Political Science (PSCI) Courses

PSCI1001 Introduction to Political Science

Political Science is the study of how human beings create governments, leaders, laws and policies. This foundational course explores how and why politics involves all aspects of our everyday lives. The dynamics of politics center on acquiring, distributing, and/or restricting access to power held by citizens and states. From local politics to international relations, the study of politics enables understandings of who ultimately gets what, when, where, why and how - or not. This course therefore explores the major ideas that drive the ways in which leaders govern, the systems in which they operate, motivations and barriers for citizens to participate in political life, how institutions of government work, and the role of money and media in the making of politics, from Main Street to Wall Street. This course also considers the modes by which citizens drive change in their governments, from Facebook and the ballot box to mass-scale protests driving political revolutions of the 21st century.
Offered at Online, Providence
3 Semester Credits

PSCI2200 Race, Politics and Power in America

This course explores the pivotal question of why and how race matters so greatly to the making of politics and governance in historical and contemporary America. The course begins at the earliest formations of the U.S., underscoring the pivotal part that race played in defining citizens and rights during this era. Focus is on these foundational-period linkages to race and political rights and their political implications for the post-modern civil rights movement. Historical factors, status changes of minority communities in the U.S., and the idea of a post-racial society are compared and contrasted.
Offered at Online, Providence
3 Semester Credits

PSCI3005 Political Ideologies and the 21st Century

Historical events and processes of the 20th century help us to grasp the rising political ideologies of the 21st century and the emerging ways in which these ideologies are expressed as organizations, such as ISIS. Political ideologies of the past and of this century often stand in opposition to each other, as demonstrated in globalization/anti-globalization movements. Movements such as anarchism, perceived as marginal in the U.S., play a considerable role in shaping political events abroad. Digital movements of disruption, such as Anonymous, represent new modes of ideology, power and expression. The fate of ideologies with their roots in the 19th and 20th centuries, such as environmentalism, feminism, fascism, and radical-right-wing and anti-government groups in the 21st century is explored. Emerging and splinter hate groups, insurgent, anti-state movements and alternative political models and organizations are examined in global context, from Canada to New Caldonia.
Prerequisite(s): ENG1021 or ENG1027, sophomore status.
Offered at Online, Providence
3 Semester Credits