MANDATORY COURSES

ICP 101.1 - Introduction to Political Science

The course is designed to provide an introduction to the study of politics. It concentrates on the institutions of the government and the political systems operating in the world. Within the academic discipline of political science, the varying power arrangements found in social environments will be investigated. Through lectures, discussions, readings and various assignments examinations of the following concepts will be undertaken: 

• State, its role and functions. 
• Political ideologies. 
• Political Culture.
• Power and its dimensions 
• Political Parties and Governance 
• Constitutions 
• Judiciary and Law Enforcement.

The central aim of the course is to provide students with the analytical tools to interpret and understand contemporary political systems and political issues. Students are expected to relate general concerns to specific countries and circumstances through developing a critical attitude while studying social science reading materials, discussing, comparing, and evaluating various authors’ points of view. The intention of the course is not to amass as much detailed information as possible but rather to better understand and explain the complexity of political science through an academic critical approach.

ICP 131 - Introduction to Comparative Politics

This course offers a general introduction to the study of comparative politics, a subfield of political science aimed to examine a variety of domestic political institutions, actors and processes based on systematic comparison and scientific methods of inquiry. In effect, comparativists, or scholars of comparative politics, tend to compare and explore particular aspects of political systems as a way to uncover potential regularities and patterns in terms of similarities and differences in political practices across the world.

For example, why do some democratic countries tend to perform better in terms of promoting ‘good governance’ than those based on authoritarian political regimes? What are the consequences of electoral systems for political competition, coalition-building, or citizen participation? What explains the trending surge of right-wing populist politics across Europe and elsewhere and does it really threaten democracy?

Given the foundational aspect of the course, the first part will provide an overview of theories, methods and approaches widely employed in the field of comparative politics and examine a range of fundamental ‘discipline-specific’ concepts and subjects, such as the formation of modern states and the distinction between democratic and authoritarian regimes, the familiarity with which could prove instrumental in understanding the nature of different political systems across selected countries.

In the meantime and based on a country-by-country approach, the latter part II of the course will undertake a detailed analysis of political systems across a range of countries and nations, selected primarily based on their archetypal political systems and ensuing political outcomes.

The countries will be concurrently compared and investigated based on the extent to which different political systems and historical-structural factors have shaped identity politics and conditioned varying levels of economic development and political participation.

ICP 110.1 – Introduction to International Relations

International Relations (IR) is often described as the systematic study of 3Cs – Cooperation, Conflict, and Competition, among several actors at the international stage. As an academic discipline, IR focuses on studying the interaction of the actors, including states and non-state actors. It involves studying such things as diplomacy, foreign policy, conflict and negotiation, war, nuclear proliferation, terrorism, international trade and economics, and international development, among other subjects. IR, therefore, is an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary field of study, whereas it addresses the core research themes of international security, international political economy, international law, foreign policy and diplomacy, human rights, and many more.

Since the 1990s, international relations have become increasingly significant as the world grows and more interconnected through trade and commerce, migration, and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). In the 21st century, we live in a world full of changes and continuities, characterized by traditional conflicts and emerging issues such as climate change and pandemics. IR as an academic discipline concerns global problems in the world, and it helps us better understand those continuities and changes in world politics.

In this context, the main aim of this course is to introduce the actors, issues, and processes of international relations. The course is designed to introduce international relations and establish a foundation of knowledge that will aid in further inquiries into international politics. Through an in- depth analysis of case study analysis, role-play simulations, and academic debates, students will gain real-world experience in world politics. The course consequently helps ICP majors understand better where and how policies, strategies, conflicts, and laws impact the world in our everyday lives.

Under these circumstances, the course consists of six main themes. The first theme gives an overview of international relations as an academic discipline. The second one illustrates the historical evolution and development of international relations. The third theme demonstrates major theoretical perspectives that offer explanations to international political phenomena. The fourth theme illustrates three facets of international relations: international security, international law and international organizations, and global political economy. The fifth one illustrates the practices of international relations and covers foreign policy. Finally, the last one considers critical vital issues, including the future of international relations.

ICP 280.1 - Introduction to Political Theory

What connects French protests against Covid-19 measures with a pro-gun rally in Texas? Does power truly come from the barrel of the gun, as the Chinese leader Mao argued? If yes, does that mean we should live in an autocracy? Are citizens of developed countries morally obligated to pay for climate adaptation of developing countries? Who should decide on the question of euthanasia: Terminal patients or the state?

If you think these are all unrelated issues or that they have nothing to do with theory, think again! Introduction to Political Theory will tackle these and many other topics, all of which are well and alive in the real world.

This course will teach the fundamental repertoire of concepts that underpin the very discipline of political science and, in doing so, prepare students for their future training.

ICP 270.2 - Introduction to Political Economy

Political economy is a social science that studies production, trade, and their relationship with the law and the government. It is the study of how economic theories affect different socioeconomic systems (i.e., socialism and communism), along with the creation and implementation of public policy. Different groups in the economy, therefore, adhere to their own theory on how the economy should be developed. Political economy, however, is a complex field that covers a broad range of political interests. In simple terms, it refers to the advice given by economists to the government on either general economic policies or certain specific proposals created by politicians.

This course introduces the political economy as a particular approach to the study of politics by exploring foundational theoretical concepts, explanatory traditions, and methodological approaches common in political economy. By situating the relationship between politics, economics, and society as the main focus, the course reviews two essential questions: 

1. How and to what extent do agents act rationally, and what are the consequences of such behavior? 
2. How and to what extent do interests, ideas, and institutions affect behavior and thus economic performance? 

The course, subsequently, introduces the political economy, both as a discipline focusing on the links between politics and economics and applying economic paradigms for explaining political phenomena. Under these circumstances, the course explores the parallel existence and mutual interaction of the state and the market in the modern world that creates a “political economy.” Without both state and market, there could be no political economy. Consequently, the course examines how the state and its associated political processes affect the production and distribution of wealth and in particular how political decisions and interests influence the location of economic activities and the distribution of the costs and benefits of these activities.

The questions above, furthermore, inquire about the effect of markets and economic forces on the distribution of power and welfare among states and other political actors, significantly how these economic forces alter political power's distribution. In this vein, the course is divided into five sections. The first part is designed to familiarize students with critical concepts and theoretical perspectives in political economy. The second section covers the main actors and institutions in the political economy. The third section focuses on political economy behavior by exploring three I’s of political economy: Interests, Ideas, and Institutions. The fourth section explores key debates and issues in the political economy. Finally, the last section explores the International Political Economy that includes Foreign Direct Investment, Regional Integration, and Globalization.

ICP 240.2 - Central Asian Politics

This course is an advanced-introductory survey of political affairs of five post-Soviet countries of the region and Afghanistan. While providing some historical background, the course is primarily focused on understanding the processes and challenges of the contemporary period starting with 1991 and forward.

An introduction to the region’s politics, the course is nonetheless advanced in the sense that instead of being a textbook-style descriptive survey, it is based on a reading list of recent and compelling academic scholarship and documents, read and discussed critically. The course is centered on the broad and regionally salient theme of state-building, considering various aspects, challenges, and strategies in this process in each country and all of them as a group.

Half of the course highlights region-wide themes and processes, such as the region’s recent history (from early Soviet to contemporary), the legacy of the Soviet Union, post-Soviet state- and nation-building; the other part is devoted to discussing each country individually, critically exploring problems and trends of development characteristic to a given country.

Upon successfully completing the course, the students will have a good understanding of the political institutions and processes of these countries, their key choices on the way to development and consolidation as nation-states, a critical appreciation of main difficulties, and a reasonable knowledge of some of the most important contemporary scholarship of the region. The course will give students a foundation to do independent further research on Central Asian affairs, and a solid basis for engaging in debates, discussions and analyses of the region in an educated manner.

ICP 260.1 - Public Policy Analysis

The course is designed to introduce students to main policy processes and issues, and familiarize them with basic policy analysis instruments.

The course is divided into three parts – conceptual, contextual, and instrumental parts of policy and policy analysis. Reading assigned literature and discussing them in the class would constitute the major part of the course, writing and presenting papers – another part. One of each week’s class would be conducted in the form of lectures with discussions of presented materials, while the second day (seminar) would be devoted to discussing the assigned materials and exploring discussed concepts through the lenses of specific policy cases.

Although instructors would bring these cases to the class students are expected to come prepared with their own practical examples. Students have to get acquainted with required readings, and those wishing to deepen their understanding of the subject may familiarize themselves with suggested readings in the syllabus.

Participation in seminars and lectures would be largely assessed by students’ activities on occasional policy writings. Students would also write one short policy brief paper and a final paper (policy paper). Policy writings, policy brief, and policy paper would be focused on one issue which each student would pick at the beginning of the course. During the course each student needs also to make a presentation during seminars on any topic of the syllabus (connected to an issue which is explored by a student), have a policy debate and at the end of the semester, students will take also a final exam

ICP 302 - Research Methods in Political Science

We are all social scientists, but bad ones. Every day we make implicit or explicit judgments, observations, and deductions about the nature of society, our interactions with others, or about, for example, the nature of power and hierarchies… we judge countries, politicians, or institutions.

Social intuition comes almost as a natural trait to us, but we tend to base our judgments on things we heard or read around us, or the experience we had and our socialization. Those biases are difficult to avoid, but if we blindly follow our intuition, our observations remain mostly confined to our experience.

Our observations are always situated in some place. For daily life, social intuition is probably good enough. But if we are serious about understanding the nature and the function of politics and society, our efforts should be more structured, and she should get cognizant of how we understand society. We need a method. What distinguishes a proper social scientist from the rest, it is the attention to methodology. The methodology is how we both understand, conceptualize and “build” our knowledge about politics and society. Methodology means to choose the appropriate research design for our question and to use the best tools to achieve our research goals. The methods are the tools (quantitative or qualitative) that we use to understand reality. Every method has both advantages and limitations. Not every method is fit for any type of question, and we should explain their use and use them carefully.

Throughout this course, we will be investigating and working through the political science research process. As a result, the aim of the course is to equip students with the necessary knowledge and skills to start conducting independent research and build on the current state of knowledge in the field and in doing so, promote research on contemporary political science.

ICP 318.2 - Foreign Policy Analysis

What is Foreign Policy Analysis? What is Foreign Policy? This course is designed for undergraduate students with familiarity with International Relations (IR) theory and are interested in applying it to the real world. Students will be provided with an understanding of the pressures and contexts foreign policy decision-makers face and how social scientists can understand those pressures.

Foreign Policy Analysis investigates the processes involved in foreign policy decision-making. It requires an understanding of the contexts, pressures and constraints with which foreign policy-makers have to deal and the ability to engage in comparative analysis without losing a sense of historical context.

The course is largely theoretical. Individual cases will be touched mainly for discussion purposes, but the major themes such as foreign policy decision-making process, influences on foreign policy, types of foreign policy actors etc. are approached from conceptual aspects. The course aims to provide students with understanding of processes involved in foreign policy process and decision-making environment, as well as the main debate themes around Foreign Policy Analysis as a discipline.

Upon completion of this course, the students should be able to:

• Discuss the major approaches on decision-making in foreign policy, including the role of bureaucracies, cognitive dimension, role of history and identity:
• Discuss implications of major IR theories on understanding of foreign policy process:
• Be able to articulate acquired knowledge verbally in group discussions and in a written form.

ICP 331 - Quantitative Research Methods

All researchers, irrespective of their ontological and epistemological starting points, face similar challenges posed by core issues of research design. A research design is a plan that specifies how you plan to carry out a research project and, particularly, how you expect to use your evidence to answer your research question.

This course aims to provide an overview of potential research designs for establishing causal inference and their advantages and disadvantages. Students should also understand the trade-offs involved in choosing a particular research design.

Students are expected to have their own ideas about potential research questions to be able to participate in seminars within this course actively. We will cover major methodologies in quantitative research design.

ICP 404 - Senior Seminar I

This is part I of a yearlong course designed to help (strongly encourage) the students to develop a workable topic for their Senior Thesis research projects and complete their major undergraduate papers. For that purpose, the course assignments are all designed with the idea of pushing the students to devote regular thinking and writing time to their research projects/topics. By the end of the course, the students should have a rather clear idea of both what their research projects are (the research design) and specifically how they would carry it out (research methods). At the end of the semester, the work process should culminate in a well-written Chapter One or Introduction of your Senior Thesis – the chapter that outlines the core of your research project, which will then be written up during the Spring Semester. 

The critical/reflective objectives are (along the way) to introduce students to some of the core methodological debates and problems in political/social science, to raise some critical questions about doing social science, and to critically discuss some notable and illustrative pieces of social science to reveal both the achievements and the limitations of social research. The idea in this purpose of the course is simple: political/social science is (still) a highly debated concept, and any advanced-level course in a discipline such as this should pay serious attention to the issue. 

Obviously, then, this course is not a research methods course. The idea is that, in a year-long study course in your final year, there needs to be a balance struck between training in methods (which is a highly time-consuming and vast task), coaching in research design (which by itself alone is not sufficient), and also get to raise some critical issues in the work of ‘political/social science research’ (which also by itself is not worth very much). The result is the course design contained in these pages. One thing to keep in mind: while all the practical issues of conducting academic research will be addressed in the course, it is highly recommended that students struggling with anything approach us and seek help.

ICP 406 - Senior Seminar II

This is the second part of the Senior Thesis Seminar capstone course at the International and Comparative Politics to foster and evaluate the student’s fundamental understanding of political science as an empirical and scientific research science.

In the early Spring semester (January and February), data collection must be completed and the rest of the semester should be devoted to analyzing the data, writing the thesis scientifically (March and April), and creating a professional visual presentation (late April) for the Final Defense.

By the end of the course, the students should apply research design and methods in their thesis, and they will be able to successfully submit their final paper and be ready to defend it in front of the academic jury.

ICP 390.1/ICP 391.1 Internship I, II

ICP students in order to fulfill curriculum requirements should undertake two internships.  Each internship should entail working at least 120 of work hours. Both courses aim at helping students to understand and learn practically what they have been learning in their classes. Two internships aim at developing different skills.

Internship I aims at familiarizing students with work of public institutions. Internships should be taken in any public institutions such as governmental agencies, local governments, NGOs, international organizations and projects, media, etc. In any case, it is advised that prior to taking an internship a student consults with a faculty who is coordinating internships.

Internship II aims at developing creative skills related to civic engagement, research and analysis, project development and implementation, etc. Usually requirements for Internship II are fulfilled by students by engaging into one of the department’s centers and initiatives such as Development Clinic, Panorama Politics Club, Varieties of Democracy Institute’s Regional Center For Central Asia or some of its research projects. In certain cases, with permission of the course’s instructor, a student can suggest his/her own place of internship if it marches aims of the Internship II.