This course will focus on general approaches to the problem of interpretation in texts and social practices. All areas of political science research entail the investigation of written, spoken, or visual evidence, including books, archival documents of all kinds, speeches, verbal explanations by actors of their actions, images, and so on. These various materials require interpretation, different materials posing different problems for the interpreter. This course is meant to encourage reflection upon the interpretive act.

Not available at this time

This course examines the multiple, often competing, ways in which scholars have theorized how diverse kinds of collective actors both shape and are (re)shaped by politics.

The discipline of political science finds its origins in the study of law and legal doctrine. Though the discipline has become much more diverse in terms of the topics investigated by political scientists, it is nonetheless essential to understand the roles played by law, courts, and other legal actors in the political process. The purpose of this seminar is to introduce graduate students to the public law subfield by focusing on empirical research on law and courts from both American and comparative perspectives.

There is little consensus within political science about how to study politics. Political scientists use a range of approaches, and hold a variety of methodological commitments. This course is designed to introduce students to the philosophical and epistemological disputes that have given rise to this lack of consensus. The aim of the course is to enable students to make more deeply informed judgments about the types of political science work that they encounter and undertake.

This course introduces graduate students to the logical foundations of research methods and the wide variety of methodologies used by political scientists.

Not available at this time.

Not available at this time

Examination of the basic legal rules regulating relations among states and between states and other entities. Analysis of theories of international law and of how and to what extent legal rules and legal reasoning affect the policies of governments.