POLS 117 Law and Society
Contexts and range of tasks confronting modern societies in using the law as a special type of process that restores, maintains, or corrects the four basic functions of the law: resolution of disputes, facilitation and protection of voluntary arrangements, molding moral and legal conceptions of a society, and maintenance of historical continuity and consistency of doctrine.

POLS 203 Appalachian Political Economy
Overview of the history, culture, and status of people living in the Appalachian mountains. Political economy of the region, including the corporate sector, land-related issues, the role of the state, and the history and nature of citizen resistance.

POLS 205 Introduction to International Relations
Underlying themes in international relations including power, causes of war, cooperation among nations, the role of the United Nations, nuclear proliferation, September 11 and its aftermath, international economic relations, and other contemporary issues of international significance. Case studies including the United States, the European Union, and countries in Asia and the Middle East.

POLS 217 Constitutional Interpretation
Development and evolution of the institutions of political power under the United States Constitution with particular emphasis on amendments to the Constitution and major decisions of the Supreme Court on the nature and scope of the judicial power, the expansion of national regulation, changes in the roles of the states and the national governments, and the growth of executive power.

POLS 225 Comparative Politics in the Middle East and North Africa
Interaction of culture, economy, society, intellectual and ideological currents, international environment, and the nature of change and nation-building in selected nations of the Middle East and North Africa. Emphasis on Egypt, Iran, and Turkey; the Levant states of Israel, Lebanon, and Syria; the Gulf states of Iraq and Saudi Arabia; and Algeria in North Africa.

POLS 235 Comparative European Politics
Interaction of history, culture, economy, society, and international environment in shaping contemporary European political systems at the national, regional, and global level.

POLS 241X Sources of Asian Tradition (Asian Studies 241)

POLS 245 Comparative Politics of Asia
Political, economic, and societal dimensions of Japan, China, the Koreas, and India, including security issues in the region and the foreign economic policies of each country.

POLS 250X Politics and Public Policy (Public Policy and Community Service 250)

POLS 300X Race, Class Gender, and Sexuality (Public Policy and Community Service 300)

POLS 310 Parties and Elections in American Politics
Exploration of the role that parties, elections, interest groups, public opinion polls, and the media play in the political system of the United States, including discussions of the evolution of the American party system, the character of contemporary political campaigns, and campaign finance issues.

POLS 311 The President and Congress
The institutional structure and operation of each branch; their constitutional, electoral, and political interrelationships including discussions of styles of presidential leadership, the evolving relationship between the President and the bureaucracy, congressional committee structures, and various strategies for securing the interbranch agreement necessary to make laws.

POLS 323 International Political Economy
Reciprocal interaction of international political and international economic relations, the formation of industrial policy and trade policy, and issues related to international investment flows. Cases from Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and North America. Prerequisites: Economics 151 and 152 and Political Science 205.

POLS 326 Contemporary Islamic Legal Thought: Law, State, and World Order
Contemporary Islamic thought on the legitimacy of national and international legal orders, and contemporary Islamic legal theories on the topics of legislation, constitution, legal system, nation-state, international relations, war, and world order, with regard both to ideal objectives and actual conditions.

POLS 335 Regional and International Implications of the New Europe
The collapse of Communist East Europe, the rise of the European Union, and the domestic and international implications of the New Europe. National rights and sovereignty in legal, political, and economic terms; integration of the former Communist states into the European Union; relations of the European Union and of member nations to the rest of the world, especially the Middle East, North America, and Asia.

POLS 340 History of Political Philosophy
Major works from the history of political philosophy with emphasis on the development of major ideas in political philosophy, debates between major thinkers, and the relevance of great works of political philosophy to human self-understanding and major political issues of our time.

POLS 342 American Political Thought
Major works and important thinkers in the American political tradition and the historical development of political thought in the United States; fundamental tensions present in the American commitment to democratic government, individual liberty, equality, and the public good.

POLS 346 Advanced Political Systems of Asia
Political systems of Japan, China, the Koreas, and India. Evolution of political institutions, pluralistic pressures on policy, the nature of the state, the literature on political regimes, and recent attempts at reform and change.

POLS 347 Jurisprudence
Systematic treatment of the relation between human law and higher law in the secular (natural law) or sacral (revelation) context. Presuppositions of various schools of thought as they bear on enduring human problems grouped under six major themes of legal theory: legal rights of the individual; equality before the law; control of government by the people; the rule of law; peace and the world community of law; and law, justice, and order. Use of selected classics in Western and Islamic legal thought.

POLS 400-401 Moot Court
Development of student skills in legal research, reasoning, argumentation, and writing. Team preparation of an appellate brief on a moot court case and appellate argument before a panel of faculty and visiting attorneys. Political Science 400 prerequisites: 117 and 217. Three semester hours credit for Political Science 400. Political Science 401 prerequisite: 400. One semester hour credit for Political Science 401.

POLS 410 Democracy, Civilizations, and World Order
Alternative theories of governance as laid out in the classic work of Hobbes, Tocqueville, and authors of the Federalist Papers and their implications for the nature of conflict, world order, and civilization in the contemporary world.

POLS 415 America’s Approach to the Middle East
American foreign policy in the Middle East under two distinct geopolitical paradigms: (1) the older, realist, multilateral strategy based on containment of threats, reconstruction of economic infrastructure, and advancement of liberal political ideas; and (2) the post-9/11 American strategy based on a unilateral, power-based approach to dominating regions to impose order. Major case studies: Iraq and the Arab-Israeli conflict.

POLS 423 Seminar: Problems in American Politics
Selected political issues associated with the institutions, processes, culture, and politics of the United States. Can be re-taken for credit with departmental permission. Prerequisites: 103; junior or senior status.

POLS 424 American Federalism
Examination of the historical, comparative, and contemporary policy dimensions of the territorial division of governmental powers in the United States with special emphasis on Virginia government and politics.

POLS 425 Seminar: Problems in Comparative and International Politics
Application of contemporary theories and tools of comparative and international politics to the study of a variety of foreign policy issues confronting the United States, the European Union, the Islamic Middle East, and Asia. Can be re-taken for credit with departmental permission. Prerequisites: 205; junior or senior status.

POLS 429 International Dispute Resolution
Peaceful settlement of disputes involving application of international law, including disputes between sovereign states, disputes between states and individuals, and disputes between states and corporations. Institutions concerned with dispute settlement such as arbitral tribunals, the International Court of Justice, and more specialized bodies such as the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes, the World Trade Organization, and other institutions handling economic, political, and human rights disputes.

POLS 460 Independent Study
Advanced independent research in a specific area of political science, under the supervision of a faculty member. Prerequisites: junior or senior status; departmental permission. One to four semester hours.

POLS 470 and 471 Internship I and II
Work experience related to student’s major, jointly supervised by instructor and agency personnel. Prerequisite: junior or senior status. Pass-Fail only.

POLS 490 Honors Thesis
Prerequisites: senior status, GPA of 3.5 in the major and 3.3 overall, and permission of department. Three to six semester hours.