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Pro-democracy stand-off in Tienanmen Square. (AP/Wide World Photos.)

The Political Science Department was formally established in 1955, within what was then the Department of Economics and Social Science, as part of a broad effort to develop research and training at MIT in the social sciences. Read more about Political Science at MIT.

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Undergraduate Courses

Course #	Course Title	Term
17.006J	Feminist Theory	Spring 2008
17.007J	Feminist Theory	Spring 2008
17.01J	Justice	Spring 2006
17.03	Introduction to Political Thought	Spring 2004
17.037	American Political Thought	Spring 2004
17.038	American Political Thought	Spring 2004
17.045J	Power: Interpersonal, Organizational and Global Dimensions	Fall 2005
17.118J	Feminist Political Thought	Fall 2000
17.125	The Politics of Global Financial Relations	Fall 2007
17.158	Political Economy of Western Europe	Spring 2003
17.181	Sustainable Development: Theory and Policy	Spring 2009
17.182	Sustainable Development: Theory and Policy	Spring 2009
17.195	Globalization	Fall 2005
17.196	Globalization	Fall 2005
17.199J	Working in a Global Economy	Fall 2005
17.20	Introduction to the American Political Process	Spring 2004
17.20	Introduction to the American Political Process	Fall 2006
17.245	The Supreme Court, Civil Liberties, and Civil Rights	Fall 2006
17.249J	Law and Society	Spring 2003
17.251	Congress and the American Political System I	Fall 2004
17.261	Congress and the American Political System II	Fall 2005
17.262	Congress and the American Political System II	Fall 2005
17.265	Public Opinion and American Democracy	Spring 2007
17.30J	Fundamentals of Public Policy	Fall 2004
17.315	Comparative Health Policy	Fall 2004
17.317	U.S. Social Policy	Spring 2006
17.32	Environmental Politics and Policy	Spring 2003
17.40	American Foreign Policy: Past, Present, and Future	Fall 2004
17.405	Seminar on Politics and Conflict in the Middle East	Fall 2003
17.406	Seminar on Politics and Conflict in the Middle East	Fall 2003
17.407	Chinese Foreign Policy	Fall 2005
17.407	Chinese Foreign Policy: International Relations and Strategy	Spring 2009
17.408	Chinese Foreign Policy	Fall 2005
17.408	Chinese Foreign Policy: International Relations and Strategy	Spring 2009
17.410	Globalization, Migration, and International Relations	Spring 2006
17.411	Globalization, Migration, and International Relations	Spring 2006
17.418	Field Seminar: International Relations Theory	Spring 2009
17.42	Causes and Prevention of War	Spring 2005
17.432	Causes of War: Theory and Method	Fall 2003
17.433	International Relations of East Asia	Spring 2005
17.434	International Relations of East Asia	Spring 2005
17.441	International Politics and Climate Change	Fall 2007
17.442	International Politics and Climate Change	Fall 2007
17.460	Defense Politics	Spring 2006
17.471	American National Security Policy	Fall 2002
17.50	Introduction to Comparative Politics	Fall 2006
17.508	The Rise and Fall of Democracy/ Regime Change	Spring 2002
17.509	Social Movements in Comparative Perspective	Spring 2005
17.523	Ethnicity and Race in World Politics	Fall 2005
17.53	Democratization in Asia, Africa, and Latin America	Fall 2001
17.537	Politics and Policy in Contemporary Japan	Spring 2009
17.538	Politics and Policy in Contemporary Japan	Spring 2009
17.541	Japanese Politics and Society	Fall 2008
17.543	Japanese Politics and Society	Fall 2008
17.547	Government and Politics of China	Fall 2002
17.55	Introduction to Latin American Studies	Fall 2005
17.551	Political Economy of Chinese Reform	Spring 2003
17.552	Political Economy of Chinese Reform	Spring 2003
17.559	Comparative Security and Sustainability	Fall 2004
17.55J	Introduction to Latin American Studies	Fall 2006
17.560	Comparative Security and Sustainability	Fall 2004
17.57J	Soviet Politics and Society, 1917-1991	Spring 2003
17.586	Warlords, Terrorists, and Militias: Theorizing on Violent Non-State Actors	Spring 2009
17.869	Political Science Scope and Methods	Fall 2003
17.871	Political Science Laboratory	Spring 2004
17.881	Game Theory and Political Theory	Fall 2004
17.882	Game Theory and Political Theory	Fall 2004
17.905	Forms of Political Participation: Old and New	Spring 2005
17.906	Reading Seminar in Social Science: The Geopolitics and Geoeconomics of Global Energy	Spring 2007
17.908	Reading Seminar in Social Science: Intelligence and National Security	Fall 2005
17.908	Reading Seminar in Social Science: Race, Crime, and Citizenship in American Law	Spring 2007
17.910	Reading Seminar in Social Science: International Political Economy	Fall 2006
17.914	International Politics in the New Century - via Simulation, Interactive Gaming, and 'Edutainment'	January (IAP) 2005
17.918	New Global Agenda: Exploring 21st Century Challenges through Innovations in Information Technologies	January (IAP) 2006
17.951	Reading Seminar in Social Science: The Geopolitics and Geoeconomics of Global Energy	Spring 2007
17.THT	Thesis Research Design Seminar	Fall 2004

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Graduate Courses

Course #	Course Title	Term
17.000J	Political Philosophy: Global Justice	Spring 2003
17.037	American Political Thought	Spring 2004
17.038	American Political Thought	Spring 2004
17.042	Citizenship and Pluralism	Fall 2003
17.100J	Political Economy I: Theories of the State and the Economy	Fall 2005
17.148	Political Economy of Globalization	Spring 2006
17.158	Political Economy of Western Europe	Spring 2003
17.176J	Economic Development, Policy Analysis, and Industrialization	Fall 2004
17.181	Sustainable Development: Theory and Policy	Spring 2009
17.182	Sustainable Development: Theory and Policy	Spring 2009
17.184J	Economic Institutions and Growth Policy Analysis	Fall 2005
17.188J	Labor and Politics	Fall 2005
17.195	Globalization	Fall 2005
17.196	Globalization	Fall 2005
17.261	Congress and the American Political System II	Fall 2005
17.262	Congress and the American Political System II	Fall 2005
17.312J	Integrating Doctoral Seminar on Emerging Technologies	Fall 2005
17.405	Seminar on Politics and Conflict in the Middle East	Fall 2003
17.406	Seminar on Politics and Conflict in the Middle East	Fall 2003
17.407	Chinese Foreign Policy	Fall 2005
17.407	Chinese Foreign Policy: International Relations and Strategy	Spring 2009
17.408	Chinese Foreign Policy	Fall 2005
17.408	Chinese Foreign Policy: International Relations and Strategy	Spring 2009
17.410	Globalization, Migration, and International Relations	Spring 2006
17.411	Globalization, Migration, and International Relations	Spring 2006
17.418	Field Seminar: International Relations Theory	Spring 2009
17.420	Advances in International Relations Theory	Spring 2003
17.422	Field Seminar in International Political Economy	Fall 2003
17.424	International Political Economy of Advanced Industrial Societies	Spring 2007
17.428	American Foreign Policy: Theory and Method	Fall 2004
17.432	Causes of War: Theory and Method	Fall 2003
17.433	International Relations of East Asia	Spring 2005
17.434	International Relations of East Asia	Spring 2005
17.436	Territorial Conflict	Fall 2004
17.441	International Politics and Climate Change	Fall 2007
17.442	International Politics and Climate Change	Fall 2007
17.460	Defense Politics	Spring 2006
17.462	Innovation in Military Organizations	Fall 2005
17.466	Organization Theory and the Military	Spring 2003
17.484	Comparative Grand Strategy and Military Doctrine	Fall 2004
17.486	Japan and East Asian Security	Spring 2008
17.504	Ethnic Politics I	Fall 2003
17.506	Ethnic Politics II	Spring 2007
17.508	The Rise and Fall of Democracy/ Regime Change	Spring 2002
17.522	Politics and Religion	Fall 2006
17.524	Nationalism	Fall 2004
17.537	Politics and Policy in Contemporary Japan	Spring 2009
17.538	Politics and Policy in Contemporary Japan	Spring 2009
17.544	Comparative Politics and China	Fall 2002
17.547	Government and Politics of China	Fall 2002
17.550J	Property Rights in Transition	Spring 2005
17.551	Political Economy of Chinese Reform	Spring 2003
17.552	Political Economy of Chinese Reform	Spring 2003
17.554	Political Economy of Latin America	Fall 2002
17.556	Political Economy of Development	Spring 2003
17.559	Comparative Security and Sustainability	Fall 2004
17.560	Comparative Security and Sustainability	Fall 2004
17.582	Civil War	Spring 2005
17.584	Civil-Military Relations	Spring 2003
17.586	Warlords, Terrorists, and Militias: Theorizing on Violent Non-State Actors	Spring 2009
17.812J	Collective Choice I	Fall 2008
17.872	Quantitative Research in Political Science and Public Policy	Spring 2004
17.874	Quantitative Research Methods: Multivariate	Spring 2004
17.878	Qualitative Research: Design and Methods	Spring 2005
17.878	Qualitative Research: Design and Methods	Fall 2007
17.881	Game Theory and Political Theory	Fall 2004
17.882	Game Theory and Political Theory	Fall 2004
17.906	Reading Seminar in Social Science: The Geopolitics and Geoeconomics of Global Energy	Spring 2007
17.950	Understanding Modern Military Operations	Spring 2005
17.951	Special Graduate Topic in Political Science: Public Opinion	Spring 2004
17.951	Special Graduate Topic in Political Science: Political Behavior	Fall 2005
17.951	Intelligence: Practice, Problems and Prospects	Spring 2005
17.951	Reading Seminar in Social Science: The Geopolitics and Geoeconomics of Global Energy	Spring 2007
17.952	Great Power Military Intervention	Spring 2004
17.953	U.S. Military Budget and Force Planning	Fall 2004
17.955	Civil Society, Social Capital, and the State in Comparative Perspective	Fall 2004
17.959	Organizational Analysis	Fall 2005
17.960	Foundations of Political Science	Fall 2004
17.960	Foundations of Political Science	Spring 2005

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