POLS 100 - Introduction to Political Science

Credit(s): 3
This seminar introduces students to the basic elements of political science. It studies a political system as a means of coordinating and regulating complex groups. Topics studied include: the evolution of government, political theory, the philosophy of law, comparative forms of government, and international relations. Politics as a process of resolving power conflicts and of creating and managing social change will be analyzed with examples from American life. Students will also explore the emergence of the party system of government, the basic idea underlying Western parliamentary democracy and the American federal system. Students will also focus on political behavior – the dynamics and function of political parties, lobbies, public opinion and the electoral process.

Only open to students in the B.A. Liberal Arts and Sciences program.