Political Science

fallenchemist
Sun, 02 Dec 2012 21:32:30 +0000

Forget rank, that is so meaningless in any undergraduate program it isn’t worth discussing. However, both the programs are very popular at Tulane and considered quite strong. Tulane has some great profs, including two that are national figures regarding politics and/or politically oriented studies, James Carville and Melissa Harris-Perry.

As far as the difference between the two, you probably already understand political science. It is more focused on the mechanics of the political process. Systems of government, the mechanisms that make it work (or not as the case may be), underlying factors that affect it, etc. Pretty general description but that is the gist of it. Here is the department’s website: [Political Science](http://tulane.edu/liberal-arts/political-science/)

Political Economy is what takes place at the intersection of politics and economics, i.e. public policy and how these things affect businesses, people, and other institutions, at least at its most basic form. It goes off in several directions, as you seem to know since you ask about concentrations. These can take into account greater or lesser amounts of sociology, philosophy and history, along with poli sci and economics. They are all described here: [Founding of the Institute · The Murphy Institute](About | The Murphy Institute)

Since both, but especially Political Economy are very popular, hopefully some current students will come on here to describe their experience. Also if you are planning a visit, time with students from both these areas can certainly be arranged.