The doctoral program in Political Science provides students with the in-depth knowledge of domestic and international politics and the analytical skills required for careers in academia, the public sector, or private enterprise.  Rigorous training and the applied nature of the courses and fields instill analytical expertise and practical experience for both academic and research-based positions. Students are prepared for academic careers, teaching, research, government and public service, and positions in the private sector where an in-depth knowledge of domestic and international politics, economics, and business is of vital importance.

Several fields are offered by the departments of Politics and Government   and International Studies  : American Politics, Political Philosophy, Public Policy, Methods, Comparative Politics, World Politics, Computational Analytics, and International Political Economy.

Degree Requirements

Coursework.  A minimum of 72 units are required for the doctorate degree.  In addition to the tools requirements, students are required to complete six-course sequences in two of the program’s field offerings.

General Tool (4 units).  PP 481 - Quantitative Research Methods, or an approved substitute course.

Specialized Tool.  Two or more courses from the sequences below.  Students are expected to take courses for the methods to be used in composition of the doctoral dissertation, even if more than two additional tools must be taken after qualifying exams.  Substitutes require advisor or department approval.

• Quantitative Methods: PP 482 - Advanced Quantitative Research Methods and PP 487 - Applied Data Analysis
• Qualitative Methods: PP 484 - Experimental and Qualitative Methods, and PP 483 - Legal Research Methods or PSYCH 315 - Advanced Qualitative Research Methods
• Formal Theory & Computational Modeling: SP&E 315 - Game Theory, and SP&E 471 - Strategic Modeling for Politics, Economics, and Business Decisions or SP&E 317 - Advanced Formal Models

Qualifying Examinations.  Successful completion of the written qualifying examinations in each of two major fields. Qualifying examinations are offered once in each of the fall and the spring semesters. An oral examination, if required, is administered within two weeks of the written examination.

Dissertation.  Campus policies and procedures are detailed in the Doctoral Degree Regulations  section of the Bulletin and on the registrar’s Completion of Degree webpage.

University Policies.  University policies detailed in the Academic Policies  section of the Bulletin apply.

 

FIELDS

American Politics (offered through the Department of Politics and Government)

Core Course Requirement (4 units)

• PP 300 - American Politics & Institutions 

American Political Thought & Development (4 units)

• PP 301 - American Political Development
• PP 310 - The Presidency and the Constitution
• PP 312 - Perspectives on Judicial Powers
• PP 315 - Deliberative Democracy
• PP 321 - Judicial Review, Democracy, and the Constitution
• PP 451 - The Federalist
• PP 457 - John Locke 

National Institutions (8 units)

• PP 326 - American Constitutional Law I: Civil Liberties or PP 327 - American Constitutional Law II: National Powers
• PP 305 - Executive-Congressional Relations
• PP 306 - Legislative Process & Public Policy
• PP 307 - The Modern Presidency
• PP 311 - American Presidency
• PP 316 - The Administrative State
• PP 318 - American Politics, Courts, and Public Policy

Individual & Collective Behavior (8 units)

• PP 301 - American Political Development
• PP 302 - Political Behavior
• PP 308 - Political Psychology
• PP 309 - Women and the Political Process
• PP 313 - Representation and Elections
• PP 314 - Political Parties in the U.S.
• PP 323 - Racial, Ethnic & Social Minorities in American Politics
• PP 329 - Public Opinion
• PP 341 - United States Immigration Policy

Political Philosophy (offered through the Department of Politics and Government)

 Core Course Requirement (4 units)

• PP 450 - Major Works in Political Philosophy

Subfields (12 units)

Choose one course from each of the following subfields listed below:

Ancient & Medieval Political Philosophy (4 units)

• PP 304 - Ethics and Politics
• PP 456 - Topics in Ancient Political Philosophy
• PP 456a - Plato’s Laws
• PP 456b - Thucydides
• PP 461a - Classical Political Philosophy: Aristotle
• PP 461b - Classical Political Philosophy: Cicero
• PP 461c - Ethics and Politics: Aristotle and Cicero
• PP 465 - Medieval Political Philosophy
• PP 466 - Basic Concepts in Political Philosophy: Plato’s Republic

Modern Political Philosophy (4 units)

• PP 451 - The Federalist
• PP 453 - Idealism and Nihilism
• PP 457 - The Political Philosophy of John Locke
• PP 457a - The Political Philosophy of Rousseau
• PP 457b - The Political Philosophy of Machiavelli
• PP 457c - Political Philosophy of Montesquieu
• PP 458 - Machiavelli’s Discourses on Livy
• PP 459 - Liberal Individualism and Communitarianism
• PP 468 - American Political Thought and Development 

Contemporary Political Philosophy (4 units)

• PP 454 - Contemporary Figures in Political Philosophy: Ortega y Gasset and Arendt
• PP 455 - Feminist Theory and Epistemology
• PP 462 - Contemporary Political Philosophy
• PP 463 - The Political Philosophy of Heidegger 
• PP 464 - Comparative Political Philosophy

Expertise in Depth (8 units)

Complete two courses in one of the subfield areas.  One course should be a thematic or issues course.  The second course should focus on the work of one theorist.

Public Policy (offered through the Department of Politics and Government)

Core Courses (28 units)

• PP 330 - Public Policy Process
• PP 331 - Policy Evaluation
• PP 338 - Policy Design and Implementation
• PP 482 - Advanced Quantitative Research Methods or Econ 381 Econometrics 1
• SP&E 313 - Microeconomics and Public Policy (students who have already taken a college-level course in microeconomics may use that course to meet this requirement and take an elective instead)
• SP&E 318 - Cost-Benefit Analysis
• SP&E 411 - International Political Economy

Substantive Track (4 units) 

Policy Emphasis 1: Diversity Policy

• PP309 Women and the Political Process
• PP323 Racial, Ethnic and Social Minorities in American Politics
• PP408 Political Demography
• PP341 US Immigration Policy
• PP366 Political and Economic Development in Latin America
• SPE371 Globalization
• REL472 Race and Religion in America
• ED699 Educating Minority Students in Urban Schools: Policy & Practice
• EA86 Environmental Justice (this Pitzer course requires instructor agreement to add
• additional work for graduate students)
• Or other courses approved by your faculty advisor

 

Policy Emphasis 2: Evaluation with Division of Behavioral and Organizational Sciences

• PSY326 Foundations of Evaluation (2-unit course)^
• PSY315z Comparative Evaluation Theory
• PSY315ee Evaluation Procedures*
• SPE348 Regulatory Policy OR another course approved by your faculty advisor

^ Note that a 2-unit elective is usually offered to complement PSY 326

* 326 and 315z should be taken before 315ee

 Policy Emphasis 3: Education with School of Educational Studies

• EDUC 407 - Public Policy and America’s Schools
• EDUC 408 - Education Finance Policy
• EDUC 630 - Policy, Practice and High Performing Schools
• EDUC 635 - Special Education Trends, Issues, and Policy Development
• EDUC 650 - Federal Higher Education Policy
• EDUC 654 - Legal Issues in Higher Education
• EDUC 676 - The Politics of Urban School reform
• EDUC 699 - Educating Minority Students in Urban Schools: Policy and Practice
• Or another course approved by your faculty advisor

Policy Emphasis 4: Health Policy  with School of Community and Global Health

• CGH 300 - Theoretical Foundations in Health Promotion and Education
• CGH 302 - Epidemiology

Student-Designed Emphasis - Consult with advisor

Methods (offered through the Department of Politics and Government and the Department of International Studies)

Core Tools (16 units)

Choose one of the following:

Sequence 1: Econometrics

• TNDY 401i - Nature of Inquiry
• ECON 382 - Econometrics I
• ECON 383 - Econometrics II  OR ECON 384 - Time Series Econometrics
• PP 487 - Applied Data Analysis

Sequence 2: Mathematics

• TNDY 401i - Nature of Inquiry
• MATH 352 - Nonparametric and Computational Statistics OR MATH 354 Reliability Theory
• MATH 366- Data Mining OR MATH 452 - Large Scale Inference
• PP 487 - Applied Data Analysis

Core Methods (12 units) 

• PP484 - Experimental & Qualitative Methods OR PP485 - Qualitative Research Methods OR ECON320 - Experimental Economics
• SPE317 - Advanced Formal Models (prerequisite: SPE315 Game Theory) or ECON317 - Game Theory & Asymmetric Information
• ECON 316 Consumer Theory and General Equilibrium

Complete at least 5 additional classes with Faculty Advisor approval from the following (16 units):

• PP 331 - Policy Evaluation
• SPE 316 - Seminar in Computational and Agent-Based Modeling
• SPE 438 - Dynamic Modeling
• SPE 486 - Data Analytics & Visualization
• SPE 448 - Seminar in Social Network Analysis
• SPE 488 - SAS Programming and Multivariate Analysis in International Studies
• SPE 318 -Cost-Benefit Analysis
• SPE 471 - Strategic Modeling for Politics, Economics, & Business
• Econ 303 - Dynamic General Equilibrium Modeling
• Econ 318 - Foundations of Psychology and Economics
• Econ 319 - Application of Psychology and Economics
• Econ 321 - Advanced Topics in Experimental Economics
• PSYCH 315 - Advanced Qualitative Research Methods
• PSYCH 315J - Survey Research Methods
• PSYCH 315F - Factor Analysis (only 2 units, combine with another 2-unit course)
• PSYCH 315H - Structural Equation Modeling (only 2-units, combine with another 2-unit course)
• PSYCH 315N - Meta Analysis (only 2 units, combine with another 2-unit course)
• IST 333 - Knowledge Discovery & Data Mining
• IST 382 - Introduction to GIS Solution Development

 

Comparative Politics (offered through the Department of International Studies)

Core Courses (12 units)

• SP&E 350 - Theories and Issues in Comparative Politics
• SP&E 351 - Comparative Institutional Analysis
• SP&E 352 - Comparative Political Economy

Complete at least 3 additional classes with Faculty Advisor approval from the following (12 units):

• PP 353 - Comparative Parties & Elections
• PP 354 - Politics of Developing Countries
• PP 356 - Politics of Non-Democratic States
• PP 364 - Democracy & Development
• PP 366 - Latin American Politics
• POST 225 - Politics of Africa
• TNDY 405C - Wealth, Poverty and Inequality
• Other courses can be taken with the approval of the field chair

Note: Consult with Faculty Advisor to select best courses for your goals. Pre-approval of electives is required.

 

World Politics (offered through the Department of International Studies)

Core Courses (12 units)

• INST 401 - World Politics
• SP&E 430 - Seminar in Conflict & Peace
• SP&E 411 - International Political Economy
• SP&E 418 - Political Economy of International Development

Complete at least 2 additional classes with Faculty Advisor approval from the following (8 units):

• SP&E 408 - Seminar in Political Demography
• SP&E 429 - Political Economy of China
• TNDY 404U - Energy & the Environment
• INST 420A-H - Foreign Policy Courses
• Other courses can be taken with the approval of the field chair

Note: Consult with Faculty Advisor to select best courses for your goals. Pre-approval of electives is required.

 

Computational Analytics (offered through the Department of International Studies)

Core Tools (16 units)

Choose one of the following:

Sequence 1: Econometrics

• TNDY 401i - Nature of Inquiry
• ECON 382 - Econometrics I
• ECON 383 - Econometrics II  OR ECON 384 - Time Series Econometrics
• PP 487 - Applied Data Analysis

Sequence 2: Mathematics

• TNDY 401i - Nature of Inquiry
• MATH 352 - Nonparametric and Computational Statistics OR MATH 354 Reliability Theory
• MATH 366- Data Mining OR MATH 452 - Large Scale Inference
• PP 487 - Applied Data Analysis

Core Courses (20 units)

• SP&E 317 - Seminar in Formal Models
• SP&E 316 - Computational Agent-Based Modeling
• SP&E 438 - Dynamic Modeling
• SP&E 448 - Seminar in Social Network Analysis
• SP&E 486 - Data Analytics and Visualization

Complete at least 2 additional classes with Faculty Advisor approval from the following (8 units):

Methods

• ECON 320 - Experimental Economics
• ECON 317 - Game Theory
• ECON 316 - Consumer Theory and General Equilibrium
• Other approved elective from faculty advisor

Computational Analytics

• SP&E 488 - SAS Programming and Multivariate Analysis in International Studies
• SP&E 318 - Cost-Benefit Analysis
• ECON 321 - Advanced Topics in Experimental Economics
• Psych 315J - Survey Research Methods
• IST 382 - Introduction to GIS Solution Development
• IST 333 - Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining
• Other approved elective from faculty advisor

Mathematics

• MATH 352 - Nonparametric & Computational Statistics
• MATH 354 - Reliability Theory
• MATH 251 - Probability
• MATH 256 - Stochastic Processes
• MATH 366 - Data Mining
• Other approved elective from faculty advisor

Policy Context

• INST 401 - World Politics
• SP&E 408 - Political Demography
• SP&E 430 - Seminar in Conflict and Peace
• SP&E 350 - Theories and Issues in Comparative Politics
• SP&E 351 - Comparative Institutional Analysis
• SP&E 352 - Comparative Political Economy
• SP&E 411 - International Political Economy
• SP&E 418 - Political Economy of International Development
• Other approved elective from faculty advisor

Note: Consult with Faculty Advisor to select best courses for your goals. Pre-approval of electives is required.

 

International Political Economy (offered through the Department of International Studies)

This field is applicable only for PhD Economics and Political Science Interfield Students.

Core Courses (12 units)

• SP&E 350 - Theories and Issues in Comparative Politics
• SP&E 418 - Political Economy of International Development
• INST 401 - World Politics

Complete at least 2 additional classes with Faculty Advisor approval from the following (8 units):

• PP 353 - Comparative Parties & Elections
• SP&E 408 - Political Demography
• PP 353 - Comparative Parties & Elections
• PP 354 - Politics of Developing Countries
• PP 356 - Politics of Non-Democratic States
• PP 364 - Democracy & Development
• PP 366 - Latin American Politics
• POST 225 - Politics of Africa
• Other approved elective from faculty advisor