Virginia Tech – Fall 2024, Spring 2025
Today’s world is driven by science and data. Politicians, policymakers, and the mass media all use statistics and scientific studies to argue and analyze. Contrary to common wisdom, data do not speak for themselves. Quantitative analysis and social scientific research can both inform and mislead. This course equips students with the statistical and conceptual foundations to make and evaluate claims about the world around them. Students will learn how to conduct data analysis in
R.
Virginia Tech – Spring 2024
Why do states exist? Why are some countries democracies, and others autocracies? What explains patterns of poverty and inequality around the globe? This survey course introduces students to the academic study of domestic politics in other countries, or comparative politics, through themes including economic development, democratization and regime change, political institutions, redistribution, and political representation. Readings on Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America are used to illustrate core theories and debates in comparative politics.