This is an archived copy of the 2016-2018 catalog. To access the most recent version of the catalog, please visit http://catalog.utexas.edu/.

Government

Major

30 semester hours of government, at least 18 of which must be upper-division, including at least one upper-division course from each of three of the six fields into which the department’s work is divided: (1) political theory, (2) American government and politics, (3) public and comparative law, (4) public policy, (5) comparative politics, and (6) international relations.

Government majors must also complete at least three semester hours in a tools course, chosen from Government 339L, Research Methods in Government; Government 341M, Decision TheoryGovernment 342N, Public Choice ; and Government 350K, Statistical Analysis in Political Science.

Students may choose to satisfy the tools course requirement by completing one of the following non-government course options; these courses may not be counted toward the semester hours and grade point average required for the major.

  1. Three semester hours of statistics chosen from Economics 329; Educational Psychology 371; Mathematics 316; Psychology 418; Social Work 318; Sociology 317L; Statistics 309; Statistics and Data Sciences 302, 304305, 306
  2. Three semester hours of logic, chosen from Philosophy 312313, 313K, 313Q; Tutorial Course 310 (for Plan II students)
  3. Six semester hours of upper-division coursework in one foreign language, excluding courses conducted in English

All government majors must earn a grade of at least C- in each course counted toward fulfillment of the major requirements. A minimum grade point average of 2.00 in courses taken at the University and counted toward the major is also required.

No more than six hours of internship coursework may be counted toward the major, including transfer credit earned in internship courses at other institutions of higher education.

No student may register for more than nine semester hours of government in one semester without the consent of an undergraduate adviser in the Department of Government.