Government
Major
Thirty semester hours of government, at least 18 of which must be upper-division.
Students may satisfy the requirements of the major by taking one of the following two sequences:
I. At least one upper-division course from each of three of the seven fields into which the department’s work is divided:
- political theory
- American government and politics
- public and comparative law
- public policy
- comparative politics
- international relations
- research methods
II. At least 12 hours in one of four tracks:
- political and legal thought
- US politics and policy
- world politics
- methods of inquiry
The political and legal thought track includes courses in fields 1 and 3; the US politics and policy track includes courses in fields 2 and 4; the world politics track includes courses in fields 5 and 6; and the methods of inquiry track includes courses in field 7.
Lower division hours other than Government 310L, 312L, and 312P may be used to satisfy the required 12 hours in a track.
Government majors must also take at least one three hour research seminar or internship course in government.
All Government courses that satisfy the Independent Inquiry Flag count as government research seminars.
Government internship courses include Government 362L, Government Research Internship; Government 662L, Government Research Internship; Government 371N, Administrative Internship; Government 372N, Campaigns and Elections Internship; Government 373N, Legislative Internship; and Government 374N, Political Internship.
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 Theory; Government 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.
- Three semester hours of statistics chosen from Economics 329; Educational Psychology 371; Psychology 418; Social Work 318; Sociology 317L; Statistics 309; Statistics and Data Sciences 301, 302, 304, 305, 306
- Three semester hours of logic, chosen from Philosophy 312, 313, 313K, 313Q; Tutorial Course 310 (for Plan II students)
- 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 advisor in the Department of Government.