The rigorous training and applied nature of the Division of Politics & Economics core offerings and several doctoral fields are listed below. The department’s various programs provide the analytical expertise and practical experience for both academic and research-based positions.

Degree Requirements

Coursework.  A minimum of 80 units are required for the interfield doctorate. In addition to the tools requirements, students are required to complete six-course sequences in two of the program’s field offerings.

Research Tools. Satisfactory completion of research tool requirements through our core methods courses (see below).

Transdisciplinary Requirement. CGU requires all doctoral students to complete a Transdisciplinary course (T-Course) within the first two years of their program or by the completion of 48 units in their program. The course will count as 4 units toward the doctoral degree requirement of 72 units.

Qualifying Examinations.  Successful completion of the written qualifying examinations in each of two major concentrations (one from the Department of International Studies and one from the Department of Politics and Government). Qualifying examinations are offered once in each of the fall and the spring semesters. An oral examination, if required, is administered as soon as possible, that meets the scheduling needs of both the student and faculty, after the written examination is graded.

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. Policies detailed in the current Policies and General Information Bulletin apply.

Admission. Admission requirements are detailed in the Admissions section of the current Policies and General Information Bulletin.

Practical Experience Milestone. Please see below.

Research Tools

Take the following sequence if your primary department is the Department of International Studies (16 units):

• INST 481- Statistical Methods for Social Sciences OR PP 481 - Introduction to Statistical Analysis
• INST 483 - Multivariate Analysis in International Studies Using SAS (Please note that INST 483 uses SAS and focuses on the international analysis) OR PP 482 - Advanced Quantitative Research Methods
• INST 487 - Advanced Topics in Applied Econometrics/PP 487 - Applied Data Analysis: Machine Learning and Data Mining
• INST 489 - Advanced Research Design 

Take the following sequence if your primary department is the Department of Politics & Government (16 units):

Take the following three classes (12 units):

• PP 480 - The Nature of Inquiry
• PP 481 - Introduction to Statistical Analysis OR INST 481 - Statistical Methods for Social Science
• PP 482 - Advanced Quantitative Research Methods OR INST 483 - Multivariate Analysis in International Studies Using SAS (Note that INST 483 uses SAS and focuses on the international analysis)

AND Take a qualitative course (4 units) such as:

• PP 483 - Legal Research Methods
• SP&E 485 - Computer Applications for Social Science Research (offered every 2 years)
• Another qualitative course approved by your advisor such as Oral History, Archival Analysis, Text and/or Content Analysis, Field Research and Ethnographic Methods, Corpus Linguistics, etc.

 

FIELDS (Department of Politics & Government)

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Each field in Political Science-International requires a minimum of 5, 4-unit courses (20 units). These are the fields available:

• American Politics
• Comparative Politics
• Public Policy
• Public Law
• Research Methodology

 

American Politics 

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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 315 - Seminar in Deliberative Democracy
• PP 319B - Special Topics in American Politics: Perspectives on Judicial Powers
• PP 319E - Judicial Review, Democracy, and the Constitution
• PP 451 - The Federalist

Governmental Institutions (8 units)

• PP 326 - Constitutional Law I or PP 327 - Constitutional Law II
• PP 305 - Executive-Congressional Relations
• PP 306 - Legislative Process & Public Policy
• PP 307 - The Modern Presidency
• PP 310B - American Presidency
• PP 316 - State and Local Institutions
• PP 318 - American Politics, Courts, and Public Policy

Individual & Collective Behavior (8 units)

• PP 301 - American Political Development
• PP 302 - American Political Behavior
• PP 308 - Political Psychology
• PP 309 - Women, Politics, and Policy
• PP 313 - Representation and Elections
• PP 314 - Parties & Elections in America
• PP 323 - Racial & Ethnic Political Behavior
• PP 329 - Public Opinion
• PP 341 - US Immigration Policy

 

Public Policy

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Core Courses (24 units)

• PP 330 - Public Policy Process
• PP 331 - Policy Evaluation
• PP 338 - Policy Design and Implementation
• SP&E 313 - Microeconomics and Public Policy
  • Note: If students have an equivalent college-level course in Microeconomics, this requirement may be met, but units may only transfer if the Microeconomics course is a graduate-level course that meets the institutional transfer standards. See your advisor for details.
• SP&E 318 - Cost-Benefit Analysis
• SP&E 410 - Political Economy of International Development

Substantive Track (4 units) 

Policy Emphasis 1: Diversity Policy

• PP309 - Women, Politics, and Policy
• PP323 - Racial & Ethnic Political Behavior
• PP341 - US Immigration Policy
• PP366 - Latin American Politics
• SPE371 - Globalization
• EDUC699 - 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*
• 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 - Foundations of Educational Policy
• EDUC 635 - Special Education Trends, Issues, and Policy Development
• EDUC 650 - Federal Higher Education Policy
• EDUC 654 - Higher Education and the Law
• 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 your advisor

Research Methodology

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Core Course (4 units)

• PP 487 - Applied Data Analysis: Machine Learning and Data Mining
  • ​Note: The substantive focus of the course varies from semester to semester (e.g. categorical data analysis, machine learning methods, methods for causal identification, etc.)

Professional and Applied Courses (12 units) 

• PP 331 - Policy Evaluation
• SP&E 318 - Cost-Benefit Analysis
• IST 370 - Introduction to GIS Analytics and Solution Development OR IST 371 - Introduction to Solution Development AND IST 372 - Advanced GIS Analytics and Solution Development
• IST 344 - Data Analytics and Information Visualization
• IST 340 - Seminar in Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining
• IST 302 - Databases
• ONT105 - Research Methods for Community Change
• Other applied methods courses as approved by your advisor

Foundational Courses for Social Science Research (12 units) 

• Econ 381 - Probability and Statistics
• Econ 382 - Econometrics I (prerequisite: Econ 381)
• Econ 317 - Game Theory and Asymmetric Information
• SP&E 485 - Computer Applications for Social Science Research
• PP 483 - Legal Research Methods
• HIST 304 - Introduction to Oral History Methodology
• CLST 415 - Ethnographic Field Research Methods in Cultural Studies
• Psych 315J - Survey Research Methods (students must commit to both semesters of this course; 2 units per each semester)
• Other foundational methods as approved by your advisor
  • Note: In conferral with an advisor and as appropriate, students can take courses related to research methodology from any department at CGU.

Comparative Politics

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Core Courses (12 units)

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

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

• SP&E 485 - Computer Applications for Social Science Research (recommended)
• PP 353 - Comparative Parties & Elections
• PP 354 - Politics of Developing Countries
• PP 356 - Politics of Non-Democratic States
• SP&E 364 - Democracy & Development
• PP 366 - Latin American Politics
• 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 the best courses for your goals. Pre-approval of electives is required.

Public Law

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Core Courses (12 units)

Choose three courses from the following. Students may choose to take additional courses from this section to count towards their electives. PP483 cannot count towards the field if used to satisfy other graduation requirements:

• PP 318 - American Politics, Courts, and Public Policy
• PP 326 - Constitutional Law I
• PP 327 - Constitutional Law II
• PP 328 - Rise & Operations of the Administrative State
• PP 483 - Legal Research Methods

Electives (12 units)

Choose three courses as electives from the following. Substitutions require Field Chair approval:

• PP 303 - Religion, Law, and American Politics
• PP 305 - Executive-Congressional Relations
• PP 306 - Legislative Process and Public Policy
• PP 307 - The Modern Presidency
• PP 310 - The Presidency & The Consitution
• PP 312 - The Supreme Court as a Political Institution
• PP 316 - State and Local Institutions
• PP 319 - Special Topics in American Politics: Theories of American Democracy
• PP 321 - Representative Democracy in the US
• PP 325 - Judicial Power & the Growth of Government
• PP 456 - Topics in Ancient Political Philosophy: Plato’s Laws

 

FIELDS (Department of International Studies)

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Each field in International Politics requires a minimum of 4, 4-unit courses (16 units). These are the fields available:

• Comparative Politics
• Computational Analytics
• Methods
  • Note: This is a special transdisciplinary field by pre-approval only. Requires a pre-approved Ph.D. Exam Committee. Cannot be taken concurrently with Computational Analytics. Please contact your advisor for guidance on course sequences and specialization prior to transferring into this field. 
• World Politics

 

Comparative Politics 

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Core Courses (16 units)

• SP&E 350 - Theories and Issues in Comparative Politics
• SP&E 351 - Comparative Political Institutions
• SP&E 352 - Comparative Political Economy
• One regionally-based course (for example, Africa, Asia, Middle East, Latin America, etc.)

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

• PP 353 - Comparative Parties & Elections
• PP 354 - Politics of Developing Countries
• PP 356 - Politics of Non-Democratic States
• SP&E 364 - Democracy & Development
• PP 366 - Latin American Politics
• 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 the best courses for your goals. Pre-approval of electives is required.

Computational Analytics

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Core Courses (16 units)

• SP&E 316 - Computational Agent-Based Modeling
• SP&E 317 - Advanced Formal Models
• 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):

Computational Analytics

• INST 483 - Multivariate Analysis in International Studies Using SAS
• SP&E 318 - Cost-Benefit Analysis
• ECON 321 - Advanced Topics in Experimental Economics
• Psych 315J - Survey Research Methods
• IST 382 - Health Geoinformatics
• IST 340 - Seminar in Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining
• Other approved elective from a faculty advisor

Mathematics

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

Policy Context

• INST 401 - World Politics
• INST 430 - Perspectives in Conflict and Peace
• SP&E 350 - Theories and Issues in Comparative Politics
• SP&E 351 - Comparative Political Institutions
• SP&E 352 - Comparative Political Economy
• SP&E 411 - International Political Economy
• SP&E 418 - Foundations of Political Economy
• Other approved elective from your faculty advisor

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

Methods

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Special transdisciplinary field by pre-approval only. Requires a pre-approved Ph.D. Exam Committee. Cannot be taken concurrently with Computational Analytics. Please contact your advisor for guidance on course sequences and specialization prior to transferring into this field.

World Politics 

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Core Courses (16 units)

• INST 401 - World Politics
• INST 430 - Perspectives in Conflict and Peach
• INST 410 - Political Economy of International Development
• SP&E 411 - International Political Economy

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

• SP&E 429 - Political Economy of China
• TNDY 404U - Energy & the Environment
• PP 420A - Foreign Policy of the USA
• PP 420E - Foreign Policy of Latin America
• PP 420F - Foreign Policy of the Middle East
• Other courses can be taken with the approval of the field chair

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

International Political Economy

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This field is available only for students in the Department of International Studies who are interfield with the Department of Economic Sciences.

Core Courses (12 units)

• SP&E 350 - Theories and Issues in Comparative Politics
• INST 410 - 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
• PP 354 - Politics of Developing Countries
• PP 356 - Politics of Non-Democratic States
• SP&E 364 - Democracy & Development
• PP 366 - Latin American Politics
• Other approved elective from your faculty advisor

Electives

The number of elective units required to bring your degree total up to 80 units will vary based on field choices. See your academic advisor and Program Coordinator for details and suggestions.