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College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Concentration in Political Science - Major Requirements

The major in Political Science is structured to help students develop their ability to think critically and deal intelligently with a wide array of issues and ideas about government and politics. To accomplish these objectives the department provides courses of study that introduce students to the discipline and to its principal fields. These include American government and politics; comparative government and politics; international relations; political philosophy; and public policy/public administration. Within each of these sub-fields students are exposed to more advanced topics that build on relevant introductory courses. The requirements are designed to provide for both breadth and depth. Supporting courses are an integral part of the program and should be selected with a view toward building a coherent selection adapted to the student’s particular interests.

REQUIREMENTS

The major in political science requires the satisfactory completion of fifty hours of coursework.

  • Thirty hours of this coursework must be fulfilled with Political Science courses.
  • Twenty hours of this coursework must be fulfilled with supporting courses taken outside the field of Political Science.

    Note:  Any student who began their college-level study prior to Fall 1997 is required to complete only twenty-seven hours core Political Science hours.

POLITICAL SCIENCE COURSE DISTRIBUTION REQUIREMENTS

The 30-hour Political Science course requirement must be fulfilled as follows. Majors must satisfactorily complete:

  • Political Science 150, Introduction to American Government and Politics
    • Three of the following courses
      • Political Science 100, Introduction to Political Science,
      • Political Science 240, Introduction to Comparative Politics
      • Political Science 250, Introduction to Public Policy
      • Political Science 260, Introduction to Political Philosophy
      • Political Science 270, Introduction to Political Research
      • Political Science 280 or 279, Introduction to International Relations (Credit is not given for both 279 and 28
    • Four 300-level Political Science courses on the Urbana-Champaign campus*

*Certain 200-level courses also are approved for advanced credit and may be used to meet this requirement and may be applied to the LAS advanced hour requirement 

  • Six additional hours of Political Science coursework at any level.

RESTRICTIONS ON FULFILLING THE POLITICAL SCIENCE COURSEWORK REQUIREMENTS

    • Not more than six hours of independent study in political science or six hours of internships can be used to fulfill the 30-hour course requirement in Political Science. A student with both independent study hours and internship hours will be able to use a maximum of nine combined hours of such credit to fulfill the 30-hour course requirement.
    • Not more than six hours of Political Science 296 can be used to fulfill the 30-hour course requirement in Political Science.
    • Political Science 293 is reserved for seniors writing honors theses and cannot be used to fulfill the 30-hour course requirement in Political Science.
    • No more than nine hours of 100-level Political Science courses can be used to fulfill the 30-hour course requirement in Political Science.
    • Guided Individual Study courses (correspondence courses) are not always a substitute for residence study. Before enrolling in such courses, contact the LAS office or the Guided Individual Study Office at 302 E. John Street, Suite 1406.

SUPPORTING COURSE WORK REQUIREMENTS

Supporting course work requirements may be satisfied in one of the following ways. Majors must satisfactorily complete:

  • Twenty hours of course work outside of Political Science in no more than two LAS departments.  Twelve of these twenty hours must be at the 200 or 300-level. Courses taken to fulfill the foreign language requirements may not be used to fulfill supporting course work requirements.

or

  • The core requirements for a major in another LAS department.

or

  • An approved minor in another department.  If this minor does not require at least 20 hours, then student must take an additional coursework in the department offering the minor to meet the twenty-hour supplemental course work requirement in Political Science.?

or

  • Twenty hours of coursework on an approved, integrated courses of study (e.g. area studies, business studies, urban problems, women’s studies, etc.).  Twelve hours of this coursework must be at the 200 or 300-level.