Political Science

Mission Statement

The mission of the Department of Political Science is to enhance student understanding of the U.S. and other regions and countries of the world by providing high quality instruction to our students. Students will become knowledgeable citizens with a global perspective. This is achieved by learning the constitutional foundation, institutional structure, and processes of American government; analyzing organizational and managerial principles of the public sector and evaluating their impact on public policy; analyzing and evaluating the philosophic tradition of political science and the great thinkers; comparing and contrasting governments and political institutions of the world; and analyzing and evaluating the ways in which actors in the international system interact politically, diplomatically, economically, socio-culturally, and militarily.

Student Learning Outcomes

Graduates will be able to:

1. Identify the various subfields of political science and be able to explain how scholars in these subfields study important issues.
2. Identify and describe the key concepts, major events, and famous political figures in American politics, comparative politics, international relations, political theory, and public policy.
3. Demonstrate mastery and deeper understanding of key concepts, theories, and approaches in the subfield of political science in which they concentrated their major studies.
4. Discuss, verbally and in writing, current and past political issues, events, theories, or trends by referencing scholarly work on the topic.
5. Compose and defend their own hypotheses and arguments, using relevant scholarly literature for support.
6. Gather, process, and integrate diverse sources of political information into a single, concise argument

Professional Program Advisement

In addition to advisement for degree programs, Coastal Carolina University also offers advisement regarding professional programs such as:

Pre-Law

Advisers: Dr. Frederick Wood and Dr. Mikel Norris

Coastal Carolina University provides comprehensive pre-law advisement and information concerning law schools to any student interested in pursuing a graduate education in law. Although there is no prescribed pre-law degree at Coastal Carolina, the Department of Politics created a pre-law minor to assist students to be better prepared for the LSAT and law school. Students from any major can sign up for the minor. In choosing a major, students should consider that law schools admit new students mainly by combining the undergraduate grade point average and the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) score.

Programs

• Political Science: Domestic Politics Concentration, B.A.
• Political Science: Global Politics Concentration, B.A.

• American Studies Minor
• Global Studies Minor
• Political and Economic Thought Minor
• Political Science Minor
• Pre-Law Minor

• American Studies Certificate

Courses

• POLI 452 The Judicial Process - 3 credits
• POLI 453 Regulatory Policies - 3 credits
• POLI 455 American Jurisprudence - 3 credits
• POLI 456 Administrative Law - 3 credits
• POLI 457 Environmental Law - 3 credits
• POLI 459 Social Policy - 3 credits
• POLI 462 The Legislative Process - 3 credits
• POLI 463 The American Chief Executive - 3 credits
• POLI 466 South Carolina Government and Politics - 3 credits
• POLI 467 American Local Government - 3 credits
• POLI 481 Democracy and Development in Africa - 3 credits
• POLI 488 Politics and Governments of Contemporary Latin America - 3 credits
• POLI 489 US-Latin American Relations - 3 credits
• POLI 490 Q Model Organization of American States - 1 credit
• POLI 491 Q* Topics in Government and International Studies - 3 credits
• POLI 495 Internship in Political Science - 3 credits
• POLI 496 Topics in Latin American Politics and Culture - 3 credits
• POLI 497 Q The Discipline of Political Science - 3 credits
• POLI 498 Q* Variable Credit Internship - 3 to 12 credits
• POLI 499 Senior Thesis - 3 credits