Political Science Courses | 2024-2025 Academic Catalog | SIU

(University Core Curriculum) [IAI Course: S5 900] The development and current state of the American political system.

Credit Hours: 3

(University Core Curriculum course) This course analyzes identity politics in the United States. Students will study American ethnic, racial, religious, cultural and gender relations and the policies available for their improvement. Topics include affirmative action, immigration policy, multiculturalism, assimilation, feminist politics, and church-state relations.

Credit Hours: 3

This is an introductory course recommended for students who want to consider possible careers in law. The following topics will be covered: the relation between law, justice, morality and religion; types and sources of law and legal rules; origin and development of common law; the role of lawyers, judges and juries; legal education in the United States. These topics will be explored through lectures, discussion groups and occasional guest speakers.

Credit Hours: 3

(University Core Curriculum) [IAI Course: S5 905] This course provides an introduction to some major issues in the study of politics of countries around the world. Students analyze the broad array of political systems and political institutions in these countries. Topics include differences between democratic and non-democratic regimes, the causes of revolution, the role of social movements, and the politics of multi-ethnicity.

Credit Hours: 3

[IAI Course: S5 904] This course emphasizes contemporary international problems and relations. Includes analysis of international behavior, international law, foreign policy, causes of conflicts, and potential solutions.

Credit Hours: 3

An examination of the research methods and data analysis techniques used by political scientists in their analysis of political questions and problems. Prerequisite: POLS 114. Lab fee: $25.

Credit Hours: 3

(Same as CLAS 305) A survey of the works of important political thinkers in the ancient and medieval world including Homer, Thucydides, Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Augustine, Maimonides, Averroes, and Thomas Aquinas.

Credit Hours: 3

(University Core Curriculum) (Same as JRNL 314I) The role of the mass media in American politics. Emphasis will be on the way in which the news media covers political actors and institutions, the effects of media on political behavior, and the expanding role of the internet in politics.

Credit Hours: 3

The nature of public opinion and its role in American democracy. Prerequisite: POLS 114.

Credit Hours: 3

Political campaigns and the role they play in American democracy. Prerequisite: POLS 114.

Credit Hours: 3

The role of political parties in American democracy, including the roles and activities of political parties in the United States.

Credit Hours: 3

This course examines the origins and structure of Congress, congressional campaign behavior, legislative process, debates about representation and the relationship between Congress and the executive and judicial branches of government.

Credit Hours: 3

The role of the presidency in American democracy, including origin and background of the presidency, the organization of the executive branch, and the powers and functions of the president. Prerequisite: POLS 114.

Credit Hours: 3

The Supreme Court is often at the forefront of major policy debates in this country, deciding cases that have profound and lasting legal and political implications for the nation. In recent years, the Court has dealt with a wide array of cases that touch on important aspects of our social and political landscape, including the death penalty, same-sex marriage, abortion, campaign finance reform, religious freedom, freedom of speech, and redistricting. We will examine the legal and political authority of the Court, focusing on the evolution of judicial review and theories of judicial decision-making. Particular emphasis will be placed on the policy-making role of the Court as both a legal and political institution.

Credit Hours: 3

(Same as AFR 326) Designed to familiarize students with the role of African-Americans in American politics. An emphasis is placed on describing and analyzing how the structure of the American political system affects efforts by African-Americans in gaining the full benefits of the American political system. It will also address contentious sociopolitical issues that affect how African-Americans are treated in the context of the larger society.

Credit Hours: 3

(University Core Curriculum) This course deals with civil liberties and civil rights in the United States and how the United States Supreme Court has interpreted and applied these rights over time. Specifically, our focus will be on the First Amendment, the Right to Privacy, Discrimination, and Voting Rights. We will also address how social, economic, and political forces have shaped the evolution and nature of these protections.

Credit Hours: 3

This, the initial course in a two-course sequence, is concerned with the basic structure and power relationships in the American constitutional system. Topics include judicial review, judicial restraint, separation of powers, the federal system, national powers, state powers, the contract clause, and substantive due process. POLS 114 and POLS 230 recommended.

Credit Hours: 3

This, the second course in the constitutional law sequence, concentrates on those provisions of the U.S. Constitution which protect individual rights and liberties against government encroachment. POLS 114 and POLS 230 recommended.

Credit Hours: 3

This course is designed to introduce students to the development of the law as it relates to the criminally accused. Topics include search and seizure, self-incrimination, double jeopardy, the right to counsel, cruel and unusual punishment and the right to due process.

Credit Hours: 3

(University Core Curriculum) This course examines the causes, consequences and management of ethnic conflict and nationalism. Theoretical analysis will be combined with empirical case studies of ethnic and cultural competition, conflict and cooperation both within and between countries. Contributions from various scholarly disciplines will be incorporated into the examination of these issues. Additionally, moral dilemmas in the sphere of ethnicity and nationalism will be discussed.

Credit Hours: 3

(Same as CCJ 370) Using an interdisciplinary social science perspective, an analysis of the history, sources and consequences of domestic and international terrorism and the response by policymakers. Topics include tactics, goals, recruitment and financing of terrorists; the use of military force and legal institutions in dealing with terrorism; comparison of different state responses to terrorism; and international law, human rights, and counterterrorism.

Credit Hours: 3

(University Core Curriculum) Examines the interaction of politics and economics and of states and markets at the international level. Special attention to inequalities of wealth and power and to the politics of international trade, finance, investment, production, energy, transportation, information, technology and development.

Credit Hours: 3

An examination of the use of military power and force in modern world politics. Theoretical and empirical analysis of the causes and conduct of war, and investigation of the ways states, ethnic groups, and other actors develop, manage, and employ military power to further their interests. Topics include nuclear deterrence, arms control, weapons proliferation and terrorism. Prerequisite: POLS 270 recommended.

Credit Hours: 3

Specialized and advanced readings in areas not covered in other political science courses. The course must incorporate both reading and writing assignments, and should entail approximately the same amount of work as a standard 300-level political science course. A minimum of five pages of writing per credit hour is required, subject to the discretion of the Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUS). Students must choose a faculty member to direct the course and submit to the DUS a proposed syllabus and a completed Readings Approval Form prior to registration. For purposes of course assessment, students will submit to the DUS a copy of all written work done for the course. Students must have at least a 3.0 political science grade point average, and a minimum of 21 hours already earned in the major or completed the introductory course and six additional hours in the subfield of the proposed readings. No more than six hours of POLS 390 may be counted toward the departmental major. Special approval needed from the department.

Credit Hours: 1-3

Supervised field work in the office of a governmental agency, political party, interest group, legal agency, or other public affairs-oriented organization. The academic component of the course must incorporate both reading and writing assignments. A minimum of five pages of writing per credit hour is required, subject to the discretion of the Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUS). Students must choose a faculty member to direct the internship, and submit to the DUS a written proposal for the internship and a completed Internship Approval Form prior to registration. Students will normally be granted a maximum of 3 credit hours per internship, though they may petition the DUS for more. Political Science 395 is open only to political science majors and minors. Students must have at least a 2.5 political science grade point average and six hours in the major.

Credit Hours: 1-15

Political Science Student Ambassadors are undergraduate majors involved in outreach activities on behalf of the Department. Ambassadors are engaged in a variety of activities, including the preparation of a newsletter for undergraduates, mentoring students, organizing regular forums for the discussion of political issues, and meeting with prospective students, faculty, and nationally known visiting scholars and political figures.

Credit Hours: 1

The internship places well qualified students with bureaucratic agencies, select elected officials, political interest groups and lobbying organizations during the Spring semester which coincides with the Illinois legislative session. Interns perform a variety of tasks, including legislative and policy research, committee monitoring, and other activities focused on lobbying. Students are required to complete an academic component which includes maintaining an activities log, completing assigned readings and a final written project assigned by the director of the internship.

Credit Hours: 1-15

The program offers legislative and agency internships. Legislative interns work with House and Senate members of both parties. Typically, interns work in the home office while attending classes full time and perform duties as regular staff members. Students may also intern with a state agency. Agency interns work in one of several local code department offices while attending classes full time and perform duties as regular staff members. Maximum of 15 hours.

Credit Hours: 1-15

(See PHIL 441)

Credit Hours: 3

(Same as PHIL 405) An examination of various aspects of democratic thought, including the liberal tradition and its impact upon the United States. Fulfills the CoLA Writing-Across-the-Curriculum (WAC) requirement. Prerequisite: POLS 114 or consent of instructor.

Credit Hours: 3

This course is an advanced seminar in American political thought. The course focuses on the founding ideals and practices of the American republic and how these ideals functioned in subsequent social movements, political struggles, and ideological conflicts in American political history. Fulfills the CoLA Writing-Across-the-Curriculum (WAC) requirement.

Credit Hours: 3

This course will examine reproductive rights and reproductive health, domestically and globally. Though other perspectives will be considered, the primary lens employed in the course will be reproductive justice. Reproductive justice refers to a broad conception of reproductive rights as a component of social justice, including the rights to prevent or terminate a pregnancy, to have children and parent, and to raise children in safe and healthy communities. Thus, the course will examine reproductive rights in relation to gender, racism, ableism, environmentalism, poverty, violence, law, policy, and medicine. Specific topics will include abortion, birth control, sterilization abuse, population control, and more.

Credit Hours: 3

Seminar for advanced undergraduate Political Science students to examine in depth a wide variety of topics; to be taught by different instructors. Available for use as the honors seminar. Graduate students not admitted. Not for graduate credit. Restricted to political science majors. Fulfills the CoLA Writing-Across-the-Curriculum (WAC) requirement.

Credit Hours: 3

A critical review of theory and research, which relate to the influence of communication variables on political values, attitudes, and behavior. Fulfills the CoLA Writing-Across-the-Curriculum (WAC) requirement.

Credit Hours: 3

(Same as SOC 475) An examination of the social bases of power and politics, including attention to global and societal political relations, as well as individual-level political beliefs and commitments; primary focus on American politics.

Credit Hours: 3

An examination of the process by which judges in both trial and appellate courts at federal and state levels are selected and of the ways in which they make decisions. Attention to the structure of the courts. Study of the communication and impact of judicial decisions. The course provides some insight into the methods used to study judicial behavior. Fulfills the CoLA Writing-Across-the-Curriculum (WAC) requirement. POLS 114 and 230 recommended prerequisites.

Credit Hours: 3

The procedural law of public agencies, particularly the regulatory commissions but also executive branch agencies exercising regulatory functions. The exercise of discretion and its control through internal mechanisms and judicial review. POLS 114 and 230 recommended. Fulfills the CoLA Writing-Across-the-Curriculum (WAC) requirement.

Credit Hours: 3

This course provides an examination of the major schools in legal thinking. We will investigate classic jurisprudential questions, including: theories of how judges decide cases, the role of morality and natural rights in determinations of law, and the role of legislative and judicial actors in the creation of law. POLS 114 and POLS 230 are recommended prerequisites. Fulfills the CoLA Writing-Across-the-Curriculum (WAC) requirement.

Credit Hours: 3

(Same as WGSS 438) This course is an advanced seminar in public law with a focus on gender, law and society. The course will engage with issues in feminist legal practice and the development of legal theories regarding gender. We will interrogate the relationship between theory and practice and the ways in which feminist jurisprudence has taken shape in the dynamics of this relationship. POLS 114 and 230 recommended prerequisites.

Credit Hours: 3

In the United States, topics ranging from abortion to gay rights and government surveillance are inevitably "solved" by the Supreme Court. Yet for many years the Supreme Court stood alone in the world in being able to overturn government policy. Increasingly, courts all over the world-often prodded by social actors-have begun developing their own unique solutions to these constitutional questions, in many cases challenging accepted social values and mores along the way. In this course we will investigate the development of courts and constitutional rights around the world, including both national rights and international human rights.

Credit Hours: 3

An examination of transitions to democracy from authoritarian rule in countries around the world. Emphasis is on understanding from a comparative perspective on the social, economic, institutional, political, cultural and international circumstances that promote, inhibit and even reverse the spread of democratic forms of government. Fulfills the CoLA Writing-Across-the-Curriculum (WAC) requirement.

Credit Hours: 3

(Same as WGSS 446) An advanced course examining gender systems and women's situations across cultures and countries. This course also studies the impact globalization has had on gender issues by looking at women's activism at international and transnational levels. Topics covered include women's political representation, gender and culture, women's social movements, gender and development, and gendered policy issues. POLS 250 recommended.

Credit Hours: 3

This course examines political developments in Russia and the other fourteen Soviet successor states that gained (or regained) independence following the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991. Particular attention is paid to the degree to which Soviet legacies of communist political institutions, state socialist economic policies and ethno-federalism continue to shape the politics and economics of these countries in the post-independence period. Fulfills the CoLA Writing-Across-the-Curriculum (WAC) requirement.

Credit Hours: 3

This course provides students an overview of European integration and a better understanding of the functioning of the European Union. The course opens with a survey of historical developments in both Eastern and Western Europe from 1914 to 1989. After this historical overview, the institutions and policies of the European Union are studied in detail. Fulfills the CoLA Writing-Across-the-Curriculum (WAC) requirement.

Credit Hours: 3

An in-depth analysis of specific problem areas in Latin American political processes as well as comparative study of selected Latin American nation-states. Fulfills the CoLA Writing-Across-the-Curriculum (WAC) requirement.

Credit Hours: 3

This course is designed to examine the regional politics and security of the Middle East and North Africa in a historical and comparative context. This course discusses the historical evolution of the modern states in the region, the dynamics of inter-Arab and Arab-Israeli politics and security, the role of ethnicity and religion in domestic and regional politics, and great powers' penetration of the region.

Credit Hours: 3

Rules and practices governing states in their relations in peace and war. Prerequisite: POLS 270 recommended. Fulfills the CoLA Writing-Across-the-Curriculum (WAC) requirement.

Credit Hours: 3

(Same as SOC 476) Examines the connection between religious beliefs and institutions and political beliefs and institutions. Comparative studies will focus on religious political movements in the United States and throughout the world.

Credit Hours: 3

This course surveys the conduct, goals and evolution of American foreign policy since World War II. It analyzes such issues as the role of institutions, culture and individuals in the formulation of American foreign policy, the interaction between domestic and foreign politics, and the debate over American grand strategy. Prerequisite: POLS 270 recommended.

Credit Hours: 3

Discussion-based course analyzing empirical and normative (ethical) issues in the study of international relations. Particular emphasis is placed on developing students' critical thinking skills. Fulfills the CoLA Writing-Across-the-Curriculum (WAC) requirement. Prerequisite: POLS 270 recommended.

Credit Hours: 3

Directed research for senior honors students. Political science honors students may register for these credits if they have met all the prerequisites described in the political science Handbook. A three-person faculty committee will administer an oral examination upon completion of senior thesis. Not for graduate credit.

Credit Hours: 1-3

Available to students who have completed all prerequisites of the University Honors Program and receive approval of their project from a Political Science instructor. Not for graduate credit.

Credit Hours: 1-3