Undergraduate Degrees

Graduate Degrees

Courses of Instruction

Von KleinSmid Center 327
(213) 740-6998
FAX: (213) 740-8893
E-mail: kovich@mizar.usc.edu
(undergraduate advisor)
mclark@mizar.usc.edu
(graduate advisor)

Chair: Sheldon Kamieniecki, Ph.D.*
E-mail: kamieni@mizar.usc.edu

Faculty

USC Associates Chair in Social Science: Mark E. Kann, Ph.D.

Professors: Herbert E. Alexander, Ph.D.; Richard H. Dekmejian, Ph.D.; Harlan Hahn, Ph.D.; William W. Lammers, Ph.D.*; Michael B. Preston, Ph.D.*

Associate Professors: Ann Crigler, Ph.D.; Howard Gillman, Ph.D.*; Judith Grant, Ph.D.*; Thomas H. Greene, Ph.D.*; Nora Hamilton, Ph.D.; Joseph L. Nyomarkay, Ph.D.*; Alison D. Renteln, Ph.D.*; Stanley Rosen, Ph.D.*; Eliz Sanasarian, Ph.D.*

Assistant Professor: C.R.D. Halisi, Ph.D.

Emeritus Professors: Carl Q. Christol, Ph.D., LL.B., LL.D. (Hon.) *; John R. Schmidhauser, Ph.D.; George O. Totten III, Ph.D.; C. Sylvester Whitaker, Ph.D.

*Recipient of university-wide or college teaching award.

The Department of Political Science divides political science into four broad fields: American politics, political thought, comparative politics, and law and public policy. The department offers regional specialization in six areas: Latin America, East Asia, Europe, the Soviet sphere, the Middle East, and Africa. The Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics provides local internships for students as part of their course work or as independent study.

Degree Programs

The Department of Political Science offers the B.A., a minor in political science and law and society and, under the jurisdiction of the Graduate School, M.A. and Ph.D. degrees.

Undergraduate Degrees

Advisement

The department has faculty and staff advisors who provide academic advisement, career counseling and advisement to pre-law students and those wishing to go on to graduate studies. All majors are encouraged to see their advisor.

Department Major Requirements for the Bachelor of Arts

Department majors are required to take nine courses (36 units) in political science. At least two of the nine courses must be selected from the four 100-level core courses: POSC 100 Theory and Practice of American Democracy, 110 Ideology and Political Conflict, 120 Comparative Politics, 130 Law, Politics, and Public Policy.

In addition, at least six of the nine courses must be at the 300-level or above, including at least one course in each of the following four fields: American politics, political thought, comparative politics, and law and public policy. No more than one course (or four units) of POSC 395 or 490x may be counted toward the 36 unit departmental requirements.

Students who have a double major in political science and in another department in the social sciences, may, with prior permission of the department undergraduate advisor, substitute one upper division course from the second major for one upper division political science course. In the development of an undergraduate program, students should consult periodically with the political science undergraduate advisor and/or with departmental faculty.

Department Minor Requirements

A department minor is required to take six courses (24 units) in political science. At least two of these must be among the core courses: POSC 100, 110, 120 and 130. In addition, four upper division political science courses must be selected from at least three of the following fields: American politics, political thought, comparative politics, and law and public policy.

Law and Society Minor

This program involves the study of law and legal systems as they relate to the larger societies of which they are a part. While the program is of special interest to students who pursue careers in government service or law, many may simply share a desire to understand the role of law in society. As the law and society minor is an interdisciplinary program, students take courses offered by diverse departments. An internship program coordinated by the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics provides students with an opportunity to be participant-observers in important legal/public agencies and to learn first hand how the law is created, applied and enforced. The minor is open to political science majors as well as all other university majors. No more than two upper-division courses may overlap the required course work in the student's major.

The requirements for the minor include eight courses (32 units). All students are required to take POSC 130 Law, Politics, and Public Policy. A second core course must be taken from POSC 100, 110 or 120. Three component political science upper division courses are required:

One from each category:

A. Constitutional Law (POSC 340 or 444)

B. International Law (POSC 345 or 448a)

C. Policy Analysis (POSC 333, 347, 395, 432, 435, 436, 440, 441, 442, 448b or 452)

Three elective courses are required, one from each category. Students not majoring in political science must take at least one upper-division elective course; all three elective courses must be upper-division for political science majors.

A. Humanistic/Historical (HIST 353, PHIL 240, PHIL 430 or REL 367)

B. Sociology (SOCI 351 or 353)

C. Other (ANTH 345, COMM 421, ECON 434, LAW 200x or PSYC 355)

Interdisciplinary Russian Area Studies Minor

See Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures.

Interdisciplinary Peace and Conflict Studies Minor

See Peace and Conflict Studies Program.

Area Specialization

While majoring in political science and fulfilling the department requirements, a student may elect to emphasize a particular regional area in the fields of comparative government, diplomacy and international politics. Regional specializations are offered in six areas: East Asia, Europe, Latin America, Middle East, Africa and the Soviet sphere. With the approval of the faculty, a student may organize an academic program in such a way as to fulfill the general education language requirements with the language or languages of the regional area specialization. In addition, it is assumed the student will fulfill other social sciences and humanities requirements and electives with courses focusing on the history and culture of the particular area of specialization. Such a pattern of courses at the undergraduate level will strengthen a student's qualifications for graduate-level area programs, as well as for various forms of foreign service.

Teaching Major

The department offers a program for students who wish to teach in the public school system. By completing a combination of courses in political science, history, geography and other social sciences, a student may receive a teaching credential to teach social science. For further information, contact the department's undergraduate advisor.

Political Science Honors Program

The department offers an honors program for outstanding undergraduate students in the junior and senior years. The two semester program emphasizes a specialized topic (a different area each year) in political science. The organization of the course during the first semester follows the seminar model, emphasizing independent research, discussion, and oral and written reports. In the second semester, the student is required to write a thesis under the direction of a faculty member. Students are admitted to the program after careful screening on the basis of their academic record and a personal interview. Classes are limited to about 10 students.

Graduate Degrees

Degree Requirements

These degrees are under the jurisdiction of the Graduate School. Refer to Requirements for Graduation and the Graduate School for general regulations. All courses applied toward the degrees must be courses accepted by the Graduate School.

The departmental graduate committee is charged with the supervision of the graduate program. All graduate students are required to maintain regular contact with the graduate coordinator to assure compliance with departmental regulations.

Master of Arts in Political Science

All master's degree students are required to take the seminar course POSC 500 and the core course in at least three of the following five fields of concentration: POSC 510 American Politics and Policy Processes; 520 Comparative Politics; 530 Political Theory; 540 Law and Public Policy; and 512 (International Politics) Linkage Politics.

Students have two options in completing the course work: (1) complete satisfactorily 32 units (eight courses) at the 500 level or above, or (2) complete satisfactorily a minimum of 24 units (six courses) in addition to 594a and 594b Thesis. With either option, students are required to pass the master's exam. It consists of a written and oral examination in one field of concentration chosen from among the five listed above. For students planning to continue graduate work, this examination constitutes the screening procedure for admission to continuation in the Ph.D. program. Written and oral examinations are given in November and April each year.

Second Track in Master of Arts Degree Program for Ph.D. Students in the Political Economy and Public Policy (PEPP) Program

Students admitted to the Ph.D. program in Political Economy and Public Policy may pursue a master's degree in political science via a special track. Students are required to complete 32 units (eight courses) of graduate work and successfully pass a written and oral examination in political economy and public policy. Students must take POSC 600 Seminar in Advanced Research Methods, PEPP 539 Political Economy and Public Policy, and two of the five core courses in political science. The remaining 16 units (four courses) are electives. A master's thesis may be substituted for eight elective units (two courses).

Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science

The Ph.D. degree is evidence of a demonstrated mastery of in-depth knowledge and high competence in research, culminating in a dissertation which makes a contribution to the discipline. Graduate work in political science involves several types of required interrelated activities. First, the student is expected to acquire a knowledge of content in general political science and in the selected areas of specialization by means of courses, seminars and readings. Second, the student is expected to demonstrate competence in the fields of political science as determined by acceptable performance on the Ph.D. qualifying examination. Normally, preparation for the qualifying examination entails a minimum of 60 graduate units (15 courses) of course work beyond the B.A. degree. Third, the student is required to complete the language/Research tool requirement of the department. Fourth, the student is expected to engage in research-related activity throughout his graduate career, leading to and culminating in the Ph.D. dissertation. In short, the prospective candidate for the Ph.D. in Political Science must not only demonstrate superior scholarship in course work, but must also acquire and demonstrate the ability to synthesize and integrate knowledge in the several fields of political science.

Screening Examination

All students admitted with an M.A. must take the screening examination before they have completed 24 units of course work at USC (usually in their second or third semester). The written and oral examination (in one of the five fields of concentration) are given in conjunction with the master's examination in November and April of each academic year.

Course Requirements

All doctoral candidates must complete POSC 500, the core courses in the five fields of concentration described above, and POSC 600. The selection of additional courses should be guided by the distributional requirement of the Ph.D. program, which requires that a minimum of five courses or seminars be taken in the student's major field of concentration and three courses or seminars in each of the two minor fields of concentration. The core courses may be included in the distributional requirement.

Foreign Language/Research Tool Requirement

Research competence in either foreign languages, research methods and statistics, or a combination of these is required of each prospective Ph.D. candidate. The several options which may be used to fulfill the language/ research tool requirement are specified in the department's Guidelines for Graduate Study. This requirement must be completed prior to the qualifying examination.

Guidance Committee

Examinations will be conducted by an advisory committee of five members, normally including two members representing the student's major field of concentration, two members representing each of the two minor fields, and in accordance with the rules of the Graduate School, a member from another Ph.D. department in the university. The subject matter of the examination will be determined by the committee members.

Qualifying Examination

The Ph.D. qualifying examination may be taken only after successful completion of all the required courses noted above and after successful completion of the departmental language/Research requirement. Students must choose one of the five fields of concentration as their major field for the Ph.D. qualifying examination. Two additional fields will constitute minor fields. Students may choose, however, one minor field of concentration outside the department (e.g., in public administration, economics, sociology, psychology, history, gerontology, philosophy, political economy and public policy, and area studies). These three fields of examination must be approved by the student's Ph.D. guidance committee in accordance with the student's interest.

Students are permitted to submit a publishable research paper in lieu of taking a written examination in their major field, provided that the major field is the same for both the master's screening and Ph.D. qualifying examinations. Written examinations are given in the two minor fields. The oral examination covers all three areas.

Dissertation

Upon passing the qualifying examination, a student is admitted to candidacy and will then concentrate on the dissertation, whose subject is selected in consultation with the dissertation committee and approved by it.

Doctor of Philosophy in Political Economy and Public Policy

The Department of Political Science, the Department of Economics and the School of International Relations jointly offer a program of study leading to the Ph.D. degree and to the M.A. degree in the process of work toward the Ph.D. degree. Applicants must apply to the Graduate School and meet the admission requirements of all three departments.

Required courses include both core requirements and area requirements. Core requirements include courses in economic theory and history of economic theory; history of political thought; scope, methodology and research methods; and political economy and public policy. Area requirements include courses drawn from one of the following three areas of concentration: comparative and developmental political economy; politics, economics and the policy process; and international political economy.

For a detailed description of this program, see the Political Economy and Public Policy.

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