Political Science

Theory, principles, organization, and functions of political Institutions, such as legislatives, executives, and judiciaries will be examined. The comparative approach to democratic and non-democratic systems and their institutions (Executive, Legislative, and Judicial) will be utilized extensively. Emphasis on political cultures and national characters such as classical conservatism and liberalism, fascism, totalitarianism, authoritarianism, and religions, etc.

Focus is given to the system, process, and organizational functions of the American government. It also puts primary attention on the relationships between citizens and their national government by exploring the key theoretical precepts that shaped the Constitution and its federal structural arrangements. Close attention is paid to the policy making process and its key actors, as well as various public policies.

Critically explore actors in international politics: individuals, states, and organizations. Investigate the impacts of colonialism and imperialism on ethnic/religious conflicts, extreme poverty, slave labor, and violence against women in the Global South. Examine key political theories of international relations: Marxism, Realism, Liberalism, and Feminism.

Examines global issues: migration, climate change, globalization, violence, armaments. Depending on the global situation, the course will focus on different topics without focusing on specific regions/countries, but on their broad consequences to the international community and their impacts on societies around the world such as environment, conflicts, nationalism, and migration.

Close examination of people and institutions that shape policies as well as their outcomes in state and local communities. Local and state politics will be discussed and contextualized within the federal distribution of powers delineated by Constitution of the United States.

The course will explore how Latin America’s historical geopolitical condition is used to expand and assert global power by the United States. It will discuss the challenges Latin America finds in making policies without interference by the U.S. while looking for opportunities to change that reality in a new multi-polar world.