Course Descriptions


PSCI 5301 Proseminar in Democratization, Globalization, and International Relations (3 semester hours) Studies major theories of democracy, democratization and globalization, relationships between democratization and globalization, and their implications for citizen politics, government performance, and regime legitimacy.(3-0) Y
PSCI 5302 Law and The Policy Process (3 semester hours) Provides the legal perspective on public policy and emphasizes the role of the judicial system in the recent evolution of public policy in selected problem areas. Same as PA 5302 and POEC 5302 (3-0) T
PSCI 5303 Proseminar in Public Policymaking and Institutions (3 semester hours) Surveys the major institutions associated with policymaking, including Congress, the Presidency, the bureaucracy, and interest groups. These institutions are studied by linking them to the decision-making theories or organizations, social choice and incrementalism. Same as PA 5303 and POEC 5303. (3-0) Y
PSCI 5304 Policy Processes, Implementation and Evaluation (3 semester hours) Applies models of the policy system to the analysis of legislative, administrative and judicial processes at different points in the policy cycle. Uses case studies, empirical analysis, direct observation, and group projects. Prerequisite: PSCI 5303 or consent of instructor. Same as PA 5304. (3-0) Y
PSCI 5305 Proseminar in Decision Making and Public Management (3 semester hours) Examines current scholarship on decisions made by public managers and associated efforts to calculate and examine the relative risks involved with the outcomes of management decisions. Considers management decisions that are internal to organizations, such as human resource decisions, and external decisions such as environmental management. Examines the mathematics and science of risk management. (3-0) Y
PSCI 5310 Administrative Law (3 semester hours) Course uses case study approach and examines the activities of Congress, the courts, and federal administrative agencies in the creation and implementation of laws that govern the behavior of these agencies. (3-0) T
PSCI 5315 Public Management (3 semester hours) The application of ideas and techniques of public management and decision making to examine the various roles of the general manager in public organizations. Uses the case method. Same as PA 5315. (3-0) Y
PSCI 5350 Logic, Methodology, and Scope of Political Science (3 semester hours) Promotes understanding of how and why research projects are conducted, and when and why research programs cease to contribute to knowledge production. Attention also is paid to major modes of analysis in Political Science, the state of the discipline, and future directions in field-specific, cross-field, and cross-disciplinary research. (3-0) T
PSCI 5352 Empirical Democratic Theory (3 semester hours) Encourages critical and constructive thinking about complex and simple, as well as stable and variable, developments in citizenship, government, and politics. Additional consideration is given to formal, game-theoretic, and other approaches to individual action, institutional design, and individual-institutional interactions. (3-0) T
PSCI 5360 Data Collection and Analysis in Political and Social Science (3 semester hours) Provides students with basic understanding of methodological issues in doing systematic empirical research. Covers the collection of survey and aggregate data, measurement, descriptive and inferential statistics, and introductory regression analysis. Uses statistical software, such as SPSS and STATA, together with individual- and aggregate-level data on government, politics, and public opinion. (3-0) Y
PSCI 5362 Multivariate Models for Analyzing Political and Social Science Data (3 semester hours) Focuses on the specification and analysis of multivariate models of individual- and aggregate-level data in the political and Economic, Political and Policy Sciences. Topics covered include the analysis of continuous and limited dependent variables, model diagnostics, model comparison, and exogeneity testing. Introduces structural equation modeling, with emphasis on the confirmatory factor analysis of multivariate measurement models. Prerequisite: PSCI 5360 or consent of instructor. (3-0) Y
PSCI 5363 Mathematical Models in Political and Social Science (3 semester hours)Introduces students to a variety of models in the Economic, Political and Policy Sciences, including primarily rational choice approaches but also some computational work. The course will allow students to understand and compose rudimentary models, including prisoner�s dilemma, assurance games, and strategic voting. (3-0) T
PSCI 5364 Public Opinion and Survey Research (3 semester hours) Introduces students to the principles and practices of survey research.
Topics include the selection of an appropriate survey method, questionnaire design and testing, response problems, interviews and surveys, and the analysis of survey data, including those on political attitudes and public opinion dynamics. Also examines how these data are used in developing successful political campaign strategies. (3-0) T

PSCI 5366 Statistics in Law (3 semester hours) Course reviews topics in elementary statistics and data analysis, and examines the use of statistics in the legal profession, particularly in trials in appellate decisions, as well as in models of judicial decision making. (3-0) T
PSCI 6309 International Political Economy and Organizations (3 semester hours) An overview of important developments in the study of conflict and cooperation among countries, especially in the economic arena. (3-0) T
PSCI 6320 Organizational Theory (3 semester hours) Focuses on bureaucracy and rationality, formal and informal structures, and the role of the environment. Organizational factors such as technology, power, information and culture, as well as the implications of organizational theory for public policy are examined. Same as POEC 6320, PA 6320 and SOC 6320. (3-0) Y
PSCI 6323 Public Choice (3 semester hours) This course covers the application of economic reasoning to non-market decision making in situations involving collective choice.Topics include market and government failure, collective action, properties of different voting rules, design of constitutions, and the behavior of candidates, elected officials, bureaucrats, and voters.Prerequisite:POEC 5305 Microeconomics(3-0) R
PSCI 6324 Local and State Government and Politics (3 semester hours) Examines public policy institutions and processes at the local and state levels in the United States, with particular attention to developments in the Dallas-Forth Worth Metroplex and the State of Texas. Addresses issues of policy convergence, divergence, and representation. (3-0) R

PSCI 6325 Decision Theory (3 semester hours) Explores the development of decision-making models and theories across organizational and institutional environments. Includes details analysis of decision making under conditions of certainty, risk and uncertainty. Same as PA 6325 and POEC 6325. (3-0) T
PSCI 6326 Decision Tools for Managers (3 semester hours) Course introduces students to the variety of analytical and mathematical tools intended to improve management decision making. Tools range from soft decision analysis to techniques of management science. Uses available software for management science studies. Same as PA 6326. (3-0) T
PSCI 6328 Management Process and Analysis (3 semester hours) This course examines rigorous methods for analyzing management processes and decision-making. Focuses on the examination, critique and design of management systems. Same as PA 6328. (3-0) Y
PSCI 6331 Executives, Legislatures and Public Policy (3 semester hours) An investigation of the role played by executives and legislatures in shaping public policy in the United States. Same as POEC 6331 (3-0) T
PSCI 6333 Political and Civic Organizations (3 semester hours) An institutional perspective on political parties, interest groups, and other organizations such as labor unions and nonprofit organizations that are important actors in political and civic affairs.The emphasis is on internal operations of organizations, their strategic behavior, and interactions with government, including both regulation by the state and attempts to influence public decision makers. (3-0) T

PSCI 6335 Institutions and Development (3 semester hours) An overview of leading theories, institutional perspectives, issues and policy debates concerning urban, regional, national and global development. Topics may include economic growth, technology and innovation, shifts in industrial structure, spatially imbalanced change, and their welfare consequences. Same as POEC 6335. (3-0) T
PSCI 6336 Bureaucracy and Public Policy (3 semester hours) Examination of processes involved in arriving at administrative decisions within the structure of the regime. Reciprocal ties of influence and control between official organizations and other public and private organizational actors, as well as organizational dynamics such as communication, power, and decision making in administrative agencies. Same as POEC 6336. (3-0) T
PSCI 6337 Comparative Institutions (3 semester hours) A comparative analysis of political and economic institutions in different settings.
Includes a consideration of different theoretical approaches to the comparative study and design of institutions in the United States and elsewhere. Same as POEC 6337. (3-0) T
PSCI 6362 Political Development (3 semester hours) This course surveys different perspectives on and theories of political development. Topics covered include the role of the state, democratization, political stability, civil society and environmental concerns. Same as POEC 6362. (3-0) T
PSCI 7320 International Negotiations (3 semester hours) This course examines both the substance and the process of international negotiations. Students study the theory and analysis of negotiations and identify issues, interests and positions of the parties. The course covers the substantive areas of arms control, trade, and environmental negotiations. The course moves from the analysis of simple, bilateral negotiations with only a few issues in contention to complex multilateral negotiations. Same as POEC 7320. (3-0) T
PSCI 7344 Gender and Public Policy (3 semester hours) Explores issues of gender and public policy in the U.S. Topics include gender critiques of welfare state policy, gender and poverty, women in the military, the politics (and political economy) of sex and sexuality, anti-sexual harassment policies. Same as POEC 7344 and SOC 7344. (3-0) T
PSCI 7350 Institutions and Citizen Behavior (3 semester hours) Examines the major theories, concepts and models associated with relationships between public institutions and citizen behavior, particularly how such institutions as elections, interest groups, political parties and social movements mobilize behavior and how behavior, in turn, influences institutional processes and outcomes. (3-0) T

PSCI 7352 Choice and Decision Making (3 semester hours)This course integrates theories of political choice with models of decision making in the fields of social cognition, economics, and consumer behavior. (3-0) T
PSCI 7370 Decision Making, Complexity and Risk (3 semester hours) Examines the important elements of risk in decision-making environments typified by increasing complexity. Reviews the variety of decision-making tools and simulation techniques for contending with increasing complexity. Examines elements of decision making such as nonlinear effects and the problem of marginal returns. (3-0) T
PSCI 7375 Applied Studies in Human Decision Making (3 semester hours) Field research in a public organization/agency.
Students examine actual decision making and decision systems. Students produce detailed academic analysis of the decision-making environment and the decision-making challenges faced by a particular public organization/agency. (3-0) R
PSCI 7381 Special Topics in Political Science (3 semester hours) Topics vary semester to semester and are rotated typically among the three fields of the program. May be repeated for credit to a maximum of 9 hours. (3-0) R
PSCI 7V83 Independent Study (3-9 semester hours) Provides faculty supervision of student�s individual study of a topic that is directly relevant to dissertation or practicum research and is agreed on by the student and the faculty supervisor. Prerequisite: Consent of instructor and Political Science Program Director. (May be repeated for credit.) ([1-9]-0) R
PSCI 8381 Research Seminar in Political Science (3 semester hours) Promotes faculty-student research collaboration and students� dissertation or practicum and professional development. (3-0) Y
PSCI 8V99 Dissertation or Practicum (3-9 semester hours) Provides faculty supervision of a student�s dissertation research.
Prerequisite: Consent of instructor and student�s Advisory Committee. (May be repeated for credit.) ([3-9]-0) S