POLS - Political Science (POLS)

Introduction to the institutions and processes of United States national government, its development as a constitutional system and the political culture in the United States. Students develop a higher degree of “political literacy” about the workings of the American political system, and a better grasp of the importance of politics in everyday life.

Introduction to, and analysis of, the major questions that have challenged Western political thinkers. Selected writers will include Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau.

Examination and analysis of the ideas of selected political theorists of the 18th and 19th centuries.

Comparative approaches to the study of politics. Analysis of functions, experiences and institutions of political systems, Western and non-Western.

Analysis of forces affecting relations between nations and other global actors, including world-level and regional-level intergovernmental organizations as well as religious organizations. Emerging nations and their impact on the international political system.

Selected topics designated before the semester in the area of public policy. Topics vary from semester to semester. May be repeated for credit as the topic changes.

Overview of agenda setting, formulation, and implementation of public policies, including budgets, taxation, health, business regulation, civil rights and welfare. Students learn how political factors shape policy as well as learning techniques to analyze and evaluate these policies.

Introduction to the important social, political and economic aspects of organizations and activities in the third or “independent” sector, which is neither government nor business.

Introduction to financial, budgetary and accounting issues in tax-exempt organizations, examines principles, techniques and issues surrounding resource development in nonprofit organizations, with an introduction to annual funds, capital campaigns and endowment support and an overview of grants and contracts including trends in grantmaking, grant writing, funding source identification and relationship development with funders.

Introduction to the field through an exploration of historical development of public bureaucracies and the contemporary politics affecting their organization and operation. Students learn about the causes of bureaucratic malfunction and the strategies managers use to make bureaucracies function more efficiently and effectively.

Selected topics designated before the semester in the area of public administration. Topics vary from semester to semester. May be repeated for credit as the topic changes.

Selected topics designated before the semester in the area of public administration. Topics vary from semester to semester. May be repeated for credit as the topic changes.

Selected topics designated before the semester in the area of public administration. Topics vary from semester to semester. May be repeated for credit as the topic changes.

This course examines the composition and political organization of the United States Congress. The course analyses the evolution of the institution, the congressional decision-making process, and Congress’s relations with other political actors, including other branches of government.

This course examines how the modern presidency has evolved, how the office has changed to accommodate modern expectation, and how presidents, politicians, and citizens perceive, understand and analyze the office of the presidency, and the people who occupy it.

Concepts of law and jurisprudence, functions and staffing of United States courts, state and federal. Strengths and weaknesses of the jury system. The Supreme Court, how it decides, impact of its decisions and the role of the court in United States constitutional law. Controversy over judicial review.

Examines the structure, operation and interaction of the major political parties and their roles in electing local, state and national officials. It analyzes campaigning for public office, and the impact of interest group politics on the process.

This course examines methods, processes and techniques of planning and decision-making for effective leadership, from defining purpose and mobilizing external support to leading stakeholders in the community. Primary emphasis will be on leadership strategies designed to help mobilize communities for social change, including the problems and constraints in measuring equality and citizen participation in the decision-making process.

This course will analyze elections and voting behavior in the United States. We will examine general and primary elections for the presidency, Congress, as well as at the state and local level. The process of organizing and conducting elections, including nominations and conventions, will be explored.

Structural study and functional analysis of state, county and local government in New Jersey.

Explores the basis for United States law by examining various theories of jurisprudence, or philosophies of law, and the goals and objectives of law. Distinguishes law from other forms of social control, and looks at the impact of law on society. (Formerly POLS 1212).

This course explores a variety of political issues through the medium of documentary film. The semester is divided into four topical sections – Working Class Lives, Crime and Punishment, the Politics of Identity, and War & Peace. The course also will examine broader questions of the documentary medium, with a particular focus on the question of whether documentary filmmaking might constitute a social science, the nature of knowledge produced by nonfiction films, the role of narrative in understanding political phenomena, and the political anthropological act of participatory observation and ethnographic filmmaking.

The ubiquity of the internet and its services, coupled with the rapid pace of innovation and disruption it empowers, presents novel challenges for all aspects of public policy (courts, legislatures, regulators, users and providers). This course covers the mechanics of how the internet works and the challenges it poses to traditional regulatory controls. Competing models of internet regulation are introduced and applied to current public policy issues arising from the unique affordance of the internet. Specific attention is given to the relevant statutes and legal decisions that shape our regulatory responses.

Selected topics designated before the semester in the area of United States politics. Topics vary from semester to semester as the department directs. May be repeated for credit as the topic changes.

Selected topics designated before the semester in the area of United States politics. Topics vary from semester to semester as the department directs. May be repeated for credit as the topic changes.

Selected topics designated before the semester in the area of United States politics. Topics vary from semester to semester as the department directs. May be repeated for credit as the topic changes.

Selected topics designated before the semester in the area of United States politics. Topics vary from semester to semester as the department directs. May be repeated for credit as the topic changes.

AFAM/POLS 2310 AA Black Culture, Law, and Politics – EXP Using historical and contemporary examples, this course centers the particular and cultural narratives of African American innovators within various fields and the ways in which they have navigated the centers of American power.

Examines the philosophy of Black nationalism as it appears in the writings and speeches of major leadership figures in the African-American community in the 19th and 20th Centuries. The nationalism of Martin R. Delany, Alexander Crummell, Edward Wilmot Blyden, Bishop Henry McMeal Turner, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Dubois, Marcus Garvey, Honorable Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm X is covered.

Analytical study of the impact of black participation in American political institutions and their responsiveness to the political demands of the Black community.

Methods of organizing Black communities to alter the responsiveness of institutions, assume control of them, or replace them. Heavy emphasis on the theories of power, politics and community control along with practical examples.

This course is an evaluation of the various ideologies that have influenced political thought and action in the modern era. The content is introduced by an investigation of modernity itself and the meaning associated with this concept. Following this, the course reviews particular political ideologies (democratic theory, capitalism, anarchism, Marxism, socialism, fascism, religious fundamentalism).

Introduction to major United States political theorists, including representative thinkers such as Madison, Calhoun, Thoreau, Sumner, Dewey, Kirk, Viereck, Marcuse and King.

This course examines what constitutes our modern world and political reality. It is difficult to disassociate modern political theory from social, political and economic movements. Modern ideas and systematic theories are bound tightly to political action. Our work includes investigations of anarchism, democratic theory, fascism and totalitarianism, feminism, human rights and liberalism, libertarianism, communism and socialism, and environmentalism. Issues investigated include the rise of liberal democracy and its critics, the impact of the industrial revolution on modern politics, and how technological change and environmental limitations have affected contemporary political thought.

Selected topics designated before the semester in the area of political theory. Topics vary from semester to semester. May be repeated for credit as the topic changes.

In this course we focus on queer theory as a contemporary political idea, part of an important public policy debate, and as part of human history and culture. Queer Theory as a theoretical frame that addresses all aspects of public and private life. It is not more or less ‘true’ or ‘valid’ than any other theoretical frame. Queer Theory is, however, like critical race theory and feminists theory, the subject of considerable criticism and vitriolic. When discussing this with colleagues, it is often advised to place the idea within the context of theoretical frames, not as a superior point of view, but as additive. We are living through a time with unprecedented events, where a rapid and fast-moving political, social, and cultural idea brought by committed advocates have provoked difficult political and personal challenges. So, we do have a unique perspective to discuss and examine queer theory. Sociological, anthropological, film, music, historical, legal, literary, and political texts supplement our discussion providing an academic frame from which we can depart and return throughout our discussion and writing. Ethnography is also used to further illuminate the ideas discussed. We will encounter written, audio and video formats. Naturally, this sort of endeavor requires careful attention as many important voices here (women, racial and ethnic minorities, and LGBT individuals in particular) are historically marginalized and disempowered.

Opportunity for the student to be an intern in a governmental agency or nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C. Students are placed in legislative, judicial or executive branch agencies, depending on interests/career goals, and work five days per week for one semester.

Book critiques and a research paper that integrate information the student gains in the classroom with fieldwork experience. Supervised by the Seton Hall faculty liaison.

Students attend a weekly seminar led by a professor associated with the Washington Center for Internships and prepare a seminar paper.

The dynamics of politics and analysis of the evolution and present status of the political systems of selected European powers.

Latin American Politics Basic forces conditioning the politics of the area. The variety of governmental structures and party systems in Mexico, South and Central America. 3 credits

Examination of African political systems. The salient variables economic, social and political involved with discussion of specific experiences. Review of traditional background, colonial experience and post-independence era.

Selected topics designated before the semester in the area of comparative politics. Topics vary from semester to semester. May be repeated for credit as the topic changes.

Selected topics designated before the semester in the area of comparative politics. Topics vary from semester to semester. May be repeated for credit as the topic changes.

Selected topics designated before the semester in the area of comparative politics. Topics vary from semester to semester. May be repeated for credit as the topic changes.

Selected topics designated before the semester in the area of international relations. Topics vary from semester to semester.

An introduction to social science research. Topics include problem selection and hypothesis formation and testing; research design; sampling; construction and administration of research techniques; elementary data analysis and ethical issues. Some statistical and computer applications.

Explores the relationship between politics and environmental policy in the United States. Looks at specific problems such as pollution, global climate change, species depletion, land management and hazardous waste. Explores attempts by government and other interested parties to rectify these problems.

This course is designed to examine the appropriate roles of the institutional Catholic Church, its citizens, and its political candidates within in the American political process today. It will explore traditional Christian political theory; the Church¿s relevant major social teachings, and the challenges that confront Catholicism and its adherents in the current, American public arena. In the long term, this course will encourage students to make judgments about both the moral agenda and political policies of the Church, particularly as they impact the behavior of Catholic citizens and political actors in their quest for the common good. Crosslisted with CORE 3640 Engaging the World

This course explores the phenomenon of surveillance in private contexts, drawing on literature in the new and growing field of surveillance studies and assessing the ongoing debate over the concept of ”surveillance capitalism” (Zuboff 2019).

This course explores the role of capitalism in shaping our society. It aims to analyze the concepts of individual liberty and social justice, examine the role of democratic governance and capitalist economic systems to best achieve them, and consider the resulting implications in terms of a range of contemporary concerns such as poverty, health equity, education, worker’s rights, environmental degradation. The positions to be assessed span the political spectrum and will draw on interdisciplinary sources from political science, economics, and philosophy. Core questions of the course include: (i) “do free markets maximize prosperity, or do they produce wasteful and economically damaging outcomes that require some form of government intervention?”, (ii) “do the distributions of economic resources produced through the capitalist marketplace promote or violate important standards of justice and fairness?”, (iii) “is a society of free markets and minimal government most likely to promote or violate important democratic ideals?“.

This course explores how the law constructs and regulates gender. Topics covered include feminist legal theory; constitutional equality and liberty based on sex and sexual orientation; legal regulation of and prohibitions on sexual behavior; gender- and sexual orientation-based employment discrimination; sexual harassment and rape; transgender rights; women and sexual minorities in the criminal justice system, and gender/sexual orientation in international law. Class materials include case law, legal and social science scholarship, historical analyses, films, and press accounts.

This course analyzes trends in the development of US constitutional, statutory, and tort law related to privacy from the 1890s to the present. In addition to court opinions and statutes, we will read scholarly commentary from law, social theory, and science and technology studies. Students will learn to recognize the range of privacy protections currently existing, their coverage, and their limits. In addition, students will discover that “privacy” is conceptualized in different ways, including spatial privacy, privacy as secrecy, and privacy as information control. This knowledge will allow them to recognize key concepts and terminology in contemporary privacy debates, and to intervene effectively in those debates.

Approaches to Constitutional interpretation: Supreme Court decision making, Supreme Court as a small group. Fundamentals and principles of constitutional law. Illustrative case studies.

Casebook analysis of the constitutional rights of the individual. Selected topics from the first, fourth, fifth, sixth, eighth and 14th amendments. Emphasis on contemporary issues and perspectives.

Examination of the nature of the Federal system, with historical origins, constitutional evolution and contemporary problem areas highlighted.

Examination of topics such as voter turnout, political ideology, political sophistication, among others. Impact of party identification, issues, and candidate characteristics on elections.

The politics of the cities and urban areas. Contemporary urban governmental forms, processes and problems.

This course will examine the specifics of how political campaigns are planned and executed in the United States. It will cover various aspects of strategic, electoral planning that include the context and history of campaigning, data gathering, fund raising, communications, media and public relations, voter targeting, technology, and the ethics of running for political office.

The purpose of this course is to explore the role of communication in modern American politics. The accelerated changes in the ways we receive our news and form our opinions has compelled political leaders, campaigns, and candidates to adjust their methods of persuasion and communicating with the public. Newsmakers and journalists alike have had to rethink their craft and how they approach the relationship with their audiences. The evolution in electronic communication has affected how, where, and when we consume information or news and the tools and tactics used for the purpose of informing or persuading. It has had repercussions for politics, policy, and public discourse. Throughout the semester we will discuss those repercussions and explore the impact of modern communication and the mass media (legacy or traditional media and new/digital media) on U.S. politics. We will examine the role strategic communication plays in campaigns and government, including the interplay of news events, the mass media, the power of imagery, information processing, and political strategy. We will also explore one of the most powerful persuasion and communication tools in politics and media: imagery. Imagery has played an outsized and consequential role in contemporary American politics. From television or digital coverage of campaigns and elections to visual memes and images of leaders circulated on social media, visual portrayals leave impressions that shape perceptions and opinions. Strategic use of images or imagery as a consequence of news events can frame our perceptions of issues, candidates, and causes that will impact voting behavior. The impressions created from images, information, and news we consume and the vast and diverse platforms by which that information is consumed, influences public sentiment/opinion and moves the public (voters) to action. The public’s sentiment or opinion shapes how our political leaders, government, and candidates communicate or respond to events and policy challenges.

The Fall 2009 course will focus much attention on the 2009 Campaign for New Jersey Governor. The course will consist of highly interactive lectures, prominent guest speakers from the worlds of media and politics, as well as reading and viewing assignments from various disciplines including political science, journalism and mass communication. It will require students to examine television news clips, online video content, and political ads and commercials. Students will also be required to read and analyze selected newspapers on a regular basis and actively participate in class discussion. In addition, the course will take a historical look at past New Jersey Gubernatorial campaigns.

Considers various theories and practices of democratic society, including those of liberal, radical participatory and pluralistic democracy. Comparison of democratic theory and practice,

The dynamic and changing relationship between religion and government in the U.S. Competing and cooperative actions between the institutions. Case studies in First Amendment rights.

Selected topics in political theory chosen by the instructor.

An examination of the twentieth century forces a re-evaluation of what it means to be human. Standard interpretations of truth are challenged and formerly powerless communities find themselves embroiled in political protest and liberation. Through film, art, literature and 'live' accounts, we will investigate and follow several key political ideas that hallmark the twentieth century as a time of radical transformation.

Internal factors and global forces affecting policy and performance. Evolution of U.S. doctrine from isolationism to globalism. Current challenges and prospects.

This course will examine the influence of Christianity on the development of philanthropy from early Christianity through the twenty-first century. Philosophical tenets from Gospels and from the writings of St. Benedict, Gregory the Great, Aquinas, Luther, Ignatious, Catherine of Siena and others from the Christian tradition provide clues to understanding the role of Christianity in the formation of societal expectations around philanthropic giving and receiving. Students will also be encouraged to examine and discern the ultimate purposes of philanthropy in our daily lives. Travel through Italy to explore firsthand the influence of Christianity on the practice of philanthropy in various communities.

This course will explore the impact of race and identity on the development and implementation of public policies within public and nonprofit organizations. We will examine a wide range of scholarships in this area that explores the concept of race ad why an understanding of these issues is critically important for future leaders of these organizations. Though we will explore the intersectionality of race with other markers of differences, including gender and class, our primary focus will be on race and racial identities, as race is often a large predictor of wealth, education, access to health care, and other quality of life indicators. The course will begin with a broad overview of race within the public administration environment. In the second half of the course, we will focus on programmatic areas of public and nonprofit organizations to further understand the role of race in the delivery of public services.

Articulates notions of human rights and, through case studies, examines repression around the globe. Seeks to develop and critique United States, United Nations, and other bilateral and multilateral approaches to solving human rights abuses.

This seminar will center around the discussion of the most fundamentally critical notion in the study of International Relations: state sovereignty. Within the context of state sovereignty, we will discuss how sovereignty has changed or has been challenged over the years. Some of the challenges to state sovereignty that we will discuss will include human rights issues, interstate military interventions and United Nations backed interventions (or lack thereof); in doing so we will focus on specific cases. We will discuss how these developments have challenged state sovereignty and discuss the larger implications of such a challenge for international stability.

The goal of the internship/field placement experience is to provide students with the opportunity to “turn theory into practice” by working in an organizational setting in which they can utilize recently-learned management principles and skills as well as observe and gain insight into daily organizational operations and decision-making practices. In augmenting a student’s field placement experience, the purpose of the seminar is to help the student evaluate and analyze his or her experience, learn new information about the workplace, and assess his or her current skills and abilities. To these ends, students will read a number of articles on workplace issues and evaluate his or her placement and performance in light of these readings and seminar discussions. Please see Internship Adviser.

For students completing an extended internship experience. Note: Internship courses, though listed at the 3000 level to conform to College standards, are considered 2000 level course electives and do not fulfill the 3000 level requirement.

For students completing an extended internship experience. Note: Internship courses, though listed at the 3000 level to conform to College standards, are considered 2000 level course electives and do not fulfill the 3000 level requirement.

See Co-op Adviser

See Co-op Adviser.

See Co-op Adviser.

This seminar is the capstone course for political science majors, and requires that students have completed most of their major courses before they enroll. As part of the senior seminar, students write their senior theses. Each seminar focuses on a particular area of study. It is expected that political science majors will take their senior seminar in the fall semester of their senior year. Prerequisites: POLS 1211, 1401, 1611, 1711, 2910 and one POLS course at the 3000 level.

Independent study on a select topic completed under the supervision of the instructor.

Independent study on a select topic completed under the supervision of the instructor.

Working independently with a faculty advisor, student undertakes independent research in an area of interest in political science.