Department of Political Science

Content: This is a graduate seminar for students interested in developing proficiency in the use of qualitative methods in political science research. Based on the intensive study of a small number of cases or observations, these methods involve various approaches to single cases, cross-case comparisons, and within-case causal process analysis, as well as more specific data-gathering strategies such as interviewing and using archival records. We shall examine how these methods can be used to contribute to concept development and measurement, theory development, and theory testing in political science. Our goal will be to identify standards for conducting rigorous qualitative research. Although most of the readings will focus on methodological issues, we will also discuss examples of qualitative research by political scientists.

Particulars:
Students will write short weekly papers on the reading assignments and a longer paper proposing a qualitative research design in an area of the student's choosing.

POLS 507: Research Design & Data Collection

Giles, Tu 8:30-11:30, MAX: 12

Content: This course is designed specifically for students in their first year of the Ph.D. program. It provides an introduction to the discipline, the philosophy of science and research design.

POLS 508: Data Analysis

Linzer, M 9:00-12:00, MAX: 12

Content: This course will introduce students to the philosophy and techniques of quantitative empirical political science. Students will gain basic skills in conceiving and conducting statistical analyses for their own research, in addition to becoming more informed readers of the quantitative research published in the major social science journals. Although some statistical theory will, by necessity, be covered, the emphasis of this course will remain primarily applied: how to prepare a dataset, choose an appropriate statistical procedure, estimate a model, and interpret and present your findings. Topics will span both descriptive and inferential statistics, including measures of central tendency and dispersion, tabular analysis, bivariate and multivariate linear models, probability, and maximum likelihood estimation. Students will also be taught and gain proficiency in statistical programming in R, an extremely flexible and powerful (and free!) software package that is becoming increasingly popular across the field of political science.

POLS 510: World Politics

Reiter, Th 1:00-4:00, MAX: 12

Content: This is the introductory course to international relations for political science graduate students. The emphasis is theoretical, covering issues such as international conflict, decision-making, trade, and system structure. The class uses a discussion format.

Particulars:
One exam; several short papers. All students other than political science graduate students must receive permission from the instructor.

POLS 514: Advanced Game Theory

Esarey, M 1:00-4:00, MAX: 12

Content: This course is the second in the formal theory sequence offered in the political science department. The class builds on the skills learned in the Introduction to Game Theory class by applying the solution concepts learned in the introductory course to more complicated games. The course will address many topics, including (but not limited to): social choice theory, bargaining, principal-agent relationships, and behavioral game theory (particularly quantal response approaches).

Particulars: Each student will be responsible for completing a problem set each week that reinforces the techniques learned in class. There will also be a midterm and a final exam.

POLS 519: International Political Economy

Reinhardt, W 9:00-12:00, MAX: 12

Content: This is an advanced graduate course on international political economy. The course covers the politics of international trade, investment, and finance. Topics of special interest are the instruments of trade policy; pluralist and institutionalist domestic explanations of trade policy; international bargaining over trade; regional and multilateral trade institutions; the politics of international capital mobility, foreign direct investment, exchange rates, and foreign debt; the politics of financial crises; and regional economic integration.

Particulars: Class participation, literature review essays, take-home final exam.

POLS 551: Judicial Behavior

Clark, Th 8:30-11:30 MAX: 12

Content:The goal of this course is to provide you with an introduction to, and overview of, the scientific study of courts as political institutions. In this way, this course is very different from most “law” classes you may have taken either as an undergraduate or in any graduate legal education you may have. We will approach the study of judicial politics as just that – politics. The central questions that we will ask are: (1) What motivates judges?; (2) What incentives are created by judicial institutions?; and (3) How do those incentives affect the behavior of judicial actors?

Texts:
Robert Ellickson, Order without Law
Jeffrey A. Segal and Harold J. Spaeth, The Supreme Court and the Attitudinal Mind Revisited
Walter Murphy, The Elements of Judicial Strategy
Lee Epstein and Jack Knight, The Choices Justices Make

Particulars:
Students will have the option of taking the class as a research class or a reading class. Students taking the class as a research class will be required to write an article-length research paper. Students taking the class as a reading class will be required to write a final examination modeled after the comprehensive exam and write two (2) short reaction papers (3-5 pages) during the course of the semester.

POLS 570: Limited Dependent Variable Model

Linzer, W 1:00-4:00, MAX: 12

Content: This course presents an overview of the likelihood theory of statistical inference, and its wide range of uses in applied quantitative political science. When dependent variables take the form of ordered or unordered categories, event counts, measures of duration, are censored or truncated, clustered, or otherwise violate the traditional assumptions of ordinary least-squares linear regression, models estimated by maximum likelihood provide an essential alternative. Topics covered include binary, multinomial, and ordered logit/probit, Poisson regression, duration models, mixture models, loglinear analysis, missing data, and matching and causal inference. We will rely heavily on computational methods of analysis using the R statistical computing environment, and instruction on how to use R for applied research will be provided throughout the length of the course.

POLS 585: Variable Topics Seminar
Topic title: Interdisciplinary Human Rights Perspective
[Also offered as GH 526 and LAW 819]

Davis, W 1:00-4:00 MAX: 5

Content: This graduate seminar, open to students from the Graduate School, the Law School, and the School of Public Health, examines the theory and practice of global human rights from an interdisciplinary perspective. In addition to issues of the history, origins and legitimacy of universal human rights, the seminar will discuss standards, institutions and processes of implementation. The seminar will also examine human rights across a variety of substantive issues areas, including: conflict; development; globalization; social welfare; public health; and rights of women and other vulnerable groups.

Particulars: Evaluation will be based on seminar participation, a series of short thought papers and major research paper. Students will also make brief presentations of their final papers.

POLS 585: Variable Topics Seminar
Topic title: Political Ecomony of Development
[Also offered as SOC 585]

Doner, Th 8:30-11:30, MAX: 8

Content:This course examines the ways in which political factors, especially ideas, interests, and institutions, influence economic development. We undertake this examination at a time when most scholars, including economists, recognize that the neoclassical prescription of free markets and sound money is often insufficient for economic development, and that "to get prices right and to get policies right, it is also necessary to 'get institutions right.'" The course will begin by reviewing types or stages of economic development, the impact of globalization, and policy alternatives. It will then focus on the impacts of economic institutions (e.g. bureaucracies, business associations), political institutions (e.g. electoral rules, regime type, etc.), and more "structural" factors (e.g. coalitions, resource constraints). Requirements include weekly memos and an extended research design focusing on the political economy of a specific development issue.

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The Department of Political Science, 327 Tarbutton Hall, 1555 Dickey Drive, Atlanta, GA 30322, 404-727-6572 phone, 404-727-4586 fax
For web comments or questions, contact polisci@emory.edu. Last update November 4, 2009