University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill · Courses
POLI
254 courses with the subject POLI, each shown exactly as we captured it from the college's catalog, with every element we hold. Where the wording looks broken, that is our reading of the catalog, not the college's text.
POLI 100American Democracy in Changing Times3
Why do Americans love democracy, but hate politics? Why are there only two political parties? Why do voters hate, yet respond to negative campaigning? This course will introduce students to politics in the United States, addressing these and many more questions about how American democracy works. Honors version available.
POLI 150International Relations and Global Politics3
An introduction to the study of political and economic relations in the international system. Topics covered include international conflict, trade, global finance, international institutions, civil war, and human rights. Honors version available.
POLI 150LInternational Relations and Global Politics Research Laboratory1
This laboratory section introduces students in POLI 150 to contemporary research methods in the study of international relations and world politics. Students will design and conduct independent research related to international politics. Permission of the instructor.
An opportunity to obtain credit for an internship in a government or public service organization. Pass/Fail only. Does not count toward the political science major. Requires permission of the department. Open to political science majors only.
Problems of the public service; internal dynamics of public organizations; acquisition and allocation of public funds; the roles of bureaucracy in relation to public policy, clients, the citizenry, and society. Honors version available.
Examination of the process of policy making on the Supreme Court. Focuses upon the selection of justices, factors affecting the court's decision making, and the impact of its policies.
POLI 203Race, Innocence, and the Decline of the Death Penalty4
A large majority of Americans supports the death penalty in the abstract, but the number of death sentences and executions has been declining since the mid-1990s. This course explores the decline of the death penalty by looking at race, questions of innocence, and the new politics of capital punishment.
This course examines the politics of the American South. Each state is studied separately and we examine the region from a broad/general perspective. Both academic books and journal articles are read. By the end of the course, students should be familiar with historical and contemporary politics in the South.
State and local governments in the United States exercise considerable power over public policies such as education, social welfare, and taxation. This course examines similarities and differences across the U.S. states to better understand the causes and consequences of politics in these settings. Previously offered as POLI 101. Honors version available.
POLI 206Race and the Right to Vote in the United States3
This course surveys scholarly literature on political psychology, electoral institutions, racial politics, and access to the ballot in the United States. In 30 hours of community service with partner organizations, students forge deeper connections between the university and the broader community. Through consistent reflections on the importance and potential downfalls of service learning, students gain a multi-faceted view of the practice and learn how to become better service learners.
This course examines how interests organize themselves, enter into and then interact within interest communities, and seek to influence government policy through electoral activity and lobbying legislators, executives, and courts.
An analysis of the dynamics of party alignment and realignment and of nomination and election to public office in American national government. Honors version available.
A study of forces affecting public opinion and its expression in various political activities. Emphasis on gathering and analyzing opinion data. Course may be taught in the computer classroom. Honors version available.
Survey of international social, political, and cultural patterns in selected societies of Africa, Asia, America, and Europe, stressing comparative analysis of conflicts and change in different historical contexts. LAC recitation sections offered in French, German, and Spanish.
Religion and politics are deeply intertwined in contemporary America, as evidenced by heated and often highly partisan debates over a wide variety of political issues such as abortion and immigration. This course addresses the variety of ways in which religion and politics intersect for voters and political elites with a focus on understanding how scholars operationalize religious concepts and use data to make empirical claims about the relationship between religion and politics.
Despite the appearance of complexity and randomness, politics is deeply structured in ways that can be researched and understood. This course has three objectives. First, it will provide students with essential nuts and bolts for further study in political science. Second, it introduces students who wish to study comparative politics and international organization to the substantive foundations of these fields. Third, and most generally, the course contributes to an understanding of global politics and varieties of democracy.
Findings of the behavioral sciences are examined as they relate to politics. Includes such issues as human nature, community, political socialization, alienation, mass movements, belief systems, and personality.
Surveys impact our lives in more ways than most people realize. Among other things, surveys allow us to predict who will win elections, determine how congressional districts are drawn, understand what the public wants from their elected leaders, and measure macroeconomic trends. This course examines how surveys are used in society, teaches students how to design and implement their own surveys, and provides training in how to analyze, interpret, and communicate survey findings to a broad audience.
A comparison of men and women as political actors at the mass and elite level in America. Topics considered include the "gender gap," the women's movement, abortion, and the Equal Rights Amendment.
POLI 220Race, Ethnicity, and Electoral Representation in the United States3
This course examines the electoral representation of racial and ethnic minorities in the United States. While multiple ethnic groups are studied, there will be an emphasis on the two largest minority groups in the country: Latinos and African Americans.
POLI 225Introduction to Community Engaged Research3
This course introduces students to Community Engaged Research (CER), a research approach in which researchers directly engage and partner with community members throughout the research process, from developing questions to designing and conducting studies to produce rigorous academic research and build power for communities. The semester is divided into three modules. In the first module, students will learn the main pillars of CER. In the second module, students will apply the skills learned in the first module to major concepts in political science. The third module is dedicated to learning from community organizers and partners across a range of issues.
This course is designed as an introduction to contemporary Middle Eastern politics for advanced undergraduates. To explore this topic, the course combines systematic analytical approaches to big questions with concrete knowledge of events and developments in specific countries. In so doing, it aims to give students a critical understanding of politics while simultaneously building empirical knowledge about the Middle East/North Africa region. Honors version available.
An overview of politics and government in the Global South, emphasizing theories and challenges of development, modernization, and democratization. Regional emphasis may vary by instructor.
Factors and forces that explain the rise and demise of the Soviet political system and consideration of emerging new political configurations in the area. Honors version available.
Examines contemporary politics in east-central Europe by looking at the communist period, the 1989 revolutions, and the political, economic, and social transformations underway in the area. Honors version available.
An introduction to the politics of People's Republic of China with a focus on the Reform Era. Provides a working knowledge for understanding political events in contemporary China in three parts: historical background, evolution of political institutions, and changing relations between ordinary people and the Chinese state.
POLI 238Politics of the Global South: Latin America3
An introduction to politics and political economy of Latin America, emphasizing Latin America's position in the Global South and including consideration of leading theoretical explanations of development and political change. Country emphasis varies with instructor. Honors version available.
A treatment of the political institutions and processes of western European democracies, with special attention to France, Germany, England, and Italy. Honors version available.
A survey of African American political development from emancipation to the present. The course examines the dynamics of minority group politics with African Americans as the primary unit of analysis. Students consider African American politics in domestic and global contexts and issues of local, regional, national, and international relevance.
Political behavior is the study of attitudes, ideology, and engagement with the government. Why are some individuals more likely than others to support specific policies? How do we understand the connection between voters and political parties? What makes an individual more likely to vote? When and where are broad social movements, wars, rebellions and revolutions most likely to occur? Comparative political behavior studies how these phenomena operate across different institutional and cultural environments. Honors version available.
POLI 248Intersectionality: Race, Gender, Sexuality, and Social Justice3
The first goal of this super course is to give students real tools for how to address multiple modes of difference and identity formations like race, gender, class, and sexuality.
POLI 252International Organizations and Global Issues3
Examines international organizations and their relationships with and impact upon international politics, international law, and selected global issues. Honors version available.
Covers the politics of environmental issues, with a focus on issues that have become internationalized. It focuses on the special problems that arise in creating rules for environmental management and regulation when no single government has authority to enforce those rules.
POLI 255International Migration and Citizenship Today3
This class explores the moral, economic, political, and cultural dimensions of international migration. It is discussion-based and tackles such thorny questions as: Do we have an obligation to let poor people into our rich country? What constitutes persecution? How do foreigners affect national identity? How should citizenship be allocated? Honors version available.
POLI 256The Politics of the First Era (1880-1914) of Globalization3
This course considers the politics of international trade and finance on the eve of World War I. We explore the factors, domestic and international, that facilitated integration prior to World War I, as well as those that prevented a return to economic openness in the 1920s and 1930s.
POLI 257Politics, Society, and Culture in Postwar Germany3
The interdisciplinary seminar will explore cultural, historical, and political issues of contemporary Germany and analyze German developments from the postwar period to the present. Readings and discussions in English.
POLI 258Political Economy of Migration and Mobility3
How does global migration affect both domestic and international political dynamics, and vice versa? This course explores the politics of global migration and mobility, offering insights into how the movement of people impacts politics at the individual, domestic, and international levels. Join the class to gain a deeper understanding of the migration issues shaping global discourses. Honors version available.
Introduction to feminist theory and its implications for the study and practice of political theory. Topics: women in feminist critiques of the Western political tradition, schools of feminist political theory.
Survey course designed to introduce students to major political thinkers and schools of thought dating roughly from the 16th century to the present. Honors version available.
An analysis of ethical issues that arise in peace, war, and defense, e.g., the legitimacy of states, just war theory, terrorism, weapons of mass destruction.
POLI 275Nationalism, Immigration and the Politics of Identity3
Examination of the theories of nationalism and immigration, followed by an analysis of the interplay between national identity, immigration, and populism. This course first explores these issues theoretically and then more concretely by examining these issues in England and Scotland. Honors version available.
An examination of major issues in political thought, including equality; obedience; violence and nonviolence; justice; forms of social, economic, and political life; liberty; and human nature and politics. Honors version available.
POLI 279American Political Thought Through the Civil War3
A survey course in early American political ideas through the Civil War, with emphasis on the role of politics, society, and economy in American thought. Honors version available.
POLI 280American Political Thought After the Civil War3
A survey course in American political ideas from the Civil War to the present, with emphasis on the role of politics, society, and economy in American thought. Honors version available.
The Information Revolution has had a transformative effect on business, journalism, law, policy, and more. This course illustrates the breadth of ways in which data can help solve important social problems and increases students' comfort handling and analyzing data themselves. Students leave with a foundation for acquiring more advanced techniques.
POLI 285Applied Experimental Research: Politics in the US and Europe3
The course familiarizes students with experimental research methods in political science, including laboratory experiments, field experiments, and survey experiments. Students will design and conduct an experimental research project on a research question about US or European politics.
Introduction to the study of strategic decision making in international relations, with an emphasis on the application of basic game theoretic models. Incorporates in-class simulations of international relations scenarios.
Offers an introduction to positive political theory, the application of rational choice analysis (or economic models) to the study of political phenomena. Topics include social choice theory, legislative voting, problems of cooperation and collective action, and public choice theory. Encourages students to think about politics from a critical vantage point.
POLI 291Undergraduate Learning Assistant Practicum1-3
This course is for students selected as Undergraduate Learning Assistants (ULAs) for political science courses during the semester they serve as ULAs. This course will provide support and structure to make them effective in their role, including training in pedagogy and University policies; ongoing mentorship and supervision; and opportunities for reflection, assessment, and evaluation. May not count toward the political science major. Permission of the instructor.
POLI 325Institute of Politics Fellows Seminar in Civic Leadership1.5
This course is facilitated by a Fellow from the UNC Institute of Politics, an experienced political practitioner who has held elected or appointed office. Over the course of the semester, students will engage in active and sustained dialogue with the Fellow and with one another on topics relevant to the Fellow's professional experience in public life. May not count toward the political science major.
POLI 333Race and Public Policy in the United States3
Exploration of the relationship between race and public policy in the U.S. Primary focus on African Americans, but other racial groups also studied. Key areas include reproductive justice, health care, employment, labor, welfare, education, housing, environmental justice, policing, criminalization, foreign policy, immigration, and war.
POLI 345Buying Influence: Interest Groups and Public Policy3
Students will gain an understanding of the role interest groups play in American public policy and how that role has shifted over time. The course emphasizes the role of interest groups in four policy areas: civil rights, the environment, social policy, and campaign finance.
This Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) introduces students to the practice of quantitative research on peace, conflict, and conflict resolution. Students work in teams to develop original research projects that answer policy-relevant questions in the field of peace science.
POLI 381Data in Politics II: Frontiers and Applications3
New approaches to data analysis are having a transformative effect on business, journalism, law, and policy - to name just a few sectors. This course is for students who have a basic familiarity working with social science data. It uses this foundation to teach more advanced ways to think about inference and uncertainty, with an emphasis on cutting-edge techniques and applications to real world problems.
POLI 384Gateway to Philosophy, Politics, and Economics3
One course in economics strongly recommended. This interdisciplinary gateway course provides an introduction to subjects and quantitative techniques used to analyze problems in philosophy, political science, and economics. Honors version available.
Required preparation, six hours of POLI course credit. Permission of the instructor. Students carry out a research project under the direct supervision of a faculty mentor. Learning contract required. Open to political science majors.
Required preparation, six hours of POLI course credit. Permission of the instructor. Directed readings in a special field under the direction of a faculty member. Learning contract required. Open to political science majors.
This course explores how presidents select policy options, how they decide timing, what shapes their congressional support, and how they build successful coalitions.
Problems of the national government in managing capitalist development and economic growth; political constraints; patterns of conflict among domestic actors.
This course provides a survey of the literature on race, immigration, and urban politics in the contemporary United States. The goal is to understand the complex relationship between racial/ethnic identity and local political processes. Students explore topics such as police brutality, immigration, the education system, and coalition politics.
This course provides an overview of the politics of local governments in the United States. Topics covered include the economics and history of urban agglomerations, local governments' place in the American federal system, the role of race and immigration in how parties and coalitions govern, whether local governments are responsive to voters, and the role cities play in shaping housing, education, climate, and criminal justice policy.
POLI 406State Governments: Laboratories of Democracy3
Advanced topics in state government and politics, including political behavior and processes, governmental institutions, public policies. Emphasis on how states serve as the laboratories of democracy in a federal system.
Students employ their understanding of political philosophy and practical politics to write a new constitution for the United States. Emphasis is on creative blending of theory and practice.
POLI 410American Constitutional Law I: Structures of Power3
A study of the U.S. Supreme Court's interpretation of the constitutional principles of federalism and the separation of powers. Focusing on the written opinions in the Court's leading cases, the course emphasizes both the legal and the political factors that shape the Court's constitutional decisions.
POLI 411American Constitutional Law II: Civil Liberties and Rights3
A study of the U.S. Supreme Court's interpretation of the constitutional protections of the Bill of Rights and the Fourteenth Amendment. Relying upon the Court's written opinions in cases involving civil liberties and civil rights, the course examines how the Constitution limits the powers of both the federal and state governments. Honors version available.
Course studies United States presidential and congressional elections. Emphasis on individual vote, changing party strengths, and the relation of outcomes to policy. Honors version available.
POLI 414Election Administration in the United States3
This is a course about how we administer elections in the United States. The people, processes, and rules by which we administer elections in the United States are critically important to the exercise of free and fair elections that is a cornerstone of a democratic form of governance. A major component of this course is your work as an elections official in the Fall 2024 election. Must be a registered voter in Orange County, NC.
POLI 416Constitutional Policies and the Judicial Process3
Analysis of the structure and functions of judicial systems emphasizing the organization, administration, and politics of judicial bureaucracies and roles of judges, juries, counsel, litigants, and interested groups in adjudication processes.
Examines in greater depth issues in the field of political psychology, including conflict and conflict resolution, socialization, attitude formation, mass movements, leader-follower relationships, and psychobiography. Honors version available.
POLI 419Race and Politics in the Contemporary United States3
Restricted to juniors and seniors. Surveys the vast literature on race and politics in the contemporary United States and examines the complex relationship between racial and ethnic identity and political outcomes. It explores broad political science concepts in the context of racial and ethnic groups. Honors version available.
This course will focus on the process by which policies get framed, or defined, in public discussions. Framing is focusing attention on some elements of a complex public problem rather than others. Readings combine psychological background with case histories of United States and comparative public policy changes over time.
POLI 422Minority Representation in the American States3
This class explores the political representation of blacks, Latina/os, women, and gays and lesbians in the American states. How do these groups achieve descriptive and substantive representation? How does state context shape the political representation of these minorities? Students taking this course should have a strong interest in state politics.
POLI 428Sexuality, Race, and Gender: Identity and Political Representation3
Analyzing the impact of the descriptive representation of marginalized communities on public policy, legislation, and social change. Sexual orientation, identity, gender, ethnicity and race, and the intersectionality of these communities. We seek to understand the role that elected officials can have in driving change, affecting their colleagues and constituents.
Diversity is sometimes cited as a facilitator of political cooperation but more often it is considered a challenge for constructive civic engagement. This course engages the various ways in which different forms of diversity (e.g., racial, ethnic, religious, linguistic, national origin) and politics interact across a wide range of societies.
Course explores contemporary threats to national security, approaches to national security strategy, policy instruments, the role of military force, and the policy-making process.
Compares and explains contemporary cases of tolerance and intolerance in the U.S., Canada, and the EU. Considers controversies involving religion, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, political ideology, multiculturalism, and populism.
Examines the politics and political economy of institutional change and policy making in the European Union in comparative perspective. Honors version available.
This course provides a survey of 20th-century politics in Mexico, including the construction of the single-party regime under the PRI and the political and economic changes in the second half of the century that marked the end of the one-party regime and inaugurated a new era of political competition.
POLI 438Democracy and International Institutions in an Undivided Europe3
Explores the collapse of communist rule in 1989 and the reaction of international institutions to the challenges of democratization, economic transition, ethnic conflict, and European integration in an undivided Europe.
The course introduces students to the theory and practice of studying European public opinion. The course is split into four parts. In the first part, we will discuss core concepts and important problems in the study of public opinion. In the second part, we will study tools and common data sets for the analysis of European public opinion. In the third part, we will examine several recent contributions on different aspects of European public opinion.
POLI 440How to Stay in Power When the People Want You Dead: The Politics of Authoritarian Survival3
Dictators do not rely on consent of the people to stay in power. But they do still face constraints and must perform a delicate balancing act to maintain enough support to stay in office and reap its rewards. This class seeks to understand when autocrats are successful and when they fail.
POLI 443American Foreign Policy: Formulation and Conduct3
The role of Congress, the press, public opinion, the president, the secretary and the Department of State, the military, and the intelligence community in making American foreign policy. Emphasizes the impact of the bureaucratic process on the content of foreign policy.
The U.S. 9/11 attack represents the defining terrorist attack to Americans, but in most of the world, terrorism has long been part of politics. We will examine what motivates individuals to consider violence, how individuals organize to protect their political interests, the types of tactics used by violent groups and the state's response, before concluding with a study of collapsed states, the international implications of political violence, and possibilities for conflict resolution.
POLI 447Immigrant Integration in Contemporary Western Europe3
Immigrant integration has been one of the most intense political issues in Western Europe in recent decades. The extent to which these immigrants have successfully integrated is a hot topic of debate across Europe, and there is no consensus about the best way to promote integration. This course explores these debates. Honors version available.
Political authority is changing around the world. Decision making has shifted down to state and local governments, such as Catalonia and Scotland, and up to international organizations such as the European Union and the World Health Organization. What does this mean for the future of the national state? Honors version available.
POLI 449Beg, Borrow, or Steal: How Governments Get Money and Its Effects on Accountability3
This course explores the politics behind taxation, foreign aid, natural resources, and debt, focusing on how each affects accountability and state capacity. Topics include when governments tax; whether taxation causes democratization; the effects of foreign aid and oil money on corruption and conflict; and how government debt shapes domestic politics.
POLI 451Race, Ethnicity, and Political Change in Comparative Perspective3
The course examines the interplay of race, ethnicity, political institutions, and political mobilization in modern state and nation-building. Through the use of broadly drawn international case studies, the politics of ethnicity and race is analyzed from the perspective of global processes of state building, colonialism and decolonization, and capitalist development as well from local development of ideology and political organizations.
The purpose of this course is to examine Africa's conflicts using an historical examination and advances in international relations theory. We will examine European colonial intervention, the wars of independence, the Cold War, and the use of proxies, insurgencies, the African World War, the Sudanese War, and the "war of terrorism."
POLI 453When Countries Go Broke: Political Responses to Financial Crises3
What happens when countries go broke? This course considers the complex historical relation between revenue generation and the development of the nation-state, and details a variety of major crises facing governments today, including the political determinants of and responses to major recent financial crises.
Analysis of international conflict and the causal mechanisms that drive or prevent conflict. Emphasis is on the conditions and processes of conflict and cooperation between nations.
The course explores the development of Euro-Atlantic security institutions (NATO, EU) and compares security policy in the United States and Europe. Cases include policy toward the Balkans, Afghanistan, Russia, and Ukraine. Includes review of concepts of security and selected international relations approaches to international organizations. Honors version available.
POLI 460Polarization and Partnership: American Politics and Transatlantic Relations3
This course examines how polarization in U.S. politics shapes the evolving partnership between America and Europe. It explores how partisan conflict, populism, and institutional fragmentation influence transatlantic cooperation on climate policy, energy security, technology regulation, and defense. Combining perspectives from comparative and international politics, students analyze the tensions and opportunities defining contemporary transatlantic relations. Through theory-driven readings, discussions, and a final individual research paper, the course encourages critical reflection on how domestic divides and global uncertainty affect multilateral cooperation, trust, and the future of the transatlantic alliance.
POLI 462A Divided Union? Polarization of Climate Change in the EU3
This course examines how polarization and public opinion shape climate policy within the European Union. Focusing on fragmentation across member states, it analyzes how national preferences and contestation influence EU-wide ambition and governance. Students will critically assess institutional responses, the EU's leadership in global climate politics, and the challenges of sustaining collective action. Through country-specific case studies, progress reports, and an independent term paper, students explore the political dynamics that determine the EU's ability to act as a global environmental leader amid deepening societal and ideological divides.
POLI 469Conflict and Intervention in the Former Yugoslavia3
Focuses on ethnic and political conflicts in the former Yugoslavia and efforts by the international community to end conflict and promote peace and reconstruction. Honors version available.
An examination of the logic of social and political thought with an analysis of such concepts as society, state, power, authority, freedom, social and political obligation, law, rights. Honors version available.
Survey of the historical foundations, central tenets, and political consequences of prominent 20th-century political theories. Topics include contemporary liberalism and Marxism, fascism, theories of development, populism, feminism. Honors version available.
Major problem areas in democratic theory including definitions, presuppositions, and justifications of democracy, liberty, equality, minority rights, public interest, participation, dissent, and civil disobedience. Honors version available.
This course looks at major themes in contemporary theories of global ethics and global justice. Potential topics include the duty to give aid to foreigners, global distributive justice, resource rights and justice, and immigration ethics.
This course brings the tools and techniques of political theory to bear on contemporary environmental challenges. Students will examine different conceptions of nature and of human-nature relations, investigate arguments about the moral and political status of nonhuman others, think about the role of individual responsibility in addressing climate change, and grapple with issues of inequality, environmental justice, and power.
POLI 476The Political Theory of the American Founding3
A role-immersive simulation of the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Students employ their knowledge of the political theory and science of the founding period to become the Convention of 1787 and write a constitution.
Examines in greater depth and complexity current issues in feminist political theory. Topics: theories of subjectivity and solidarity, feminist poststructuralist and post-Marxist thinking, gender in the public sphere.
POLI 478The Politics, Philosophy, and Economics of Education3
The course explores the politics, philosophy, and economics of US education. We will cover topics such as the goals of education; education politics at the local, state, and federal levels; school finance; accountability; markets in education; the role of philanthropy; and student debt.
A research intensive course on the design, implementation, interpretation, and communication of political science survey experiments. Honors version available.
POLI 481Understanding Influence: Misinformation, Polarization, and Social Media in Politics3
This course is designed to provide a broad introduction to key questions, theories, methodologies, and debates in public opinion, with an emphasis on cutting edge research in the current public opinion literature on the topic of misinformation, polarization, and social media. How informed is the public? How does the public need to be? What are the cognitive and social origins of misinformation? Why has polarization increased so dramatically over the past 40 years? What role does social media, and the internet more generally, play in democratic societies in the 21st century?
The modern international system is a highly-connected interdependent network of people, non-state actors, and governments. The course will introduce key concepts from network analysis to provide the conceptual and methodological tools to analyze networks in international politics. Students will also learn statistical tools used to analyze and visualize network data.
Increasingly, political and social scientists are using game theory to analyze strategic interactions across different settings. This course aims to give students a deep technical understanding of the most relevant concepts of game theory and how these concepts have been applied to the study of political and economic phenomena.
Movies often reflect important social and political issues. In this course students will see a set of movies, discuss them, and put them into social and political contexts.
POLI 52First-Year Seminar: Friendship in Political Thought3
This seminar will explore what relationships have been designated "friendship" in the past, and why they are of such concern to political and ethical philosophers like Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Montaigne, and Emerson. Honors version available.
POLI 57First-Year Seminar: Democratic Governance in Contemporary Latin America3
This seminar explores challenges in democratic governance in contemporary Latin America. With important regional variations, the exercise of state power reflects historical continuities of corruption, patronage politics, and other abuses of state resources. There are also demands for accountability and transparency across the region and more independent judiciaries.
POLI 59First-Year Seminar: Revolution, America in 1776 and France in 17893
We examine the political theory of revolution at two dramatic moments in history: The American Revolution and The French Revolution. This course is throws students into New York City in 1775 and Paris in 1791 by recreating and engaging with the ideas and arguments of these times through two, role-immersive simulations.
Examines recent developments in the European integration process by exploring the potential for political contestation concerning European Union matters in national politics. Familiarizes students with the main theoretical approaches and the extensive empirical work dealing with the effects of European integration.
POLI 631European Security: The Enlarging European Union and the Trans-Atlantic Relationship3
Permission of the instructor for undergraduates. Since the collapse of communism from 1989 to 1991, the European Union has faced a fundamentally different geopolitical neighborhood and an evolving relationship with the United States. We will explore how Europe has addressed new challenges to its security in its neighborhood and beyond.
Permission of the instructor for undergraduates. This seminar introduces students to basic theoretical approaches to both international relations and the European Union by focusing on the European Union's external relations and foreign policies.
This course compares climate change policies of the European Union and the United States within the context of global climate policy and institutions. By investigating climate change policy, students will gain an understanding of the policy processes in the EU and US. The course also introduces climate policy in EU member states and US states. Students engage in active learning exercises and produce a final research paper.
POLI 636EU Foreign Policy in Times of Uncertainty3
This research-intensive seminar examines the evolution of EU foreign policy amid growing global uncertainty and internal contestation. Organized around thematic modules, the course explores how the EU navigates key domains--security, climate, trade, migration, and digital governance--while balancing normative commitments and strategic interests. Students engage critically with challenges such as de-Europeanization, norm contestation, and polarization, analyzing how external shocks like Russia's invasion of Ukraine reshape policy responses. Combining theory-driven scholarship with official EU sources, the course culminates in an individual term paper and includes a Diplomacy Lab component on Arctic security and EU-U.S. coordination.
POLI 698Philosophy, Politics, and Economics: Capstone Course3
Permission of the department. The Capstone Seminar is the final course in the PPE sequence. The seminar has two components: a set of readings that focus on cutting edge work at the intersection of Philosophy, Political Science, and Economics and individual research projects selected in consultation with the instructor. The project involves giving a presentation to, and getting feedback from, seminar participants, and culminates in a final research paper. Throughout, participants will be actively engaging with each other, deepening their understanding of core concepts and tools of PPE, and applying them to specific issues.
POLI 700Core Seminar on American Political Institutions3
An overview of research on American politics that introduces students to a wide range of substantive understandings and theoretical perspectives. POLI 700 emphasizes American political institutions.
POLI 701Core Seminar on American Political Behavior3
An overview of research on American politics that introduces students to a wide range of substantive understandings and theoretical perspectives. POLI701 emphasizes mass political behavior.
This course examines diverse theoretical perspectives on national institutional change and stability, using as our institutional focus the United States Congress between 1789 and 1989.
Survey of recent literature on the politics of judicial institutions and the behavior of judges, lawyers, litigants, and other actors in the judicial process, emphasizing relationships between judicial and other policy-making processes.
Race is at the center of American politics. Everything from voting rights to education policy to the quality of drinking water is shaped by race. This graduate seminar will focus on race in US politics, and while readings will cover multiple racial groups, Black politics will receive the most attention. My goal is that you will leave this course with a broad understanding of how central race is to understanding American politics.
POLI 708Seminar in Subnational Politics and Policy3
This course surveys the major topics and research programs in subnational American politics and policy, with special attention to the vertical and horizontal intergovernmental interactions inherent within federal political systems.
The learning process by which individuals acquire values, attitudes, and norms affecting their behavior in the political community, with emphasis on major agencies of socialization: family, schools, peer groups, and media.
This course surveys and evaluates current and past research in political psychology. Topics may include: personality, attitudes and values, socialization, political reasoning, information processing, decision making, political identity, and political affect.
POLI 716Organized Interests in United States Politics3
The course examines the major theories and empirical research on how organized interests mobilize and maintain themselves, interact within populations, exercise influence through lobbying, and impact public policy. It includes the full range of interest organizations operating in American politics at any level and in all institutional venues.
This class will focus on theoretical and empirical approaches to the study of agenda-setting in both American and comparative settings. Begins in the 1950s through current literature, covering a wide range of methodological approaches. Assignments include participation in seminar discussion, short papers on readings, and substantial original research paper.
POLI 72First-Year Seminar: Entrepreneurship in Community and Economic Development3
This is a survey course of entrepreneurial strategies as they are used in community and economic development. It involves an individual research or service project by each student.
The role(s), function(s), and strategy of public administrators in the formulation, adoption, and implementation of public policies. Policy from the perspective of the policy maker; cases exploring the relationship of theories to actual policy processes. Spring.
Alternative explanation of public policies and policy-making processes; introduction to policy analysis as a way to inform choices among policy options; policy implementation through administrative practices and procedures.
POLI 723Approaches to Conflict Transformation: Theory and Practice of Peacebuilding Across Contexts3
In this course, students will learn about a variety of mechanisms for resolving or transforming conflict on interpersonal, community, state, and international levels. The pedagogy of this course will be both theoretical and practical. Through readings, assignments, and class discussion, we will wrestle with questions about the efficacy, significance, and ethical implications of various methods of conflict transformation; and we will learn some techniques of conflict resolution from experienced practitioners.
POLI 725Public Administration Analysis and Evaluation II3
Second course in a two-course sequence introducing students to applied research design, data collection, data management, data analysis, and analytical reporting to allow students to conduct original research, be informed consumers of other research, and ultimately improve public program planning and evaluation decisions.
Conflict and cooperation among governmental officials representing national, state, and local governments in the United States; changing roles of governments and new mechanisms for intergovernmental collaboration.
This class will focus on the theoretical and empirical studies of individual and collective framing. Readings will be from journalism, sociology, psychology, and political science and will include both US-based and comparative studies. Assignments include participation in seminar discussion, short papers on readings, and substantial original research paper.
Application of theories and techniques of policy analysis and planning to current public problems for actual clients. Focus on design and execution of policy research, and interpretation and presentation of results.
Explores the psychological underpinnings of collective politics from the perspective of both individuals and groups. Political behaviors examined include deliberation, protest, nationalism, and intergroup conflict.
POLI 730Comparative Political Research and Analysis3
The seminar introduces the beginning graduate student to the central issues and major developments in the field of comparative government and politics.
The theories, concepts, and mechanisms of political change, with particular attention to processes of development and modernization in the new nations of Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
POLI 732Political Economy of Multilevel Government3
The vertical distribution of governmental authority is changing around the world. Decision making, resources, and power are shifting downward (to state and local governments) and upward (to supra-national bodies like the European Union, other regional or international organizations). This course examines theories and empirical studies that explore the causes and consequences of these trends.
Political behavior of the public in cross-national or non-American settings. Political culture, belief systems, participation, protest, revolution, voting behavior, civic behavior, socialization, and media.
A cross-national examination of functions, career patterns, role behavior, and relationships of bureaucratic elites within the context of national political systems. Research on particular countries is emphasized.
POLI 736Political Transitions and Democratization in Comparative Perspective3
Examination of contrasting theoretical approaches to understanding democracy. Comparative study of Africa, Eastern Europe, and Latin America elucidates challenges and opportunities that affect possibilities for democratization and consolidation.
Political thinking of politicians and civil servants in domestic and foreign policy. Perception, cognition, learning, attitude change and persuasion, aging, motivation, emotions, and personality.
POLI 74First-Year Seminar: Introduction to Constitutional Conflicts3
This seminar will introduce students to the issues, arguments, history, impact, and reasoning arising from or in conflicts between presidents and Congress. The constitutional conflicts that are the focus of the course involve presidents and Congress fighting for primacy in areas in which they have shared constitutional powers.
POLI 741Latin American Politics: Research and Analysis3
Reviews major works and theoretical perspectives in the literature, assesses contemporary political science research on Latin America, and examines problems of field research.
POLI 742Political Economy of Latin American Development3
Examines effects of state, regime-type, and political processes on agricultural and industrial policy in Latin America. Also considers the informal economy, international debt, and relationship between policy and politicization.
POLI 743Seminar on United States - Latin American Relations3
Analysis of the central conceptual concerns and major theoretical approaches to the study of inter-American relations, with a focus on United States foreign policy toward the region.
POLI 744African Politics: Challenges of Democratization and Development3
Study of the politics of development in contemporary Africa, with emphasis on changing state society relations, the roles of peasants and women in politics, and prospects for democratization.
Capstone course for the REEES concentration in the Global Studies MA program. Interdisciplinary course focusing on the variety of problems encountered by the societies of East European countries and successor states of the former Soviet Union in their transition from communism to democracy.
Diversity is sometimes cited as a facilitator of political cooperation but more often it is considered a challenge for constructive civic engagement. This course engages the ways in which different forms of diversity (e.g., racial, ethnic, religious, linguistic, gender, national-origin, sexuality) and politics interact across a wide range of societies.
This course covers the politics of government budgets. It focuses on the sources of revenue (taxation, foreign aid, national resources, and debt) as well as levels of redistribution in a comparative perspective.
This seminar explores the notion of a rule of law, statutory and case law, legal analysis, and the realities of the adversarial system and legal practice. Students will be engaged in analytical thinking and expression through classroom discussion, analytical papers, and examinations.
Introduction to the central issues and major theoretical developments in the field of international relations, focusing on system structure, political and security issues, and decision making.
Introduction to the central issues and major theoretical developments in the field of international relations, focusing on the politics of international economic relations, law and organization, and fundamental system change.
This course is an introduction to the field of foreign policy analysis. Its primary goal is to expose students to the theories and methods of foreign policy research and analysis.
POLI 759Research in Cooperation and Conflict Processes3
Advanced doctoral-level course. Builds off POLI 750 to explore current lines of research on conflict and cooperation. Each student will develop potential research projects and one expanded research project. The project should be suitable for subsequent development into a thesis and/or publication. Course focuses on research and the research process.
When a society is deeply divided along racial, ethnic, religious or linguistic lines, this classical model brings the risk that the majoritarian segment of society always stays in power.
This class focuses on two different types of global migrants, immigrants and refugees, and explores why these two groups move out of their countries and how they are treated by receiving countries. Immigrants and refugees have traditionally been thought of as politically, legally, and ethically different from each other and this class explores these differences, but it also explores the many ways that they are similar.
Survey of issues and problems in American political thought, with analysis of major thinkers and selected topics and emphasis on the role of family, society, and economy in political theory.
An in-depth study of the primary and secondary literature on one or two major figures in the history of political thought (e.g., Plato, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Marx).
POLI 78First-Year Seminar: The Politics of Migration in Europe3
Europe is facing numerous complex issues ranging from economic uncertainty and rising populism to integrating migrants and respecting minority rights. A common thread running through these issues is the movement of people across national borders. This class examines how the movement of people into Europe and within Europe affects, and in turn is affected by, the politics in Europe, which are quite different from the politics in the United States. Drawing comparisons between Europe and the U.S. is an important feature of this class.
Permission of the instructor. A discussion of the theory and process of political analysis, including philosophy of science, research design, the methods of drawing causal inferences, and of generating data.
A critical examination of models of political inquiry. Empirical (naturalist), interpretive, and critical metatheories are considered in terms of each model's ontological, epistemological, and practical/political consequences and presuppositions.
Introduction to probability theory and basic principles of statistical inference, including estimation and tests of hypotheses; basic programming in R.
Introduction to causal inference techniques, with an emphasis on applications in Political Science and other Social Sciences. The course adopts a design-based perspective, clearly differentiating between identification assumptions which guide the treatment assignment process and the probabilistic models that generate outcomes. After defining frameworks based on potential outcomes and causal graphs, we focus on techniques for designing and analyzing experimental and observational studies.
POLI 787Advanced Topics in Political Data Science3
Survey of important contemporary trends in advanced data analysis. Likely topics include multilevel models, measurement models, machine learning, modeling dependence, and advanced computation in R.
POLI 788Statistics and Data Analysis for Political Science and Policy Research3
This course focuses on the application of statistical analysis to quantitative data in order to study theoretically and substantively interesting questions about politics and policy.
This class provides graduate students with an introduction to game theoretic modeling, focusing on noncooperative game theory. Topics covered include normal form games, extensive-form games, and games of incomplete information.
POLI 79First-Year Seminar: Global Politics of Climate Change3
Introduces politics of climate change policy at international, EU, US, state, and substate levels through readings, documentary films, and guest speakers.
This seminar surveys applications of rational choice models across the subfields of political science. It also considers critiques of national choice approaches and alternative theoretical approaches to modeling human behavior.
This course is designed for students who desire greater proficiency in the more advanced topics. The course focuses on games of incomplete information that are widely used in political science like signaling and cheap-talk games and on topics that are starting to play a prominent role like principal agents models.
POLI 792Research Seminar in Political Communication3
Participants consider the scientific literature and conduct innovative research. Topics focus on different media institutions' structure, political actors' communication strategies, and the ways that citizens engage with social, print, and electronic media. The aim is to better understand political news, public opinion, and the character of electoral democracy.
POLI 799 includes both an internship and an academic component. The student intern is required to work at least 8 hours per week, for a minimum of 100 hours, at the internship agency. In addition to the hours worked, the student must, under the supervision of the faculty supervisor, write a research paper or complete a comparable project, and keep a journal of internship activities.
POLI 80First-Year Seminar: African-American Politics and Economic Inequality3
This course explores African-American political development from emancipation to the present, with a central focus on economic inequality. Special attention will be paid to the experiences and contributions of African-Americans in the struggle against economic inequality in the United States.
The relationships between social structure and political decisions. Regimes and social structure; bureaucracies, political associations, and professions; science and politics; closed and open politics; political movements and change.
Reading and research in selected topics. Focus in recent years has included global news flow, communication and social change, communication in the collapse of communism, Western dominance in international communication, global culture, and the influence of technology.
One credit course designed to enhance students' understanding of transatlantic studies through lectures from and discussion with experts in the field. Topics will focus on European Union and/or United States foreign and domestic politics as well as on contemporary transatlantic relations.
POLI 853Political Economy of International Money and Finance3
Investigates the linkages between politics and economics in various realms of global finance, including exchange rates, sovereign debt, and foreign direct investment. Consider efforts to govern global finance, as well as the intersections between domestic politics and the international economy. Classical works and recent research in this area.
Reviews alternative data collection techniques used in surveys, concentrating on the impact these techniques have on the quality of survey data. Topics covered include errors associated with nonresponse, interviewing, and data processing.
Examines the stages of questionnaire design including developmental interviewing, question writing, question evaluation, pretesting, questionnaire ordering, and formatting. Reviews the literature on questionnaire construction. Provides hands-on experience in developing questionnaires.
POLI 880Design and Analysis of Experiments and Surveys3
Introduction to the use of experimental and survey research methods in political science. Topics include: factorial designs, repeated measures design, ANOVA, sampling theory, survey errors and costs, and questionnaire design.
This course is designed to train graduate students to serve as teaching assistants. It will focus on how to teach at UNC and how to run a good section. Topics covered will include rules and regulations, resources available through student services, emergency procedures, classroom management, how to stimulate discussion and keep up participation, and how to develop supplementary syllabi.
POLI 883Introduction to Bayesian Modeling for Political & Social Research3
Introduction to Bayesian modeling and data analysis. The course focuses on basic Bayesian and MCMC theory, as well as applications in the context of common regression and measurement models, including multilevel (generalized) linear models, mixture models, item-response theory models and models for text classification. Basic knowledge of mathematical statistics is desirable, and working knowledge of both the R programming language and the maximum likelihood estimation framework is required.
The purpose of this course is to provide students with an introduction to behavioral decision research and its applications. Behavioral decision research is intensely interdisciplinary, employing concepts and tools from economics, statistics, and other disciplines, as well as the core discipline of psychology. BDR has had an impact on the fields of medicine, law, military science, environmental sciences, and public policy.
POLI 888Applying Data Analysis to Transatlantic Studies3
This course is designed to get students to expand multivariate data analysis skills and to think critically about the presentation of information in professional settings and the media. A key goal is to give participants the confidence to critically evaluate whether the presentation of data is professionally sound. Another central goal is to expand skills in multivariate analysis by engaging in a semester-long research project that culminates in a publication quality paper.
