The Department of Political Science believes that its primary purpose is to pursue knowledge and understanding of the political aspects of the human endeavor; to transmit this knowledge to others; to relate this knowledge to the real world in creative, critical, and constructive ways; and to encourage through pedagogical means a real interest in politics.

Graduating political science majors will be expected to:

Be thoroughly familiar with the structure and organization of the discipline of Political Science. Specifically, the student will understand the differences in subject matter between the four traditional subfields of American Politics, Comparative Politics (the study of other political systems), International Politics, and Political Thought and Philosophy.

Demonstrate an understanding of basic concepts and facts in each of the above four subfields. Besides the evaluative procedures and tasks in the courses themselves, students will demonstrate this knowledge in the end-of-major capstone course.
Acquire the analytical skills and tools useful to and associated with the discipline of Political Science.

Demonstrate a familiarity with scholarly resources available to CWU students (such as the library and internet resources) and demonstrate how to utilize these resources in carrying out a research project - a project which is also part of the capstone course.