2021-2022 Course List

This course examines major schools in American legal thought from the dawn of the 20th century to the present day. Our focus will lie with turn-of-the century formalism; legal realism; the legal process school; law and economics; and critical legal studies. We will apply legal reasoning from these schools to selected controversial 20th-century Supreme Court cases on church-state issues, gay and lesbian rights, privacy rights, criminal defendants' rights and other issues as appropriate.

This course explores topics in public policy and public administration beyond what is covered in the existing curriculum. Students study specialized topics of current importance in the field. Specific topics will change depending on the term and instructor. May be retaken with a change of topic.

Politics of the natural environment (U.S. focus). Environmental and opposition values; roles of public opinion, Congress, presidency and courts in environmental policy making. Policy areas include: air/water pollution, climate change, hazardous/nuclear waste, sustainable development, and commons problems like overfishing.

A broadly based introduction to the issues, processes, and techniques of public sector labor relations.

The development of public personnel management in federal, state and local governments; strategic planning and policy making, position management, staffing, performance management, workplace relations.

This course explores topics in political institutions and process beyond what is covered in the existing curriculum. Students study specialized topics of current importance in the field. Specific topics will change depending on the term and instructor. May be retaken with a change of topic.

This course examines public opinion in American politics. Topics include the definition, nature and consequences of public opinion; political socialization; public opinion on selected issues; intergroup differences in public opinion, and public opinion polling methods.

United States Congress and state legislatures, with some cross-national comparisons. Legislative structure, powers; districting, elections, representation, constituency relations; committee system, parties, law-making process, rules and procedure, decision-making, relations with executives and courts. Reforms.

Examination of executive politics in United States at a federal and state level, with some cross-national comparisons. United States presidency and executive branch, governors and state executive branches, mayors, and other local executives.

An examination of the structure, jurisdiction and processes of federal and state courts. Also studied are judicial decision-making, the selection of judges and justices. Same as LAWE 437.

The course examines politics in the American South. It examines the historical and cultural roots of Southern distinctiveness, traditionalistic political culture, racial conflicts, hostility toward organized labor, religious fundamentalism, tolerance of state violence, and social and moral conservatism. Major attention is paid to the realignment of white Southerners toward the Republican Party.

Field placement with a governmental agency or related organization. Provides a learning experience in which the student can integrate and apply knowledge and theory derived from curriculum. P/N only.

Advanced study and research on topics not currently available in existing courses. May be repeated with a change of topic. Requires advisor and instructor approval of topic.

This course explores topics in political philosophy beyond what is covered in the existing curriculum. Students study specialized topics of current importance in the field. Specific topics will change depending on the term and instructor. May be retaken with change of topic.

Political thought in United States from colonial period to the Civil War. Puritans, American revolution, republicanism, debate over United States Constitution, Jacksonian Democracy, Thoreau, reformers and religious and secular utopias, women's' rights, states' rights, abolitionism, proslavery.

Political thought in United States from reconstruction to present. Controversies over industrial capitalism: Social Darwinism, Utopian Socialism, Populism, Socialism, Progressivism, Women's Rights, suffrage movement, and contemporary feminism; African American political thought: liberalism; conservatism.

This course introduces students to the political philosophies of major thinkers from Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. The course is designed to enhance students' analytical and writing skills.

This course explores topics in political participation and behavior beyond what is covered in the existing curriculum. Students study specialized topics of current importance in the field. Specific topics will change depending on the term and instructor. May be retaken with a change of topic.

Elections in the United States at the federal, state, and local levels. Election law, history, factors affecting elections, voting behavior, campaign finance, role of parties and groups, campaign strategy and tactics. Analysis of contemporary elections.

Political parties in United States at the federal, state, and local levels. Cross-national comparisons. Decline and revival of parties. What parties do. Is the two party system the best? Are third parties the answer? Party organization. Voting behavior. Legislative, executive parties. Minnesota focus.

Politics impact on women: women's impact on politics and governance; primary focus on United States but some comparative considerations.

History, philosophy, techniques, and countermeasures to terroristic and low intensity threats to public order. Both domestic and international terror. The blurring of the lines between low intensity conflict/terrorism and multinational high intensity crime.

This course examines the interrelationships between race/ethnicity and politics in the United States with a focus on African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans: their experiences, political attitudes and behaviors, and representation in government. We will examine how some issues, including crime, welfare, and immigration have taken a racial cast, as well as white attitudes toward racial and race-related policies.

This course examines how psychological ideas and processes (such as intergroup and intragroup relations, stereotyping and authoritarianism) illuminate concepts, theories, and principles used in understanding political life. We will explore the contributions of psychology in political arenas such as presidential greatness and character, foreign policy decision-making, political tolerance, and mass violence and genocide.

This course explores topics in international relations beyond what is covered in the existing curriculum. Students study specialized topics of current importance in the field. Specific topics will change depending on the term and instructor. May be retaken with a change of topic.