General Learning Goals
Political science is an expansive
discipline that includes American government; international relations/global affairs; comparative politics; classical and modern political theory; public law; urban studies; and race, ethnicity, and gender studies.
Students majoring in political science will
acquire a background in its fundamental principles and core literature. They will
also acquire a political imagination--a conceptual lens through which to view
and analyze governmental institutions, policy choices, political identities, and social movements, and competing political
and philosophical values.
Among the core issues political science
majors should understand are the following: the interactions between
institutions and individuals and between different countries and regions of the
world; the manner in which regimes
influence citizens; the national and international roles played by key
individuals and large political and natural forces; the impact of globalization
on a state's institutions, culture, and economic well-being; the influence of
nationalism, feminism, liberalism, radicalism, and religion; and the tension
between liberty and equality, liberty and order, change and continuity.
Particular Learning Goals
Students majoring in political science
at Rutgers University–Newark are expected to acquire the following skills:
- The ability to read texts and engage in research:
to develop an intimate familiarity with major works in the discipline, to
understand primary sources, and to gather and analyze data using qualitative
and quantitative methods.
- The ability to think conceptually and
theoretically: to develop the ability to define concepts clearly and to
formulate effective hypotheses, arguments, and theories.
- The capacity to think critically: to
investigate the source of information; seek arguments for and against its
reliability; determine the extent to which an argument is logical, internally
consistent, and supported by evidence; and detect the historical, cultural, or
personal biases that might influence an argument, including their own.
- The ability to write clearly,
effectively, and persuasively.
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