 2:10p-4:00p
This course examines a selection of the work in political science on the Middle East produced in the last decade. It is designed for students who expect to contribute to this literature professionally.
G8454x
Formal Comparative Politics and Constitutional Design
Instructor: Massimo Morelli
Day(s): W
Time: 9:00a-10:50a
This course covers recent models of democratic policy making, with particular emphasis on the comparison of institutional systems used across liberal democracies.
G8490y
States & Nationalism
Instructor: Pierre Birnbaum
Day(s): R
Time: 9:00a-10:50a
G8493x Sec. 001
Political Development
Instructor: Sheri Berman
Day(s): R
Time: 4:10p-6:00p
G8493x Sec. 002
Topics in Comparative Politics
Instructor: John Huber
Day(s): W
Time: 4:10p-6:00p
G9208y
Legislatures in Historical
and Comparative Perspective
Instructor: Gregory Wawro
Day(s): W
Time: 10:00a-11:50a
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International Relations
Page Fortna, Field Coordinator
W4808y
Weapons, Strategy, and War
Instructor: Warner Schilling
Day(s): MW
Time: 4:10p-5:25p
An examination of how the interrelationships among military technology, strategy, foreign policy, and the cultural ethos have shaped warfare from the introduction of gunpowder to the present; special attention to selected cases from World Wars I and II and the development of U.S. strategy for nuclear weapons.
W4871y
Chinese Foreign Policy
Instructor: Andrew Nathan
Day(s): MW
Time: 10:35a-11:50a
Click W4895X to view syllabus.
War, Peace, & Strategy
Instructor: Richard Betts
Day(s): MW
Time: 11:00a-12:15p
Survey of the causes of war and peace, functions of military strategy, interaction of political ends and military means. Emphasis on 20th-century conflicts; nuclear deterrence; economic, technological, and moral aspects of strategy; crisis management; and institutional norms and mechanisms for promoting stability.
G6801X
Theories of International Relations (Field Survey)
Instructor: Robert Jervis
Day(s): M
Time: 210p-400p
Issues and problems in theory in international politics; systems theories and the current international system; the domestic sources of foreign policy and theories of decision-making; transnational forces, the balance of power, and alliances.
G6802x
Methods of Inquiry and Research Design
Instructors: Tanisha Fazal and Virginia Page Fortna
Day(s): M
Time: 2:10p-4:00p
G6820y
Theory of International Political Economy
Instructor: Pablo Pinto
Day(s): W
Time: 2:10p-4:00p
Political aspects of international economic phenomena, including international monetary system, trade and investment, North-South relations, and East-West economic relations.
G8821y
Topics in International Relations and Rational Choice: Conflict, Bargaining and International Organizations
Instructor: Massimo Morelli
Day(s): W
Time: 4:10p-6:00p
The first part of the course will be on the rationalist explanations of
bargaining breakdown and bilateral conflict, including the analysis of
leaders’ selection, strategic militarization, and other variables at
the boundary between domestic and international choices. The second
part of the course will focus on alliance formation and multilateral
conflict. Then we will bring the insights from bilateral and
multilateral conflict together and will study the open problems in
conflict resolution mechanism design. The final part will be on
cooperation, as opposed to conflict. We will present models and useful
frameworks to study the functioning of international organizations and
their development in an anarchic system.
G8826x
Political Economy of Trade and Investment
Instructor: Pablo Pinto
Day(s): T
Time: 9:00a-10:50a
Instructor permission required. This course examines the politics of several major issues in international trade and investment. It explores why and how governments regulate the flow of goods and capital across national borders. The course is divided into four blocs that look at the distributive consequences of trade, the political economy of trade politics, the political economy of trade reform, and the political economy of foreign direct investment and multinational corporations, respectively. The course presumes some familiarity with international economics. Economic theory will help us identify the welfare and distributional implications of alternative policies. We will also make extensive use of the insights from the positive political economy tradition to analyze how political actors (voters, interest groups, political parties, and politicians) interact within political institutions to shape policy outcomes. Students are required to actively participate in weekly discussions, write two review papers during the semester, and submit an original research paper on one of the topics of the seminar at the end of the semester.
G8843x
International Law and International Relations
Instructor: Tonya Putnam
Day(s): M
Time: 4:10p-6:00p
G8861y
Change in the International System
Instructor: Jack Snyder
Day(s): T
Time: 2:10p-4:00p
G8865y
United States Foreign Policy
Instructor: Richard Betts
Day(s): M
Time: 9:00a-10:50a
G8870x
US Relations with East Asia
Instructor: Gerald Curtis
Day(s): W
Time: 4:10p-6:00p
Instructor permission required. Examination of key developments in East Asian international relations and their implications for United States foreign policy. Students should have knowledge about at least one East Asian country (China, Japan, Korea and the countries in ASEAN). Admission to the course is with the permission of the instructor.
G8876y
US-Japan Relations, WWII-Present
Instructor: George Packard
Day(s): W
Time: 6:10p-8:00p
Instructor permission required. This course starts with a
broad look at the history of US-Japan relations from the arrival of Commodore
Perry in Tokyo Bay 150 years ago, and seeks answers to why the relationship has
been marked by conflict and a major war. It then looks at how the relationship
evolved as a result of the Pacific War, Hiroshima
and Nagasaki, Japan's surrender, the US
Occupation and the San Francisco Peace Treaty. What was the legacy of the
Occupation? How did the alliance develop between these former rivals? What was
the environment of Northeast Asia that drove
the alliance? What were the costs and benefits of alliance to each nation? The
course then analyzes the trade disputes and economic frictions of the 1970's
and 1980's, looks into the rise of revisionism and American fears of Japan as a
threat to its security. Finally the course covers events from the 1990's to the
present, including the bursting of Japan's
"bubble economy," the Clinton, Bush and Koizumi policies,
"Japan-passing" in Washington, and
the crisis on the Korean
Peninsula. Students are
encouraged to take and defend controversial views on major events.
G9801x
Seminar in International Politics
Instructor: Robert Jervis
Day(s): T
Time: 2:10p-4:00p
G9802Y
Seminar on International Politics II
Instructor: Kenneth Waltz
Day(s): R
Time: 2:10p-4:00p
Application Required. Please click HERE for the application (pdf). Complete it and return it to Professor Waltz's mailbox in the Saltzman Institute, 13th Floor IAB, by Friday, January 18th. Those accepted will be listed on his office door, room 1338 IAB, on January 22nd. Others who do the reading (assignment listed on the syllabus, linked above) and attend the first class meeting on January 24th may be admitted if dropouts open enough places.
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Political Theory
David Johnston, Field Coordinator
W4134y
Modern Political Thought
Instructor: Anna Stilz
Day(s): MW
Time: 11:00a-12:15p
Interpretations of civil society and the foundations of political order according to the two main traditions of political thought--contraction and Aristotelian. Readings include works by Hobbes, Spinoza, Locke, Montesquieu, Hume, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, Saint-Simon, Tocqueville, Marx, and Mill.
W4622x
Emotions and Political Science
Instructor: Ross Poole
Day(s): T
Time: 4:10p-6:00p
According to Montesquieu, fear is the principle of behavior appropriate to despotism, honor to the monarchy, and virtue to the republic. Nietzsche claimed that
ressentiment is the motivational source of democracy and socialism. These claims provide the starting point for an examination of the role of the emotions, forms of character, and specific virtues and vices in political life.
G6601y
Issues in Political Theory (Field Survey)
Instructor: David Johnston
Day(s): M
Time: 2:10p-4:00p
A survey of selected issues and debates in political theory. Areas of the field discussed include normative political philosophy, history of political thought, and the design of political and social institutions.
G8622x
Nationalism and Political Theory
Instructor: Anna Stilz
Day(s): W
Time: 2:10p-4:00p
This class provides a survey of the literature on nationalism in political theory. We will examine the birth of nationalist theory in the nineteenth century; assess recent defenses of "liberal nationalism," special obligations to the nation, and "the right to culture;" and examine contemporary literature on the nation-state and global justice. The course will also integrate some recent empirical work on nationalism, as well as case studies of nationalism and conflict.
G8651y
Normative Theories of Justice
Instructor: David Johnston
Day(s): R
Time: 2:10p-4:00p
An examination
of classic and contemporary
theories of justice with attention to both distributive and retributive
justice as well as
other topics. Although the focus
of
this course will be on modern issues, theorists to be discussed include
Plato and Aristotle as well as Kant, Rawls, and other recent and
contemporary writers.
G8654y
Transitional Justice
Instructor: Ruti Teitel
Day(s): W
Time: 2:10p-4:00p
G8658x
Constitution-making
Instructors: Jon Elster and Melissa Schwartzberg
Day(s): M
Time: 2:10p-4:00p
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Research and Methods
Gregory Wawro, Methods Committee Chairperson
W4209Y
Game Theory and Political Theory
Instructor: Macartan Humphreys
Day(s): TR
Time: 4:10p-5:25p
Application of noncooperative game theory to strategic situations in politics. Solution concepts, asymmetric information, incomplete information, signaling, repeated games, and folk theorems. Models drawn from elections, legislative strategy, interest group politics, regulation, nuclear deterrence, international relations, and tariff policy.
G4210X
Research Topics in Game Theory
Instructor: David Epstein
Day(s): MW
Time: 9:10a-10:25a
Advanced topics in game theory will cover the study of repeated games, games of incomplete information and principal-agent models with applications in the fields of voting, bargaining, lobbying and violent conflict. Results from the study of social choice theory, mechanism design and auction theory will also be treated. The course will concentrate on mathematical techniques for constructing and solving games. Students will be required to develop a topic relating political science and game theory and to write a formal research paper. Prerequisite: W4209 or instructor's permission.
W4291x
Advanced Topics in Quantitative Research
Instructor: Gregory Wawro
Day(s): TR
Time: 9:10a-10:25a
Instruction in methods for models that have dependent variables that are not continuous, including dichotomous and polychotomous response models, models for censored and truncated data, sample selection models and duration models.
W4292y
Advanced Topics in Quantitative Research: Models for Panel & Time-Series Cross-Section Data
Instructor: Gregory Wawro
Day(s): TR
Time: 9:10a-10:25a
This
course covers methods for models for repeated observations data. These
kind of data present tremendous opportunities as well as formidable
challenges for making inferences. The course will mostly focus on how
to estimate models for panel and time-series cross-section data. Topics
covered include fixed effects, random effects, dynamic panel models,
random coefficient models, and models for qualitative dependent
variables. The course will discuss the theory behind the methods as
well as applications to substantive research questions.
W4360X
Mathematical Methods for Political Science
Instructor: John Huber
Day(s): MW
Time: 9:10a-10:25a
Provides students of political science with a basic set of tools needed to read, evaluate, and contribute in research areas that increasingly utilize sophisticated mathematical techniques.
W4910x
Principles of Quantitative Political Research
Instructor: Robert Shapiro
Day(s): TR
Time: 11:15a-12:15p
Introduction to the use of quantitative techniques in political science and public policy. Topics include descriptive statistics and principles of statistical inference and probability through analysis of variance and ordinary least-squares regression. Computer applications are emphasized.
W4911y
Analysis of Political Data
Instructor: Robert Shapiro
Day(s): TR
Time: 10:35a-11:50a
Prerequisite: W4910 or the equivalent. Multivariate and time-series analysis of political data. Topics include time-series regression, structural equation models, factor analysis, and other special topics. Computer applications are emphasized.
W4912y
Multivariate Political Analysis
Instructor: Gregory Wawro
Day(s): TR
Time: 12:50p-2:05p
Prerequisite: basic data analysis through multiple regression (e.g., W4910) and knowledge of basic calculus and matrix algebra (e.g., W4360). More mathematical treatment of topics covered in W4911. Examines problems encountered in multivariate analysis of cross-sectional and time-series data.
88990x-88991y
Research in Quantitative Political Science (Cross-listed in Statistics Dept.)
Instructor: Andrew Gelman
Day(s): R
Time: 1100a-1250p
Instructor permission required.
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Dissertation Seminars
G9901x-9902y
Dissertation Seminar
Instructors: Macartan Humphreys and Anna Stilz
Day(s): F
Time:12:00p-1:50p
This seminar is for students in all fields working on any and all topics in political science. Students will have the opportunity to present draft dissertation proposals and draft dissertation chapters. Enrollment is limited to advanced students in the Political Science Ph.D. program except by permission of the instructor.
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Field Surveys
G6210X
Theories & Debates in American Politics (Field Survey)
Instructos: Robert Erikson and Jeffrey Lax
Day(s): W
Time: 210p-400p
A survey of a broad range of important contemporary debates in the field of American politics.
G6403x
Issues in Comparative Politics (Field Survey)
Instructor: M. Victoria Murillo and Kimuli Kasara
Day(s): T
Time: 4:10p-6:00pp
Instructor permission required. This seminar surveys major questions that motivate contemporary research in comparative politics. The course is specifically designed to introduce PhD students to the modern subfield, and to help prepare them for success on the comparative comprehensive exam. The course should also help students to develop skills that are necessary to become successful teachers and scholars in the comparative subfield.
G6601y
Issues in Political Theory (Field Survey)
Instructor: David Johnston
Day(s): T
Time: 210p-400p
A survey of selected issues and debates in political theory. Areas of the field discussed include normative political philosophy, history of political thought, and the design of political and social institutions.
G6801X
Theories of International Relations (Field Survey)
Instructor: Robert Jervis
Day(s): M
Time: 2:10p-4:00p
Issues and problems in theory in international politics; systems theories and the current international system; the domestic sources of foreign policy and theories of decision-making; transnational forces, the balance of power, and alliances.
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Related Courses
ClCiv W4145x
Ancient Political Theory
Instructor: James Zetzel
Day(s): MW
Time: 11:00a-12:15p
CGTH W4510y
Global Governance
Instructors: Michael Doyle & Katharina Pistor
Day(s): TBA
Time: TBA
INAF U6295y
Democracy, the World's Religions, & Problems of the 'Twin Tolerations'
Instructor: Alfred Stepan
Day(s): TBA
Time: TBA
The course will be devoted to a set of questions and problems that are now central to modern political debates about the role of religion in modern politics, especially to questions of democracy, and intolerance and tolerance within, and between, the major religions of the world.
INAF U6355y
Globalization
Instructor: Sharyn O'Halloran
Day(s): R
Time: 2:10p-4:00p
INAF U8370x
Labor in the Age of Globalization
Instructors: M. Victoria Murillo and Dorian Warren
Day(s): M
Time: 2:10p-4:00p
This course analyzes the challenges for labor facing increasing capital mobility as well as the local challenges of political and economic liberalization. The course analyzes a variety of theories on labor behavior with a special emphasis on labor politics. The theories are applied to understand labor responses to current process of economic liberalization, expansion of the informal sector, changes in the labor supply and transformation of labor regulations in Latin American and other regions of the world. Class discussion will center on the theoretical implications of readings and students should be prepared to use the analytical tools learnt in class for a research paper on labor strategies facing changes in labor market institutions in any chosen country or region.
PHIL G9750x
Topics in Political Philosophy
Instructors: Jon Elster and Akeel Bilgrami
Day(s): T
Time: 4:10p-6:00p
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Please Note!!
There are many other courses taught in other departments – notably Anthropology, Economics, History, International and Public Affairs, Law, Philosophy and Sociology – that may be relevant and useful to political science students, depending on your individual course of study.
Please consult the:
Graduate School Bulletin : http://www.columbia.edu/cu/gsas/lists/bulletin.html,
Registrar’s Directory of Classes: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/bulletin/uwb/,
School of Law: http://www.law.columbia.edu/academics/curriculum,
School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA): http://www.sipa.columbia.edu/CourseDescriptions/index.html,
to see which courses are offered in these departments, and confer with your advisor to determine how these courses might fit into your political science program and requirements.
To have courses from outside the department counted towards your degree requirements, please seek approval beforehand from the Director of Graduate Studies, Greg Wawro. Have your advisor approve the course syllabus and contact Greg Wawro to indicate approval.
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HOW TO REGISTER
Registration is actually 2 parts: 1) “Registering” as a full-time student in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and 2) “Enrolling” in specific courses.
Registering
The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences requires a candidate for the Master of Arts to register as a full-time student for 2 semesters and the candidate for the Master of Philosophy to register for 6 semesters.
There are 3 registration categories:
- Residence Unit (RU)
- Extended Residence (ER)
- Matriculation and Facilities (M&F)
During the registration period, you must select one of these categories the same way you would select a class, and you can find the call number for these categories on the “Directory of Classes” website, the same as you would call numbers for specific courses.
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/bulletin/uwb/
Students in the Master’s Only (MAO) Program must register for 1 RU in the fall semester and 1 RU in the spring semester to earn the required residence units to receive the degree.
The rules for registering in the PhD program are as follows:
-
RU: Students register for a Residence Unit in their first 6 semesters (first 3 years) unless they have been awarded advanced standing. See note below.
-
ER: Students register for an Extended Residence Unit AFTER having registered for 6 RUs (or 4 RUs plus 2 units of advanced standing) but still completing any M.Phil. degree requirements or serving as a Teaching Fellow.
-
M&F: Students register for Matriculation and Facilities who have registered for 6 RUs (or 4 RUs plus 2 units of advanced standing), have completed ALL M.Phil. degree requirements, and are NOT serving as TAs. Students on the dissertation fellowship (on department funding but have a semester off from TA duties) register for M&F.
N.B.
Students who have received advanced standing for the MA in Political Science or a related field substitute Extended Residence (ER) for RU for each point of advanced standing. A typical MA is granted 2 units of advanced standing. Thus, for the first 4 terms, the student registers for an RU, and in the 5th and 6th terms the student registers for an ER. This gives the student the 6 units of residency necessary for the M.Phil. degree.
Enrolling
The registration/enrollment dates for GSAS* students for Fall 2005 are:
- Tuesday, August 30 through Thursday, September 1
- Tuesday, September 6 through Friday, September 9
- Monday, September 12 through Friday, September 16
Classes Begin on Tuesday September 6.
There are 2 ways to register/enroll:
- Via telephone using the automated service at 212 854 8282
- Via the web, using Student Services On-Line (SSOL) at https://ssol.columbia.edu/.
To register via telephone, you will need your 4-digit PIN number and your 9-digit student ID number. Please call or email the Graduate Program Coordinator if you do not know you PIN number.
To register via the web, you will need to know your UNI and password (usually the same as your email address and email password).
If for some reason you are not able to register by phone or web, you must go to the Registrar's Office to register in person. You must bring a completed Add/Drop form with approval signatures when you register in person.
Each student is assigned specific appointment times to enroll via the telephone or web. You may only register/enroll during these times. You can check your appointment schedule and receive more information on the registration process at the following web site: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/registrar/enro_about.html.
Please visit the Directory of Classes for course offerings, days, times, and locations, prerequisites, eligibility info, course numbers and call numbers.
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/bulletin/uwb/.
Grading Options
Courses to be counted toward the degree requirements must be taken for "E" credit (examination credit).
The grading scale for "E" credit is A, B, C, D, and F. The standard letter grades A through F will not be issued for courses taken "pass/fail" or for "R" credit, and courses taken "pass/fail" or for "R" credit will not be counted towards the degree requirements.
While students have the freedom to select the pass/fail option when registering for a course, R credit can only by obtained with the approval of the course instructor
N.B.
*The regular enrollment dates for the School of International and Public Affairs, SIPA, are normally the same as for GSAS. Note that SIPA students are given preference in their courses so you should contact instructors as soon as possible if you are interested in their class, to get on the wait-list.
For the enrollment dates for the Law School, please contact the Law School registrar directly at 212 854 2668. Enrolling in Law classes is two steps, enrolling in the course with the Law School registrar, and submitting a copy of the cross-registration form you receive from them to the University Registrar in 205 Kent Hall. If you do not submit the cross-registration form, your enrollment will not be reflected on your GSAS transcript.
For the list of Law classes being offered, use the curriculum guide available from the Law School’s web site: http://www.law.columbia.edu/academics/curriculum.
Classes from outside the department, including those at SIPA and the Law School, should be selected in consultation with your advisor. Any courses you want counted toward the MA or MPhil requirements should be petitioned in advance to the Director of Graduate Studies or the MAO advisor for Master’s students.
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