Concentration Requirements

  Standard Track 10 Honors Track 13 
Sophomore Tutorial: Gov 97 One 4-credit course One 4-credit course 
Methods Requirement Gov 50 or equivalent (see “b” below) Gov 50 or equivalent (see “b” below) 
Subfield Requirement One 4-credit course in each of four subfields: 
a) Political Theory 
b) Comparative Government 
c) American Government 
d) International Relations 
One 4-credit course in each of four subfields: 
a) Political Theory 
b) Comparative Government 
c) American Government 
d) International Relations 
Gov ElectivesThree 4-credit courses [if student substitutes Stats course from outside the Dept. for methods requirement, four 4-credit courses]

May count up to 2 classes from approved HKS list without petitioning.
Three 4-credit courses [if student substitutes Stats course from outside the Dept. for methods requirement, four 4-credit courses] 

May count up to 2 classes from approved HKS list without petitioning. 
Seminar One 4-credit Gov 94 course* 

*on petition to DUS, may substitute a Gov graduate seminar; students are admitted at the discretion of professor. 
Two 4-credit courses: one Gov 94 course* and one Research Practice Course (Gov 51, 62, or 63). A second Gov 94* can also be used to meet this requirement.

*on petition to DUS, may substitute a Gov graduate seminar; students are admitted at the discretion of professor. 
Senior Tutorial: Gov 99 Not required   2 terms. Graded SAT/UNS 
Thesis Not required   Required. The thesis does not count as a course, but is used in determining the department’s Honors recommendation for the student to the College.   
Oral Exam Not required   Required in certain circumstances   

Other information: 

a. Only one Government elective may be taken Pass/Fail or SAT/UNSAT. All other courses counted for concentration requirements must be letter-graded (except Gov 99, which is graded SAT/UNSAT). Courses to fulfill subfield, seminar, or methods requirements must be taken for a letter grade. Note that Spring 2020 courses graded SEM/UEM are exempt from this restriction and may count for all requirements.  

b. The Government Department recommends that concentrators fulfill the methods requirement with Gov 50: Data. The methods requirement can also be fulfilled with a higher-level methods course in Government (e.g., Gov 51) or a course in the Statistics Department (e.g., Stat 100, Stat 104, Stat 110, Stat 111). If a course outside the Government Department is used to fulfill this requirement, then an additional Government Department elective is required (see “Gov Electives” in the chart above). 

c. Gov 91r, Supervised Reading and Research, cannot count towards the Government concentration requirements. 

d. Only one Gov 92r may be taken for Gov elective concentration credit. No more than one Gov 92r may be taken per semester.