Faculty and students of the Department of Political Science engage in teaching and learning -- critically and systematically -- about government, politics, public affairs, and public policy in the United States and the world. Political Science courses embrace elements of the liberal arts, social sciences, and citizen education. We offer pre-professional education for a variety of careers in government, non-profit
organizations, and business, as well as for admission to graduate and law school. The Department provides four options for our majors: General Political Science; Global Politics; Prelegal Studies; and Public Administration. We also offer minors in General Political Science, Prelegal Studies, Public Administration, and Global Politics to students majoring in other subjects.
The Department of Political Science offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs to prepare students for professional careers in public service, law, international relations, and teaching, and for more effective civic participation.
Undergraduate students should be sure to check our "roadmaps" for completion of their bachelor's degree.
Chair of the Department
Prof. Scott Bowman
Office: E&T
A526
Phone: (323)
343-2248
E-mail: sbowman@calstatela.edu
September 2011: CSULA’s Outstanding Lecturer Award has been presented to Atsuko Sato, Political Science Lecturer. This year’s Outstanding Lecturer is Atsuko Sato (Monrovia resident), an internationally-recognized political analyst who has conducted field research in Japan every summer since 2007, with an emphasis on the tri-level (international, national, and local) policy analysis of global environmental problems. She is also conducting research on women’s political representation comparing Japan and South Korea. She began teaching at Cal State L.A. since 2000 in the Department of Political Science. She has taught a variety of courses based on her expertise in comparative politics/public policy, and her extensive training and experiences in research design and methods. She received her Ph.D. from the Department of Political Science at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 2002. More here.
CSULA Model United Nations delegation with
CSULA President James Rosser.
April 2011: Cal State L.A.Model United Nations delegation garners awards for third year in a row. Researching current issues and formulating resolutions to global concerns, a group of Cal State L.A. students in the Political Science 420 course spent two quarters in 11 committees preparing to become “diplomats” representing the Kingdom of Spain at the 2011 National Model United Nations (MUN) in New York.
The National MUN—sponsored by the National Collegiate Conference Association—is an annual conference that challenges students to engage in a simulation with other colleges and universities as a delegate of a nation.
As a result of the critical-thinking and diplomatic skills of CSULA’s 17-member delegation, they garnered two top awards at this year’s conference: “Outstanding Position Papers” and “Distinguished Delegation.” This is the third year in a row that CSULA has earned national accolades.
What Do Political Scientists Do? Political Science is the study of politics, including political institutions, political behavior, and the making and implementation of public policy in settings varying from international to local. It is both a science and an art, in the sense that the art of governing is central to political science, but the discipline has taken on many of the methods and characteristics of a science in the last three decades.
Political scientists study:
American politics
Comparative politics (politics of other nations)
International relations
Public law (the judicial system and basic laws that govern how our government acts)
Political theory (the development of ideas and concepts about politics and government)
Public administration (how governments administer programs)
Public policy (how programs and policies are formulated, implemented and evaluated), and
World politics
In broad terms, political scientists focus on the social processes that determine who gets what, when, and how. Political scientists study elite and mass behavior, conventional and unconventional participation, as well as political economy at the global, regional, national, and subnational levels. Political scientists conduct research about political parties, interest groups, public opinion, voting, and judicial, legislative and administrative behavior. They also study the impact of public policy and the implications of political institutions and behavior.
Our Mission
The mission of the Department of Political Science is to combine teaching, research, and scholarship to educate students to:
Think critically and systematically about government and politics across local,
national, and global settings;
Prepare for successful careers and graduate study in law, public service, politics, international affairs, and numerous other fields;
Become active and informed citizens through an understanding of American politics
and society; and
To contribute to the discipline of political science through professional participation and
scholarly activities in academic and civic communities.
Scholarships The Department, through the University Student Financial Services Office, recommends the award each year of several Hector Elizalde and Ake Sandler Scholarships to outstanding undergraduate and graduate students. You apply for the scholarships each fall through the financial aid office. There are also the John Houk and William Lloyd Scholarships for graduate students in history or political science. Again, you apply through the financial aid office.
The University's Office of Graduate Studies and Research has forms, financial aid information, thesis policies, policies regarding travel support for students attending conferences, and other information specifically for prospective and current graduate students.
Employment Opportunities After graduation, political science majors are employed in almost every part of the public and private sectors. Some graduates go to law school or accept positions with government at the federal, state, or local level -- the traditional goals of political science majors -- but many go into business, the arts, public relations, teaching American and comparative politics in secondary schools, campaign consulting, urban and regional planning, or journalism. Others pursue any of the other careers common to liberal arts majors. All of them have one things in common: they like politics and find it fascinating. Some political science majors have gone on to quite lucrative careers, according to The New York Times.
Cal State LA graduates currently occupy important positions in the public sector at the federal, state, and local levels. Political Science majors from Cal State LA have recently gone to such law schools as UC Davis, Hastings, Loyola, Southwestern, Pepperdine, Chapman, University of Chicago, New York University, University of Santa Clara, and many others. Our students have been accepted for graduate school at UC Santa Barbara, UC Riverside, University of Hawaii, George Washington University, University of Southern California, Brown University, Claremont Graduate School, Florida State University, Emory University in Atlanta, Arizona State University, and the University of Texas at Austin.
After graduation, political science majors are employed in almost every part of the public and private sectors. Some graduates go to law school or accept positions with government at the federal, state, or local level -- the traditional goals of political science majors -- but many go into business, the arts, public relations, teaching American and comparative politics in secondary schools, campaign consulting, urban and regional planning, or journalism. Others pursue any of the other careers common to liberal arts majors. All of them have one things in common: they like politics and find it fascinating. Some political science majors have gone on to quite lucrative careers, according to 
