PENN STATE

FALL 2024

+ PLSC-501: Methods of Political Analysis (graduate)

This course introduces students to the logic that guides the social scientific study of politics. In contrast to PLSC 502, 503, and 504, which focus on the analysis of data, this seminar focuses on the fundamentals of social scientific inquiry, theory building, and research design that precede data analysis. In 2008, Donald Rubin coined a now ubiquitous phrase: “Design trumps analysis.” In this course, we’re going to think about what this means and why this is. The course will provide students with the tools necessary to 1) distinguish theories from facts and assertions; 2) derive testable and falsifiable hypotheses from theory; and 3) design research projects, conduct research, and communicate results. We will consider the components of good research design as we cover a variety of methods used in contemporary political science research. The course is designed to encourage students to think more deeply about their own research interests and improve their ability to evaluate the research of others. Topics include concepts and measurement, design in experimental and observational settings, qualitative methodology, survey sampling and selection, comparisons of small-N and large-N designs, and approaches to scientific inference.

+ PLSC-552: Comparative Political Behavior (graduate)

This course explores mass politics, elections, and political behavior in comparative perspective using the tools of quantitative social science. The primary goals of the course are to provide students with an overview of the field and to prepare students to conduct research. We will focus on the intellectual evolution of the field, canonical debates, and emerging questions and controversies. The course will proceed thematically: each week will cover a different research area. For each research area, we will focus both on foundational texts and recent research. This approach will encourage students to think critically about how innovative research design can generate new insights into key debates in comparative politics. Because student interest in different research areas varies, topics may change across semesters. These topics include voter behavior, political participation, and turnout; political parties and partisanship; electoral institutions; class identification and economic voting; representation; identity; ideology; clientelism; protest; and religion. Methodological questions central to the comparative study of political behavior will be introduced alongside these substantive research areas. Canonical work in the field draws primarily from evidence from advanced democracies in Europe and North America. But we will also emphasize a growing body of scholarship that incorporates insights from across the Global South and, where appropriate, non-democratic contexts.

SPRING 2024

+ PLSC-550: Comparative Politics: Theory and Methodology (graduate)

"Comparative Politics: Theory and Methodology" is the core seminar for the subfield of comparative politics in the Ph.D. in Political Science program. The course introduces students to the subfield, its intellectual evolution, and emerging questions and controversies. Throughout the semester, we will read and discuss both foundational theoretical work and more recent empirical research that applies existing theories to the developed and developing world. The primary goals of the course are to prepare students for a research career in comparative politics and to introduce doctoral candidates to the readings they will need to know for the comprehensive examination in comparative politics. The course will proceed thematically: each week we will discuss a subset of the relevant literature and focus our learning on a major theme, question, or debate. Important methodological approaches are addressed in the context of these substantive and theoretical works.

+ PLSC-497: Politics of the Contemporary Middle East and North Africa (undergraduate)

This course introduces students to questions and debates concerning the contemporary politics of the Middle East and North Africa. For decades, the region has occupied the imagination of policymakers, journalists, and scholars. What explains the persistence of forms of authoritarian rule? Do elections, civil society organizations, and public opinion matter? How do religious, tribal, and other collective identities organize political and social life? Does oil play a role in economic inequality and underdevelopment? Why do ordinary people mobilize and protest for political change? Over the course of the semester, students will learn to think critically about these and other questions animating the contemporary politics of the Middle East and North Africa. Students will use insights from social and political theory to evaluate empirical trends in politics, society, and economics in the region. We will explore the major concepts and theories political scientists use to study phenomena such as the state, regimes, religion, identity, and popular protest. By adopting an approach that is both critical and comparative, students will develop an understanding of the region’s politics grounded in its underlying social and political dynamics.

SPRING 2023

+ PLSC-552: Comparative Political Behavior (graduate)

This course explores mass politics, elections, and political behavior in comparative perspective using the tools of quantitative social science. The primary goals of the course are to provide students with an overview of the field and to prepare students to conduct research. We will focus on the intellectual evolution of the field, canonical debates, and emerging questions and controversies. The course will proceed thematically: each week will cover a different research area. For each research area, we will focus both on foundational texts and recent research. This approach will encourage students to think critically about how innovative research design can generate new insights into key debates in comparative politics. Because student interest in different research areas varies, topics may change across semesters. These topics include voter behavior, political participation, and turnout; political parties and partisanship; electoral institutions; class identification and economic voting; representation; identity; ideology; clientelism; protest; and religion. Methodological questions central to the comparative study of political behavior will be introduced alongside these substantive research areas. Canonical work in the field draws primarily from evidence from advanced democracies in Europe and North America. But we will also emphasize a growing body of scholarship that incorporates insights from across the Global South and, where appropriate, non-democratic contexts.

+ PLSC-497: Politics of the Contemporary Middle East and North Africa (undergraduate)

This course introduces students to questions and debates concerning the contemporary politics of the Middle East and North Africa. For decades, the region has occupied the imagination of policymakers, journalists, and scholars. What explains the persistence of forms of authoritarian rule? Do elections, civil society organizations, and public opinion matter? How do religious, tribal, and other collective identities organize political and social life? Does oil play a role in economic inequality and underdevelopment? Why do ordinary people mobilize and protest for political change? Over the course of the semester, students will learn to think critically about these and other questions animating the contemporary politics of the Middle East and North Africa. Students will use insights from social and political theory to evaluate empirical trends in politics, society, and economics in the region. We will explore the major concepts and theories political scientists use to study phenomena such as the state, regimes, religion, identity, and popular protest. By adopting an approach that is both critical and comparative, students will develop an understanding of the region’s politics grounded in its underlying social and political dynamics.

FALL 2022

+ PLSC-497: Politics of the Contemporary Middle East and North Africa (undergraduate)

This course introduces students to questions and debates concerning the contemporary politics of the Middle East and North Africa. For decades, the region has occupied the imagination of policymakers, journalists, and scholars. What explains the persistence of forms of authoritarian rule? Do elections, civil society organizations, and public opinion matter? How do religious, tribal, and other collective identities organize political and social life? Does oil play a role in economic inequality and underdevelopment? Why do ordinary people mobilize and protest for political change? Over the course of the semester, students will learn to think critically about these and other questions animating the contemporary politics of the Middle East and North Africa. Students will use insights from social and political theory to evaluate empirical trends in politics, society, and economics in the region. We will explore the major concepts and theories political scientists use to study phenomena such as the state, regimes, religion, identity, and popular protest. By adopting an approach that is both critical and comparative, students will develop an understanding of the region’s politics grounded in its underlying social and political dynamics.

YALE UNIVERSITY

SPRING 2021

+ MMES-316: Public Opinion and Political Behavior in the Middle East (undergraduate)

This course introduces students to the empirical study of Middle East and North African politics and society. Increasingly, policymakers, journalists, and experts are using new sources of data to analyze regional politics. The sources of protest and revolution, the determinants of electoral behavior, the appeal of political Islam, and the salience of identity are all questions that are amenable to data-driven analysis. In recent years, the amount of available data and the rise of publicly-available tools for collecting, analyzing, and visualizing these data have increased significantly. With a few clicks, students can now analyze the nature of support for Islamist parties across and within countries, explore the use of social media in mobilizing citizens for protest, and investigate the relationship between ethnic and communal identity and patterns of distributive politics. This course will introduce students to these tools and the principles behind their use in the context of the contemporary Middle East and North Africa. It will encourage students to combine insights from social and political theory with the methodologies of quantitative social science to probe some of the biggest questions animating the contemporary politics of the region.

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY

SPRING 2019

+ POL-346: Applied Quantitative Analysis, with Omar Wasow (undergraduate)

In a world awash in data, how can we distinguish signals from noise? This course focuses on developing an intuition for statistics and applying it through data analysis, regression models and a final project. We will wrestle with what makes a good research question, play with data to see how statistical methods can help us make sense of real world concerns, and work at communicating quantitative findings clearly to broad audiences. Particular attention will be paid to applying these techniques in Junior Papers and Senior Theses. Coursework involves using the R statistical platform.

SPRING 2017

+ HIS-267 / NES-267: The Modern Middle East, with Max Weiss (undergraduate)

This course provides an introduction to the political, social, intellectual and cultural history of the Middle East from the late eighteenth century through the turn of the twenty-first, with an emphasis on the Arab East, Iran, Israel and Turkey. Topics covered include: the end of the Ottoman and Qajar Empires; the integration of the Middle East into the world economy; the establishment of the Middle East state system; the political economy of oil; colonialism and imperialism; the development of political institutions, varieties of nationalism, and religious revivalism; Palestine and the Arab-Israeli conflict; women’s movements; literature and culture; gender and sexuality; and political Islam.

FALL 2016

+ NES-269 / POL-353: The Politics of Modern Islam, with Bernard Haykel (undergraduate)

This course examines the political dimensions of Islam. This will involve a study of the nature of Islamic political theory, the relationship between the religious and political establishments, the characteristics of an Islamic state, the radicalization of Sunni and Shi‘i thought, and the compatibility of Islam and the nation-state, democracy, and constitutionalism, among other topics. Although detailed country studies will not be made, there will be references to specific examples throughout the course. Students will be introduced to the complex phenomenon of modern political Islam or what is commonly known as Islamism. We will consider the writings of academics and Islamists on the subject and examine the main issues they perceive to be at stake. Here, a wide spectrum of opinion will be provided: Shi‘i as well as Sunni ideologues and activists, think tank analysts and American and European academics.

HARVARD UNIVERSITY

SPRING 2012

+ DPI-413: Challenges of Democratization, with Pippa Norris (graduate)

This course covers the basic principles, theories, conceptual tools, and comparative methods useful for understanding the challenges of democracy and democratization. Events during the 'Arab spring' have highlighted transitions from autocracy in headline news, although this is far from a novel issue. Since the early-1970s, there have been successive 'waves' of regime change. The international development community has focused increased attention on the challenges of facilitating the transition from autocracy and the consolidation of democratic states. Advocates argue that democratic governance is a universal human right. Moreover this type of regime is also believed to help people live wealthier, healthier, and more secure lives. The process of democratization is thought to elect leaders who are more accountable and responsive to the needs of ordinary citizens, including the poor. Moreover, democratic governance is also believed to promote international peace and cooperation, reducing the causes of conflict and violence between and within states.