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Major: Bachelor of Arts
MajorOverview
The undergraduate program in Political Science provides students with a solid grasp of the American political system and other political systems within the context of global forces, international conflicts, social movements, ideological systems, and diversity. Courses in the major are designed to provide competency in political science, introduce various research methodologies and analytical frameworks, and develop written and oral communication skills. Students in the program have excellent preparation for further study in graduate or professional schools and careers in government, business, and not-for-profit organizations.
The Department of Political Science offers a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. Eligible students may also pursue a Bachelor of Arts with Honors opens in a new tab. The department also offers a minor in Political Science: POLSC-MIN: Political Science (Minor).
Requirements
Core Program Requirements
Introductory Course - 5 units
POLISCI 1
The Science of Politics
Preferably taken in freshman or sophomore year.
Methods Course - 5 units
CS 106A
Programming Methodology
CS 106B
Programming Abstractions
ECON 102A
Introduction to Statistical Methods (Postcalculus) for Social Scientists
POLISCI 150A
Data Science for Politics
STATS 60
Introduction to Statistical Methods: Precalculus
Two Major Tracks - 40 units
25 units in a primary Track and 15 units in a secondary Track. Each major must select two Paths from the list below on which to focus their studies. Tracks are listed in the Depth in Discipline section.
Additional Coursework - 20 units
Additional Political Science coursework may include any PoliSci courses, regardless of track, and pre-approved courses. No more than 5 units of directed reading may be included.
Pre-Approved Non PoliSci Courses: These courses are pre-approved for the Political Science major, but do not fall into any one of the 5 tracks. They can count towards the completion of the major, but cannot count towards the Primary or Secondary Track.
PUBLPOL 1
Introduction to Public Policy
PUBLPOL 122
BioSecurity and Pandemic Resilience
Seminar Course - 5 units
Students must take at least one 5-unit, 200-level or 300-level undergraduate seminar in Political Science. This course may count toward the units taken to satisfy the Primary Track, Secondary Track, or Additional Coursework requirements.
Depth in Discipline
Primary and Secondary Track Overview
Political Science majors must select a Primary and Secondary Track on which to focus their studies. They must complete at least 25 units of coursework toward the Primary Track and 15 units toward the Secondary Track. For the major, up to one course for the Primary Track and up to one course for the Secondary Track may be a pre-approved non-Political Science course or a petitioned opens in a new tab course.
Primary and Secondary Tracks are not declared on Axess or printed on the diploma or transcript.
The five paths from which to choose are:
Justice and Law
International Relations
Elections, Representation, and Governance
Political Economy and Development
Data Science
Justice and Law
If this is your primary pathway, complete a minimum of 25 units from the lists below.
If this is your secondary pathway, complete a minimum of 15 units.
The bulk of your 25 or 15 units will come from the first list of POLISCI courses. Up to one course for the primary Path and up to one course for the secondary Path may be from the second list of Pre-Approved Non-POLISCI courses, or a petitioned opens in a new tab course.
POLISCI Courses
POLISCI 21Q
The Politics of Status, Symbols, and Inequality
POLISCI 29N
Is Privacy Dead? Privacy, Surveillance, and Freedom in the Digital Age
POLISCI 31
Democracy and Disagreement
POLISCI 33Q
Workplace Democracy: Are Workers the Citizens of their Workplace?
POLISCI 102
American Politics and Policy: In Defense of Democracy
POLISCI 103
Justice
POLISCI 114D
Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law
POLISCI 123D
The Politics of American Courts
POLISCI 125P
The First Amendment: Freedom of Speech and Press
POLISCI 126
Between Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, JR.: Race, Religion, and the Politics of Freedom
POLISCI 127A
Finance, Corporations, and Society
POLISCI 130
Liberalism and its Critics
POLISCI 130T
Culture Wars: US Religion and Politics Since 1920
POLISCI 131L
Modern Political Thought: Machiavelli to Marx and Mill
POLISCI 132
Philosophy of Work: Labor and the Good Life
POLISCI 132A
The Ethics of Elections
POLISCI 133
Ethics and Politics of Public Service
POLISCI 134
Ethics for Activists
POLISCI 134L
Introduction to Environmental Ethics
POLISCI 134P
Contemporary Moral Problems
POLISCI 137
Philosophy of Law: Protest, Punishment, and Racial Justice
POLISCI 137A
Political Philosophy: The Social Contract Tradition
POLISCI 145B
Governing Artificial Intelligence: Law, Policy, and Institutions
POLISCI 182
Ethics, Public Policy, and Technological Change
POLISCI 110E
The Politics of International Law
POLISCI 223
Gender & U.S. Politics
POLISCI 228R
Encountering the Stranger
POLISCI 230A
Classical Seminar: Origins of Political Thought
POLISCI 231
High-Stakes Politics: Case Studies in Political Philosophy, Institutions, and Interests
POLISCI 231A
Democracy Ancient and Modern: From Politics to Political Theory
POLISCI 231H
Philosophical Encounters: Europe and East Asia
POLISCI 231R
Themes in Political Philosophy: Nature
POLISCI 232T
The Dialogue of Democracy
POLISCI 233E
Postwar Paradigms of Injustice
POLISCI 233G
What Was the University?
POLISCI 234
Democratic Theory
POLISCI 234P
Deliberative Democracy and its Critics
POLISCI 234R
Deadly Bands: Introduction to the Political Problem of Violent Male Groups
POLISCI 234S
The Political Theory of Progress Reconsidered
POLISCI 235A
From Cold War to New Cold War: Politics and Political Theory in Contemporary China
POLISCI 235B
Political Memory and Democratic Citizenship
POLISCI 235U
Liberalism and Populism in the American Political Economy
POLISCI 236
Philanthropy for Sustainable Development
POLISCI 235M
Cold War Political Theory: From the Center to the Peripheries
POLISCI 236S
Philanthropy for Sustainable Development
POLISCI 237
Varieties of Conservatism in America
POLISCI 237L
Liberty, Tyranny, and Resistance in the History of Political Thought
POLISCI 237R
How to Think About Catastrophe Toward a Theory of Enlightened Doomsaying
POLISCI 238R
Ancient Greek Rationality, Public and Private
POLISCI 238T
Designing Democracy: Constitutional Crises, Change, and Continuity
POLISCI 239
Directed Reading and Research in Political Theory
POLISCI 247C
Classical Leadership
POLISCI 327C
Law of Democracy
POLISCI 335T
Representation and Democracy
POLISCI 333M
Research and Methods in Political Theory
POLISCI 337M
Hannah Arendt
POLISCI 338B
Unequal Relationships
POLISCI 432R
Selections in Modern Political Thought
POLISCI 230
Political Theology
Pre-Approved Non-POLISCI Courses
AFRICAAM 170
Black Marxism: Race, Class, and Liberation
BUSGEN 143
Finance, Corporations, and Society
HISTORY 204G
War and Society
HISTORY 252
Originalism and the American Constitution
INTLPOL 280
Transitional Justice, Human Rights, and International Criminal Tribunals
INTNLREL 140A
International Law and International Relations
LAW 2519
Water Law and Policy
OSPCPTWN 45
Transitional Justice and Transformation Debates in South Africa
OSPFLOR 12
Constituting a Republic: Machiavelli, Madison, and Modern Issues
OSPOXFRD 24
Layered Landscapes: Traces of the British Past
OSPSANTG 20
Comparative Law & Society: Conflicts in the Structuring of Democratic Polities across Latin America
PHIL 2
Introduction to Moral Philosophy
PHIL 175W
Philosophy of Law: Protest, Punishment, and Racial Justice
PUBLPOL 106
Law and Economics
PUBLPOL 132
The Politics of Policy Making
RELIGST 208
Women of the Movement
SIW 105
Education Policy
SIW 107
Civil Rights Law
SIW 123
Navigating Divided Government
SOC 136
Sociology of Law
URBANST 112
The Urban Underclass
FEMGEN 202
Global Feminisms
HISTORY 206P
Police Power in World History
HISTORY 239B
Reparations in Law and History
International Relations
If this is your primary pathway, complete a minimum of 25 units from the lists below.
If this is your secondary pathway, complete a minimum of 15 units.
The bulk of your 25 or 15 units will come from the first list of POLISCI courses. Up to one course for the primary Path and up to one course for the secondary Path may be from the second list of Pre-Approved Non-POLISCI courses, or a petitioned opens in a new tab course.
POLISCI Courses
POLISCI 21N
Conflict and Climate Change
POLISCI 51N
International Relations in Science Fiction
POLISCI 79
Security Issues in the Middle East
POLISCI 101
Introduction to International Relations
POLISCI 110C
America and the World Economy
POLISCI 110D
War and Peace in American Foreign Policy
POLISCI 110X
America and the World Economy
POLISCI 110Y
War and Peace in American Foreign Policy
POLISCI 111
The Politics of Climate Change
POLISCI 113
Understanding Russia: Its Power and Purpose in a New Global Order
POLISCI 214
Israel: Society, Politics, and Policy
POLISCI 114D
Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law
POLISCI 114S
International Security in a Changing World
POLISCI 115
Spies, Lies, and Algorithms: The History and Future of American Intelligence
POLISCI 116F
Fundamentals of Arab Politics
POLISCI 116M
Global Futures: History, Statecraft, Systems
POLISCI 218P
U.S. Relations with Iran
POLISCI 119
SUSTAINABLE SOCIETIES LAB: MODELS OF ISRAELI-ARAB COOPERATION & PATHWAYS TO PEACE
POLISCI 143C
The Politics of Internet Abuse
POLISCI 147
Comparative Democratic Development
POLISCI 215B
Israel, the Middle East and Nuclear Weapons
POLISCI 210
The Revisionists: Chinese and Russian Politics and Foreign Policy
POLISCI 110E
The Politics of International Law
POLISCI 211N
Nuclear Strategy, Law, and Politics
POLISCI 212R
War as an Instrument of Policy
POLISCI 217
The World and America
POLISCI 219
Directed Reading and Research in International Relations
POLISCI 235
Chinese Political Thought: 1895-2021
POLISCI 235M
Cold War Political Theory: From the Center to the Peripheries
POLISCI 237
Varieties of Conservatism in America
POLISCI 244C
Wealth of Nations
POLISCI 248
Political Economy of Conflict
POLISCI 248D
China in the Global Economy
POLISCI 249S
Islam, Iran, and the West
POLISCI 312
A New Cold War? Great Power Relations in the 21st Century
Pre-Approved Non-POLISCI Courses
ECON 106
World Food Economy
HISTORY 102
The Modern International System
HISTORY 106A
Global Human Geography: Asia and Africa
HISTORY 106B
Global Human Geography: Europe and Americas
HISTORY 261G
Presidents and Foreign Policy in Modern History
INTLPOL 280
Transitional Justice, Human Rights, and International Criminal Tribunals
INTNLREL 103F
Introduction to Modern Military History
INTNLREL 123
The Future of the European Union: Challenges and Opportunities
INTNLREL 140A
International Law and International Relations
INTNLREL 140C
The U.S., U.N. Peacekeeping, and Humanitarian War
INTNLREL 142
Challenging the Status Quo: Innovation in the Public Sector
INTNLREL 182
The Great War
OSPBER 77
Understanding Intl' Politics Today: From the German Philosophers to Modern Social Science
OSPBER 82
Globalization and Germany
OSPBER 126X
A People's Union? Money, Markets, and Identity in the EU
OSPCPTWN 10
Climate Change and Political Violence
OSPPARIS 122X
Europe and its Challenges Today
SIW 119
U. S. and Europe: Cooperation or Competition?
SOC 111
State and Society in Korea
SOC 117A
China Under Mao
Elections, Representation, and Governance
If this is your primary pathway, complete a minimum of 25 units from the lists below.
If this is your secondary pathway, complete a minimum of 15 units.
The bulk of your 25 or 15 units will come from the first list of POLISCI courses. Up to one course for the primary Path and up to one course for the secondary Path may be from the second list of Pre-Approved Non-POLISCI courses, or a petitioned opens in a new tab course.
POLISCI Courses
POLISCI 25N
The US Congress in Historical and Comparative Perspective
POLISCI 34N
Nationalism
POLISCI 102
American Politics and Policy: In Defense of Democracy
POLISCI 110D
War and Peace in American Foreign Policy
POLISCI 110Y
War and Peace in American Foreign Policy
POLISCI 115
Spies, Lies, and Algorithms: The History and Future of American Intelligence
POLISCI 120B
Campaigns, Voting, Media, and Elections
POLISCI 120C
American Political Institutions in Uncertain Times
POLISCI 121L
Racial-Ethnic Politics in US
POLISCI 123D
The Politics of American Courts
POLISCI 124A
The American West
POLISCI 124L
The Psychology of Communication About Politics in America
POLISCI 125P
The First Amendment: Freedom of Speech and Press
POLISCI 127
Controversies in American Public Policy
POLISCI 130
Liberalism and its Critics
POLISCI 131L
Modern Political Thought: Machiavelli to Marx and Mill
POLISCI 132A
The Ethics of Elections
POLISCI 134L
Introduction to Environmental Ethics
POLISCI 134P
Contemporary Moral Problems
POLISCI 140P
The Erosion of Democracy
POLISCI 143C
The Politics of Internet Abuse
POLISCI 145B
Governing Artificial Intelligence: Law, Policy, and Institutions
POLISCI 147
Comparative Democratic Development
POLISCI 147B
Gender, Identity, and Politics
POLISCI 148
Chinese Politics
POLISCI 149T
Middle Eastern Politics
POLISCI 150
The 2026 US election: How to Understand and Participate
POLISCI 150A
Data Science for Politics
POLISCI 157
Politics of AI
POLISCI 158
AI & Politics
POLISCI 213E
Introduction to European Studies
POLISCI 220R
The Presidency
POLISCI 222F
Seminar on Political Change
POLISCI 223
Gender & U.S. Politics
POLISCI 223A
Public Opinion and American Democracy
POLISCI 224
Identity
POLISCI 225
Gender and Politics
POLISCI 226
Superpower California: The Indispensable State
POLISCI 227C
Money in Politics
POLISCI 227F
The American Electorate in the Trump Era
POLISCI 227R
Russian Politics Since 1991
POLISCI 229
Directed Reading and Research in American Politics
POLISCI 234
Democratic Theory
POLISCI 241
The Political Economy of China: Policy and Development from Antiquity to Revolution
POLISCI 244
Democracy and Dictatorship
POLISCI 244A
Authoritarian Politics
POLISCI 244U
Political Culture
POLISCI 245R
Politics in Modern Iran
POLISCI 246A
Paths to the Modern World: The West in Comparative Perspective
POLISCI 246H
Populism in the Americas
POLISCI 247G
Governance and Poverty
POLISCI 248S
Latin American Politics
POLISCI 249R
The Political Economy of Tax Evasion
POLISCI 293
Democracy in the Balance: Polarization and the Road Ahead
POLISCI 327C
Law of Democracy
POLISCI 335T
Representation and Democracy
Pre-Approved Non-POLISCI Courses
COLLEGE 110
The Spirit of Democracy
ECON 155
Climate change and global inequality
EDUC 197
Gender and Education in Global and Comparative Perspectives
FEMGEN 202
Global Feminisms
HISTORY 153
Creation of the Constitution
HISTORY 181B
Making the Modern Middle East
HISTORY 158C
History of Higher Education in the U.S.
HISTORY 204G
War and Society
HISTORY 252
Originalism and the American Constitution
HISTORY 261G
Presidents and Foreign Policy in Modern History
LAW 2519
Water Law and Policy
OSPFLOR 12
Constituting a Republic: Machiavelli, Madison, and Modern Issues
OSPFLOR 78
EU Politics and Crisis
OSPOXFRD 22
British Politics Past and Present
OSPOXFRD 24
Layered Landscapes: Traces of the British Past
OSPPARIS 122X
Europe and its Challenges Today
OSPSANTG 116X
Contemporary Chilean Political Culture
PUBLPOL 132
The Politics of Policy Making
PUBLPOL 135
Regional Politics and Decision Making in Silicon Valley and the Greater Bay Area
PUBLPOL 154
Politics and Policy in California
PUBLPOL 156
Health Care Policy and Reform
PUBLPOL 209
What is Public about Public Lands - Who and How to Manage.
PUBLPOL 353A
Science and Technology Policy
SIW 107
Civil Rights Law
SIW 105
Education Policy
SIW 121
Inside Modern Campaigns: How Elections are Won and Lost
SIW 123
Navigating Divided Government
SIW 156
Washington Policymaking: A USER'S GUIDE
SOC 118
Social Movements and Collective Action
SOC 136
Sociology of Law
SOC 145
Race and Ethnic Relations in the USA
URBANST 112
The Urban Underclass
Political Economy and Development
If this is your primary pathway, complete a minimum of 25 units from the lists below.
If this is your secondary pathway, complete a minimum of 15 units.
The bulk of your 25 or 15 units will come from the first list of POLISCI courses. Up to one course for the primary Path and up to one course for the secondary Path may be from the second list of Pre-Approved Non-POLISCI courses, or a petitioned opens in a new tab course.
POLISCI Courses
POLISCI 25N
The US Congress in Historical and Comparative Perspective
POLISCI 34N
Nationalism
POLISCI 46N
Contemporary African Politics
POLISCI 101
Introduction to International Relations
POLISCI 102
American Politics and Policy: In Defense of Democracy
POLISCI 103
Justice
POLISCI 110C
America and the World Economy
POLISCI 110X
America and the World Economy
POLISCI 214
Israel: Society, Politics, and Policy
POLISCI 114D
Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law
POLISCI 116F
Fundamentals of Arab Politics
POLISCI 218P
U.S. Relations with Iran
POLISCI 120B
Campaigns, Voting, Media, and Elections
POLISCI 121L
Racial-Ethnic Politics in US
POLISCI 124L
The Psychology of Communication About Politics in America
POLISCI 127
Controversies in American Public Policy
POLISCI 127A
Finance, Corporations, and Society
POLISCI 137A
Political Philosophy: The Social Contract Tradition
POLISCI 141
Political Economy of Development
POLISCI 141A
Immigration and Multiculturalism
POLISCI 147
Comparative Democratic Development
POLISCI 147B
Gender, Identity, and Politics
POLISCI 148
Chinese Politics
POLISCI 249S
Islam, Iran, and the West
POLISCI 149T
Middle Eastern Politics
POLISCI 153
Strategy: Introduction to Game Theory
POLISCI 168
Inventing Nations: Theories and Histories of Nationalism
POLISCI 204E
Totalitarianism
POLISCI 213E
Introduction to European Studies
POLISCI 220R
The Presidency
POLISCI 223
Gender & U.S. Politics
POLISCI 226
Superpower California: The Indispensable State
POLISCI 231
High-Stakes Politics: Case Studies in Political Philosophy, Institutions, and Interests
POLISCI 232T
The Dialogue of Democracy
POLISCI 233R
Modern Islamic Political Thought
POLISCI 234P
Deliberative Democracy and its Critics
POLISCI 235U
Liberalism and Populism in the American Political Economy
POLISCI 236
Philanthropy for Sustainable Development
POLISCI 236S
Philanthropy for Sustainable Development
POLISCI 238R
Ancient Greek Rationality, Public and Private
POLISCI 241
The Political Economy of China: Policy and Development from Antiquity to Revolution
POLISCI 241K
Tongues of Power: Language in Political Societies
POLISCI 243
Political Economy of Latin America
POLISCI 243P
State and Society in Modern Southeast Asia
POLISCI 244
Democracy and Dictatorship
POLISCI 244A
Authoritarian Politics
POLISCI 244C
Wealth of Nations
POLISCI 244D
Societal Collapse
POLISCI 244H
What Future for Democracy? Turkey's Experience in a Comparative Perspective
POLISCI 244U
Political Culture
POLISCI 245C
The Logics of Violence: Rebels, Criminal Groups and the State
POLISCI 245F
States and Regimes
POLISCI 245R
Politics in Modern Iran
POLISCI 246
Immigration and Citizenship: The American Experience.
POLISCI 246A
Paths to the Modern World: The West in Comparative Perspective
POLISCI 246H
Populism in the Americas
POLISCI 247
State, Capital, and Markets: Global History of Modern Finance from the Renaissance to Bretton Woods
POLISCI 247C
Classical Leadership
POLISCI 247G
Governance and Poverty
POLISCI 248
Political Economy of Conflict
POLISCI 248D
China in the Global Economy
POLISCI 248S
Latin American Politics
POLISCI 249
Directed Reading and Research in Comparative Politics
POLISCI 249R
The Political Economy of Tax Evasion
POLISCI 271
Education Policy in the United States
POLISCI 312
A New Cold War? Great Power Relations in the 21st Century
POLISCI 327C
Law of Democracy
Pre-Approved Non-POLISCI Courses
CLASSICS 116
Human Rights in Comparative and Historical Perspective
CHINA 112
Rebels with a Cause: Tiananmen in History and Memory
ECON 1
Principles of Economics
ECON 50
Economic Analysis I
ECON 51
Economic Analysis II
ECON 52
Economic Analysis III
ECON 102A
Introduction to Statistical Methods (Postcalculus) for Social Scientists
ECON 102B
Applied Econometrics
ECON 106
World Food Economy
ECON 155
Climate change and global inequality
EDUC 197
Gender and Education in Global and Comparative Perspectives
EDUC 383
The Politics of Education Policy
GEP 160
Environmental Economic Theory
HISTORY 97S
Between Empires: Modern History of Taiwan
HISTORY 106A
Global Human Geography: Asia and Africa
HISTORY 106B
Global Human Geography: Europe and Americas
HISTORY 181B
Making the Modern Middle East
ILAC 384
Nationalism, Cultural and Political
INTLPOL 214A
The Politics of Migrant Exclusion
INTNLREL 123
The Future of the European Union: Challenges and Opportunities
INTNLREL 140C
The U.S., U.N. Peacekeeping, and Humanitarian War
INTNLREL 142
Challenging the Status Quo: Innovation in the Public Sector
MS&E 180
Organizations: Theory and Management
OSPBER 126X
A People's Union? Money, Markets, and Identity in the EU
OSPCPTWN 10
Climate Change and Political Violence
OSPFLOR 78
EU Politics and Crisis
OSPFLOR 92
No Planet B: Class, Climate Change, and Environmental Justice
OSPSANTG 116X
Contemporary Chilean Political Culture
PUBLPOL 106
Law and Economics
SIW 103
Economic Policy
SOC 111
State and Society in Korea
SOC 117A
China Under Mao
SOC 145
Race and Ethnic Relations in the USA
BUSGEN 143
Finance, Corporations, and Society
Data Science
If this is your primary pathway, complete a minimum of 25 units from the lists below.
If this is your secondary pathway, complete a minimum of 15 units.
The bulk of your 25 or 15 units will come from the first list of POLISCI courses. Up to one course for the primary Path and up to one course for the secondary Path may be from the second list of Pre-Approved Non-POLISCI courses, or a petitioned opens in a new tab course.
POLISCI Courses
POLISCI 120B
Campaigns, Voting, Media, and Elections
POLISCI 127
Controversies in American Public Policy
POLISCI 141A
Immigration and Multiculturalism
POLISCI 150A
Data Science for Politics
POLISCI 150B
Machine Learning for Social Scientists
POLISCI 150C
Causal Inference for Social Science
POLISCI 150R
Mastering Regression
POLISCI 151
Tackling Big Questions Using Social Data Science
POLISCI 153
Strategy: Introduction to Game Theory
POLISCI 154
Data Science for Social Impact
POLISCI 157
Politics of AI
POLISCI 158
AI & Politics
POLISCI 182
Ethics, Public Policy, and Technological Change
POLISCI 227C
Money in Politics
POLISCI 227F
The American Electorate in the Trump Era
POLISCI 259
Directed Reading and Research in Political Methodology
POLISCI 356A
Formal Theory I
POLISCI 356B
Formal Theory II
Pre-Approved Non-POLISCI Courses
COMM 106
Communication Research Methods
COMM 154
The Politics of Algorithms
CS 106A
Programming Methodology
CS 106B
Programming Abstractions
CS 109
Introduction to Probability for Computer Scientists
ECON 180
Accelerated Game Theory
STATS 110
Introduction to Statistics for Engineering and the Sciences
Writing in the Major (WIM)
Writing in the Major (WIM)
WIM course must be taken for 5 units.
POLISCI 103
Justice
POLISCI 110C
America and the World Economy
POLISCI 110D
War and Peace in American Foreign Policy
POLISCI 120C
American Political Institutions in Uncertain Times
POLISCI 148
Chinese Politics
POLISCI 236S
Philanthropy for Sustainable Development
POLISCI 290A
Capstone Project - Autumn
POLISCI 290B
Capstone Project - Winter
POLISCI 290C
Capstone Project - Spring
POLISCI 293
Democracy in the Balance: Polarization and the Road Ahead
POLISCI 299A
Research Design
Capstone
Capstone
The Department of Political Science offers three capstone options: writing an honors thesis, completing a capstone project, or participating in a policy practicum. Successfully completing any of these options will satisfy the capstone requirement. We encourage all students to discuss these options with their faculty advisor and department staff during their junior year, to help make timely and informed decisions about which capstone option to pursue.
Political Science Honors
POLISCI 299A
Research Design
POLISCI 299B
Honors Thesis Seminar
POLISCI 299C
Honors Thesis
POLISCI 299D
Honors Thesis
Policy Practicum
POLISCI 226
Superpower California: The Indispensable State
POLISCI 293
Democracy in the Balance: Polarization and the Road Ahead
POLISCI 294
AI Policy Development: Leveraging Social Science to Ensure Responsible Generative AI
Capstone Project
POLISCI 290A
Capstone Project - Autumn
POLISCI 290B
Capstone Project - Winter
POLISCI 290C
Capstone Project - Spring
Honors
OptionalHonors
Honors (optional)
The Political Science Research Honors Program leads to a Bachelor of Arts with Honors (BAH) in Political Science. Students pursuing the BAH are expected to complete the standard Political Science major as well as conduct research under the supervision of a faculty member, culminating in an honors thesis. For more information, visit https://politicalscience.stanford.edu/undergraduate-program/honors opens in a new tab
POLISCI 299A
Research Design
POLISCI 299B
Honors Thesis Seminar
POLISCI 299C
Honors Thesis
POLISCI 299D
Honors Thesis
POLISCI299A opens in a new tab should be completed in the spring of junior year. POLISCI299B/C/D opens in a new tab should be completed in the autumn, winter, and spring quarters of senior year.
Application and Eligibility
Honors Eligibility
GPA of 3.5 or higher
POLISCI 1 The Science of Politics
POLISCI 150A Data Science for Politics; students may substitute CS 106A Programming Methodology, ECON 102A Introduction to Statistical Methods (Postcalculus) for Social Scientists, STATS 101 Data Science 101, or STATS 60 Introduction to Statistical Methods: Precalculus.
Research experience
Application Process
To participate in the Research Honors Program in Political Science, students must apply and be accepted to the program during winter quarter of their junior year. A complete application includes:
The Political Science Research Honors Program application form opens in a new tab, signed by their chosen honors advisor. The advisor must be a Political Science faculty member opens in a new tab or a courtesy faculty member opens in a new tab (non-lecturer).
An essay outlining the student’s research interest.
A letter of recommendation from a Political Science faculty member or a teaching assistant in a Political Science course. Letters of recommendation can be sent directly by email to the Undergraduate Student Services Officer.
A copy of the unofficial transcript.
Students are expected to have research experience before applying to the honors program. The Political Science Summer Research College (SRC) program opens in a new tab is one way to acquire this experience. SRC is a ten-week program in which students are paid to work with faculty on their ongoing research projects. The SRC application typically opens in winter quarter. Students may also pursue research with faculty during the academic year.
Research Honors Program Requirements
To graduate with honors in Political Science, students must:
Secure an honors advisor at the time of application to the research honors program. The honors advisor must be a Political Science faculty member opens in a new tab or a courtesy faculty member opens in a new tab (non-lecturer).
Earn a grade of B or higher in POLISCI299A opens in a new tab Research Design and POLISCI299B opens in a new tab Honors Thesis Seminar. Students unable to meet these requirements may be removed from the program.
Submit a completed thesis, approved by the advisor, in the spring quarter of the senior year. The thesis must receive a grade of ‘B+’ or higher. The thesis grade also serves as the grade for POLISCI299C opens in a new tab Honors Thesis and POLISCI299D opens in a new tab Honors Thesis.
Up to 20 units of honors coursework may be applied toward the additional related coursework requirement for the major.