The Department of Political Science at Tulane University offers several options for students wishing to pursue a major curriculum in political science. Read further for more information on the purpose and content of our major field of study and its interrelationship with other Liberal Arts & Sciences (LAS) Programs of Study.

The Major Curriculum

The undergraduate curriculum in Political Science provides students with course offerings that capture the breadth and depth of the discipline's content, both substantively and methodologically. Students have the experience of analyzing political phenomena in different settings, and broaden their exposure to the diverse analytical tools employed by the discipline.

The department of Political Science is committed to the needs of students seeking pre-professional training, not only for the fields of law and academics, but for government and foreign service and public policy making as well. To address these needs, the Political Science program offers two special major tracks – the International Relations major (PSIR) and the American Politics major (PSAP) – in addition to the general Political Science major. Both of these special tracks are strongly inter-disciplinary, linking the study of Political Science with the concerns of related disciplines in the social sciences.

Political Science Minor

A minor in political science consists of six courses in political science, in at least two different subfields, with at least three courses above the 200 level.

Political Science and the LAS Curriculum

The Political Science curriculum is intimately related with many aspects of the LAS curriculum, including several existing inter-disciplinary programs. Both the Latin American Studies major and the several tracks of the Political Economy major incorporate a large component of Political Science coursework. In addition, certain of our courses cross-list with the Women's Studies program and the African and Diaspora Studies program. Clearly, other interdisciplinary programs on the Tulane campus recognize that politics, or how we do things "politically," has consequences for all other facets of life-- social, economic, cultural. One of Political Science's great strengths as a discipline is its capacity for interdisciplinarity: because it is a heterogeneous set of studies and because it utilizes many of the methodologies of its related disciplines in the social sciences, it combines fruitfully with various programs of study.

The Tulane liberal arts student who majors in Political Science or one of its concentrated tracks pursues a course of study which helps develop analytic reasoning skills and build competence in oral and written expression. Majors can also acquire proficiency in statistical analysis and foreign language usage. Such training is useful to students no matter what their ultimate career choices. However, knowledge of the function of political systems is of direct and concrete relevance to students anticipating careers as "representatives" of the political system itself--for example, in the areas of law enforcement, teaching, civil and foreign service, the military, or the law. And extensive training in Political Science is essential for those seeking careers in any of the organizations or institutions which monitor the political processes or seek to influence the content of public policy--for example, in the fields of higher education, state and local government, urban planning, the federal bureaucracy, or journalism. The Political Science major is considered vital pre-professional study by the majority of our students.

Most of our majors go on to Professional and Graduate School in the study of law, public policy and public affairs, business administration, or academic social science. But the Political Science major is perhaps most valuable as training for good citizens who are increasingly citizens of the world.