Courses

This course examines electoral process in democratic settings. The course considers the nature of individual preferences and voting decisions, the role of political parties, party competition, and the quality of political elites. It then focuses on important issues influencing electoral processes today, including globalization, populism, immigration, and gender. A key focus throughout the class will be the importance of context: how should we expect the social and institutional context to influence answers to the questions we consider. The course will also frequently include readings that use formal, game theoretic models to develop arguments. A minimal requirement for students to take the class is therefore that they have taken or be taking POLS G4730 (or equivalent).