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.
Return to 1995-1997 Graduate Catalog Table of Contents
University Publications and the Computer Services Center revised this file ( https://www.ohio.edu/~gcat/95-97/areas/polisci.html
) April 13, 1998.
Please e-mail comments or suggestions to " gcat@www.cats.ohiou.edu ."