The Concentration in American Politics of the University of Dallas is unique in American higher education today. The program combines the study of timeless classics of Western political thought with rigorous exploration of contemporary American politics and international affairs. We focus on the great themes and issues of political thought and experience: justice, equality, liberty, morality, religion, and human nature. Through a curriculum that ranges from the Greek polis, through the great Catholic thinkers of the Middle Ages, to the politics of contemporary liberal democracies, we challenge each student to master the most rewarding political works of the Western tradition and the American experiment in self-government.

Statement of Purpose

Politics is the activity of the?polis?(city), as athletics is the activity of the athlete. The?polis, according to Aristotle, is the association whose purpose is the complete life. Politics, therefore, includes all the activities whose end is the complete human life. Political philosophy is the reflection upon or the attempt to understand the nature of these activities. Political science, therefore, as understood at the University of Dallas, is a philosophical discipline concerned with the whole range of human actions to be found in the context of the?polis.