Political Economy

Department Goals and Objectives

Political Economy Major

• To aid in meeting the College’s Liberal Arts Core requirement of introducing all students to social science theories and methodologies needed to understand and analyze human society.

• To provide opportunities for students to reassess personal values regarding economic and political issues. (We would like to require students to do this, but have as yet been unable to find a way to insist that students do so.)

• To require students to gain a personal understanding of economic and political principles within a broad domestic and global societal context.

• To require students to develop the ability to express both orally and in writing, complex and personally developed positions regarding political and economic matters.

• To require students to develop an understanding of major political/economic philosophies and questions of justice and to provide opportunities for students to struggle with questions of justice regarding public policies in a global environment. Again we would like to require that students do struggle with these issues, but seem unable to do so. Hence we limit our actual requirement to their development of an understanding of major political/economic philosophies.

• To require our majors to develop the perspective and sufficient analytical methods needed to develop the proficiency required to conduct actual research of issues containing strong economic and political content.

• Political Economy Major in the current catalog

International Political Economy Major

• Prepare students to demonstrate proficiency in applying the skills of the liberal arts, including reading comprehension, writing communication, and critical thinking, with particular reference to political and economic issues and analysis.

• Prepare students to demonstrate proficiency in substantive knowledge of the political and economic life of selected foreign countries. Further, students are expected to be able to apply social science concepts, theories and analytical tools to evaluate political and economic aspects of foreign countries.

• Prepare students to demonstrate proficiency in substantive knowledge of the political and economic life between foreign countries. Further, students are expected to be able to apply social science concepts, theories and analytical tools to evaluate international political and economic relations.

• Prepare students to achieve intermediate competency in a modern foreign language.

• International Political Economy Major in the current catalog