The Undergraduate Program
The Major
The major provides a general introduction to the study of politics, and an opportunity to explore one particular subfield in greater depth, allowing students to concentrate in one area of politics. The three subfields are: American politics and public policy; comparative politics; and international relations. Students must take 14 courses total, with leeway choosing particular courses. Most courses are in the Government Department, but the few from other disciplines complement the study of politics and explore the relationships between government and other sectors of society. The 14 required courses—11 in government, one in economics, one in history, and one other from related disciplines—are divided into two categories.
General government requirements: seven courses, including one subfield introductory course (in addition to the introductory course in one’s chosen subfield); the economics course, Econ 10 A Comparative Approach; one government course in normative political theory (Gov 155, 203, or 206); one course in research methods and skills, Gov 107; and three government courses from outside one’s chosen subfield.
Subfield specialization requirements: seven courses, including the introductory course to one’s chosen government subfield (Introduction to American Government, Introduction to Comparative Politics, or Introduction to International Relations); five additional government courses in one’s chosen subfield (one of these four must be in the form of a seminar in one’s subfield, taken in the junior or senior year); and two courses, related to the subfield, from outside the Government Department. (A list of related courses is available from the department office; one must be in History. The other two should be chosen with one’s advisor.)
Government Major Worksheet (PDF) Handbook (PDF)
Subfield Descriptions
American Politics
The American Politics and Public Policy subfield includes study of basic political and governmental institutions, major political processes, and important patterns of political behavior. Subfield specialists become familiar with each of these three broad areas, learning how the political system operates, why public policy emphasizes particular values and allocates certain resources to different groups and individuals, and who benefits and who loses in policy outcomes in policy areas such as housing, the environment, and the economy. The federal structure of American government and the diversity of the American population also require familiarity with state politics, urban and suburban politics, law and politics, African-American politics, and women and politics.
Comparative Politics
Comparative politics has two intertwined meanings at Clark:
1) it means immersion in the study of politics in two or more countries other than the U.S., and
2) it means deliberately comparing important factors, such as elites or policy-making processes in two or more countries. Subfield specialists are given the chance to delve into politics experienced by elites and ordinary people inside other countries. While the U.S. is intentionally kept off center stage in comparative politics courses, most of them raise specific questions about American politics—its policies, experiences, and assumptions—as they are seen from the vantage point of people in other countries. The study of comparative politics alerts the specialist to the varieties but also the surprising similarities in how power is gained, and how it is justified and wielded in different countries.
International Relations
Government majors who specialize in international relations address global politics at two intersecting levels:
1) formal state-to-state behavior in terms of diplomacy, war and peace, intervention, law, and organization; and
2) translation of global interactions in terms of trade, development, social movements, refugees, human rights, ecology, and media. Subfield specialists engage in rigorous theoretical investigations of competing analytic traditions as they attempt to explain ongoing problems of world order. Some of these problems are local, such as boundary disputes; some are regional, such as regional economic integration; and some are global, such as poverty, the greenhouse effect, or militarization. Similarly, the actors in world politics are diverse: national governments, sub-national governments, international organizations, private interest groups, social classes, and religious movements.
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Academic Catalog & Requirements
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Government Major Resources
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Professor Mark Miller meets with a student
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Additional Resources
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