The doctoral program in Political Science provides students with in-depth knowledge of domestic and international politics and the analytical skills required for careers in academia, the public sector, think tanks, and private enterprise. 

Six PhD fields are offered by the Department of Politics and Policy: American Politics, Comparative Politics, International Politics, International Political Economy, Public Policy, and Research Methodology. All students select two fields and should notify the Department which two fields have been selected.

Admission requirements are detailed in the Admission section of the Bulletin.

University Policies

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

Admissions Requirements

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

 

Degree Requirements

 

Coursework.  A minimum of 72 units is required for the PhD.  

 

Research Tools.  Satisfactory completion of research tool requirements through methods courses, as detailed below. If you completed a research tool at another institution, you may petition to apply the tool to your CGU degree program. Non-CGU tools must meet the following qualifications: 1. Transfer credit requirements apply – that is, graduate level achievement from an accredited institution and documented on an official transcript; 2. In compliance with transfer credit policies, grades received in non-CGU coursework must be B or better; 3. Tools completed at another institution must have been accomplished within three years of the date of your petition. In some cases, you must also successfully pass a test in the material covered by the tool.

 

Transdisciplinary Requirement. CGU requires all Doctoral students to complete 4 units of Transdisciplinary (TNDY) courses (T-Courses) within the first two years of their program or by the completion of 48 units in their program. These units will count as 4 units towards the doctoral degree requirement of 72 units. 

 

Practical Experience Milestone. Please see below

 

Qualifying Examinations.  Successful completion of the written qualifying examinations in each of two fields. Qualifying examinations are offered once in each of the fall and the spring semesters. Students can attempt each written qualifying exam twice. In the event that a student fails a second attempt, an oral examinationis administered as soon as possible after the written examination is graded, but at a time  that meets the scheduling needs of both the student and examining faculty.

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.

Coursework

Research Tools (16 units)

General Tool #1:     

• PP 480 - Nature of Inquiry: Quantitative Research in Social Sciences (4 units) AND 
• PP 481 – Introduction to Statistical Analysis (4 units) 

 

• Specialized Tool #2: PP482 – Multivariate Regression Analysis (4 units), AND a qualitative course  (4 units) AND  another research methods course (4 units) such as: PP 487 – Applied Data Analysis (various letters and topics) (4 units)
  • –In special circumstances, students may use a language other than their native language as a research tool. For more information speak to your advisor and see the Division Handbook.

Note: In some cases students who join the program with coursework in methods areas may be able to waive some requirements based on testing out. See Handbook and discuss with your advisor.

 

FIELDS

American Politics (24 units)

Core Course Requirements (16 units):  

• PP 300 - American Politics & Institutions (4 units)
• PP 302 – American Political Behavior (4 units)
• PP 313 – Representation & Elections (4 units)
• PP 305 – Congressional-Executive Institutions & Policymaking (4 units)

Choose two additional courses from the following (8 units) 

 

Highly Recommended—

• PP 333 – Identity Politics (4 units)
• SPE 351 - Comparative Political Institutions (4 units)

Also eligible:

• PP 484 – Survey Research (4 units)
• SPE 489 – Computational Tools for the Social Science (4 units)
• SPE 487 – Visualizing Data (4 units)
• PP 487L – Applied Data Analysis: Limited Dependent Variables and MLE (or other various letters and topics; check with your advisor) (4 units)
• TNDY 407V – Urban Studies (4 units)
• SPE 352 – Comparative Political Economy (4 units)
• SPE 353 – Comparative Political Behavior (4 units)
• PP 331 - Policy Evaluation (4 units)
• PP 349F - Special Topics in Public Policy: Inequality (4 units)
• TNDY 407K - Transdisciplinary Approaches to Inequality (4 units)
• Another relevant course as approved by your advisor

**Substitutions must be approved by your advisor and reported to the Program Coordinator. 

 

 

Comparative Politics (28 units)

Core Course Requirements (20 units)

• SPE 350 - Theories and Issues in Comparative Politics (4 units)
• SPE 351 - Comparative Political Institutions (4 units)
• SPE 352 – Comparative Political Economy ( 4 units)
• SPE 353 – Comparative Political Behavior (4 units)
• SPE 354 – Comparative Public Policy (4 units)

 

Eligible Electives (8 units)

• PP 353 - Comparative Parties & Elections (4 units)
• PP 356 - Politics of Non-Democratic States (4 units)
• PP 366 – Latin American Politics (4 units)
• PP 375/POST 225 - Politics of Africa (when taken as POST 225 requires instructor permission and agreement to bring it up to graduate level) (4 units)
• SPE 359 – Economic Development: Household and Local Development Issues (4 units)
• SPE 429 - Political Economy of China (4 units)
• TNDY 405C - Wealth, Poverty, and Inequality (4 units)
• PP 330 - Public Policy Process (4 units)
•  TNDY 407V - Urban Studies (4 units)
•   PP 331 - Policy Evaluation (4 units)
• PP 338 - Policy Design & Implementation (4 units)
• PP 302 - American Political Behavior (4 units)
• PP 333 – Identity Politics (4 units)
•  PP 484 - Survey Research (4 units)
• SPE 318 - Cost-Benefit Analysis (4 units)
• SPE 489 - Computational Tools for Social Science (4 units)
•  SPE 487 – Visualizing Data (4 units)
• PP 300 - American Politics & Institutions (4 units)
• PP 305 - Congressional-Executive Institutions & Policymaking (4 units)
• PP 313 - Representation & Elections ( 4 units)
• PP 487L -  Applied Data Analysis: Limited Dependent Variables and MLE
• PP 408 – Seminar in World Politics: Political Demography & Development (4 units)  OR TNDY 407I – Special Seminar in Social Demography (4 units)

 

Other courses can be taken in Economics and other fields. Pre-approval of the field chair is required and the Program Coordinator must be informed.

 

International Politics (28 units)

Core Course Requirement (24 units)

• PP 401 - World Politics (4 units)
• PP 430 – Perspectives in Conflict & Peace (4 units)
• PP 432 – Seminar in Civil War (4 units)
• SPE 410 – Political Economy of International Development (4 units)
• SPE 411 – International Political Economy (4 units)
• SPE 408 – Globalization & Regional Integration (4 units)

 

Electives - Choose one course (4 units) from the following selection (by Advisor approval)

 

• SPE 408 – Globalization & Regional Integration (4 units)
• SPE 429 - Political Economy of China (4 units)
• ECON 350 - Global Money & Finance (4 units)
• ECON 370 - The World Economy (4 units)
• ECON 302 - Modern Macroeconomics: Analysis, Policy, and Applications (4 units)
• ECON 351 - Contemporary Issues in International Finance and Economic Development (4 units)

 

International Political Economy (28 units)

Core Courses (24 units)

·SPE 411 – International Political Economy (4 units)

• PP 408 – Seminar in World Politics: Political Demography & Development (4 units) 
• SPE 410 – Political Economy of International Development (4 units)
• ECON 302 – Modern Macroeconomics: Analysis, Policy, and Applications (4 units)
• ECON 350 – Global Money & Finance (4 units)
• ECON 370 – The World Economy ( 4 units)

Electives – Choose one course (4 units) from the following selection (by Advisor approval):

• SPE 352 – Comparative Political Economy (4 units)
• SPE 408 – Globalization & Regional Integration (4 units)
• SPE 429 – Political Economy of China (4 units)
• ECON 351 – Contemporary Issues in International Finance and Economic Development (4 units)

 

Public Policy (28 units)

Core Courses (24 units)

• PP 330 - Public Policy Process (4 units)
• PP 331 - Policy Evaluation (4 units)
• PP 338 - Policy Design and Implementation (4 units)  
• ECON 313 – Microeconomics OR SPE 313 - Microeconomics and Public Policy  (4 units)
• (ECON 313 is recommended only for students with strong backgrounds in Calculus; check with professor.) 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.
• SPE 318 - Cost-Benefit Analysis (4 units)  

 

Another policy analytic tool (in addition to courses used to meet the research tools requirements), such as:

• SPE 489 – Computational Tools for Social Science (4 units)
• IST 370 – Introduction to GIS Analytics and Solution Development (4 units)
• IST 377A through IST 377G – GIS Special Topics (various letters and topics) (4 units)
• See advisor for additional suggestions.

Substantive Track (4 units) 

Choose one course in a substantive policy area from the following substantive areas of emphasis: 

Substantive Area 1: Diversity Policy

• PP 309 - Women, Politics, and Policy (4 units)
• SPE 354 – Comparative Public Policy (4 units)  
• PP 323 - Racial & Ethnic Political Behavior (4 units)
• PP 408 – Seminar in World Politics: Political Demography & Development (4 units)  
• PP 341 - US Immigration Policy (4 units)
• PP 366 - Latin American Politics (4 units)
• SPE 371 – Globalization (4 units)
•  
• EDUC 699 - Educating Minority Students in Urban Schools: Policy & Practices (4 units)
• EA 86 - Environmental Justice (this Pitzer course requires instructor agreement to add additional work for graduate students) (4 units)
• TNDY 405C - Wealth, Poverty and Inequality (4 units)
• TNDY 407K - Transdisciplinary Approaches to Inequality (4 units) 
• TNDY 407V - Urban Studies (4 units)  
• CGH 317- Ethics, Human Rights and Cultural Diversity (4 units)
• CGH418 -  Health Equity in Research and Practice (4 units)
• Or other courses approved by your faculty advisor

 Substantive Area 2: Evaluation with Division of Behavioral and Organizational Sciences

• PSYCH 326 - Foundations of Evaluation (2 units)^
• PSYCH 315Z – Comparative Evaluation Theory (4 units)
• PSYCH 315EE – Evaluation Procedures (4 units) *
•  
• OR another course approved by your faculty advisor

^ Note that a 2-unit elective is usually offered to complement PSYCH 326 (Other programs also offer 2-unit courses.)

* PHYSCH 326 and PSYCH 315Z should be taken before PSYCH 315EE

 

Substantive Area 3: Education Policy with School of Educational Studies

• EDUC 407 – Foundations of Educational Policy ( 4 units)
•  
• EDUC 457 - Economics and Finance of Higher Education (4 units)  
• EDUC 635 - Special Education Trends, Issues & Policy Development (4 units)  
• EDUC 640 – Policy-Making for Education (4 units)
• EDUC 642 - Economic Analysis of Education (4 units)
• EDUC 650 – Federal Higher Education Policy (4 units)
• EDUC 654 – Higher Education and the Law (4 units) 
• EDUC 657 - Access and Equity in Higher Education (4 units)
• EDUC 676 - The Politics of Urban School Reform (4 units)
• EDUC 698 - Teaching and Learning in Developing Countries (4 units)
• EDUC 699 – Educating Minority Students in Urban Schools: Policy & Practices (4 units)  
• Or another course approved by your faculty advisor 

 

Substantive Area 4: Health Policy with School of Community and Global Health

• CGH 300 – Theoretical Foundations in Health Promotion and Education  (4 units)
• CGH 302 - Epidemiology (4 units)
• CGH 303 -  Health Services in the US and Abroad (4 units)
• CGH 310: Foundations of Global Health: A Transdisciplinary Approach (4 units)  
• CGH 317 -  Ethics, Human Rights, and Cultural Diversity (4 units)  
• CGH 349F -  U.S. Health Policy (4 units)
• CGH 411- Health Economics and Financing (4 units)
• CGH 418-  Health Equity in Research and Practice (4 units)
• Or another course approved by your faculty advisor  

 

Substantive Area 5: Methods for Policy Analysis

Note: these courses must be in addition to courses used to meet the Research Tools requirement and the Policy Analytic Tool requirement.

PP 487L: Applied Data Analysis: Machine Learning and Data Mining (or other PP487 topical course not used for Research Tools or for Policy Analytic tool)

• IST 370 – Introduction to GIS Analytics and Solution Development (4 units)
• IST 377A through IST 377G – GIS Special Topics (various letters and topics) (4 units)
• SPE 489 -  Computational Tools for Social Science (4 units)
• SPE 448 – Seminar in Social Network Analysis (4 units)
• Other courses in consultation with your advisor.

 

Policy Emphasis 6: Student-Designed Emphasis 

Select an emphasis in consultation with your faculty advisor. 

 

 

 Research Methodology Field (40 units)

All students in the PhD in Political Science program are required to take 16 units of Research Tools courses. Students in the Research Methodology field are required to take the 16 units of Research Tools courses (PP 480, PP 481, PP 482, and one course from the PP 487 series) and then will take a combination of six courses (24 additional units) from the following categories, including at least one additional course from the PP 487 series:

Core Course (4 units)

• PP 487 - Applied Data Analysis (must be taken after PP 480, PP481 and PP482.) Note that students in the Research Methodology field will take two versions of PP 487 with different letters and topics.

 

Other courses

Students should take 20 units from the courses listed below. Categorization is to assist students in selecting courses.

 

Professional and Applied Courses

These courses focus on a particular set of methods implemented in professional and academic settings such as policy analysis, program evaluation, the technology and research industries, non-profit organizations and governmental institutions.

• PP 331 - Policy Evaluation (4 units)
• PP 484 - Survey Research ( 4 units) OR PSYCH 315J - Survey Research Methods (2 units)
• SPE 318 - Cost-Benefit Analysis (4 units) (prerequisite: microeconomics or instructor permission)
• SPE 471 - Strategic Modeling for Politics, Economics & Business Decisions (4 units)
• SPE 487 - Visualizing Data (4 units)
• SPE 489 - Computational Tools for Social Science (4 units)

 

Machine Learning / Artificial Intelligence / Computational Analytics / Big Data

These courses represent a set of interdisciplinary, state-of-the-science methodologies to analyze large datasets with classification, prediction, and exploratory research purposes.

●PP487L  - Applied Data Analysis (various letters and topics) (4 units)

• PP 486 – Policy Research Methods (4 units)

●ECON 377 - Causal Modeling, Big Data, and Machine Learning (4 units)

●SPE 316 - Computational Agent-Based Modeling (4 units)

●SPE 448 – Seminar in Social Network Analysis (4 units)

●MATH 466 - Advanced Big Data Analysis (4 units)

 

Statistical Analysis

These courses offer a set of foundational skills for systematically collecting, processing, and analyzing data to discover, describe, and quantify patterns and trends.

 

●PP 487L - Applied Data Analysis: Limited Dependent Variables and MLE (4 units)  OR PSYCH 308D - Categorical Data Analysis (2 units)

●ECON 383 - Econometrics II (4 units) (check with econ faculty for prerequisites)

●ECON 384 - Time Series Econometrics (4 units) OR MATH 351 - Time Series Data Analysis (4 units)  (check with faculty for prerequisites)

 

●ECON 386 - Advanced Applied Econometrics (4 units) (check with econ faculty for prerequisites)

●SPE 438 - Dynamic Modeling (4 units)

●PSYCH 308B – ANOVA (2 units)

●PSYCH 315E - Multilevel Modeling (2 units)

●PSYCH 315F - Factor Analysis (2 units)

●PSYCH 315H - Structural Equation Modeling (2 units)

●PSYCH 315I - Longitudinal Methods (4 units)

●MATH 454 - Statistical Learning (4 units)

●CGH 301 – Biostatistics (4 units)

 

Foundational

These courses teach the theoretical (mathematical, technical, or conceptual) fundamentals of research methods.

●ECON 317 - Game Theory & Asymmetric Information (4 units)

●ECON 316 – Consumer Theory and General Equilibrium (4 units)

●ECON 320 – Experimental Economics (4 units)

●SPE 317 - Advanced Formal Models (4 units)

●MATH 352 - Nonparametric Statistics (4 units)

●MATH 353 - Asymptotic Methods in Statistics with Applications (4 units)

●MATH 452 - Large-Scale Inference (4 units)

 

Other Methods and Skills

These courses offer students the opportunity to acquire analytic skills from an interdisciplinary perspective and diversify their methods repertoire.

●PP 483 - Legal Research Methods (4 units)

●PP 485 - Qualitative and Mixed Methods Research (4 units) OR PSYCH 315Q - Qualitative Research Methods (4 units)

●IST 370 - Introduction to GIS Analytics and Solution Development (4 units)

●HIST 304 - Introduction to Oral History, Methodology (4 units)

●CLST 415 - Ethnographic Field Research Methods in Cultural Studies (4 units)

Note: Courses taken in the Department of Psychology are often 2-credit courses and they need to be combined with another 2-credit course. Also, in conferral with an advisor and as appropriate, students can take courses related to research methodology not listed here from any department at CGU.