Consult department for detailed descriptions. Recent topics include: Globalization; Race & Criminal Justice; Democracy & Markets in Postcommunist Europe.

Consult department for detailed descriptions. Recent topics include: Globalization; Race & Criminal Justice; Democracy & Markets in Postcommunist Europe.

The object of this seminar is to prepare eligible senior honors candidates in political science for the completion of a senior honors thesis. Students writing honors theses will also work simultaneously with an individual supervisor and, during the spring semester, will enroll in an independent study (PSCI 499) under that faculty member's guidance. See department for more details.

"Leadership" is a topic of cutting-edge research in many different branches of the social sciences, but it is also a topic on which scholars in the humanities have had much to say, and on which journalists, business consultants, and ostensibly successful "leaders" themselves have also had (too!) much to say. More than 30,000 different books on "leadership" have been published in English in recent years, and "leadership training" is now an industry that attracts billions of dollars a year from governments businesses, media corporations, military organizations, and nonprofit organizations, too. Anchored in what will be defined as a "political science perspective on leadership," this seminar will explore multiple and competing concepts and theories of "leadership," engage second-semester political science seniors in a host of related "live case studies" and exercises, and conclude with each student developing his or her own "Leadership Traits and Skills (LTS) Profile" and "Five-Year LTS Plan." Sub-topics will include leadership and democracy; leadership and psychology; leadership and gender; and "cross-sectoral" leadership.

This class provides a "hands-on" introduction to the promises and limitations of using Randomized Control Trials (RCTs) to inform policy makers, practitioners, and academics of the conditions under which policies likely would have a positive effect on economic and political outcomes, in the context of international development. This course has three parts: the first is devoted to understanding the "nuts and bolts" of running field experiments / RCTs in developing countries. In part, we will be reading Glennester and Takavarasha's Running Randomized Evaluations: A Practical Guide. In addition, we will discuss core behavioral concepts from both behavioral economics and social psychology (prospect theory). The second part of the course will be devoted to demonstrating how schools have used RCTs to inform core policy debates (e.g. What are some effective ways to reduce corruption? How can we improve the performance of frontline service providers? How can politicians be more responsive to their constituents?) In the third part, students will be presenting their own research proposals, explicitly designed to address either a core policy question in the developing world or--for those interested--in the USA. Here students will have an opportunity to partner with the Social and Behavioral Sciences Team (https://sbst.gov), which is under the National Science and Technology Council.

This seminar focuses on comparative political systems. Themes include political participants, leadership, institutions, instability, and system transformation in developed and less developed countries.