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 upcoming terms.

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 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 and Analysis

  • 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 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