Political Science
Political
Science courses
Political Science department home page
Director of undergraduate studies: Peter Swenson, 115 Prospect St., 432-5236, peter.swenson@yale.edu
FACULTY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE
Professors
Bruce Ackerman, Akhil Amar, Seyla Benhabib, Paul Bracken, David Cameron, Bryan Garsten, Alan Gerber, Donald Green, Jacob Hacker, Jolyon Howorth (Visiting), Stathis Kalyvas, Joseph LaPalombara (Emeritus), David Mayhew, Douglas Rae, John Roemer, Susan Rose-Ackerman, Frances Rosenbluth, Bruce Russett, Nicholas Sambanis, Kenneth Scheve, James Scott, Ian Shapiro, Stephen Skowronek, Steven Smith, Susan Stokes (Chair), Alec Stone Sweet, Peter Swenson, John Wargo, Elisabeth Wood
Associate Professors
Keith Darden, Thad Dunning, Gregory Huber, Pierre Landry, Ellen Lust
Assistant Professors
Christopher Blattman, Khalilah Brown-Dean, John Bullock, Daniel Butler, Seok-ju Cho, Alexandre Debs, Samuel DeCanio, Ana De La O, Justin Fox, Susan Hyde, Sigrun Kahl, Hélène Landemore, Adria Lawrence, Karuna Mantena, Andrew March, Nikolay Marinov, Nuno Monteiro, Paulina Ochoa Espejo, Ato Kwamena Onoma, Eleanor Powell, Jun Saito, Vivek Sharma, Ebonya Washington, Jessica Weiss
Senior Lecturers
Boris Kapustin, David Smith
Lecturers
Harry Blair, Thomas Donahue, Alexandra Dufresne, Cynthia Farrar, Stanley Flink, Michael Fotos, Stuart Gottlieb, Elizabeth Hanson, Cynthia Horan, Allison Kingsley, William Kissick, Matthew Kocher, Jean Krasno, Stephen Latham, Mark Oppenheimer, David Simon, James Sleeper, John Bryan Starr, Jennifer Steen, Daniel Tauss, Robin Theurkauf, Harry Wexler
Students majoring in Political Science are expected to choose a member of the Political Science faculty as an adviser. Students are also encouraged to seek advice from other members of the department working in their particular field of interest. Majors must secure written approval of course selections each term from the adviser or another member of the department faculty. All subsequent changes in a student's major program must also be approved. Seniors' schedules must be approved by the director of undergraduate studies.
Students are urged to take the initiative in shaping a coherent program suited to their interests. If they intend to write a senior essay requiring substantial empirical analysis, students should plan to acquire sufficient training in statistics or other methods, as appropriate. Students should consult with their advisers frequently. The director of undergraduate studies and other members of the department can give advice about special programs or problems. Opportunities for two majors, study abroad, and work-and-study arrangements are normally discussed with the director of undergraduate studies.
The standard major. Eleven term courses of political science are required. (One term of DRST 005a, 006b may count as a political science course.) To fulfill the standard major's distributional requirement, students must take two courses each in three of the five fields of political science—international relations, American government, political philosophy, analytical political theory, and comparative government. Students expecting to major in Political Science should take several introductory-level courses in the department early in their college careers. This allows a student to make an informed choice of a field for specialization. Introductory courses count toward the overall course requirement and toward the distributional requirement. Students are also urged to take related offerings in other departments. They may petition to have appropriate courses in other departments count toward the requirements for the major. College seminars count only when taught by a member of the Political Science faculty.
Senior requirement. Students majoring in Political Science are required to take at least two seminars taught by members of the Political Science department. One seminar must be taken in the senior year. Admission to seminars is at the instructor's discretion. Students must complete a substantial paper, as described in "Senior essays" below, in at least one class taken during the senior year, either a seminar or a course specifically designated for that purpose (PLSC 480a or b). Senior essays are due on the last day of classes in the term in which the essay is written. In order to graduate from Yale College, a student majoring in Political Science must achieve a passing grade on the senior essay by the end of the senior year.
Seminar preregistration. Political Science majors are given first preference for admission to department seminars. The department has instituted a preregistration system that allows instructors of seminars to preregister up to twelve majors prior to the start of each term. The system is administered by the office of the director of undergraduate studies. All majors are eligible to participate in the preregistration system.
Senior essays. The senior essay provides an appropriate intellectual culmination to the student's work in the major and in Yale College. It should ordinarily be written on a topic in an area in which the student has previously done course work. It should rest on extensive research that is appropriate to the subject matter. The suggested length is approximately twenty-five double-spaced pages. Students must have their senior essay topic approved by a faculty member who has agreed to advise the essay at the beginning of the term in which the essay is written. The student should consult regularly with the seminar instructor or adviser.
The yearlong senior essay. Students who wish to undertake a more extensive research project than is possible in a single term may fulfill the senior requirement by enrolling in the two-term course sequence PLSC 490a, The Senior Colloquium, and 491b, The Senior Essay. In PLSC 490a students develop a research prospectus for the senior essay and begin their research. PLSC 490a counts as a seminar in the major. In PLSC 491b students write the essay under the supervision of a member of the faculty who specializes in the area being investigated by the student. Yearlong senior essays are expected to be substantially longer than a regular term paper. While there is no fixed length, yearlong essays are normally expected to be fifty to sixty pages in length. Yearlong senior essays are due on the last day of classes in the spring term.
Admission to the yearlong senior essay. Majors who wish to enroll in the yearlong senior essay apply for admission in the spring of their junior year. The deadline for the Class of 2011 is April 2, 2010. Students should submit to the office of the director of undergraduate studies: (1) a two-page statement of project, signed by a faculty adviser who has agreed to supervise the student's essay, and (2) an up-to-date transcript. Normally a successful candidate will have at least an A– average in political science courses and a B+ average outside the major. It is expected that no more than fifteen students will be admitted.
The major with an interdisciplinary concentration. Students majoring in Political Science may choose an interdisciplinary concentration, which allows them to pursue an area of study that crosses conventional disciplinary and department boundaries. Examples of interdisciplinary concentrations are international studies, urban studies, health politics and policy, and political economy. Students choosing such a concentration are required to take twelve term courses toward the major, at least seven of which must be in the field of concentration. As many as three courses in the concentration may be taken in other departments, with the approval of the director of undergraduate studies. In addition to taking seven courses in their field of concentration, interdisciplinary concentration majors must take two courses in each of two other fields in the department. The senior requirement is the same as for the standard major, with the proviso that the essay must be written on a subject that falls within the field of concentration.
The intensive major. The intensive major gives students an opportunity to undertake extensive research on a topic of interest. To carry out this research, the student takes PLSC 474b, a directed reading and research course, in the sixth term of enrollment. In the seventh term the student takes PLSC 490a, the Senior Colloquium (see above under "The yearlong senior essay"). In the eighth term the student takes PLSC 493b, the independent senior essay course for intensive majors. All other requirements for the intensive major are identical to those for the standard major or interdisciplinary concentration major.
Admission to the intensive major. Juniors wishing to pursue an intensive major must apply to the director of undergraduate studies by November 20, 2009. Admission is based on performance and promise. The director of undergraduate studies and the prospective senior essay adviser serve as advisers to candidates for the intensive major in the junior year.
REQUIREMENTS OF THE MAJOR
Prerequisites: None
Number of courses: Standard major—11 term courses; Interdisciplinary concentration—12 term courses
Distribution of courses: Standard major—2 courses in each of 3 fields; Interdisciplinary concentration—2 courses in each of 2 fields in addition to 7 in field of concentration
Substitution permitted: Standard major—relevant courses by petition to DUS; Interdisciplinary concentration—up to 3 courses in other depts with DUS approval; other courses by petition to DUS
Intensive major: 11 term courses; 2 courses in each of 3 fields; PLSC 474b, 490a, 493b; Intensive major with interdisciplinary concentration—12 term courses as specified, up to 3 of which may be from other depts; PLSC 474b, 490a, 493b
Senior requirement: 2 sems, 1 in senior year, and senior essay
