Politics

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Professor David Menefee-Libey, department chair

Professors Arase³, Crighton, Elliott, Englebert, Feldblum, Foster, Menefee-Libey, Seery³, Worthington
Associate Professor Williams
Assistant Professors Hollis-Brusky, McWilliams
Assistant Director of College Writing and Assistant Professor Bromley
Visiting Assistant Professors Liljeblad, Streich

Aristotle wrote that politics is both the most comprehensive and most ennobling of disciplines. It is the most comprehensive because it contemplates the basic questions of power, conflict and structure that underlie all human experience; it is the most ennobling because it points us toward the highest ends of human life, including equality, freedom and justice.

In practice, politics is the art and the rough-and-tumble of diverse persons attempting to live together in civil society. In a world characterized by uncertainty, scarcity, conflict and power relationships, politics enables us to make collective choices by debate and negotiation rather than brute force. As an academic discipline, politics is equally challenging and provocative. It demands that we grapple with fundamental questions: How are we to act as citizens? How do our public institutions, and those in other countries, actually function? What values inform, or should inform, public policies? What forces motivate or impede change?

At Pomona, the Politics Department is organized around four subfields: political theory, American politics, comparative politics and international relations. We encourage our students to take a pluralistic approach to their studies, to take courses in each subfield and to look at politics from a variety of angles, methods and perspectives. As befits a discipline that is both essential and extensive, our graduates have gone on to noteworthy careers in fields including (but not limited to) electoral politics, policymaking, law, journalism, education, finance and medicine.

Politics courses are numbered as follows: single-digit courses are introductory; double-digit courses are specialized but usually do not have prerequisites; triple-digit courses are advanced and may have pre-requisites. Courses are clustered by subfield: political theory (1, 2, 10s, 20s, 110s and 120s), American politics (3, 4, 30s, 40s, 130s and 140s), comparative politics (5, 6, 50s, 60s, 150s and 160s), international relations (7, 8, 70s, 80s, 170s and 180s) and special courses (90s and 190s).

Related Program

Washington Semester Program. The Claremont McKenna College Washington Semester Program is open to students from all The Claremont Colleges. Offered every semester, it provides an opportunity for first-hand study of American national politics.

• Politics Major
   
• Politics Minor
   
• Politics Courses
   

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