Ohio University
Graduate Catalog

Political Science


The Department of Political Science offers two graduate degrees: the Master of Arts in political science and the Master of Public Administration.

To begin graduate work on either of these degrees, you should have the equivalent of 27 hours of undergraduate work in political science, but applications will also be considered from persons with academic backgrounds in closely related areas or with relevant practical experience. Applications for admission to either program may be submitted in any quarter. Submission of Graduate Record Examination scores is recommended for applicants for financial aid but is not required. A number of departmental associateships are available to qualified applicants. Holders of associateships normally are expected to assist in the instruction of introductory courses or in research. Tuition scholarships also are available. To seek financial aid for the following year, you should submit application materials by March 1.

The M.A. program covers five major areas of political science: American politics, comparative politics, international relations, political theory and methodology, and public administration. General requirements are a minimum of 50 quarter hours of graduate work, of which at least half must be in one of the areas of concentration listed above. You may select either a thesis or nonthesis option for the degree, with an oral examination to be taken either on the thesis or on a reading list in your area of concentration. A certificate in public administration is available to those who concentrate in that field and take the required courses.

The M.P.A. is a specialized, professionally-oriented, interdisciplinary degree. This degree requires 70 hours of graduate work in public policy and administration including an administrative internship or equivalent experience.

The department works closely with the university's Center for International Studies, Contemporary History Institute, Women's Studies Program, and Institute for Local Government Administration and Rural Development.


Faculty


Political Science (POLS) Courses

501 American Constitutional Law (5)
Principles underlying American constitutional government. Consideration of leading cases with reference to interpretation of U.S. Constitution.
Gilliom.

502 American Constitutional Law (5)
Continuation of 501. See 501 for description.
Gilliom.

504 Civil Liberties (5)
Examination of selected civil liberties issues such as freedom of expression, freedom of religion, equality, rights of criminally accused, and rights of indigent.
Henderson.

505 American Political Parties (5)
Origin, growth, organization, and methods of parties. Suffrage, nominations, and elections. Role of parties in democracy.
Prisley.

506 Elections and Campaigns (5)
Examines nature of voter and rationality of voter decisions, impact of campaigns and their influence on election outcomes, techniques used in political campaigns, and role of elections in American society.
Richard, Tadlock.

508 Urban Public Administration (5)
Examines administration of urban programs, encounters between urban administration and program clientele. Focuses on agency-client relationships, professionalism, and public service.
Randolph.

509 Criminal Procedure (5)
Role, function, and problems of American judicial, prosecutory, policing, and correctional systems in political process. Relationship of law and social organization.
Eslocker.

510 Public Policy Analysis (5)
Examines stages of policy process, including policy formulation, implementation, and evaluation. Also discusses development and methods of policy analysis.
Baum, Mumper, Randolph.

511 Public Administration (5)
Development of administrative organizations, current ideas in organizational theory, nature of federal bureaucracy, fiscal management, and control of administrative action.
Baum, Manring, Mumper.

512 Public Personnel Administration (5)
Analysis of philosophy, problems, and procedures of public personnel management. Recruitment, training and promotion policies, position classification, and employer-employee relations.
Baum.

513 Administrative Law (5)
Organization, function, and procedures of selected national regulatory agencies. Principles affecting administrative discretion, administrative power over private rights, enforcement, and judicial control of administrative decisions.
Staff.

514 Organizational Theory and Politics (5)
Examination of central role of organizations in public life, presenting major theories of organizations, organizational behavior, and the individual's role in organization.
Burnier.

515 The American Presidency (5)
Analysis of office of national chief executive and its place in American political system: constitutional status and powers, functional development, and interrelationship of person and office.

Mumper.

517 Legislative Processes (5)
Examines the behavior of legislatures and legislators, the extent of their powers, and the tension between lawmaking and representation, concentrating primarily on the current era and the national level.
Richard, Tadlock.

518 Interest Groups in American Politics (5)
Organization and tactics of pressure groups and their impact on the policy-making process.
Burnier.

519 Gay and Lesbian Politics (5)
Explores emergence and ramifications of gay political activism in Western culture. Changing religious, psychological, legal, and political perceptions of homosexuality examined in historical perspective.
Hunt.

520 Women, Law, and Politics (5)
Focuses on political and legal position of women in U.S. Covers women's legal status, feminist movement, current issues, and public policy responses concerning women's position such as Equal Rights Amendment, marriage and divorce laws, affirmative action, abortion, and pay equity.
Richard.

524 Intergovernmental Relations in the U.S. (5)
Examines intergovernmental fiscal patterns among federal, state, and local governments and impact of fiscal transfers on local budgeting and finance administration. Also includes analysis of nonfiscal patterns such as federal program requirements, their impact on local administrative processes, and other pressures on local budgeting and finance.
Burnier.

525 Environmental and Natural Resources Politics (5)
Examines history, influence, and tactics of the U.S. environmental movement and the nature of conflict in environmental policy making at the local, state, and national levels. Emphasis on current environmental issues including air pollution, waste disposal, and use of public land.
Manring.

527 Formulation of American Foreign Policy (5)
Examines the domestic basis of United States foreign policy. Assesses how the foreign policy-making system operates within the Constitutional context. Considers the role of various governmental institutions, as well as the influence of public opinion, interest groups, and media in the foreign policy-making process.
Lambert.

529 Comparative Public Administration (5)
Examines and compares characteristics of comparative public administrative systems in various national settings.
Williams.

532 Policy Making in Russia (5)
Examines how Russian leadership deals with a number of major domestic problems.
Williams.

533 Russian Foreign Policy (5)
Analysis of foreign policies of Russia. Historical, ideological, strategic, and other influences.
Williams.

534 Government and Politics of Latin America (5)
Political systems of Latin America. Emphasis on power relationships and political obstacles to change in contemporary Latin America.
Walker.

535 Revolution in Latin America (5)
Revolution as theoretical concept and as practical reality in several Latin American countries. Special emphasis on Cuban and Nicaraguan revolutions.
Walker.

538 Government and Politics of Germany (5)
Analysis of political institutions, processes, and forces in contemporary Germany.
Bald.

539 Politics in France (5)
Major political processes, personalities, ideas, and institutions of modern France.
Barnes.

540 The Politics of Developing Areas (5)
Major theories and problems of political, sociocultural, and economic development in new nations of Asia, Africa, and Latin America, with special emphasis on heritage of colonialism, struggle for independence, and political adjustments to rapid social and technological change.
Hawes.

541 Government and Politics of Africa (5)
Development and structure of modern African states with emphasis on political processes in tropical Africa.
Aubrey.

545 Government and Politics of Japan (5)
Political institutions and processes of Japan with emphasis on developments since 1945.
Suzuki.

546 Government and Politics of China (5)
Political institutions and processes and major political developments in China, with emphasis on recent events.
Staff.

547A Government and Politics of Southeast Asia (5)
Traditional governments in Southeast Asia, Western colonialism, rise of nationalism, achievement of independence.
Hawes.

547B Government and Politics of Southeast Asia (5)
Deals with political developments in states of Southeast Asia in post-WWII period. Sequel to 547A; 547A is not a prerequisite.
Hawes.

552 Advanced International Relations (5)
In-depth analysis of various aspects of international relations including major theoretical approaches.
Kim.

555 International Law (5)
International law in interstate relations and in international organization.
Kim.

556 International Organization (5)
Nature, development, structure, and function of international organizations, with emphasis on United Nations.
Kim.

559 Arms Control and Disarmament (5)
Examines military force in nuclear age with special emphasis on strategy of nuclear deterrence, history of disarmament negotiations since WWII, arms control agreements, and case studies in current U.S.-Soviet arms control negotiations.
Bald.

563 The United States and Africa (5)
Origins and nature of American relations with African states, with emphasis on current American interests and policy.
Aubrey.

564 OAU and Africa (5)
An examination of the Organization of African Unity, its actions on various issues of interest to Africa, and the foreign policies of selected African states. The culmination of the course is participation in the annual model OAU meeting in Washington, D.C.
Baum, Aubrey.

571 Plato, Aristotle, and Premodern Political Thought (5)
Major figures and basic concepts characteristic of political thought in its ancient and medieval periods. Emphasis on original works of Plato, Aristotle, St. Augustine, St. Aquinas, and on developing one's own political values and theories.
White.

572 Modern Political Thought (5)
Basic philosophic conceptions of modern nation state. Using original works, evolution of nation state traced through philosophical literature from its Renaissance origins. Attention on both formative and critical perspectives, such as Machiavelli, Rousseau, and Emma Goldman, with emphasis upon evaluation of norms associated with modern state.
Henderson, Hunt, White.

573 Contemporary Political Thought (5)
19th and 20th century political theory. Focus on such contemporary philosophical and political issues as emergence of European socialist tradition, origins of human aggression, and human alienation. Attention given to selected theorists such as Marx, Freud, Gandhi, and Sartre.
Henderson, Hunt, White.

575 Studies in Political Thought (5)
Selected topics in political theory: anarchism, socialism, democratic theory, technology and politics, etc. Consult department for information about current course description and schedule.
Staff.

576A American Political Thought (5)
Considers origin and development of political ideas from colonial period through slave controversy.
Prisley.

576B American Political Thought (5)
Continuation of 576A. Begins with Social Darwinism and concludes with contemporary political ideas in America. Can be taken independently of 576A.
Prisley.

577 Legal Theory and Social Problems (5)
Examination of legal reasoning and normative values of judges, lawyers, legal theorists, and administrative agencies in shaping legal solutions to contemporary social problems. Emphasis on developing one's own political and legal values.
Henderson.

578 Feminist Political Theories and Movements (5)
Explores issues of power, powerlessness, oppression, and transcending oppression in the context of feminism as a human rights movement. Topics include origins and history of sexism and feminism, classic treatises of feminist political theory, contemporary theories from conservative to anarchist, visions of post-sexist futures, "her-story" of feminist movements, movement strategies and tactics, practical applications.
White.

579 Latin American Political Thought (5)
Evolution of Latin American political thought from conquest to present. Major emphasis on 20th century movements such as Democratic Left, progressive Catholic Left, and Marxist Revolutionary Left.
Walker.

581 Modern Political Analysis (5)
Problems of knowledge in social sciences, with emphasis on political science. Analysis of recent major theories or approaches in political science.
Dabelko.

582 Quantitative Political Analysis (5)
Relevance of scientific research techniques to study of politics.
Dabelko.

583 Statistical Package for Social Sciences (5)
Prereq: 582 or equiv. Use of microcomputers with SPSS/PC+ for statistical data analysis. Fundamental data analysis problems are examined in the context of computer applications to survey, aggregate, and experimental data. Students taking this course cannot receive credit for CS 522 or SOC 550.
Dabelko.

584 Management Skills for Public Administrators (5)
Practicum designed to introduce students to several management skills needed for success in public administration and to permit them to apply these skills in a classroom setting.
Baum.

586 Public Budgeting (5)
Examines politics, techniques, and policy consequences of public budgeting processes at federal, state, and local levels.
Weinberg.

587 Financial Management in Government (5)
Examines financial aspects of state and local governments. Concentrates on financial reporting, capital budgeting and debt, and investment strategies.
Weinberg.

590 Studies in Political Science (1-5)
Intensive study of special topics, including American government, international relations, political theory, and public administration.
Staff.

591 Research in Political Science (1-5, max 10)
Individual supervised research.
Staff.

592A Research in International Relations (1-5)
Individual supervised research or directed readings on selected aspects of international relations based on student's special interest.
Bald, Kim, Lambert, Molineu, Weitsman.

592B Research in American Politics (1-5)
Individual supervised research or directed readings on selected aspects of American government and politics based on student's special interest.
Burnier, Dabelko, Gilliom, Mumper, Prisley, Richard, Tadlock.

592C Research in Comparative Government (1-5)
Individual supervised research or directed readings on selected aspects of comparative government and politics based on student's special interest.
Aubrey, Barnes, Baum, Hawes, Suzuki, Walker, Williams.

592D Research in Public Administration (1-5)
Individual supervised research or directed readings on selected aspects of public administration based on student's special interest.
Baum, Burnier, Mumper, Randolph, Weinberg.

592E Research in Political Theory (1-5)
Individual supervised research or directed readings on selected aspects of political theory based on student's special interest.
Henderson, Hunt, White.

595 Internship Program (max 15)
Staff.

610 Seminar in American National Government (5, max 15)
Selected topics.

611 Seminar in Comparative Politics (5, max 15)
Selected topics.

612 Seminar in International Relations and Organization (5, max 15)
Selected topics and theoretical issues.

613 Seminar in Political Theory (5, max 15)
Selected topics.

614 Seminar in Public Administration (5, max 15)
648 Politics of Southeast Asia (5)
Analysis of major themes such as boundary problems, corruption, military, regional cooperation.
Hawes.

695 Thesis (1-10)
Staff.



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University Publications and the Computer Services Center revised this file (http://www.ohiou.edu/~gcat/95-97/areas/polisci.html) April 13, 1998.

Please e-mail comments or suggestions to "gcat@www.cats.ohiou.edu."