Conducting original, independent research is central to the experience of a student studying Politics and Government. This activity credit course pairs a student with a PG professor to collaborate on a research project in progress. The student contributes to the project through tasks that may include data collection, cleaning, and coding, secondary research developing a literature review, interview or survey administration, and beginning of quantitative or qualitative analysis.

PG 221 is the required .25-credit activity course for students preparing for the Politics and Government Department’s faculty-led short-term study abroad experience in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The course will explore the interconnected themes of nationalism and internationalism, with a particular focus on the European context. Students will develop knowledge relating to European political systems, international law, and international organizations and develop cohesive plans for on-site study in Amsterdam, The Hague, and Brussels.

Students complete 120 hours of field experience at a site prearranged in consultation with the department and internship coordinator. In addition, the student works with a faculty mentor within the department to develop an individualized learning plan which must be pre-approved by the department and completed alongside the field experience. The learning plan is tailored to integrate the field experience with relevant scholarship, linking the major to practical job experience. One unit of PG 498 may count toward the major.

Independent study is available to those students who wish to continue their learning in an area after completing the regularly offered courses in that area.

Independent study is available to those students who wish to continue their learning in an area after completing the regularly offered courses in that area.

This is an optional thesis course in Politics and Government. Students who wish to complete a thesis do so in the spring semester of their senior year (having completed the field-specific capstone course in the fall semester of the senior year). In the course, students complete much of the thesis work independently under the supervision of the thesis instructor.

Students in this capstone course study major theoretical approaches to contemporary questions in politics and government. The course brings students into conversation across a broad array of approaches and traditions, applying the unique perspective of each to major questions about democracy and power around the world today. Students are expected to participate regularly in seminar discussions and may be responsible for leading class sessions and completing a major project. Students who wish to complete a senior thesis should consult the requirements to enroll in PG 490.

What is meaningful work? The vast majority of the human population will spend the bulk of their waking hours in the workplace; how do we begin to interrogate and evaluate the purpose and meaning of our own work while also attending to the historical struggle for labor’s recognition? The primary objectives in this course will be to historicize and normatively evaluate the struggle of various historical labor movements and their impact on the making of the American political state.

Much of the study of international relations has been driven by questions about war. Regardless of individuals’ views on any particular war, everyone agrees that war is costly. The most obvious costs are in military expenditure and human lives. However, there are many ways of calculating cost, particularly as it relates to war.

This course considers the evolution of the idea of morally justifiable warfare, primarily in the Western context. Students trace just war theory from the ancient world to the present day, with attention to both religious and secular theoretical texts. The course encourages students to think about recent and contemporary international relations through the lens of just war theory.