Political Science and International Relations (MA)

Requirements for the Degrees

Each student will complete a minimum of 38 credits.

1. Core Global Governance Courses: 12 credits

2. Track Courses: 15 credits

Each student will choose and declare one of three tracks within the global governance program by the end of their first semester. Track requirements consist of the completion of two required track courses and three elective track courses. The tracks and courses are listed below:

Track 1: The United States and the World

Required Courses:

choose two from the following three courses

Elective Courses:

choose three from the following list and additional courses as approved by the Director of Graduate Studies

Track 2: Global Processes and Transnational Issues

Required Courses:

choose two from the following three courses

Elective Courses:

choose three from following list and additional courses as approved by the Director of Graduate Studies

Track 3: A Comparative Perspective

Required Courses:

choose two from the following three courses

Elective Courses:

choose three from the following list and additional courses as approved by the Director of Graduate Studies

3. Elective Courses and COGGS: 11 Credits

Students must take three additional courses over the course of their program and the Colloquium on Global Governance and Society (COGGS - POSC 850 ) for one credit each spring of their first two years.

Students may take no more than one 3-credit independent study in their first two years of coursework. In order to do so, students need to submit to the Director of Graduate Studies a petition and a course design for review and approval. Elective courses may include 6 credits taken outside the Department with the prior approval of the Director of Graduate Studies. In addition, each semester additional courses (POSC 867s) may be offered and may count toward one or another track or as an elective.

4. MA Writing Requirement

Students not moving further into the PhD program will prepare a major research paper, usually initially for one of their graduate seminars. For the purposes of this requirement, the Department understands a “major research paper” to be one that addresses an important and well-defined topic, demonstrates mastery of the pertinent literature, strives to make an original contribution to knowledge, and is presented in a coherent and professional manner. In meeting this requirement, students are to identify an appropriate academic journal and write the paper as if they were preparing a manuscript for submission to that journal. This research paper is to be handed in to the professor for whom the paper was originally written, or the most appropriate professor, in May of the second year, as part of the completion of the MA requirements. It is the prerogative of that professor to determine whether the student’s work meets the test of this definition. Students will register for POSC 899 MA Long Paper Course (0 credits) in the spring of their second year to facilitate completion of this requirement. MA students who wish to pursue a PhD must notify the Director of Graduate Studies no later than 1st February of their (the admission deadline) intention. (For students pursuing a PhD, this major research paper is the Long Paper, and a different procedure applies. See below).