BA in Political Science, Public Policy Focus
In addition to requiring many of the same core requirements as Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, the public policy-focused degree includes four upper-level electives, three of which are related to public policy. All students majoring in political science with a public policy focus also complete a required proseminar as juniors or seniors, in which they examine a policy issue and produce scholarly writing on the topic.
Many students in this program supplement their classwork with study abroad and internships for credit.
Per Columbian College of Arts and Science policy, students must complete the major requirements at the time of declaration. Students who declared a major before Fall 2020 are beholden to prior major requirements.
"During my freshman year, I remember listening to The Washington Post’s Jason Rezaian, who was held hostage in Iran for 544 days. His experience will always remind me that there are real-world, human impacts to public policy."
Jeremy Marsh
BA ’19
Course Requirements
The following requirements must be fulfilled:
The general requirements stated under Columbian College of Arts and Sciences (CCAS), Undergraduate Programs. CCAS stipulates that a student must complete the major requirements published in the Bulletin for the academic year in which the student declares their major.*
Program-specific curriculum:
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Prerequisite courses | ||
| PSC 1001 | Introduction to Comparative Politics | |
| or PSC 1001W | Introduction to Comparative Politics | |
| PSC 1002 | Introduction to American Politics and Government | |
| or PSC 1002W | Introduction to American Politics and Government | |
| PSC 1003 | Introduction to International Politics | |
| or PSC 1003W | Introduction to International Politics | |
| or IAFF 1005 | Introduction to International Affairs | |
| Students in the Politics and Values program are required to take PSC 1011 and PSC 1012W. For such students, these two courses fulfill the prerequisite requirement and count as a Group E (political thought) course. | ||
| Required for the major | ||
| Six 2000-level political science courses (18 credits) distributed as follows: ** | ||
| Three courses (9 credits) selected from the following: | ||
| PSC 2211 | State and Urban Politics | |
| PSC 2212 | State and Urban Policy Problems | |
| PSC 2213 | Judicial Politics | |
| PSC 2216 | The American Presidency | |
| PSC 2217 | Executive Branch Politics | |
| PSC 2218 | Legislative Politics | |
| or PSC 2218W | Legislative Politics | |
| PSC 2219 | Political Parties and Interest Groups | |
| PSC 2222 | Science, Technology, and Politics | |
| PSC 2224 | Issues in Domestic Public Policy | |
| PSC 2240 | Poverty, Welfare, and Work | |
| PSC 2241 | The Politics of Education Policy | |
| PSC 2446 | U.S. Foreign Policy | |
| PSC 2468 | Post-Soviet Foreign Policy | |
| Three courses (9 credits) from the following groups. One course must from group D. | ||
| Group A (comparative politics) | ||
| PSC 2330 | Comparative Politics of Western Europe | |
| PSC 2331 | Comparative Politics of Central and Eastern Europe | |
| PSC 2332 | European Integration | |
| PSC 2333 | Reunification, Reconciliation, and Resentment | |
| PSC 2334 | Global Perspectives on Democracy | |
| PSC 2336 | State–Society Relations in the Developing World | |
| PSC 2337 | Development Politics | |
| PSC 2338 | Nationalism | |
| PSC 2339 | Comparative Political Economy | |
| PSC 2366 | Russian Politics | |
| PSC 2367 | Human Rights | |
| or PSC 2367W | Human Rights | |
| PSC 2368 | Politics in the Two Koreas | |
| PSC 2369 | Comparative Politics of South Asia | |
| PSC 2370 | Comparative Politics of China and Northeast Asia | |
| PSC 2371 | Politics and Foreign Policy of China | |
| PSC 2373 | Comparative Politics of Southeast Asia | |
| PSC 2374 | Politics and Foreign Policy of Japan | |
| PSC 2377 | Comparative Politics of the Middle East | |
| or PSC 2377W | Comparative Politics of the Middle East | |
| PSC 2379 | Politics and Foreign Policy of Israel | |
| PSC 2381 | Comparative Politics of Sub-Saharan Africa | |
| PSC 2383 | Comparative Politics of Latin America | |
| PSC 2993 | Special Topics in Comparative Politics | |
| Group B (American government and politics) | ||
| PSC 2213 | Judicial Politics | |
| PSC 2214 | U.S. Constitutional Law and Politics I | |
| PSC 2215 | U.S. Constitutional Law and Politics II | |
| PSC 2216 | The American Presidency | |
| PSC 2218 | Legislative Politics | |
| or PSC 2218W | Legislative Politics | |
| PSC 2219 | Political Parties and Interest Groups | |
| PSC 2220 | Public Opinion | |
| PSC 2221 | African American Politics | |
| PSC 2223 | Campaigns and Elections | |
| PSC 2225 | Women and Politics | |
| PSC 2226 | The Politics of Race and Ethnicity in the United States | |
| PSC 2228 | Media, Politics, and Government | |
| PSC 2229 | Media and Politics | |
| PSC 2230 | Law and Justice: The View from Hollywood | |
| PSC 2241 | The Politics of Education Policy | |
| PSC 2992 | Special Topics in American Politics and Government | |
| Group C (international politics, law, and organizations) | ||
| PSC 2439 | International Political Economy | |
| PSC 2440 | Theories of International Politics | |
| PSC 2442 | International Organizations | |
| or PSC 2442W | International Organizations | |
| PSC 2444 | Public International Law | |
| PSC 2446 | U.S. Foreign Policy | |
| PSC 2447 | American Presidents at War | |
| PSC 2449 | International Security Politics | |
| or PSC 2449W | International Security Politics | |
| PSC 2451 | Theory of War | |
| or PSC 2451W | Theory of War | |
| PSC 2453 | U.S. Foreign Policy Perspectives | |
| PSC 2454 | Humanitarianism | |
| PSC 2455 | Global Governance | |
| PSC 2461 | European-Atlantic Relations | |
| PSC 2468 | Post-Soviet Foreign Policy | |
| PSC 2475 | International Relations of East Asia | |
| PSC 2476 | The Arab-Israeli Conflict | |
| or PSC 2476W | The Arab-Israeli Conflict | |
| PSC 2478 | International Relations of the Middle East | |
| PSC 2482 | African International Politics | |
| PSC 2484 | International Relations of Latin America | |
| PSC 2994 | Special Topics in International Relations | |
| Group D (research methods) | ||
| PSC 2101 | Scope and Methods of Political Science | |
| or COMM 3110 | Research Methods in Communication | |
| or IAFF 2101 | Qualitative Methods in International Affairs | |
| or PSYC 2101 | Research Methods in Psychology | |
| or SMPA 2151 | Research Methods | |
| or SOC 2101 | Social Research Methods | |
| PSC 2102 | Visualizing and Modeling Politics | |
| Group E (political thought) | ||
| PSC 2105 | Major Issues of Western Political Thought I | |
| PSC 2106 | Major Issues of Western Political Thought II | |
| or PSC 2106W | Major Issues of Western Political Thought II | |
| PSC 2107 | Twentieth-Century Political Thought | |
| PSC 2109 | Global Justice | |
| PSC 2110 | American Political Thought | |
| PSC 2120W | Freedom in American Thought and Popular Culture | |
| PSC 2991 | Special Topics in Political Thought | |
| One proseminar (3 credits) and one advanced topics course (3 credits) | ||
| PSC 3192W | Proseminar: Political Science (Taken in the junior or senior year. Topic must be policy oriented.) | |
| PSC 3500 | Advanced Topics in Political Science | |
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Six courses (18 credits) in other social sciences and statistics, including: | ||
| Four required courses: | ||
| ECON 1011 | Principles of Economics I | |
| ECON 1012 | Principles of Economics II | |
| ECON 2101 | Intermediate Microeconomic Theory | |
| STAT 1051 | Introduction to Business and Economic Statistics | |
| or STAT 1053 | Introduction to Statistics in Social Science | |
| or STAT 1111 | Business and Economic Statistics I | |
| and two courses selected from the following: | ||
| ECON 2122 | Monetary Theory and Policy | |
| ECON 2136 | Environmental and Natural Resource Economics | |
| ECON 2151W | Economic Development | |
| ECON 2151 | Economic Development | |
| ECON 2157 | Urban and Regional Economics | |
| ECON 2158 | Industrial Organization | |
| ECON 2159 | Government Regulation of the Economy | |
| ECON 2167 | Economics of Crime | |
| ECON 2181 | International Trade Theory and Policy | |
| ECON 3142 | Labor Economics | |
| ECON 3148 | Health Economics | |
| ECON 3161 | Public Finance: Expenditure Programs | |
| ECON 3162 | Public Finance: Taxation | |
| ECON 3190 | Law and Economics | |
| ECON 3191 | Game Theory | |
| SOC 2105 | Social Problems in American Society | |
| SOC 2112 | Evaluation Research | |
| SOC 2135 | Youth and Delinquency | |
| SOC 2136 | Criminology | |
| SOC 2137 | Transnational Crime | |
| SOC 2139 | Alternatives to Imprisonment | |
| SOC 2143 | Criminal Justice System Arrest Through Appeal | |
| SOC 2145 | Criminal Law | |
| SOC 2146 | The Bill of Rights and Criminal Justice | |
| SOC 2161 | Sociology of Complex Organizations | |
| SOC 2162 | Sociology of the Family | |
| SOC 2163 | Sociology of Education | |
| SOC 2169 | Urban Sociology | |
| SOC 2170 | Class and Inequality in American Society | |
| SOC 2174 | Sociology of Immigration | |
| SOC 2179 | Race and Minority Relations | |
| STAT 1129 | Introduction to Computing | |
| STAT 2118 | Regression Analysis | |
| STAT 2123 | Introduction to Econometrics | |
| STAT 2183 | Intermediate Statistics Lab/Packages | |
*Bulletins covering prior academic years are archived.
**In addition to the courses listed, a maximum of 3 credits in PSC 2987 may count toward the 2000-level course requirement. However, these credits do not count toward any group.