Secondary Subfield Requirements

For the course distribution requirement for American Politics as a secondary subfield:

  1. Pass the two quarters of the American Field Seminar with at least an A-. 
  2. Pass two other courses in American with at least a B+. 

For the course distribution requirement for Comparative Politics as a secondary subfield:

  1. Pass the first quarter of the Comparative Politics Field Seminar. 
  2. Pass three other courses in Comparative Politics. 

For the course distribution requirement for Formal Theory as a secondary subfield, a student must complete with a grade A- or higher the following courses: 

  1. Game Theory I 
  2. Game Theory II 
  3. Formal Models of Domestic Politics 

And one of the two following courses: 

  1. Social Choice 
  2. New Directions in Formal Theory 

New Directions will vary in content depending on the instructor teaching it. It may take the form of Advanced Dynamic Game Theory, Formal Theory and Comparative Politics, Formal Theory and IPE, or Formal Models of Race and Politics. We are also happy to consider a request submitted by a student that another advanced Formal Theory class offered at the University count as this last requirement. In this case, the student should petition the Field Chair. 

Please note that some of the requirements may be taken simultaneously (for instance Game Theory II and Formal Models of Domestic Politics). Also, the prerequisite for Game Theory I may be taken simultaneously with Mathematical Foundations, which is a prerequisite for Game Theory I. 

For the course distribution requirement for International Relations as a secondary subfield:

  1. Pass the IR Theory Seminar with at least an A-.  
  2. Pass three other IR courses with no grade worse than B+. 

Please note that no prior non UChicago courses will count towards the IR distributional requirement. Determination of whether courses count as "other IR courses" will be made by the subfield chair as needed. 

For the course distribution requirement for Quantitative Methods as a secondary subfield: 

  1. Pass either Mathematical Foundations of Political Methodology (PLSC 43401) or Introduction to Quantitative Social Science (PLSC30500) 
  2. Pass Introduction to Linear Models (PLSC 30700) 
  3. Pass Causal Inference (PLSC 30600) or PPHA 41102 or CHDV 30102  
  4. Pass two additional advanced quantitative methods courses 

Students should obtain email approval from the subfield chair for their course selections. Students may, with approval of the subfield chair, substitute more advanced courses for requirements above. 

For the course distribution requirement for Political Theory as a secondary subfield: 

  1. Four departmental political theory graduate courses. 
  2. Distribution requirement: at least two of the three periods of study (ancient/medieval; modern; contemporary) must be covered; theory course descriptions will note the period(s) covered by each of our courses in the course descriptions (A=ancient/medieval; M=modern, C=contemporary). In general, we strongly recommend taking courses that cover a broad range of different periods of study and methodological approaches.  
  3. Students must earn course grades in the A range (A- or A) in two of the four courses.