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22 courses found.

POLITICAL SCIENCE (L32) (Dept. Info)

Arts & Sciences (Policies)

L32 Pol Sci 5024

Causal Inference

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An introduction to the theoretical frameworks for causality and the empirical tools used in the estimation of causal effects. Topics include outcomes, causal graphs, experiments, matching, regression, diffference-in-differences, instrumental variables, sensitivity analysis, regression discontinuity, and more. This course draws on examples from political science, economics, education, public health, and sociology. Requires L32 581 or equivalent.

Instruction Type:

Classroom instruction

N/A

Every 1 or 2 Years / History

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2:30P-4:20P

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Lucas

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10:00A-10:50A

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Lucas

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L32 Pol Sci 5035

Political Data Science Lab

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The Political Data Science Lab (PDSL) is a venue to foster and improve social science research. Nowadays, researchers and policy-makers use cutting-edge methods to answer important questions. However, the validity of their conclusions depends upon underlying theory, assumptions, design, and correct application of statistical methods. This course will provide students with the foundation necessary to conduct research by immersing the students in a vibrant and intellectually demanding environment. Thus, PDSL's workshops are a course designed to improve the research projects (at any stage) of our members. We strongly believe that persistent efforts will lead to successful outcomes such as many publications and successful dissertations from the members of PDSL.

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Classroom instruction

N/A

Building / Room

01

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2:00P-2:50P

TBA

Lucas, Enamorado

Paper/Project/Take Home

20

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L32 Pol Sci 5044

Political Theory Workshop

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This course provides a forum for graduate students' development as professional researchers. It achieves this goal in two ways. First, the course provides a setting for students to share research-in-progress and to provide and receive feedback on that research. This both contributes to the development of viable, publishable research projects and affords im-portant experience presenting research. Second, the course facilitates the development of professional skills, such as critical reading and feedback, conference etiquette and norms, job market preparation, and exposure to both politics and political science beyond Washington University. Regular enrollment and attendance is expected and encouraged for all political theory graduate students, and open to graduate students in any field outside the department with an interest in political or social theory.

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Classroom instruction

N/A

Building / Room

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12:00P-1:30P

Hayward

No Final

30

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L32 Pol Sci 506

Theories of Individual and Collective Choice II

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This course provides an introduction to noncooperative game theory and its application within political science. In-depth coverage of the course will include normal- and extensive- form games, Nash equilibrium and its refinements, games of incomplete information, and Bayesian equilibrium and its refinements. To the degree that time permits, students will be presented introductory material on topics such as epistemological foundations, mechanism design, information aggregation, and specific applied models within political science.

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Classroom instruction

N/A

Annually / History

Building / Room

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9:00A-11:50A

Horz

May 6 2025 10:30AM - 12:30PM

15

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0

	Actions:		Books		Syllabus
	Syllabi are provided to students to support their course planning; refer to the syllabus for constraints on use.

L32 Pol Sci 5074

Comparative Politics Research Workshop

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This course provides a forum for graduate students' development as professional researchers. It achieves this goal in three ways. First, students will present research in progress, receiving feedback on papers they are preparing for publication. This helps improve the quality of their work, and gives them experience presenting and receiving constructive criticism on their research. Second, students will also provide feedback on other students' work, helping them practice skills such as critical reading, crafting constructive feedback, and gaining exposure to different substantive topics and research methods in the subfield of comparative politics. Third, the course will help students build networks of collaboration in the department with other graduate students, faculty, and external scholars who may occasionally participate in some sessions, presenting their own in-progress work. Regular enrollment and attendance is expected for comparative politics graduate students and encouraged for other graduate students (including from other departments) with a significant interest in comparative politics.

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Classroom instruction

N/A

Building / Room

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9:00A-9:50A

Tavits

No Final

20

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L32 Pol Sci 5075

International Relations Workshop

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This course provides graduate students with key professional development skills on their path to becoming professional researchers and academics. The course accomplishes this goal in three ways. First, students will present research in progress week to week, receiving feedback on papers they are submitting for publication. This helps improve the quality of their work and gives them experience presenting and receiving constructive criticism on their work. Second, students will also provide feedback on other students' work, helping them practice skills such as critical reading, crafting constructive feedback, and gaining exposure to different substantive topics and research methods in the subfield of international relations. Third, the course will help students build networks of collaboration in the department with other graduate students, WUSTL faculty, and external faculty who will also participate in some sessions, presenting their own in-progress work for students. Regular enrollment and attendance is expected for all international relations graduate students in the department and is open to those outside the department who have significant interests in international relations.

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Classroom instruction

N/A

Annually / History

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1:00P-1:50P

Betz

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L32 Pol Sci 5082

Research Seminar in Formal Political Theory: Political Institutions

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Seminar will discuss and develop individual students' formal theory projects plus necessary background material. Precise content based on student projects.

Instruction Type:

Classroom instruction

N/A

Unpredictable / History

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4:00P-6:50P

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Fox

No Final

15

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	Actions:		Books		Syllabus
	Syllabi are provided to students to support their course planning; refer to the syllabus for constraints on use.

L32 Pol Sci 5092

History of Political Thought II: Legitimacy, Equality and the Social Contract

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Government is often justified as legitimate on the grounds that it is based on the consent of the governed. In History of Political Thought II, "Legitimacy, Equality, and the Social Contract," we examine the origins of this view, focusing our attention on canonical works in the social contract tradition, by Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), John Locke (1632-1704), Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), David Hume (1711-1776), and Immanuel Kant (1724-1804). This course is the second in a three-semester sequence on the history of political thought. Students are encouraged but not required to take all three courses. Note: This course counts towards the undergraduate Political Theory subfield.

A&S IQ: SSC Arch: SSC Art: SSC BU: BA EN: S

Instruction Type:

Classroom instruction

L32 392 L84 392

Annually / History

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10:00A-11:20A

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Lovett

May 5 2025 10:30AM - 12:30PM

50

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L32 Pol Sci 515

Seminar in Comparative Politics: Democracy, Development, and Stability

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In this course we will survey the voluminous literature on democratization and issues that facilitate or hamper the democratization process. We will begin with a discussion of definitions and examples of democracy. We will then examine in more detail theories about transitions to democracy (complete and incomplete) and consider illustrative examples. Finally, we will study the role of economic and institutional political development in the democratization process, and we will consider the extent to which social and political conflict are inevitable in transitions to democracy.

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Classroom instruction

N/A

Unpredictable / History

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2:00P-4:50P

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Parikh

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L32 Pol Sci 5260

Executive Branch Politics: Bureaucracy and the President

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Article II of the Constitution says that the executive power will be vested in the office of the president. The Constitution says little about subordinate officers, but the bureaucracy has grown and become the repository of technical expertise. In recent years, the literature on bureaucracy and the president has been granted in models of information asymmetry, agency, delegation, and separation of powers. The course will also examine the historical development of the executive, its relations with other branches, and the internal politics of staffing, budgets, and organizational structure. Prerequisites: Math Modeling

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Classroom instruction

N/A

Every 1 or 2 Years / History

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8:00A-9:50A

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Reeves

No Final

15

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L32 Pol Sci 5521

Political Violence

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This course studies the ways non-state groups use violence in pursuit of political goals. During the semester we will engage with contemporary research on political violence, including civil war, ethnic conflict, terrorism and communal riots. The goal of the course is to introduce students to major questions related to the study of political violence. What explains the onset of violence? Why do individuals choose to join violent movements? Is non-violent protest more effective than the use of violent tactics? During the semester, we will read a large volume of within-country and cross-national quantitative research on political violence and also examine several cases in detail, including ethnic riots in India, Rwandan genocide, and Kurdish conflict in Turkey.

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Classroom instruction

N/A

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2:00P-4:20P

Aksoy

Paper/Project/Take Home

10

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L32 Pol Sci 581

Quantitative Political Methodology I

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This is a first course in political methodology. The primary topic will be the linear regression model, in both scalar and matrix form. The course will cover estimation, inference, specification, diagnostic tools, data management, and statistical computation. Prerequisite L32 5052.

Instruction Type:

Classroom instruction

N/A

Annually / History

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9:00A-9:50A

TBA

Sinclair

Paper/Project/Take Home

20

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0

	Actions:		Books		Syllabus
	Syllabi are provided to students to support their course planning; refer to the syllabus for constraints on use.

A

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9:00A-9:50A

TBA

Sinclair

No Final

20

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0

	Actions:		Books		Syllabus
	Syllabi are provided to students to support their course planning; refer to the syllabus for constraints on use.

L32 Pol Sci 593

Territory and Group Conflict

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Territorial conflicts are among the most contentious and difficult to resolve in international politics. Territorial conflict is also found to be one of the most frequent causes of intrastate violence and civil war onset. At a theoretical level, territory is central to almost any aspect of international relations, as it is what physically defines states, where any kind of violent conflict takes place, and influences the character of violent conflict in important ways. A large empirical literature convincingly shows that territory is a key determinant of international conflict. However, much remains unexplored both theoretically and empirically. In this course, we explore the role that territory plays in a wide variety of contexts. We motivate the course by noting that although territory has been shown to be empirically central to the majority of violent disputes, explanations for why this is the case lag behind the evidence. Subsequently, we study the role territory plays in state-making, international conflict, the settlement of disputes, international trade, international investment, the effectiveness of treaties, ethnic identity, and civil wars, among others. Week by week we pay particular attention to the central theoretical role territory plays in international relations. We will put particular emphasis on thinking about how territory relates to bargaining models of conflict.

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Classroom instruction

N/A

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9:00A-11:50A

Carter

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L32 Pol Sci 645

Introduction to American Culture Studies

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As an intellectual project rather than a fixed, static academic field, American Studies has been at the forefront of advancing theories, methods, and orientations that nuance analyses of global political economy, racial capitalism, uneven power dynamics, differential unfreedoms, the politics of culture, social movements, as well as academic and activist organizing toward social justice. Accordingly, rather than providing a prescriptive map that charts a coherent sense of what American Studies is, this course introduces us to some of its key discussions and debates to consider the ways in which this interdisciplinary formation might enrich, complicate, and re-orientate the conventional assumptions, practices, and values of our respective disciplinary homes. The wide range of multi-disciplinary Americanist scholarship considered throughout the semester will thus elucidate alternative orientations, theories, and methods that work to disrupt and reimagine the intimate relationship between knowledge production and violent projects of settler colonialism, incarceration, empire, war, and militarization. Collectively, the readings compel us to foreground the centrality of difference, power, and non-normativity underwriting the histories, cultures, socialities, and politics of "America."

Instruction Type:

Classroom instruction

L98 645 L14 645

Every 1 or 2 Years / History

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1:00P-4:00P

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Eng

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