International Relations Courses

PS 101 Introduction to American Politics

An introductory study of U.S. politics. The Constitution, political institutions, and various forms of citizen mobilization are analyzed in order to evaluate the functioning of American democracy.

PS 128 Russian and East European Politics

This course examines recent political developments in Russia and Eastern Europe, from the inception and evolution of the Soviet Union to the collapse of communism and the transition toward democracy and capitalism. Readings and assignments analyze the successes and failures of the "communist experiment" and investigate the processes of democratization, economic transition, social change and ethnic conflict that have defined the post-communist period. The course takes a comparative approach, though special attention is paid to the case of Russia.

PS 131 Introduction to East Asian Politics

East Asia continues to be a hot spot for violent conflict. For example, not only has China become more assertive in the region, but also North Korea has built nuclear weapons. Making matters worse, the region is filled with territorial disputes. This survey course examines the international relations of East Asia, with a particular focus on China, Japan, and the two Koreas. Specifically, it introduces students to their respective domestic politics and foreign policies. Therefore, at the end of the course, students should be familiar with both the region and its political dynamics

PS 135 Introduction to American Public Policy

This course focuses on the in-depth study of major current public policy issues. It looks at how American public policy is formulated and how public policies can be evaluated. These theoretical bases are then applied to a series of case studies of public policies to show more fully how the policy process works and to develop a fuller understanding of contemporary public policy issues. The federal budgetary process will always be included, but other topics will vary with each offering. Examples of past or possible policy areas include social security reform, welfare reform, education reform, and criminal justice policies.

PS 205 World Legal Systems

Judicial politics is the study of how political dynamics shape courts and how courts shape politics and society. This course engages with different theories to compare and contrast how law, politics, and judiciaries interact around the world. This course will attempt to answer questions such as the following: What is the political logic that gives rise to judicial power? How do different courts make decisions? How do different political contexts (democracy, authoritarianism) shape the way courts make decisions? Why are some judiciaries more independent than others? Can courts bring about social and political change?

PS 207 Russian Foreign Policy

This course examines the motivations, strategies, and effects of Russian foreign policy in its neighborhood and in the international system. We analyze contemporary and historical cases of conflict and cooperation in political, cultural, and economic issue areas through policy paper and simulation assignments.

PS 208 Strategy and Warfare

War is the use of organized violence in pursuit of political aims; as such, war is inherently political in nature. This course is about strategy (i.e., the plans through which states try to use military force to accomplish political aims) and warfare (i.e., the actual employment of military force). Therefore, we will survey strategic theory, traditional forms of warfare (on land, sea, and air), and more contemporary forms, irregular warfare and terrorism. In addition, we will examine topics such as weapons of mass destruction, deterrence, and technology.

PS 209 Chinese Politics and Foreign Policy

This course is intended to introduce students to the history and analysis of Chinese politics and foreign policy since 1949. At the end of the course, students should be familiar with the key events, debates, and questions in the study of Chinese politics and foreign policy

PS 210 Survey of International Relations

Examination of the state system, elements of national power, sources of international conflict, the nature of war and strategy in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, measures to resolve conflicts, and prospects for the future. Additional concerns include "non-political" problems of resource scarcity, over-population and multinational corporations and their impact on third world states.

PS 220 Survey of Comparative Politics

An introduction to the basic theories of comparative politics in general use. Theories will be evaluated through consideration of a major theme in the subfield of comparative politics, such as political culture or democratization, considering this theme in the context of a number of countries.

PS 222 Media & Politics

This course introduces students to the role of the media - newspapers, television, magazines, Internet - and its effects on public opinion and public policy. Students will gain a working knowledge of how the media work and how they influence - and are influenced by - the political world, particularly during elections. The course explores theoretical foundations of political communication, including framing, agenda setting, agenda building and branding, and gives students a strong practical knowledge of how to scrutinize media messages to discern what is reliable, credible news and what is not.

PS 225 Politics and Morality

This course is an introduction to political philosophy, engaging some of the most important moral questions that confront people in any given polity: Who should rule? What is justice? Should the interests of the community take precedence over the liberty of individuals or vice versa? Must one obey all the laws of the land all the time or are there forms of legitimate disobedience? Students read selected prominent thinkers who have taken positions on questions such as these, and are invited to formulate their own informed opinions.

PS 230A Political Science Research Methods 1/2

This course introduces students to how political scientists study political phenomena. Students will gain a working knowledge of the social scientific approach to research as well as the methods by which political scientists gather and analyze data. Students will be exposed to a framework for writing in political science by dissecting the process of political science research and the composition of the research report. Utilizing these tools, we explore the scope of political science by examining research topics in each major subfield of the discipline through reading established work and developing student research projects. Students will leave PS 230 with an understanding and appreciation of the varied subject matters and methods of political science research.

PS 230B 1/2

This course is an introduction to the tools of public policy analysis. Students will become familiar with the major theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of public policy. Policies discussed will primarily be those drawn from American federal public policy, but this course is appropriate for students interested in public policy at all levels of government and society.

PS 230C Survey Research 1/2

This course is an introduction to conducting survey research in the social sciences. Students will become familiar with all aspects of survey design, including its strengths and weaknesses as a method, question wording and ordering, sampling, data organization, and preliminary data analysis.

PS 230D 1/2

Interviews and ethnography (also called participant-observation) are two major ways in which political scientists test hypotheses, collect data, uncover or develop interpretations, and learn more about the world in which they live. In this course, students will read about fieldwork: how to do it ethically, how to deal with the many things that inevitably will go wrong, how fieldwork often muddles what "the literature" told you. This is also a hands-on course in which students will do a fieldwork project of their own choosing, right here in Galesburg.

PS 234 Political Psychology

This course examines the intersection of psychology and politics. Political scientists draw heavily on psychological theories to explain political phenomena. Topics covered in this course include but are not limited to political leadership and personality theories, the formation and structure of political attitudes, the behavior of citizens particularly voting behavior, the psychology of group interactions, and the psychology of foreign policy, war, peace, and terrorism. While the research explored draws heavily on psychological theories, no prior study of psychology is required for this course.

PS 236 Authoritarianism

In this course, we examine the persistence of authoritarian regimes despite the declared triumph of liberal democracy at the end of the Cold War. We compare the tools autocrats use to stay in power, including elections, coercion, and symbolic politics, and analyze the effects of authoritarianism on civil society and international relations.

PS 237 Nationalism

This course examines how governments and citizens create, define, promote, and contest the nation. We will look at nationalism as both a top-down and a bottom-up process in which governments, civil society organizations, and individuals cooperate and compete in constructing the national community. We will explore nation-building and nation-contesting with examples from across the globe, including Galesburg.

PS 238 Peace, Sport, and Policy

This course examines how sport is used to further national identity, peace, and other public policies. Sport provides a window into exploring how individuals and communities relate to and understand the interplay between rules, authority, fairness, and individual and collective agency and responsibility. Aside from the political socialization provided by sport, a key intersection of sport and politics that we examine is the use of sport to further intrastate and interstate cooperation and peace. These impacts further include but are not limited to the role of sport in fostering identity, furthering national interest, and reinforcing or challenging societal norms.

PS 240 Voting and Elections

This course examines the American electoral process by focusing on three components of it: the voting decision (who votes, why, and how), congressional elections and campaigns, and presidential elections and campaigns. The principal project is an in-depth case study of a contemporary Senate campaign.

PS 245 American Political Thought

This course examines the nature and substantive commitments of the American regime through a study of select thinkers in the American political tradition. Considerable attention is devoted to the constitutional ratification debates between the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists. The course also considers the justice of the American constitutional enterprise given the enduring legacy of slavery and racism. Particular attention is devoted to the speeches and writings of Abraham Lincoln in addition to a number of African American thinkers such as Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. DuBois, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X.

PS 248 Teaching Assistant 1/2 or 1

PS 266 Nuclear Politics

This course is an introduction to the history of nuclear crises and nuclear proliferation. What is the effect of nuclear weapons on interstate crises? Why do states acquire nuclear weapons? Students will gain a better understanding of the role of nuclear weapons in international relations, the history of the Cold War, and new challenges in nuclear politics.

PS 295 Special Topics 1/2 or 1

Courses offered occasionally to students in special areas of Political Science not covered in the usual curriculum.

PS 306 American Presidency

The course examines the role of the presidency in the American constitutional order with an emphasis on the uses, abuses, and limitations of presidential power. In particular, the course examines a series of constitutional issues surrounding the office of the presidency including: the problem of executive energy in the American Constitution; presidential selection and the problem of political legitimacy; separation of powers; impeachment and oversight; delegation of powers; the constitutional status of war and foreign affairs; emergency powers; administration and bureaucracy; presidential character; and the meaning of leadership in the constitutional order.

PS 308 Parties, Legislatures, and Public Policy

This course examines the role of the institutions of political parties and legislatures in shaping the outcomes of the public policy process in American politics. This course covers the role of political parties in American politics, the structure and processes of American legislatures, and the ways in which public policy is formed, adopted, monitored, changed, and terminated through the role of parties, legislatures, and particularly the actions of parties within legislatures.

PS 309 Separation of Powers

This course examines the U.S. Constitution's separation of powers system as a political architecture rather than a legal principle, focusing on interbranch conflict. The course examines perennial and contemporary problems of constitutional politics, including electoral design and institutional functioning, delegation and bureaucracy, the removal power and administrative accountability, foreign affairs and war, emergency powers, secrecy, popular leadership, impeachment and accountability.

PS 310 Organizing and Advocating for Policy Change

This course examines the role of organized interest groups in American politics, with focus on the ways citizens organize and advocate for policy change. It begins with a discussion of the reasons for and obstacles to formation of interest organizations. The majority of the course is then dedicated to the analysis of the ways in which organized interests pervade American politics, including elections, legislative action, public policy implementation, and public opinion formation and persuasion. The course concludes with a discussion of the benefits and detriments to democracy of our current interest group system and proposals for reform.

PS 312 International Organizations

An examination of the theory and role of international organizations, public and private, and transnational organizations, in the conduct of international relations. May include examinations of the United Nations, NATO, OPEC, NAFTA, Mercosur, International Red Cross, Save the Children, the European Union, and the International Court of Justice.

PS 315 Contemporary American Foreign Policy

Analysis of the issues, strategies, and objectives of U.S. foreign policy since World War II. Machinery for the formulation and implementation of foreign policy and basic assumptions that go into its determination are also examined.

PS 317 Advanced International Relations: War and Conflict

This course examines the causes, dynamics and consequences of war and conflict drawing on examples from Asia (disputes in the South China Sea, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, Kashmir, Afghanistan). Students will analyze these cases based on the various approaches on war and conflict resolution. They will also evaluate the relevance of IR theoretical paradigms (Realism, Liberalism and Constructivism) to these cases.

PS 320 Emerging Democracies

This course examines the process of political transition from dictatorship to democracy. Drawing on examples from Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East, students analyze the key determinants of successful democratization and consider the causes and consequences of the global spread of democracy.

PS 341 Early Political Thought

This course examines political theories from the remote past and invites students to consider their influence in the present. Greek theorists such as Thucydides, Plato, and Aristotle are read as examples of pre-modern thought. This course strikes a balance between understanding these works within their historical context and applying their ideas to circumstances beyond the authors' imagining.

PS 342 The Modern Theories

Machiavelli to Marx. The political writings of Machiavelli, Locke, Rousseau, and Marx are emphasized. The course treats the foundations of modern political theory and analyzes their strengths, shortcomings, and relationship to contemporary political life.

PS 348 Teaching Assistant 1/2 or 1

PS 360 Politics of Climate Change

This course will explore the poltical debate on climate change. Students will examine both the international negotiations and the domestic debates. On the domestic side, students will study the concept of represention and how changes in public opinion on climate change have led to changes in public policy, particularly in the US. On the international side, students will examine the disagreements between industrialized and non-industrialized countries, and how resulting treaties have reflected different ideas of justice, and different political contexts. The course will be centered around social science theories that help us understand the politics of climate change.

PS 362 Constitutional Law

The law of the Constitution as developed by decisions of the United States Supreme Court: the role of the judiciary, judicial review, and separation of powers; the relationship of the states to the national government, the powers of Congress and the President.

PS 363 Civil Rights and Liberties

The rights and liberties of individuals under the American Constitution: civil rights, equal protection of the laws, due process of law, and freedom of expression and religion.

PS 370 Internships in Public Affairs 1/2 to 3

The department assists outstanding political science majors by giving them challenging internship assignments with important government agencies, political leaders, and other participants in the political process. Interns are eligible for up to three credits, depending upon the length of their experience and the nature of related scholarly papers accomplished under the supervision of the department.

PS 395 Special Topics 1/2 or 1

Courses offered occasionally to students in special areas of Political Science not covered in the usual curriculum.

PS 400 Advanced Studies 1/2 or 1

See College Honors Program.