Submitted by Stephen Dunne
on
Dear Political Science Majors,
Most Autumn 2025 Political Science courses are full or close to full, but a few still have a good amount of room. Scroll down for more information. Course links go to MyPlan, where you will find additional course information. For alerts about availability in classes that are currently full, subscribe to Notify in MyPlan by clicking on the bell: 
Instructor: Prof. Anthony Gill
Lecture: MW 10:00-11:20am. Quiz on Fridays.
Field C, International Relations ** or ** Field D, American Politics
Political Economy Option Required Course
5 Credits
Link to Syllabus (last updated August 22)
Description: Political economy is a rapidly expanding and increasingly diverse field of inquiry in political science. This class has two purposes. First, it is designed to introduce students to the analytical side of political economy – i.e., the use of economic assumptions and analysis to understand political and social. We will explore a school of thought commonly known as “rational choice” and its derivatives – decision theory, public choice, and game theory. “Rational choice” analysis is contrasted frequently with cultural and psychological perspectives on human behavior, though they are not necessarily incompatible. Second, we will also tackle a fundamental question underlying all political economy inquiries: How do humans allocate resources in society? We will compare and contrast decentralized (market) and centralized (hierarchy/government) methods of allocation. There is a strong emphasis on developing an intuitive understanding of economics.
TOPIC: CAPITALISM, DEMOCRACY & DICTATORSHIP
Instructor: Prof. Victor Menaldo
Lecture: TTh 1230-220
Field B, Comparative Politics
Political Economy Option Advanced Course
5 credits
Description: In this class, we examine several questions. What is capitalism? How has capitalism evolved over time? What is the role of the state in creating and sustaining capitalism? What is dictatorship? How do non-democratic regimes use and abuse markets to consolidate their grip on power? What is democracy? What is the relationship between democracy and capitalism? What is welfare state capitalism and its consequences?
POL S 442, Government and Politics of China. Joint with JSIS A 408.
Instructor: Prof. Susan Whiting
Lecture: MW 2:30-4:20
Field B, Comparative Politics
Political Economy Option Advanced Course
5 credits.
Description: China is now the second largest economy in the world and a growing global power; at the same time, it faces considerable governance challenges at home and an increasingly wary international community abroad. This course will help you understand the rise of China. It provides an in-depth analysis of the political history, contemporary institutions, and governance issues facing China today. It highlights several major themes from the twentieth century to the present: the role of nationalism, the changing place of markets and private property, and the shifting penetration of the state from the center to the grassroots. The first part of the course addresses China’s modern political history and provides an essential foundation for subsequent topics. It addresses the formation of political parties, ideology and nationalism, revolution, state-building, and the planned economy, because these aspects of history continue to shape China in the present. The second part of the course focuses on the political institutions that govern China today, including the organization of the party-state, how the state controls its own agents, how it uses elections, and how it attempts to control civil society and the media. The final part of the course uses the foundations of political history and political institutions to analyze crucial challenges facing China today, including labor and environmental conditions, local aspects of trade and technology, inequality and social welfare, minorities' status, contemporary nationalism, and newly assertive local identities.