Undergraduate Courses

The University of Pittsburgh Department of Political Science offers a wide variety of courses, such as the following. Not all of these courses are offered each term, but you can search course offerings for current and up coming terms on our undergraduate catalogue.

A note on course numbers: Introductory course numbers start with a '0' and upper level course numbers start with a '1'. The second number in the four digit course number helps to indicate which field of study ( 2 = American, 3 = Comparative, 5 = World, 6 = Political Theory, 7 = Research Methods).

American Politics

  • PS 1201 Constitution and Civil Liberties
  • PS 1202 American Constitutional Law
  • PS 1203 Women in Politics
  • PS 1205 Race, Gender, and Politics
  • PS 1211 Legislative Process
  • PS 1212 American Presidency
  • PS 1216 Modern Civil Rights
  • PS 1220 Sports and American Politics
  • PS 1221 Latina/o/x Politics
  • PS 1232 Political Attitudes and Public Opinion
  • PS 1234 Electoral Behavior and Democratic Process
  • PS 1240 Politics of Diversity
  • PS 1251 Urban Government and Politics
  • PS 1252 State Government
  • PS 1254 Politics of Appalachia
  • PS 1261 American Public Policy
  • PS 1262 Health Policy in the US
  • PS 1264 American Politics through Film
  • PS 1275 Religion and Politics
  • PS 1281 Capstone Seminar in American Politics
  • PS 1291 Women in Politics - Analysis
  • PS 1292 Race, Gender, and Politics - Analysis
  • PS 1293 Legislative Process - Analysis
  • PS 1294 Political Attitude - Analysis
  • PS 1295 Political Psychology - Analysis
  • PS 1299 Analysis of American Politics

Comparative Politics

  • PS 1309 Comparative Regionalism
  • PS 1311 Western European Government and Politics
  • PS 1316 Asian Politics
  • PS 1317 Politics of the European Union
  • PS 1321 Latin American Politics
  • PS 1324 US-Latin American Relations
  • PS 1327 Revolution
  • PS 1332 Gov’t and Politics in Contemporary China
  • PS 1333 Government and Politics of Japan
  • PS 1340 Democratization
  • PS 1341 Gov’t and Politics of the USSR & the Russian Fed.
  • PS 1351 Government and Politics of the Middle East
  • PS 1352 Introduction to African Politics
  • PS 1367 Environmental Politics
  • PS 1373 Comparative Political Economy
  • PS 1374 Politics of Global Inequality
  • PS 1378 Challenges to Democracy and Its Institutions
  • PS 1381 Capstone Seminar in Comparative Politics
  • PS 1391 Authoritarian Statecraft and the Arts of Resistance – Analysis
  • PS 1392 European Politics – Analysis
  • PS 1393 Global Public Health and Social Policy
  • PS 1395 Latin American Politics – Analysis
  • PS 1399 Analysis of Comparative Politics
  • International Relations & Law

  • PS 1501 Theory of International Relations
  • PS 1502 Int’l Law and Problems of World Order
  • PS 1503 International Organizations
  • PS 1504 Nationalism
  • PS 1508 International Terrorism
  • PS 1511 American Foreign Policy
  • PS 1512 Politics of Migration
  • PS 1513 Foreign Policies—Changing World
  • PS 1514 Political Strategy and International Relations
  • PS 1516 Transnational Policy Analysis
  • PS 1517 US Foreign Policy Toward the Middle East
  • PS 1521 Eastern Europe in World Politics
  • PS 1533 Political Violence and Revolution
  • PS 1534 Civil Wars
  • PS 1536 Human Security
  • PS 1537 Peacemaking and Peacekeeping
  • PS 1550 Gender and Global Politics
  • PS 1581 Capstone Seminar in International Relations
  • PS 1591 Analysis of Civil Wars
  • PS 1592 Politics of Global Economic Relations – Analysis
  • PS 1599 Analysis of International Relations

Political Theory 

  • PS 1602 Early Modern Political Thought in Context
  • PS 1603 Contemporary Political Thought
  • PS 1607 American Political Thought
  • PS 1612 Marxism
  • PS 1614 Theories of Justice
  • PS 1619 Democratic Theory
  • PS 1621 History of Feminist Political Thought
  • PS 1622 Outsider Politics: Anarchist, Queer, Punk Feminist Theories
  •  PS 1650 Processes of Identity Formation
  • PS 1675 Politics of Human Rights
  • PS 1681 Capstone Seminar in Political Theory
  • PS 1691 Myth, Propaganda, and the State – Analysis
  • PS 1692 Democratic Theory – Analysis
  • PS 1693 Political Theory and the Future – Analysis
  • PS 1699 Analysis of Political Theory

Additional Offerings

  • PS 1702 Coding and Computation for Social Science
  • PS 1710 Strategy and Games of Politics
  • PS 1900 Internship
  • PS 1901 Independent Study
  • PS 1902 Directed Reading
  • PS 1903 Directed Research
  • PS 1910 Institute of Politics