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Political science is a discipline that encourages students to think systematically about and evaluate critically our political life.
The program’s goal is to prepare majors for a life of informed and critical citizenship and to encourage them to creatively and independently engage politics.
The study of politics entails more than how governments work. It includes the analysis of how communities and citizens interact with each other and the government to shape the kind of country in which they live. Unlike most other political science departments that have a central focus on U.S. politics, our emphasis is on comparative politics and international relations. Topics studied in various courses, in addition to U.S. politics, include migration, warfare and globalization, as well as the politics of various geographic regions of the world—Asia, Latin America and Africa.
The department offers courses on a variety of topics that range in format from introductory lecture-discussion classes to participatory seminars. 100 and 200 level courses introduce students to the subfields of political science and to selected topics of interest to non-majors as well as majors. Upper level courses offer depth as well as breadth and address specific topics of special interest to instructors and students. You'll learn:
Agnes Scott’s location in Atlanta means there are plenty of internship opportunities available to political science majors. Examples of previous internship experiences students have participated in are: The Carter Center, CNN, the Southern Center for International Studies and the Georgia State Capitol.
Our students enroll in programs such as: Washington Semester program, in which students can spend either the fall or spring semester at American University in Washington, D.C. They can choose from nine offerings, including American government, foreign policy, economic policy, justice, international business, trade and journalism. Each of these programs consists of a seminar, an internship and either a research project or a course taken at American University. Students may attend during either their junior or senior year.
PLEN is a consortium of women’s colleges that prepares women for public leadership roles. Students have opportunities to study the process of public policy with women leaders in Washington, D.C., and abroad. Students can choose from two-day mentor sessions, longer seminars or the PLEN Public Policy Semester.
With a political science degree, you will acquire a broad knowledge of the political process as well as subfields of political science, including world politics, political theory and comparative and U.S. politics.
The skills of how to examine written documents and other forms of communication and the ability to create comprehensive strategies for meeting the challenges of social issues can apply to virtually any business or organization. While they are especially important for political organizations and private companies, you'll also be prepared for advanced study in graduate school.
