Major Requirements

In This Section

The study of Politics at Saint Mary's requires proficiency in four major subfields:  American Politics, Comparative Politics, International Politics, and Political Theory.  The major course of study includes four lower division courses and nine upper division courses as folllows:

Lower Division

Politics 1, 2, 3, 4

Upper Division

POL 100:  Writing, Research, and Analysis for Politics Majors (intended for sophomores)

One course in each of the following four groups. 

Group I:  American Politics
101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110 A/B, 130, 133, 135, 136

Group II: Political Theory
111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117

Group III:  International Politics
120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126/127, 128, 129

Group IV:  Comparative Politics
140 A/B, 141, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149

Four (4) additional elective Politics (one credit) courses from any subfield, for a total of 13 units in Politics.

The department faculty recommend that students complete the introductory lower divsion course in the specific subfield before taking a correspoding upper division course in that subfield:  Politics 1 for upper divison Comparative Politics courses, Politics 2 for upper division American Politics courses, Politics 3 for upper division Political Theory courses, and Politics 4 for upper division International Politics courses.

Prerequisite Grade
Any course listed in this department with a prerequisite assumes a grade of C– or better in the prerequisite course.