Belmont Abbey College

The principal goal of the Department of Political Science is to assist students to become thoughtful human beings and enlightened citizens. This objective is pursued primarily through careful reading and analysis of great books by political philosophers as well as important political documents and statements.

As a discipline existing in a liberal arts college, Political Science is broadly understood. It is concerned with a general understanding of the important questions, issues, and facts of political life as well as the specific ordering of human life in communities of the past and present. Because such matters need to be the subject of life long study, departmental faculty attempt to develop the analytical skills needed to build a solid basis for continuing reflection, and seek to offer students a sense of the complexity of both perennial and contemporary political problems.

For reasons of convenience and pedagogy, course offerings are classified into four major areas or fields: political philosophy, the American polity, comparative government, and international relations. There is inevitably, however, an overlapping and interrelation among these fields and between political science and other disciplines in the College's general curriculum.

Internships in local government offices, congressional offices, law offices, and social service agencies are strongly encouraged as part of the Political Science program. For those not wishing to do an internship, a thesis will be required.

In addition to core requirements, the following are particular requirements for a Political Science major:

Required lower level courses: EC 201and PO 201.

Required Social Science Division Core Courses: SS 300 and SS 400

Required upper level courses: PO 305, 309, 401, 402; 413, 452 or Comprehensive Examination or Coursework or Thesis, three upper level Political Science electives, and two elective upper level courses outside the department but within the Social Science Division.

Requirements for a minor To receive a minor, students must take PO 305 or 306, 309, 401 or 402, 413 or 414, and one elective Political Science course.

Courses Offered

PO 201 American Government

PO 304 Bureaucracy in the American Government

PO 305 Comparative Government: Parliamentary Systems

PO 306 Comparative Government: Developing Systems

PO 309 Constitutional Law

PO 320 International Issues

PO 327 Nietzsche and the Crisis of the West

PO 335 United States Foreign Policy

PO 336 The American Congress

PO 337 The American Presidency

PO 340 Area Studies: The Islamic World

PO 341 Area Studies Latin America

PO 355‑356 Political Economics

PO 401 Classical Political Philosophy

PO 402 Modern Political Philosophy

PO403-404 Love and Friendship, I, II

PO 413 International Relations I

PO 414 International Relations Il

PO 416 Political Themes in Shakespeare

PO 417 Seminar: American Government

PO 418 Seminar: Comparative Government

PO 419 Seminar: International Relations

PO 420 Seminar: Political Thought

PO 451-456 Internship

PO 490 Thesis Research

PO 499 Directed Study

Dr. Robert Jones, Chair and Professor of Political Science, Director of International Studies
B.S. St. Louis University, M.A. University of Notre Dame, Ph.D. University of Notre Dame

Dr. Jones presently teaches courses in American government, international relations, and area studies. His main research interests focus upon Middle Eastern studies, especially aspects of Islamic political thought, and he has received many fellowships for study and/or travel in that part of the world. In 1994 he led a group of teachers from North Carolina on a five week Fullbright-Hayes tour of Jordan, Israel and the Occupied Territories, and Syria. A member of the South East Regional Middle East and Islamic Studies Seminar (SERMEISS), he is an active local lecturer and writer on intercultural relations and Middle Eastern affairs.

Dr. Eugene Thuot, Professor of Political Science, Director of Honors Program, Chair of Social Sciences Division
B.A. Assumption College, B.Th. University of Ottawa, M.A. University of Chicago, Ph.D. University of Chicago

Dr. Thuot presently teaches courses in American government, constitutional law, and political philosophy. As Director of the Honors program, he also teaches a two-semester course, Honors World Civilization, which places special emphasis on the dramatic clash of ideas between ancients and moderns, a clash which helps students to understand better some of the principal tensions within the souls of contemporary men and women. Dr. Thuot is working on a book dealing with the Christian dimensions of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra. A winner of the Adrian Faculty Excellence award, he stresses the importance of being prepared for every class, and attempts to provoke independent-minded reflection in his students. He is also a long-suffering Red Sox fan as well as an avid tennis player whose backhand is in perpetual need of improvement.