Thirty-three credit hours including the following courses:
I) One course must be completed in each of the following sub-fields (18 hours):
- American Politics
- Comparative Politics
- International Politics
- Political Thought
- Methods in Political Science
- Senior Inquiry*
*Students with a GPA of 3.30 or better may—with Department Chair approval—take POLS 490-491, an individual research project, as a two-semester six credit honor’s thesis.
II) International Relations/Political Science focus electives (15 hours) which include:
- International Relations: Theory and Practice
- The European Union: Politics and Political Economy
International Relations majors may not take more than six hours of independent study (POLS-498) and/or internship work toward the 33-hour major requirement. Beyond the 33 hours, however, a student may elect to complete more independent study and/or internship work.
To give focus to the International Relations degree program, students must take two focus electives and are encouraged to develop streams of three or four relevant courses in the political science subfields. Thus students would start with a subfield introductory course and follow with two or three other courses in this subfield, while concentrating at the same time on the wider area of international relations relevant courses.
