What is the legacy of slavery in the U.S.? Why are there so few women in Congress? How is radicalism in the Middle East changing? Why and how does democracy flourish? Just what is democracy? How do emotions shape our political behavior? What do war movies tell us about the USA? Would less government lead to more social justice? What is social justice? How does smuggling (of drugs, guns, and people) reshape international relations? How do immigrants see the American Dream? What is the American dream?
Political science is about questions like these. You can grapple with every one of them — and many more — in the classrooms of the Brown Political Science Department. We study how people — nations, regions, cities, communities — live their common lives. How people solve (or duck) their common problems. How people govern themselves. How they think, talk, argue, fight, and vote. Students passionate about social challenges may also choose to pursue the Engaged Scholars Program, which allows them to connect theory and practice and gain hands-on experience working with community partners.
Ten courses are required overall from within the Department of Political Science. Eleven courses are required if the methods requirement is fulfilled with a course outside the department.
Students who declared the Political Science concentration prior to spring 2022, have the option to follow the old or the new concentration requirements. Students choosing to follow the old requirements can refer to those concentration requirements here: https://bulletin.brown.edu/archive/2021-22/the-college/concentrations/pols/.
Requirements:
| Two introductory courses from the following: | 2 | |
| Introduction to the American Political Process | ||
| Introduction to Political Thought | ||
| Introduction to Comparative Politics | ||
| Introduction to International Politics | ||
| One course in Political Theory taught by a Political Science theory professor 1 | 1 | |
| One methods course from Political Science: 2 | 1 | |
| Foundations of Political Analysis | ||
| Political Research Methods | ||
| One Senior Capstone course taken from the POLS 1820 / 1821 / 1822 / 1823 / 1824 / 1825 offerings, or the independent studies sequence POLS 1970 / 1971, or the honors sequence POLS 1910 / 1920. The capstone course must be taken at Brown during the senior year. However, with exceptional circumstances and with permission and approval of the course from the DUS, a non-Brown course may fulfill this requirement. | 1 | |
| Five additional courses from within Political Science and/or taught by a Political Science faculty member 1 | 5 | |
| Total Credits | 10 | |
| 1 | Faculty information can be found here: https://polisci.brown.edu/people/faculty-by-subfieldhttps://polisci.brown.edu/people/faculty-by-subfield |
| 2 | A comparable course from an outside department (APMA 0650, ANTH 1940, CLPS 0900, ECON 1620, ECON 1630, EEPS 1320, PHP 1501, SOC 1100 or SOC 1120) may also be used. If the methods requirement is fulfilled by an outside department course, it will not count as one of the 10 required courses. |
Honors
The Honors Program involves writing a year-long senior thesis in close conjunction with a faculty member. Students with an outstanding academic record apply in the late spring of their junior year. Students must complete the methods requirement prior to applying to the Honors program. During their senior year students complete an honors research project and take POLS 1910 and POLS 1920. POLS 1910 and POLS 1920 will count as one credit towards the ten required Political Science courses for the concentration.