blank
Select a level:
Select a term:
Only show courses available to first-year students.
blank

Course Listing for POLITICAL SCIENCE - Spring 2026 (ALL: 01/20/2026 - 05/08/2026)
Class
No.		 Course ID Title Credits Type Instructor(s) Days:Times Location Permission
Required		 Dist Qtr
2381 POLS-102-01 American Natl Govt 1.00 LEC Dudas, Mary MW: 2:55PM-4:10PM TBA SOC  
  Enrollment limited to 25 Waitlist available: Y Mode of Instruction: In Person  
  This course is not open to seniors.
  NOTE: 13 seats reserved for First Year students, 9 seats for sophomores, and 3 seats for Juniors who have declared a POLS Major. No Seniors unless by Permission of Instructor.
  How do the institutions of American national government shape our politics and policies? This introductory course examines the nation’s founding documents (including the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Federalist Papers), the goals they sought to achieve, and the institutional framework they established (including Congress, the Presidency, and the courts). It then evaluates the extent to which these institutions achieve their intended aims of representing interests and producing public goods, taking into account the role of parties, interests groups, and the media. Throughout the course, we will attend to the relevance of race, class, religion, and gender.
2951 POLS-102-02 American Natl Govt 1.00 LEC Greenberg, Jack TR: 10:50AM-12:05PM TBA SOC  
  Enrollment limited to 25 Waitlist available: Y Mode of Instruction: In Person  
  This course is not open to seniors.
  NOTE: 13 seats reserved for First Year students, 9 seats for sophomores, and 3 seats for Juniors who have declared a POLS Major. No Seniors unless by Permission of Instructor.
  How do the institutions of American national government shape our politics and policies? This introductory course examines the nation’s founding documents (including the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Federalist Papers), the goals they sought to achieve, and the institutional framework they established (including Congress, the Presidency, and the courts). It then evaluates the extent to which these institutions achieve their intended aims of representing interests and producing public goods, taking into account the role of parties, interests groups, and the media. Throughout the course, we will attend to the relevance of race, class, religion, and gender.
2726 POLS-103-01 Intro Compar Politics 1.00 LEC Thompson-Brusstar, Michael MW: 1:30PM-2:45PM TBA GLB5  
  Enrollment limited to 25 Waitlist available: Y Mode of Instruction: In Person  
  This course is not open to seniors.
  NOTE: 13 seats reserved for first year students, 9 seats for sophomores, and 3 seats for juniors who have declared a POLS major. No seniors unless by Instructor Permission.
  This course introduces the study of comparative politics which is a subfield of political science. More specifically, it introduces many of the key concepts and theoretical approaches that have been adopted in comparative politics and surveys the political institutions and politics of select foreign countries. Students of comparative politics primarily focus on the political processes and institutions within countries (whereas students of international relations primarily, but not exclusively, study interactions among countries). Inspired by current world events and puzzles, comparativists investigate such major questions as: Why are some countries or regions more democratic than others? How do different countries organize their politics, i.e., how and why do their political party systems, electoral rules, governmental institutions, etc. differ?
2025 POLS-104-01 Intro Intl Relations 1.00 LEC Hamidi, Sidra MW: 1:30PM-2:45PM TBA GLB5  
  Enrollment limited to 25 Waitlist available: Y Mode of Instruction: In Person  
  This course is not open to seniors.
  NOTE: 13 seats reserved for first year students, 9 seats for sophomores, and 3 seats for juniors who have declared a POLS major. No seniors unless by Instructor Permission.
  This course offers an introduction to international relations (IR), addressing fundamental questions in the fields of international security, international political economy, and international law & organization. We learn about the leading theoretical perspectives in political science-Realism, Liberalism, and Constructivism-as well as a range of alternatives rooted in domestic politics, political psychology, postmodernism, Marxism, and feminism. The course serves as a foundational introduction to the IR subfield, with equal emphasis on substantive issues and theoretical concerns.
2727 POLS-105-01 Intro Pol Philosophy 1.00 LEC Sklaroff, Miranda MW: 1:30PM-2:45PM TBA SOC  
  Enrollment limited to 25 Waitlist available: Y Mode of Instruction: In Person  
  Also cross-referenced with PHIL
  This course is not open to seniors.
  NOTE: 13 seats reserved for first year students, 9 seats for sophomores, and 3 seats for juniors who have declared a POLS major. No seniors unless by Instructor Permission.
  An introduction to the philosophical study of political and moral life through a consideration of various topics of both current and historical interest. Topics include environmentalism, ancients and moderns, male and female, nature and nurture, race and ethnicity, reason and history, and reason and revelation.
2728 POLS-220-01 Histry of Pol Thought II 1.00 LEC Litvin, Boris TR: 1:30PM-2:45PM TBA SOC  
  Enrollment limited to 25 Waitlist available: Y Mode of Instruction: In Person  
  NOTE: No Seniors Unless by Instructor Permission.
  This course focuses on the development of modern political philosophy. All readings will be from primary sources that include, among others, Machiavelli, Descartes, Bacon, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche, and Marcuse. Enrollment limited.
2732 POLS-241-01 Race, Capitalism, and Wrld Pol 1.00 LEC Kamola, Isaac MW: 1:30PM-2:45PM TBA SOIP  
  Enrollment limited to 25 Waitlist available: Y Mode of Instruction: In Person  
  NOTE: No Seniors Unless by Instructor Permission.
  The study of International Relations has long been "an American social science"-seeking to describe and understand the world from the vantage of American empire. This course offers an introduction to the field of International Relations through the work of scholars, activists, and political struggles from the Global South. Topics include: coloniality and decoloniality, the global color line, and struggles for indigenous sovereignty and environmental sustainability.
2382 POLS-242-01 Pol Sci Research Methods 1.00 LEC Thompson-Brusstar, Michael MW: 10:00AM-11:15AM TBA NUM  
  Enrollment limited to 19 Waitlist available: Y Mode of Instruction: In Person  
  Why do people participate in politics? Which government policies best serve the public good? What prevents wars between nations? Political scientists employ a toolbox of research methods to investigate these and other fundamental questions. By learning the strengths and weaknesses of various qualitative and quantitative methods, students in this course will identify how best to answer the political questions about which they feel most passionate. They will apply these practical skills in assignments that ask them observe, analyze, and report on political phenomena. Research skills will include field observation, interviewing, comparative case studies, and data analysis using statistical software. No previous statistical or programming experience is necessary. NOTE: Students may not earn credit for PBPL 220 and POLS 242.
2383 POLS-242-02 Pol Sci Research Methods 1.00 LEC Hamidi, Sidra MW: 10:00AM-11:15AM TBA NUM  
  Enrollment limited to 19 Waitlist available: Y Mode of Instruction: In Person  
  Why do people participate in politics? Which government policies best serve the public good? What prevents wars between nations? Political scientists employ a toolbox of research methods to investigate these and other fundamental questions. By learning the strengths and weaknesses of various qualitative and quantitative methods, students in this course will identify how best to answer the political questions about which they feel most passionate. They will apply these practical skills in assignments that ask them observe, analyze, and report on political phenomena. Research skills will include field observation, interviewing, comparative case studies, and data analysis using statistical software. No previous statistical or programming experience is necessary. NOTE: Students may not earn credit for PBPL 220 and POLS 242.
2733 POLS-258-01 How Democracy Works 1.00 LEC Matsuzaki, Reo TR: 10:50AM-12:05PM TBA GLB5  
  Enrollment limited to 25 Waitlist available: Y Mode of Instruction: In Person  
  NOTE: No Seniors Unless by Instructor Permission.
  How do democratic countries function across the globe and how does the United States compare to its peers? What are the causes and consequences of these differences and what does the future of democracy hold? This course will examine these and other questions on the state of democracy in the world by examining the social and institutional foundations of democratic regimes; legacies of colonialism; ethnic politics and conflict; political contestation and violence; and the causes of democratic deconsolidation and collapse. This course is part of the two-course foundational sequence in comparative politics (POLS 257 and POLS 258). Students may choose to take one or both courses in the sequence and in whichever order. Note: Students who have taken POLS 256 or POLS 320 may not enroll in this course.
2385 POLS-273-01 Law, Politics and Society 1.00 LEC McMahon, Kevin TR: 9:25AM-10:40AM TBA SOC  
  Enrollment limited to 25 Waitlist available: Y Mode of Instruction: In Person  
  NOTE: No Seniors Unless by Instructor Permission.
  This course examines the role of law in American society and politics. We will approach law as a living museum displaying the central values, choices, purposes, goals, and ideals of our society. Topics covered include: the nature of law; the structure of American law; the legal profession, juries, and morality; crime and punishment; courts, civil action, and social change; and justice and democracy. Throughout, we will be concerned with law and its relation to cultural change and political conflict.
2844 POLS-273-02 Law, Politics and Society 1.00 LEC McMahon, Kevin TR: 10:50AM-12:05PM TBA SOC  
  Enrollment limited to 25 Waitlist available: Y Mode of Instruction: In Person  
  NOTE: No Seniors Unless by Instructor Permission.
  This course examines the role of law in American society and politics. We will approach law as a living museum displaying the central values, choices, purposes, goals, and ideals of our society. Topics covered include: the nature of law; the structure of American law; the legal profession, juries, and morality; crime and punishment; courts, civil action, and social change; and justice and democracy. Throughout, we will be concerned with law and its relation to cultural change and political conflict.
2734 POLS-309-01 Congress and Public Policy 1.00 SEM Sklaroff, Miranda MW: 10:00AM-11:15AM TBA SOC  
  Enrollment limited to 19 Waitlist available: Y Mode of Instruction: In Person  
  A study of the structure and politics of the American Congress. This course examines the relationship between Congress members and their constituents; the organization and operation of Congress; the relationship between legislative behavior and the electoral incentive; and the place of Congress in national policy networks.
2900 POLS-314-01 Comparative Urban Development 1.00 SEM Flom, Hernan MW: 10:00AM-11:15AM TBA SOC  
  Enrollment limited to 19 Waitlist available: Y Mode of Instruction: In Person  
  This course analyzes how politics affects the lives of citizens in cities and metropolitan areas of the developing world. We will focus on two conceptions of urban politics. The first is the specific benefits and problems of the city (as opposed to rural areas), from land use (and its environmental sustainability challenges) and public utilities to political incorporation and intermediation. The second sense is the local as opposed to national or state-level politics: i.e. decentralization, coordination between different government tiers and the specific dynamics of local governance. We will draw primarily on examples in Africa, Asia (especially India and China) and Latin America, focusing on past, present and future challenges for urban development.
2845 POLS-319-01 Foucault 1.00 SEM Terwiel, Anna MW: 1:30PM-2:45PM TBA SOC  
  Enrollment limited to 19 Waitlist available: Y Mode of Instruction: In Person  
  This course is an introduction to the work of one of the twentieth-century's most influential thinkers, French historian and philosopher Michel Foucault (1926-84). Foucault's historical analyses of madness, crime, and sexuality, and his conceptualizations of power, knowledge, and subjectivity have profoundly changed how political theorists and others understand the world we live in. We will read selections from his major books, including History of Madness, Discipline and Punish, and History of Sexuality Volume 1, alongside some of his best-known lectures and essays. The course will also explore how Foucault's ideas have been taken up, changed, and challenged by other scholars. Students who have earned credit for PHIL 336 Foucault, may not earn credit for this course.
2901 POLS-322-01 Intl Political Economy 1.00 SEM Kamola, Isaac MW: 11:30AM-12:45PM TBA GLB5  
  Enrollment limited to 19 Waitlist available: Y Mode of Instruction: In Person  
  This course examines the interplay of politics and economics in the current world system since the European expansion in the 16th century. Focus will be on the penetration and colonization of Latin America, Asia, and Africa; economic relations in the industrialized world and between the north and the south; the role of international institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund; the role of international trade and transnational corporations; the changing division of labor in the world economy; and current problems of the world economy.
2569 POLS-328-01 American Conservatism 1.00 SEM Dudas, Mary MW: 10:00AM-11:15AM TBA SOC  
  Enrollment limited to 19 Waitlist available: Y Mode of Instruction: In Person  
  This course examines two interrelated questions: What is conservatism as an ideology and how was the American conservative movement built? To answer these questions, we will examine the American conservative movement as an organized movement and as a set of ideological debates and commitments. We will first survey the origins of conservatism as an ideology before turning to the development of the different ideological strands of American conservativism The course then explores the building of the modern American conservative movement: postwar Goldwater Movement Conservativism, the New Right, and the contemporary conservative movement. The course will focus on the building of the conservative movement through its engagement with the Republican Party as well as the family as the site of cultural and economic intervention.
2838 POLS-333-01 Eugenics in the United States 1.00 SEM Sklaroff, Miranda MW: 11:30AM-12:45PM TBA SOC  
  Enrollment limited to 19 Waitlist available: Y Mode of Instruction: In Person  
  Eugenics is an ideology that seeks to shape society by encouraging the reproduction of "desirable" citizens and limiting the population of "undesirables." From the early twentieth-century, when American eugenicists influenced Nazi sterilization policies, to contemporary debates over COVID-19 and public health, eugenics has played a significant but underexplored role in US politics. This course explores the often forgotten legacies of eugenics in the United States. We will discuss topics including: eugenics and environmentalism, the role of eugenics in debates on abortion, and how mass incarceration continues to create the conditions of possibility for eugenic practices. The class will look at primary sources, scholarly articles, and representations of eugenics in popular media to define what eugenics is and explain why it continues to this day.
2902 POLS-341-01 Policing and Human Rights 1.00 SEM Flom, Hernan MW: 2:55PM-4:10PM TBA SOC  
  Enrollment limited to 19 Waitlist available: Y Mode of Instruction: In Person  
  Policing and human rights are deeply intertwined. On the one hand, policing necessary involves limitations on fundamental individual rights. On the other hand, policing can also preserve rights such as life, liberty and property. This tension is evident not just in authoritarian regimes, but also in modern democracies, where police frequently commit human rights abuses such as torture, intimidation, and summary executions. Ultimately, the form policing takes, and its implications for human rights, are political decisions. This course adopts a comparative perspective to explain what police do, how they do it and why. We will discuss police organization and culture, linkages between police, politicians, and organized crime, and the movement to reform, defund or abolish the police.
2736 POLS-353-01 Authoritarianism 1.00 SEM Matsuzaki, Reo T: 1:30PM-4:10PM TBA GLB5  
  Enrollment limited to 19 Waitlist available: Y Mode of Instruction: In Person  
  Also cross-referenced with HRST
  NOTE: 7 seats reserved for juniors, 7 seats for sophomores.
  This course explores the institutional foundations of authoritarian regimes, the strategies they employ to dominate society, and the dynamics of resistance against authoritarianism with a focus on Eurasia, broadly defined. To this end, the course will examine historic cases of powerful and all-encompassing authoritarian regimes in Germany and Russia, as well as recent manifestations of authoritarianism in the Middle East, Russia, and China. Readings will draw from an array of academic disciplines, including political science, history, philosophy, and sociology.
2702 POLS-354-01 Climate Change Global South 1.00 SEM Fernandez Milmanda, Belen TR: 10:50AM-12:05PM TBA GLB5  
  Enrollment limited to 15 Waitlist available: Y Mode of Instruction: In Person  
    Cross-listing: ENVS-354-01, INTS-354-01
  The course analyzes the domestic and global politics of how countries in the Global South are dealing/preparing to deal with climate change and its effects. We will discuss the particular challenges that climate change presents to countries across the Global South characterized by weaker institutions, lower state capacity, and scarce economic resources. Using countries and subnational units in the Global South as case studies, we will discuss issues: how interest groups shape mitigation and adaptation strategies, why citizens support climate denialists, and how different political regimes (autocracies vs. democracies) approach climate change. We will also study the global and domestic aspects of environmental injustices created by climate change and the world's current mitigation and adaptation strategies.
2737 POLS-357-01 Hannah Arendt 1.00 SEM Litvin, Boris TR: 9:25AM-10:40AM TBA SOC  
  Enrollment limited to 19 Waitlist available: Y Mode of Instruction: In Person  
  This course investigates one of the twentieth century's most influential thinkers: Hannah Arendt. Her reflections on statelessness, totalitarianism, propaganda, revolution, cultural production, technology, and responsibility bear witness to critical upheavals that continue to haunt current-day politics. This course interrogates these topics through a detailed exploration of Arendt's central works, focusing on The Origins of Totalitarianism, The Human Condition, and Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil alongside Arendt's key influences and shorter commentaries. We will also consider how Arendt has been taken up by contemporary scholars especially in light of the recent rise of "post-truth" politics.
2903 POLS-359-01 Feminist Political Theory 1.00 SEM Terwiel, Anna MW: 2:55PM-4:10PM TBA SOIP  
  Enrollment limited to 19 Waitlist available: Y Mode of Instruction: In Person  
    Cross-listing: WMGS-359-01
  This course examines debates in feminist political theory. Topics will include liberal and socialist feminist theory, as well as radical, postcolonial, and postmodern feminist theory. We will also consider feminist perspectives on issues of race and sex, pornography, law and rights, and “hot button” issues like veiling. We will pay particular attention to the question of what feminism means and should mean in increasingly multicultural, global societies. Readings will include work by Mary Wollstonecraft, Carol Gilligan, Catherine MacKinnon, Chandra Mohanty, Wendy Brown, Audre Lorde, Patricia Williams, & Judith Butler.
2395 POLS-369-01 Intl Human Rights Law 1.00 LEC Carbonetti, Benjamin TR: 1:30PM-2:45PM TBA GLB5  
  Enrollment limited to 10 Waitlist available: Y Mode of Instruction: In Person  
    Cross-listing: HRST-369-01
  This course offers a comprehensive survey of the evolution of international human rights law, focusing on the major actors and processes at work. Which rights do individual human beings have vis-a-vis the modern state? What is the relationship between domestic and international legal processes? Are regional human rights mechanisms like the European system more influential than international ones? More generally, how effective is contemporary international human rights in securing accountability and justice? We use specific cases and contemporary debates to study a range of treaties and emerging institutions, including ad hoc war crimes tribunals and the International Criminal Court.
2738 POLS-376-01 Latin American Politics 1.00 SEM Fernandez Milmanda, Belen TR: 9:25AM-10:40AM TBA SOC  
  Enrollment limited to 19 Waitlist available: Y Mode of Instruction: In Person  
    Cross-listing: INTS-376-01
  The course examines the processes of political, economic and social change that took place in Latin America in the XX and XIX Century. Topics include: the rise of populism and import-substituting industrialization, revolutions and revolutionary movements, the causes and consequences of military rule, the politics of economic reform, democratic transitions, the commodity boom, and the left turn. For each topic we will review classic political science theories and critically evaluate their applicability to Latin American countries. We will also discuss the lessons that can be drawn from Latin American cases for the study of these topics in the rest of the world.
2952 POLS-377-01 Politics, Law, & Pop Culture 1.00 SEM Dudas, Mary MW: 1:30PM-2:45PM TBA SOC  
  Enrollment limited to 19 Waitlist available: Y Mode of Instruction: In Person  
  NOTE: All seats reserved for POLS majors.
  This course is about the interaction of politics, law, and legal practice with popular culture. It is perhaps banal to observe that popular culture distorts and misrepresents law and legal practice. However, the consequences of popular culture distortions of law remain a provocative area for scholarly inquiry. Furthermore, in a democracy, where citizens make demands on government, popular culture can influence perceptions, expectations, and demands citizens make on political and legal elites. Course media will rely on film, television, and scholarly readings and will examine mythical stories of the founding of political orders based on rule of law, legal education and inequality, trials in democratic and authoritarian regimes, law and political violence, and the possibility of justice outside the rule of law and the state.
2950 POLS-387-01 Political Leadership & Policy 1.00 SEM Greenberg, Jack TR: 6:30PM-7:45PM TBA SOC  
  Enrollment limited to 12 Waitlist available: Y Mode of Instruction: In Person  
    Cross-listing: PBPL-387-01
  What does political leadership entail in American governance and public policy? This course examines the kinds of leadership different political and policy contexts incentivize and how various leaders “meet their moment,” exploring the practical and ethical considerations guiding consequential decision-making in the policymaking process. Leadership has long been an all-or-nothing proposition. “The history of the world is but the biography of great men,” argued Thomas Carlyle, to which Herbert Spencer replied, “the genesis of societies by the actions of great men, may be comfortably believed so long as, resting in general notions, you do not ask for particulars.” In this course, we will resist both essentialism and existentialism, tending away from the biographic and toward an appreciation for leadership's distinct role in American institutions.
2905 POLS-392-01 Legislative Internship 1.00 SEM Chambers, Stefanie T: 6:30PM-9:00PM TBA Y SOC  
  Enrollment limited to 15 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person  
  The Trinity College Legislative Internship is a special program designed for those students who want to observe politics and government firsthand. Student interns work full time for individual legislators and are eligible for up to four course credits, three for a letter grade and one pass/fail. One of the graded credits is a political science credit. In addition to working approximately 35 to 40 hours per week for a legislator, each intern participates in a seminar in which interns present papers and discuss issues related to the legislative process. Although there are no prerequisite courses for enrollment in this program, preference will be given to juniors and seniors. Students majoring in areas other than political science are encouraged to apply. Candidates for this program, which is limited to 14 students, should contact the Political Science Department in April or September. The program will accommodate some students who wish to work part time (20 hours per week) for two graded course credits.
2906 POLS-394-01 Legislative Internship 1.00 SEM Chambers, Stefanie T: 6:30PM-9:00PM TBA Y SOC  
  Enrollment limited to 15 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person  
2907 POLS-396-01 Legislative Internship 1.00 SEM Chambers, Stefanie T: 6:30PM-9:00PM TBA Y SOC  
  Enrollment limited to 15 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person  
2908 POLS-398-01 Legislative Internship 1.00 SEM Chambers, Stefanie T: 6:30PM-9:00PM TBA Y SOC  
  Enrollment limited to 15 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person  
1153 POLS-399-01 Independent Study 1.00 - 2.00 IND TBA TBA TBA Y SOC  
  Enrollment limited to 15 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person  
  Submission of the special registration form, available in the Registrar’s Office, and the approval of the instructor and chairperson are required for enrollment.
2953 POLS-411-01 Environmental Justice Policy 1.00 SEM Chambers, Stefanie M: 1:30PM-4:10PM TBA Y WEIP  
  Enrollment limited to 15 Waitlist available: Y Mode of Instruction: In Person  
  Also cross-referenced with CLIC
  This course is open only to senior Political Science majors.
  This senior seminar examines environmental justice movements in the United States, with particular attention to urban and rural communities. We analyze how Black, Indigenous, and other marginalized groups navigate political systems to address environmental inequities. Students will explore the socio-historical contexts that shape environmental burdens, studying both traditional political engagement and alternative strategies employed by communities. The course investigates political socialization, coalition-building, and conflict within environmental justice frameworks. Special emphasis is placed on Hartford through a community learning project, allowing students to engage with local environmental justice initiatives directly. We will critically examine the complex interactions between communities, government entities, and private sector interests in shaping environmental policy and outcomes.
1773 POLS-425-01 Research Assistantship 1.00 IND TBA TBA TBA  
  Enrollment limited to 19 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person  
1154 POLS-466-01 Teaching Assistant 0.50 - 1.00 IND TBA TBA TBA Y  
  Enrollment limited to 15 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person  
  Submission of the special registration form, available online, and the approval of the instructor are required for enrollment. Guidelines are available in the College Bulletin. (0.5 - 1 course credit)
1266 POLS-490-01 Research Assistant 0.25 - 1.00 IND TBA TBA TBA Y SOC  
  Enrollment limited to 15 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person  
  This course is designed to provide students with the opportunity to undertake substantial research work with a faculty member. Students need to complete a special registration form, available online, and have it signed by the supervising instructor.
2288 POLS-497-01 Senior Thesis 1.00 IND Staff, Trinity TBA TBA Y WEB  
  Enrollment limited to 15 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person  
  For honors candidates (see description of Honors in Political Science following the “Areas of Concentration” section). Submission of the special registration form, available online, and the approval of the instructor and chairperson are required for enrollment in honors.
2336 PBPL-310-01 Tax Pol & Inequality in Htfd 1.00 SEM Laws, Serena W: 1:30PM-4:10PM TBA SOCW  
  Enrollment limited to 19 Waitlist available: Y Mode of Instruction: In Person  
  Also cross-referenced with CLIC, POLS, URST
  NOTE: 10 seats reserved for PBPL majors. Limit to 5 seniors.
  In this course students will learn about U.S. tax policy and apply their knowledge by preparing taxes for Hartford residents at Trinity's VITA Tax Clinic. Tax policy in the United States is a key site of government redistribution-a place where economic inequality can be mitigated or reinforced. This course explores central elements of tax policy with an emphasis on the politics and policies that led to the growth of social tax expenditures, including refundable tax credits. Students will receive training to become IRS certified tax preparers, and each student will prepare taxes for a regular shift at a VITA site near campus. An enhanced version of this class fulfills the PBPL Internship Requirement.