Political Science Courses | 2026-2027 Graduate Catalog | SIU

Seminars in empirical research methods (A) Research Design. Course covers quantitative and qualitative empirical studies of politics.

Credit Hours: 3

Seminars in empirical research methods (B) Statistical Data Analysis in Political Science I. Provides a foundation in univariate and bivariate descriptive statistics; inferential statistics including hypothesis testing about population parameters, bivariate and multivariate relationships, measures of association, and correlation; and an introduction to linear regression. Lab fee: $50.

Credit Hours: 3

Seminars in empirical research methods. (C) Statistical Data Analysis in Political Science II. Provides in-depth instruction in multiple regression including assumptions of linear model, diagnostics and corrections for violation; estimating models using categorical dependent variables, nonlinear relationships, interactions, and extensions to advanced techniques as time allows. Prerequisite: POLS 500B (or permission of instructor). Lab fee: $50.

Credit Hours: 3

Advanced seminar in empirical research methods. Topics will vary by instructor. Lab fee: $50.

Credit Hours: 3-6

Focus on research strategies involving the systematic exploration, documentation and analytic description of social settings, interactions, meanings, lifeworlds and texts. Includes discussion of field observation, depth interviewing, oral histories/narratives, case studies, biographies and life histories, focus group interviewing, content analysis of written and visual data, historical/archival investigations, among other approaches.

Credit Hours: 3

Topic will vary with instructor. Student should see director of graduate studies for advanced syllabus.

Credit Hours: 3

An overview of the study of political behavior in American and comparative politics.

Credit Hours: 3

Provides an introduction to the academic study of media and politics. The primary objective is to introduce graduate students to seminal theory and research and contemporary contributions in the study of media, politics, and political communication.

Credit Hours: 3

(Same as ANTH 518, SOC 518) Emphasis is on the development of teaching skills and pedagogical knowledge for instructors in the social sciences. Students will explore different perspectives on developing syllabi, presenting material, creating assignments, grading, and handling classroom obstacles. Students will consider the issues of race, class, and gender in the classroom and discuss the future of online teaching. Students will gain hands-on teaching experience, develop a teaching portfolio with a syllabus, create course exercises, and cultivate a teaching philosophy.

Credit Hours: 3

Provides an overview of survey methodology. Students will learn how to administer surveys for use in political science and public administration. Topics include psychology of asking and answering questions; constructing questions and questionnaires; evaluating surveys; criteria for survey modes; sampling frames and sampling designs; and ethics for survey research methods.

Credit Hours: 3

This course is an advanced seminar in public law with a focus on gender, law and society. The course will engage with issues in feminist legal practice and the development of legal theories regarding gender. We will interrogate the relationship between theory and practice and the ways in which feminist jurisprudence has taken shape in the dynamics of this relationship.

Credit Hours: 3

A survey of the major literature in the field of public law at the graduate level.

Credit Hours: 3

An examination of legal systems around the world.

Credit Hours: 3

Advanced seminar in public law. Topics will vary by instructor.

Credit Hours: 3

Survey of the major literature in comparative politics at the graduate level.

Credit Hours: 3

This course provides students an overview of European integration and a better understanding of the functioning of the European Union. The course opens with a survey of historical developments in both Eastern and Western Europe from 1914 to 1989. After this historical overview, the institutions and policies of the European Union are studied in detail.

Credit Hours: 3

An advanced course examining gender systems and women's situations across cultures and countries. This course also studies the impact globalization has had on gender issues by looking at women's activism at international and transnational levels. Topics covered include women's political representation, gender and culture, women's social movements, gender and development, and gendered policy issues. Students who have completed POLS 456 or WGSS 446 are ineligible to enroll.

Credit Hours: 3

This course examines political developments in Russia and the other fourteen Soviet successor states that gained (or regained) independence following the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991. Particular attention is paid to the degree to which Soviet legacies of communist political institutions, state socialist economic policies and ethno-federalism continue to shape the politics and economics of these countries in the post-independence period.

Credit Hours: 3

Advanced seminar in comparative politics. Topics will vary by instructor.

Credit Hours: 3

Survey of the major literature in international relations at the graduate level.

Credit Hours: 3

An in-depth examination of the rules and practices governing states in their relations in peace and war. The goal of this course is to introduce students to international law as a global concept that binds nations, states, businesses, and individuals together, and also introduces students to major theories of international law within the fields of international relations and legal theory. Credit Hours: 3.

Credit Hours: 3

(Same as SOC 576) Examines empirical studies of religion and politics, including research on behavior, institutions, and movements. Topics include theories of religion, case studies of religious traditions, church and state relations, measurement of religion, and other topics on the intersection of religion and politics. Students who have completed POLS 476 or SOC 476 are ineligible to enroll.

Credit Hours: 3

Advanced seminar in empirical international relations. Topics will vary by instructor.

Credit Hours: 3

Selection, investigation and writing of a research paper under the personal supervision of a member of the department graduate staff. Prerequisite: completion of the appropriate pro-seminar for the field in which readings or individual research is to be done.

Credit Hours: 1-9

Supervised readings in "classics" of the discipline.

Credit Hours: 3

Supervised readings in "classics" of the discipline.

Credit Hours: 3

Supervised readings in "classics" of the discipline.

Credit Hours: 3

Supervised readings in "classics" of the discipline.

Credit Hours: 3

Designed to give the student an introduction to the major professional roles in the discipline. The requirements of teaching, research, publication and service are covered with discussion of where each fits into the professional role requirements and examples of how each is accomplished. Required of all Ph.D. and M.A. students in political science and other teaching assistants in political science. Graded S/U only.

Credit Hours: 1

Workshop in dissertation topic selection and prospectus writing; enrollment required prior to completing preliminary examinations.

Credit Hours: 1

Maximum of six hours to be counted toward a degree. Special approval needed from the instructor.

Credit Hours: 1-6

Minimum of 24 hours to be earned for the Doctor of Philosophy degree.

Credit Hours: 1-12

For those graduate students who have not finished their degree programs and who are in the process of working on their dissertation, thesis, or research paper. The student must have completed a minimum of 24 hours of dissertation research, or the minimum thesis, or research hours before being eligible to register for this course. Concurrent enrollment in any other course is not permitted. Graded S/U or DEF only.

Credit Hours: 1

Must be a Postdoctoral Fellow. Concurrent enrollment in any other course is not permitted.

Credit Hours: 1