Minor in Government & Public Policy
Minor Overview
The Government & Public Policy minor accommodates the interests and needs of students from a variety of degree programs. The minor is an excellent supplement to other majors within and outside the social sciences arena. You'll be introduced to the various sub-fields of political science and public policy and gain the foundational knowledge of political processes and institutions.
Declaring the Minor
A request to add the Government & Public Policy minor may be submitted by any advisor on campus.
Students majoring in any of SGPP's majors (Political Science, Public Management and Policy, Law, or Criminal Justice) may NOT declare the Government & Public Policy minor.
Minor Requirements
Required Courses
- Complete 6 courses (18 units)
- Must include 9 units of upper-division (300-499 level courses)
Introductory Courses
Choose 3 courses (9 units):
General survey of the constitutional bases, organization, and functioning of the American national government; recent and current trends.
Study of the international system, its actors and their capabilities; ends and means of foreign policy; international tension, conflict, and cooperation.
Basic issues in political thought, with emphasis on contemporary problems of democracy, liberty, authority, obligation, and ideology.
Survey of the major political systems and analysis of comparative political concepts, with a view to preparation for more advanced study.
Theory and practice of executive agencies, including policy making and other functions, processes, personnel and fiscal management, and administrative law.
Focus on the politics of diversity and inclusion in a fast-changing world. Attention to national-ethnic, racial, gender, sexual orientation, religious, and socioeconomic factors, among others, that underlie human diversity and the political conditions for cooperation, conflict, and well-being. Consideration of decision-making and political-institutional settings that may extend from the local and regional to the national and international.
Minor Electives
Choose 3 courses (9 units)
This course will investigate how the U.S. Constitution, State Constitutions, courts and case law have shaped today's American correctional systems. Although the impact of litigation on community corrections will be explored, the emphasis will be on how prisoner litigation has impacted the subculture of inmates inside today's American correctional facilities.
Specialized work on an individual basis, consisting of training and practice in actual service in a technical, business, or governmental establishment.
This course introduces political networks as a lens to better understand critical issues in political science, public management, public policy, and criminal justice. Political networks are a method to describe the complex relationships between political actors, whether the actors in question are lawmakers, interest groups, or even covert organizations that strive to disrupt political systems.This course will introduce students to major research questions in the study of political networks, as well as their applicability to understand and manage real-world problems. Students will gain...
The nonprofit sector plays a critical role in helping people in need through the provision of social services such as employment training, housing, and individual and family programs. Today nonprofit organizations are being pressured to function more effectively while facing greater competition for resources and reduced government support. From this perspective alone, nonprofit management matters. As such, the emphasis of this course is to connect theory and practice by examining a variety of management tools and practices used in managing nonprofit organizations. Through a combination...
Criminologists generally use at least three distinct measures of crime: (1) crimes known to the police (Uniform Crime Reports, 911 calls, etc.); (2) victimization surveys (e.g., the National Crime Victimization Survey); and (3) offender self-reports. Each of these three measures has idiosyncratic strengths and weaknesses that recommend its use for some purposes but not for others. In broad outline, the course will investigate research that has used each of these three measurement methods, focusing on similarities and differences in the methods.
This course introduces the concept of sustainable development as a policy goal, and explores the complex role of governance systems in promoting or inhibiting sustainability. Four major barriers to environmental sustainability are examined, including: 1) path dependency of policy choices, 2) collective action dilemmas, 3) conflicts over values and beliefs, and 4) the difficulty of translating scientific knowledge about coupled human and natural systems into effective policy solutions. This course emphasizes the understanding of practical solutions to problems of sustainability that are...
Examination of politics through the lens of gender hierarchy. Emphasis on how constrictions of masculinity and femininity shape and are shaped by interacting economic, political and ideological practices.
Survey of the political forces and social groups important in shaping contemporary Latin America; examination of Indians, slaves, peasants, landlords, labor, the middle sectors, and the military; discussion of theories of instability.
Analysis of conflicts of national interests; decision making in the present international system; role-playing and simulation experience.
Analysis of constitutional, legal, historical and political consequences of U.S. immigration and refugee policy. Recent trends. Foreign and domestic policy effects of migration.
Specialized work on an individual basis, consisting of training and practice in actual service in a technical, business, or governmental establishment.
This course is about understanding, initiating and analyzing political sciences based experimental research. It will require students to work independently and coordinate with groups to create and present experimental data and methodology.
Examination of election politics, personalities, and career patterns of congressional members, the organization and structure of Congress, and the role of Congress in policy leadership and representation of the public.
This course will explore and explain the development of the institution of the American Presidency. Beginning with the Constitutional Convention through the two terms of President Obama, this course will look at all 43 presidents and how their time in office changed the function and powers of the office of President. Students will gain a deep understanding of the theories of presidential power and the realities of how the presidents have chosen to use those powers.
What conditions are sufficiently 'dire or inspiring'to make someone take up arms and risk his (or her) life as part of a rebel group? By the end of this advanced undergraduate-level course, you will be able to answer this question just like the leading academic minds in the field of international relations. This class will provide you with extensive exposure to the quantitative study of civil wars around the world. We will start off by determining what constitutes a civil war and how this form of conflict is different from (or comprises) events such as international war, protests, riots...
This course will examine the causes and consequences of dictatorships. It will then consider different types of dictatorship and the conditions under which they may be more durable. It will also discuss how dictatorships use repression, censorship and social media to maintain control and how dissidents fight back. In assessing these different factors, the course will then assess the conditions under which existing democracies like the United States might revert to dictatorship. In short, could it happen here?
The digital revolution is changing politics. From Barack Obama's use of the Internet to drive his presidential campaign, to the upheaval of the Arab Spring and the emergence of new social movements like #OccupyWallStreet, digital technology is challenging and changing established institutions on a number of fronts. This course introduces students to the history of the Internet and the emerging technologies that are defining the Digital Age. It places emphasis on the role of technology in politics and its implications for democracy and citizen rights. The course will cover a wide range of...
Examines the tradition of Western political theory through a gender-sensitive lens and surveys the development of feminist political theory.
Description and analysis of how and why people wield, and respond to, authority. Based on presumption that people's reactions to the public order are influenced by the private order-or disorder-of their minds and the way they learned to respond to the private authorities of their childhoods.
Causal analysis of conditions of stability and breakdown of democratic regimes with particular emphasis on the developing democracies of the third world.
Traces the birth and growth of the Arab-Israeli conflict since 1948 with particular attention to the internal impediments to conflict resolution on both the Arab and Israeli sides. Also surveys the role of the Great Powers in Middle East politics generally.
This course offers an introduction to the political systems of post-World War II Europe. Using a country-by-country approach, the course focuses specifically on Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, and East-Central Europe. It also contains a unit on the institutions and policies of European Union. We will take a closer look at the impact of immigration on European society, the interaction between domestic and European institutions, the debates on economic reforms and market liberalization in different countries, and the relationship between the EU and the US.
Surveys the Russian political system, its Soviet authoritarian past, and its evolution and democratic potential. Focus on the decision-making process, political elites, and policies. Passing comparative attention to other former Soviet Union (FSU) countries.
Presentation of strategies for development in Latin America; examination of case studies from Cuba, Brazil, Chile, Guatemala, and other countries.
Surveys Russian power capabilities, foreign policy, and engagement of the world system. Attention to the Soviet period, but focus on the post-1991 era. Relations with the U.S., Germany, and China are highlighted, as are relations with former Soviet Union (FSU) countries.
Offers a comprehensive survey of the history, institutions, and functioning of the European Union.
Analysis of the Cold War; Congressional-Executive clashes over foreign policy control; approaches to policy analysis.
This course will introduce students to Germany's politics and society. Starting with a survey of modern German history from World War II until today, the course continues with a discussion of its political system and selected policies such as immigration and energy policy. Germany's post-war history, politics and policies are deeply interwoven with Europe. The increasingly prominent German role in the European Union and the world will also be analyzed. The class ends with a unit on Berlin, the artistic and multicultural capital of Europe. Students taking this class are expected to engage...
Survey of the developments and trends in Chinese foreign relations in the modern period, focusing mainly on the relationship between the theoretical and actual objectives of China's foreign policies from 1949 to the present.
Issues in epistemology; survey and integration of feminist and IR theories; application of feminist theories to IR.
National interests, issues and conflicts, relations, and influence of domestic politics in interstate relations in South Asia.
This course is designed to introduce you to the international politics of the Middle East and therefore, provides a general overview of some of the main issues of contemporary Middle Eastern Politics.
Government and politics of African nations south of the Sahara; emphasis on processes of political and economic development.
An honors thesis is required of all the students graduating with honors. Students ordinarily sign up for this course as a two-semester sequence. The first semester the student performs research under the supervision of a faculty member; the second semester the student writes an honors thesis.
This course seeks to provide a greater appreciation of what we call "globalization" and some of its implications for international politics, national security, and the prospects for global management of transnational problems. We will also examine the deepening interconnection of technological, economic, and sociocultural trends that characterize much of globalization; and introduce students to the need for a multidisciplinary approach.
This course seeks to provide a greater appreciation of what we call "globalization" and some of its implications for international politics, national security, and the prospects for global management of transnational problems. We will also examine the deepening interconnection of technological, economic, and sociocultural trends that characterize much of globalization; and introduce students to the need for a multidisciplinary approach.
This course seeks to provide a greater appreciation of what we call "globalization" and some of its implications for international politics, national security, and the prospects for global management of transnational problems. We will also examine the deepening interconnection of technological, economic, and sociocultural trends that characterize much of globalization; and introduce students to the need for a multidisciplinary approach.
This course will focus on an introduction to how politics influences and constrains how public policy is made. The nature of the institutions of the government of the United States and the public policy process will be examined and discussed in relation to democratic values and policy outcomes.
This course covers the basic principles, theories, conceptual tools, and comparative methods useful for understanding the challenges of democracy. In particular, it will focus on how political scientists define democracy and under what conditions they operate most effectively. Students will be able to assess competing theories advanced to explain the character, effectiveness, legitimacy and survival of democratic regimes.
Minor Advising
SGPP Advisors for the Government and Public Policy minor:
Students should email Assistant Director of Advising, Sylvia Muñoz at sbs-sgppadvising@email.arizona.edu
If you would like more information on the Government & Public Policy minor, you can schedule an advising appointment or visit during walk-in hours.