AMERICAN POLITICS

Undergraduate Studies

The range of diverse interests of the Department of Political Science’s faculty of American politics offers undergraduate students a broad range of courses to choose from to fulfill both their intellectual curiosity as well as their degree requirements. On the whole, the American politics curriculum is designed not only to teach students about the specific “facts” of governance in the United States, but also to help students understand the underlying logic of politics by exposing them to the leading theories of political interaction.

Graduate Studies

The Department of Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh offers a very strong program in the advanced study of American politics. Nearly a third of the department’s faculty is actively engaged in research relating to the study of American politics. The research interests of Pitt’s American politics faculty span the subfield, focusing on American political behavior, American political institutions, and American public policy.

The faculty is committed to methodological pluralism in the field, encouraging students to learn and apply the most appropriate method to the study of their substantive research questions.

In studying American Politics at the University of Pittsburgh, students will develop a broad understanding of the basic theoretical and methodological issues in the field by developing individualized research projects as well as collaborating with departmental faculty.

Further, students will gain an appreciation of how the core concepts in American politics may be applied in a comparative context, both across the American states and internationally. A Core Seminar in American Politics (offered every year) provides an overview of the field.

Courses focused on structure and process are regularly offered covering the major American political institutions:

• The Congress;
• The Executive branch, including both the Presidency and the Bureaucracy; and
• The Judiciary.

Professors Bonneau and Krause cover the judicial and executive branches, respectively. Professors Kanthak, Victor, and Woon cover the legislative branch. Public Policy is the primary focus of Peters, the Maurice Falk Professor of Political Science, and Professor Hansen.

Political behavior, which includes the topics of

• Voting behavior;
• Public opinion; and
• Political psychology

are areas of research and analysis in courses offered primarily by Professors Barker and Hurwitz.

Students may examine in American politics broadly defined or may choose to specialize in either political institutions or political behavior for examination purposes.

Students are expected to master techniques of analysis in both qualitative and quantitative modes. For work at the doctoral level, course work in advanced methods is strongly recommended.

The department values a strong comparative orientation and recognizes that American institutions, policies, and political behavior are often fruitfully analyzed in terms of comparisons with other national democratic systems. To that end, students are encouraged to take at least one course in the theory and methodology of comparative politics.

More information on the graduate program can be found in the Graduate Student Handbook.