Political Science Minor

As a political science minor, you will increase your understanding of politics, political institutions, and political processes. You will examine political behavior and use different methodologies to try to understand such issues as: who gets what resources and why, how do political actors make decisions, and how does politics affect political, economic, and social outcomes?

sample courses:

Introduction to Comparative Politics

One of the primary goals of a course in comparative politics is to familiarize students with a broad array of political systems. The approach taken in this course can best be characterized as the active acquisition and use of a set of tools for looking at the political world. In other words, instead of putting emphasis on what textbook writers think political scientist know, in this course the emphasis is on "how we know what we know" and on building knowledge. This approach equips students with a set of tools to use long after the course is over. These comparative tools are focused on historical, recent, and current events, and students are provided the opportunity to delve more deeply into a study of the parts of the world most they find most interesting.

Civil War and Peace

Civil war is currently the predominant form of armed conflict. Internal wars, including current conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria, are the focus of many foreign policy debates in both this country and around the world. This course examines questions about when and where civil wars start, how long they last, how do they end, and why do some restart. Additionally, we will examine the role of external actors in civil war, in particular their influence through financial support, armed intervention, and peacekeeping.