Political Science - Major

Political Science is the study of justice and power. Political scientists study power relationships the way economists study markets.

The purpose of the PSC major at Nazareth College is to prepare students for active citizenship and for careers in politics, government service, law, diplomacy, and education. Our primary educational goal is to provide our majors with a solid grounding in the four principal subfields of the discipline, namely, Political Philosophy, U.S. Government, Comparative Politics, and International Relations.

The goal of Political Philosophy is to define justice and design political systems which embody it. Thus in this subfield we study normative theories focused on justice which make recommendations about how political power is and ought to be distributed. In our courses we study the work of major political philosophers from the classical Greek period to contemporary times.

Students in U.S. Government courses examine the structure of national, state and local governments, campaigns and elections as well as social, economic and foreign policies.

Comparative Politics entails the study of foreign governments in their internal composition. Because we learn more about the strengths and weaknesses of governments by comparing them to one another, in these courses we engage in the analysis of European, Asian, Middle Eastern, African and Latin American states.

In International Relations, scholars analyze the ways in which countries and international organizations deal with each other. In this subfield students can take courses which study the theories of international relations, U.S. foreign policy, international law and contemporary problems in international politics across the globe.

As in all Nazareth programs, PSC majors receive instruction and must demonstrate proficiency in analyzing primary texts and applying theories to new situations. We also teach critical writing and oral presentation skills in our courses.