Political Science Graduate

POLITICAL THEORY GENERAL FIELD

Political Theory graduate students must meet two kinds of minimum requirements— course requirements and reading field requirements. Additional courses may be desirable and are up to the supervising committee to designate. Courses used to satisfy requirements in other fields may not be used to satisfy Political Theory requirements.

Requirements for the PhD

Completion of at least three courses and seven reading fields distributed as follows:

A. Pol S 509 Political Theory Core (5 credits, max 10 credits).

B. One additional graduate seminar from the Political Theory Course List.

C. Completion of A & B, and two reading fields from the Reading Field list, are the minimum requirements before the defense of the Masters Essay of Distinction.

D. One additional course from the PT course list.

Note: Provided the course content is different, Pol S 509 may be repeated once and may be counted toward the total course requirement.

E. Four additional reading fields from the PT reading fields. In total three fields must be drawn from the Historical List and three from the Contemporary List.

Note: Given the diversity of the field, the faculty recognizes that the requirement of three historical reading fields may not be appropriate for all Ph.D. students (e.g., some of those interested in formal theory). Students wishing to propose the substitution of other competencies for the historical reading fields may petition via their field supervisor for the approval of such a substitution.

Political Theory Course List

Pol S 511 Seminar in Ethical and Political Theory (5 credits)
Pol S 513 Issues in Feminist Theory (5 credits)
Pol S 514 Selected Topics in Political Theory (5 credits)
Pol S 517 Marxism and Critical Theory (5 credits)

Reading Field List

Reading fields describe the specific areas in which students choose to demonstrate competence. Declaring a reading field commits the student to be examined in that field during the field examination. Students may gain this competence by individual reading or through a combination of courses and work on reading lists in coordination with a faculty sponsor. Relevant (not required) courses are indicated for each reading subfield. (The 300-level courses covering the history of western political thought do not themselves count for graduate credit, but rather indicate the literatures we expect students to have covered.)

A. Historical Reading Fields: History of Western Political Thought

Ancient Political Thought (Pol S 308)
Early Modern Political Thought (Pol S 309)
Modern Political Thought (Pol S 310)

B. Contemporary Reading Fields

Democratic Theory
Democratic Theory (Pol S 412)
Contemporary Political Theory (Pol S 413)

Economic Theories of Politics
Undergraduate Seminar in Political Economy (Pol S 409)
Economic Theories of Politics (Pol S 583)

Ethics and Politics
Special Topics in Political Theory (Pol S 301)
The Individual and the State (Pol S 311)
Advanced Special Topics in Political Theory (Pol S 401)
Contemporary Political Theory (Pol S 413)
Ethical Political Theory (Pol S 511)
Selected Topics in Political Theory (Pol S 514)

Feminist Theory
Advanced Special Topics in Political Theory (Pol S 401)
Feminist Theory (Pol S 513)
Special Topics in Political Theory (Pol S 514)

Marxism and Critical Theory
Marxism and Critical Theory (Pol S 517)

Theories of the State
The Individual and the State (Pol S 311)
Theories of the State (Pol S 411)
Nationalism and Political Theory (Pol S 512)

Postmodern Theory
Political Theory (Pol S 509)
Political Culture (Pol S 576)