Political Studies

IMPORTANT: deadline for admission to be considered for funding:
January 15, 2010

IMPORTANT: deadline for new and returning students to apply for UMGF:
January 15, 2010

Political Studies examines the dynamics of human interaction in which individuals and groups compete to achieve their goals. The study of politics involves a consideration of the interactions between the individual, the state, government, public affairs and public policy. Political Studies examines the dynamics of these interactions in the context of competing visions, values and interests, particularly in the pursuit of varying public goals, including the quest for political power and the control of government. Politics is thus both a study of conflict among competing interests and a study of how these competing interests achieve compromise and cooperation.

Why Study Politics?  

Though you might be attracted to the study of politics by current events, you will soon realize that the most pressing problems are an aspect of that human activity known as politics. Desires, requests, and demands form the raw material of political action among people. Naturally, if everyone shared similar values on all subjects, there would be no need for politics or the study of politics. But of course they don't. People have different ideas concerning such things as civil liberties, sustainable development, and distributive justice. Consequently they divide into various groups: nations, political parties, trade unions, business associations, environmental organizations, and other interest groups.

Where does the study of politics enter into all this? Political Studies seeks to understand what happens when individuals and groups struggle with one another to achieve their different goals. Within states there are mechanisms called governments to oversee and guide political struggle, and studying politics can help us better appreciate why various types of government behave the way they do.

What makes politics so fascinating is that it is a source of conflict in the world, as well as a mode of activity seeking to resolve strife and create better societies. The student of politics is more than a detached observer; he or she feels involvement and a commitment to explore the conditions promoting more just societies.