Why do elected officials behave the way do? Why can't legislators from single party agree to support the same policy solution? Why do voters in some countries get to choose from a wide array of parties while voters in another country are stuck choosing between two parties that are hard to distinguish from one another? Electoral systems are made up of rules that govern a host of issues related to how elections work. These rules have effects on interparty politics and intraparty politics. Aspects of intraparty politics we will explore include the relationship between supporters and a party and the relationship between party leaders and rank-and-file politicians. Aspects of interparty politics we will explore include the number of political parties that exist, their relative size, and their position on an ideological continuum.

This course is an introduction to the politics in Latin America, focusing on the trend toward the establishment of democracy. We examine the impact of political culture, economic development, and the legacy of authoritarian regimes on contemporary politics. The course also reviews many of the most pressing challenges confronting governments Latin American governments: the role of the military in politics, the reform of political institutions, threats from radical guerrillas and drug traffickers, debt and economic restructuring, and relations with the United States. Country studies focus on Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Mexico, and Nicaragua.

Why do elected officials behave the way do? Why can't legislators from single party agree to support the same policy solution? Why do voters in some countries get to choose from a wide array of parties while voters in another country are stuck choosing between two parties that are hard to distinguish from one another? Electoral systems are made up of rules that govern a host of issues related to how elections work. These rules have effects on interparty politics and intraparty politics. Aspects of intraparty politics we will explore include the relationship between supporters and a party and the relationship between party leaders and rank-and-file politicians. Aspects of interparty politics we will explore include the number of political parties that exist, their relative size, and their position on an ideological continuum.

The term "American Exceptionalism" is often used to refer to the special character of the United States as a uniquely free nation based on democratic ideals and personal liberty. Sometimes this special character is thought to be institutionalized in the American political system. In this course, we put the United States in comparative perspective, examining how it compares with other countries in terms of -- among other things -- constitutional provisions, parties and elections, and the functioning of its branches of government. A major component of the course will involve data exploration and visualization.

Do you want to know how to obtain power? How to influence the powerful? Or even how to unseat those in power? In this course, we will focus on how leaders, of all types, get and keep their jobs. Regardless of setting - democratic or dictatorial (or corporate, for that matter) - it is all about those whom the leader finds to be interchangeable, those the leader finds influential, and those who are essential. You will learn the "Rules to Rule By" and why, when leaders follow them, they often behave badly causing those they govern to suffer.

An introduction to the theoretical frameworks for causality and the empirical tools used in the estimation of causal effects. Topics include outcomes, causal graphs, experiments, matching, regression, diffference-in-differences, instrumental variables, sensitivity analysis, regression discontinuity, and more. This course draws on examples from political science, economics, education, public health, and sociology.

This course provides an introduction to qualitative and quantitative research methods in political science. Topics address issues related to theory building as well as theory testing. Technical issues related to these methods are not the focus of this course, as are theoretical issues regarding the advantages and disadvantages of the different approaches. Ultimately, the goal of this course is twofold: (1) to instruct students to critically analyze scholarly articles with particular attention to research design, and (2) to guide students in how to design an original research project. Both the reading assignments, including methodological and applied readings, and the written assignments are directed toward these goals.

In this week long class, we will assume one has specified a parametric statistical model that captures the essential features of the process that generated one’s data. Thus, we will learn how to estimate the unknown parameters of these models using Maximum Likelihood and also how to estimate confidence intervals around these estimates and do hypotheses tests. We will also learn how to present results to communicate the message of the data effectively.

In this week long course, we will learn how to build a statistical model that captures the essential features of the process that may have generated one’s observed data. Building such a model is the first step in any data analysis that will rely on parametric modelling (including for example, likelihood or Bayesian models). We will integrate a large number of common models (e.g., duration models, count models, dichotomous DV models, regression models, models of ordered data) into a single conceptual framework that will allow students to build their own new models if necessary to capture important features of the process that generated their data. We will also include a brief introduction to estimating the parameters of these models via maximum likelihood, so the week will be (somewhat) self-contained.

This course is designed for students who are interested in reviewing their training in statistics. It prepares students for courses offered in the IPSA-USP Summer School that require statistical training. It reviews basic probability; random variables and their distributions; confidence intervals and tests of hypotheses for means, variances, and proportions from one or two populations. To complement lectures, students apply the concepts taught in lectures to analyze problems using Excel and Stata.

The course is an applied course focusing on the techniques for testing theories with time series and pooled time series data. Students will learn the theory and practical application of a wide range of techniques for making theoretical inferences about data with dynamic and pooled dynamic structures. While both types of data are pervasive and highly informative, they present a unique set of challenges to applied researchers. This course is designed to present clear explanations of these challenges and a series of strategies for how to overcome them. A strong emphasis will also be placed on strategies for presenting the results from such models through simulation-based graphics, tables, and effective writing.

This course is designed for students who are interested in reviewing their training in multiple regression analysis. It prepares students for courses offered in the IPSA-USP Summer School that require a background in multiple regression analysis including the Time Series Analysis and Pooled Time Series Analyses and Spatial Econometrics courses. The course will take place in the week preceding the commencement of the Summer School. The intensive course starts with a discussion of the logic of the multivariate regression model and the central assumptions underlying the ordinary least squares approach. Particular emphasis will be given to multicollinearity, heteroskedasticity, and autocorrelation. Similar to the IPSA-USP Refresher Course in Mathematics and the Refresher Course in Statistics, the course takes a “hands on” approach. To complement lectures, students apply the concepts taught in lectures to analyze problems using software packages commonly used in quantitative social science research including Excel and Stata.