Department of Political Science

Content: Good social science research requires diverse methodological tools and shared standards. This course explores the diverse set of tools categorized as “qualitative.” Using a small number of cases or observations, these tools include various approaches to single cases, traditional cross-case comparisons, within-case process analysis, as well as more specific data-gathering strategies such as interviewing and historical records. We shall examine these tools with an eye to their particular and potential contribution to concept development and measurement, theory development, and theory evaluation. Overall, our concern is with establishing clear, high standards for qualitative research. Although most of the readings will be directly methodological, readings will also include several examples of qualitative scholarship, whether undertaken by itself or in conjunction with other methodologies.

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

POLS 509: The Linear Model

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

Content: This course provides a thorough foundation for understanding and using regression analysis for empirical research in political science. After a basic primer on rudimentary calculus and matrix algebra, and a discussion of the properties of statistical estimators, the course builds the ordinary regression model and estimators from the ground up. It covers model assumptions and techniques for detecting and addressing violations of those assumptions, plus topics such as model specification, interactions and functional forms, measurement error, and endogeneity. The emphasis throughout is on applied techniques common in current political science research.

POLS 513: Introduction to Game Theory

Staton, TT 2:30-3:45, MAX: 12

Content: This class provides an introduction to non-cooperative game theory. We will also consider the usefulness of formal theory and its appropriate/inappropriate application in political science.

Particulars: Exams--Midterm and final exams
Grading--Midterm exam-30%; Final exam-30%; Problem sets-40%

POLS 515: Applied Game Theory

Staton, F 1:00-4:00, MAX: 12

Content: We will read applications of game theory to major lines of research in political science, tailored to student interest. Common topics include legislative organization, party competition, government formation, lobbying, delegation, common pool resource management, and international conflict.

Particulars: Exams--Midterm and final exams
Grading--Midterm exam-30%; Final exam-30%; Problem sets-40%

POLS 520: Comparative Politics

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

Content: This course is the core seminar for the field of comparative politics in the political science Ph.D. program. It provides an introduction to the major questions, theories and empirical research in comparative politics. Substantive topics include comparative methodology, development and political regimes, political order and conflict, participation, culture, representation, ethnic mobilization, political institutions, and political economy.

Particulars: Course requirements include student-led discussions of theoretical arguments and empirical findings, and active participation in seminar discussion. Students will write short weekly analytical commentaries on the readings in preparation for each class session.

Readings will be available on Direct Reserve and a course Blackboard site.

POLS 571: Longitudinal Data Analysis

Beardsley, TT 1:00-2:15, MAX: 12

Content: This course will explore a variety of techniques for modeling social science data which contains a temporal component. Topics will include time-series analysis, pooled time-series cross-sectional models, and models for panel data, including models for discrete dependent variables.

Particulars: Prerequisites: Familiarity with basic differential and integral calculus, linear algebra, and OLS/GLS regression.

POLS 572: Modeling Social Phenomenon

Brown, TT 8:30-9:45, MAX: 4

Content: This seminar is ideal for assisting graduate students to develop unique and nontrivial theories of politics and society together with mathematical model specifications that exactly match those theories. Helping students develop theories and specifications useful for dissertation research is a key component of the course. The subject is taught with an extremely user-friendly approach, and students should have little or no trouble mastering the course content. High school algebra is all that is required to begin. Substantively, the course focuses on a system's view of modeling, and students will learn a great many practical tools that help to bridge the divide between a verbally-stated theory and its mathematical representation. Check out the syllabus and other course materials at www.courtneybrown.com. [Click on "Student Area (Emory)" in the navigation menu. Also see the instructor's videos on the value of knowing statistics and R for today's college graduates.]

Particulars: Written assignments; class presentations (students develop and present their own theories).

POLS 585: Variable Topics Seminar

Topic title: Politics of Race & Gender

Reingold, W 10:00-1:00, MAX: 6

Content: Gender and race interact and intersect in complex and confounding ways, yet they have a persistently powerful influence upon politics and society. This seminar will introduce students to major theoretical perspectives, debates, controversies, and research findings in the study of gender, race, and politics in the United States. Readings and class discussion will concentrate on four general themes:

. the role of gender and race, sexism and racism, in defining and shaping politics, political culture, and political science;
. the various ways in which women and persons of color, as political actors, observers, and scholars, have challenged and redefined "politics as usual;"
. the questions of whether and how political (interest) groups can be defined or studied in terms of gender and/or race; and
. the intersecting, interdependent relationships between gender, race, class, ethnicity, sexuality, and religious and national identities.

Thus, we will study gender and race both as political constructs or ideologies and as systems of political (economic and social) stratification. In addition, we will examine how these aspects of gender and race affect the political behavior and experiences of women and persons of color as citizens, workers, voters, political activists, community leaders, political candidates, and public officials. Our examination of the subject will necessarily take an interdisciplinary approach, incorporating perspectives from political science, women's studies, African American studies, Latino studies, history, sociology, social psychology, etc., into our overall understanding of gender and race and their critical influence upon politics.

Core texts will include a number of earlier, "foundational" works, such as:
Collins, Black Feminist Thought, 2nd edition (2000)
McAdam, Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency, 1930-1970, 2nd edition (1999)
Dawson, Behind the Mule: Race and Class in African-American Politics (1994)
Cohen, The Boundaries of Blackness: AIDS and the Breakdown of Black Politics (1999)
Key, Southern Politics in State and Nation (1949)
Abramovitz, Regulating the Lives of Women: Social Welfare Policy from Colonial Times to the Present, revised edition (1996)

More recent research that builds upon, complements, and/or challenges these foundational studies (and others) will also be incorporated, both as assigned course materials and through students' own independent research. Examples may include:
Kaufmann, The Urban Voter: Group Conflict and Mayoral Voting Behavior in American Cities (2004)
Strolovitch, Affirmative Advocacy: Race, Class, and Gender in Interest Group Politics (2007)
Winter, Dangerous Frames: How Ideas about Race and Gender Shape Public Opinion (2008)
Schreiber, Righting Feminism: Conservative Women and American Politics (2008)
Alexander-Floyd, Gender, Race, and Nationalism in Contemporary Black Politics (2007)

We will also rely heavily on journal articles, selected book chapters, essays, etc.-foundational or otherwise.

POLS 585: Variable Topics Seminar

Topic title: International Security

Beardsley, F 9:00-12:00, MAX: 12

Content: This is one of two graduate courses on international conflict and security. It is not a prerequisite for the other course (POLS 512), nor does it assume that students have taken that course. It does assume that students have taken World Politics (POLS 510) or an equivalent course at another institution. We will spend much of this course studying emerging research related to intrastate conflict, but will also touch on a number of other relevant topics to the subfield of international conflict and security.

POLS 585: Variable Topics Seminar

Topic title: Anaylsis of Political Institutions

Clark / Gandhi, W 9:00-12:00, MAX: 12

Content: This course is designed to introduce students to the theoretical problems that institutions address and substantive illustrations of those problems. The class begins with an overview of current approaches to research on institutions and continues with a more detailed focus on specific socials problems institutions are designed to solve, such as delegation, collective action, and preference aggregation. For each theoretical problem, the course will cover substantive applications from across the various subfields in political science. Additional topics not covered in detail will be introduced at the end of the course. Students will be required to write several short papers and make presentations to the class during the semester. A final exam modeled after a comprehensive exam will be required.

POLS 585: Variable Topics Seminar

Topic title: Law and Politics
[Course follows Law School calendar]

Carrubba, W 4:00-7:00pm, MAX: 4

Content: This seminar is designed to expose students to a growing literature on law and politics. Using a mixture of case study, statistical analysis, and game theoretic modeling, scholars are increasingly interested in how the worlds of judicial behavior and politics intersect. This course will provide a survey of some of the most promising areas of study, including models of judicial decision making, the politics of opinions and precedent, inter-branch relations, and inter-court relations. We will also ask questions about the institutional design and change of judicial systems, including why judicial review exists, how courts manage (or not) compliance and enforcement concerns, and how national and international courts compare.

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Copyright © Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
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