MUST COURSES:
PSI 101 International Relations I
Basic concepts of international relations; the concept of international order; actors of
international relations such as states, sub-national groups, supra-national organizations
and transnational forces.
PSI 102 International Relations II
Study of national interests and the instruments of foreign policy; diplomacy, economic
influence, mass media and war; the role of international law and international
organizations in the management of international relations.
SOC 102 Introduction to Sociology
Social thoughts expressed by philosophers; information on methods of sociological
research and social institutions; concepts of social theory, community, authority, status;
the sacred and alienation; economy and society.
LAW 101 Introduction to Law
Introduction to law; foundations and sources of law; legal systems; codification;
classification of law and legal systems; national and international law; constitutional law;
administrative law; personal relations, family law (of succession); legal entities; property
and ownership; rights and liabilities.
LAW 102 Constitutional Law
Historical background of Turkish Constitutions; the 1982 Constitution; general
provisions; the structure of the Republic; fundamental rights and duties, social and
economic rights and duties, political rights and duties; legislative, executive and judicial
powers.
PSI 103 Political Science I
Overview of political science and its sub-fields; basic concepts of political science such
as state, power, authority and legitimacy; nature of politics; major institutions of politics;
political processes.
PSI 104 Political Science II
Basic political ideologies such as liberalism, socialism, conservatism, feminism;
legislature, executive and judiciary in democratic regimes; parliamentary and presidential
systems of government; governance in democratic regimes; parties and party systems,
public opinion, civil society, civil-military relations.
LAW 201 International Law I
The course deals with basic concepts of international law, nature and sources of
international law, personality, statehood, recognition, jurisdiction, sovereignty, and
diplomatic immunities.
LAW 202 International Law II
The course deals with the law of the sea, peaceful settlement of disputes, use of force,
human rights, international criminal law and international environmental law. Moreover,
major contemporary developments in international relations will be covered according to
the rules of international law.
PSI 201 Diplomatic History I
Study of major political developments after Westphalia; the French Revolution and
afterwards; important political events in the 19th century.
PSI 202 Diplomatic History II
Study of the major political events of in the 20th century; World War I and II and their
implications; Cold War period; post-Cold War developments.
PSI 203 Turkish Politics I
The historical evolution of the Ottoman-Turkish political developments up to the
establishment of the Turkish Republic with special emphasis on state-society
relationships.
PSI 204 Turkish Politics II
The development of Turkish political system in the Republican period; political parties
and socio-cultural dynamics of party system; basic political forces; multi-party
experiment and problems of democracy.
PSI 205 History of Political Thought
The basic characteristics of political thought in Ancient Greek, medieval and early
modern times; intensive study of the political philosophy of major political thinkers such
as Plato, Aristoteles, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau and Marx.
PSI 207 Research Methods in Political Science
Quantitative and qualitative methods of social research; data collection techniques;
measuring and interpreting data; theories, hypotheses and models; sampling techniques,
preparation of questionnaire, general evaluation of the research results.
LAW 301 Turkish Civil Law
Aspects of civil law concerning private persons and relationships; beginning articles; law
of persons (beginning and protection of personality); family law (engagement, marriage,
divorce); areas of applications of code.
PSI 301 Turkish Foreign Policy I
Historical dynamics of Turkey’s foreign policy orientations; interaction of domestic
politics and foreign policy; Turkish foreign policy up to World War II.
PSI 302 Turkish Foreign Policy II
Foreign policy orientations of Turkey after the World War II; interaction of Turkish
domestic politics and foreign policy; the role of major actors in the formulation and
implementation of Turkish foreign policy.
PSI 303 International Relations Theory
Main paradigms in international political theory; early thinking about international
relations and contemporary approaches; decision making and integration theories.
PSI 308 International Organizations
Detailed study of the nature and concept of international organizations; different types of
international organizations and their basic characteristics; the role of the international
organizations in modern world politics.
PSI 310 Political Theory
Historical evolution of political ideologies in different contexts; study of contemporary
political ideologies such as liberalism, democratic theory, socialism, conservatism,
fascism and feminism.
PSI 401 European Integration
The historical evolution of European integration; structure and organization of the
European Union; issue of enlargement and Turkey’s relations with the European Union.
PSI 403 American Politics and Foreign Policy
The dynamics of political institutions and processes of the federal government; the role
of the interest groups, political parties and public opinion; foreign policy in the 20th
century with special emphasis and its post-war emergence as the pre-eminent world
power.
PSI 405 International Political Economy
Analysis of the three primary theoretical perspectives (realism, liberalism, Marxism) on
international political economy (IPE), North-South relations, the post-communist
transition, international trade, the international monetary and financial systems and
organizations, global financial crises. Multinational corporations (MNCs) and foreign
direct investment (FDI) are also covered.
PSI 408 Politics in the Middle East
The course will cover mainly the Arab world, Israel and Iran. Historical and
contemporary developments, major conflicts, peacemaking, nature of politics in the
region together with the characteristics of state formation in key countries, opposition
movements, and role of the religions will be discussed.
PSI 412 Political Sociology
Historical evolution of the modern state and society; relationships between state, society
and politics; concepts of citizenship, political participation, political socialization and
political culture.
PSI 436 Comparative Politics
This course aims at increasing students’ awareness that there are many ways of
regulating political affairs. It seeks to understand why different countries have developed
different kinds of governments, political cultures, modes of political participation and
political institutions.
ELECTIVES
PSI 305 Comparative Foreign Policy Analysis
Theory of foreign policy making and implementation; comparative case studies of
foreign policy analysis.
PSI 311 Comparative State and Democracy
Development of modern state and its impact on the advent of democracy in different
countries; transitions to democracy; process of democratization and democratic
consolidation in a comparative perspective.
PSI 313 Bureaucracy
Concept of bureaucracy; historical development of bureaucratic structures in a
comparative perspective; interaction between bureaucracies and political forces in
democratic regimes; politicization of bureaucracy and bureaucratization of politics.
PSI 314 Russian Politics and Foreign Policy
This course focuses on Russia’s political structure, political culture and foreign policy.
Before dealing with Russia, the students learns the political structure and foreign policy
principles of the Soviet Union. The Mikhail Gorbachev’s New Thinking, Glasnost and
Perestroika policies are discussed. Basic foreign policy principles of Boris Yeltsin and
Vladimir Putin are examined.
PSI 317 Globalization and The Post-Modern Condition
After defining debates about modernity and modernism, post modernism, postindustrial
society, globalization, and post Fordist society will be examined. Moreover
contemporary postmodern developments in the society will be held by touching on
different cases in daily life.
PSI 318 Geopolitics
The concept of geopolitics; why and how geopolitics matters; how it can be used to
assess the capabilities of a state, a region, or a union of states.
PSI 319 Balkan Politics
Balkans in historical perspective; social and cultural dynamics of the Balkan politics with
special reference to post Cold War developments.
PSI 321 Gender and Society
Introduction to basic concepts of sex and gender and theoretical analysis of gender;
patriarchy, its forms and operations in different societies and cultures and its relations
with class; social construction of gender; reflections and reproduction of gender in
different social institutions and spheres of life; basic ideas of feminism; main goals and
achievements of global and local movements of women.
PSI 322 Environmental Politics
Contemporary issues affecting the global environment; pollution, the deforestation,
diminishing resources, energy conservation, alternative sources of energy, recycling;
political dimensions of protection of environment.
PSI 324 Culture and Politics
Contending approaches to the concept of culture; cultural explanations of politics and its
relevance; the role of culture in determining the political domain.
PSI 329 Cinema and Politics
This course looks at how past political events of the twentieth century are reflected in
full-length films. Films are analyzed from the point of view of recreating past political
history –what is included and what is excluded. The various points of view in re-telling
the past are considered. The depiction of events in films are compared and contrasted to
real events; and results are evaluated critically.
PSI 330 International Security
Definition of security and historical background of security studies; evolution of
international security; theoretical approaches to international security; contemporary
challenges to international security; understanding security institutions; solutions to
international security problems; globalization and the future of security studies and
international security.
PSI 400 Summer Practice
This is a non-credit course which aims to encourage students to gain practical experience.
PSI 406 Issues in World Politics
The course deals with ethnic, racial, religious conflicts and terrorism in different parts of
the world. In the case studies, by the way of theoretical approaches, main conflicts will
be examined in detail with possible resolutions and reconciliation processes
PSI 410 Euro-Asian Politics
Study of the historical and recent political developments in the Caucasus and Central
Asia; implications of those developments for Turkish foreign policy.
PSI 414 Politics in the Developing World
The course mainly aims to handle cultural, political, economic structures and common
features of the “Developing World” countries. In some selected case studies, main
problematic issues, conflicts and common features of the states will be examined in detail
with the help of Modernization and Dependency Theories
PSI 418 Turkey-EU Relations
Analysis of Turkey’s relations with the European Union since the establishment of
relations in the 1960s. Motives of Turkey’s application, the nature of relations during the
Cold War, the issues under Copenhagen Criteria, the economic dimension and
implications of EU process, foreign policy issues, civil society and democratization, and
future of the Turkey–EU relations.
PSI 421 Issues in Turkish Politics
This course deals with special issues, such as the question of secularism, media, military
and problems of democratic consolidation, regarding the Turkish political system and
Turkish politics.
PSI 422 Issues in Turkish Foreign Policy
This course is designed to provide an extensive view of the current issues in Turkish
foreign policy (TFP). The students are required to pinpoint the priority topics of TFP in
accordance with the agenda of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as to be
informed about the ways that those priority issues are being covered by the Turkish and
foreign press. Therefore, while elaborating on the current issues, their media coverage is
taken into consideration in addition to Turkey’s official discourse.
PSI 424 Turkish Administrative System
Historical development of Turkish administrative system and its relationship with
political system; major characteristics, institutions and functioning of the Turkish
administrative system.
PSI 427 The Ottoman Empire in the 19th Century
This course attempts to analyze social, political and cultural developments in the
Ottoman Empire in the 19th century. Questions such as how the Ottoman Empire
perceived the changing new world and her place in it, how they adapted to changing
circumstances, what the main direction of reform movement was, are discussed.
PSI 428 Selected Topics in History of Political Theory
This course is designed as a critical revision of and a sequence to the accumulation of the
History of Political Thought. The students are required not to assess the readings and
philosophers individually, but to posit their knowledge of political thought in a wider,
unified context such as the “common experience of humanity.” In order to emphasis the
integrity of humanity, the course content includes Manicheanism and Islamic political
thought as well.
PSI 430 Politics of Science and Technology
This course aims at providing students with a deeper understanding of science and
technology policy mechanisms. In this context, this course furnishes basic theoretical
management notions along with the techniques for assessing the effectiveness of the
policies applied such as road mapping, forecasting, technology watch and technology
lifecycle. It aims to enable students to analyze the policies applied in different countries
and the role of different institutions which are active in the process.
PSI 499 Independent Study
The students who take this course carry out a research-based study under the supervision
of a faculty member. First, they have to find a private company, a civil society
organization or a media institution as the subject of their research. They should regularly
visit that institution so as to get an idea of what it does, how it functions and what the
basic difficulties it encounters are. If approved, they can also prepare feasibility reports
for the chosen company. Students are supervised by the assigned faculty member at each
step. At the end of the semester, students must prepare and orally present a report
containing their findings and recommendations.