Foundational Curriculum

the development of classical and Christian political thought and to the transition from pre-modern thought to modernity. Required of all students.

PSAE 202 Catholic Social Doctrine The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the fundamental principles of the social teachings of the Church through a survey of the social encyclical tradition. Students will study the natural and revealed sources of Catholic social doctrine. They will also examine how the Magisterium formulated principles of Catholic social doctrine in the process of addressing social problems in the modern world. Required of all

students.

Advanced Courses PSAE 201-202 are prerequisites for all advanced PSAE courses, unless an exemption is granted by the Department Chair.

PSAE 311 American Government An in-depth examination of the origins and application of American political ideals in the formation of our government. Students will consider the major intellectual traditions that informed the American Founding and the creation of the Constitution. Required of all majors.

PSAE 321 American Political Thought The United States was founded on the Declaration of Independence’s universal claims of political equality and natural rights. This course will examine the United States as a fundamentally modern, liberal regime and will emphasize various criticisms and challenges posed to such a regime—challenges arising from friendly critics, clashes between different conceptions of the nature of rights and the nature of the union, and attempts to revise or reconstruct the nation along fundamentally new theories of government.

PSAE 322 Modern American Political Thought This course will present the development of Modern American Political Thought. Beginning with Abraham Lincoln and the Republicans, the course will present American politics to the twenty-first century. We will cover the Gilded Age, Labor Union politics, Populism and Progressivism, F.D.R. and the New Deal, Cold War political thinking, the New Left Cultural Marxism of the 1960s-70s, the Welfare state, Ronald Reagan and the Conservatives, concluding with Neo-Conservative thinking of the Republican Party, the Cultural Marxist ides of the New Left as exhibited in the Democrat party, and the challenge of populist movements like the Tea Party to the status quo.

PSAE 333-334 Constitutional Law I and II A systematic study of the Constitution, the structures and institutions that it creates or recognizes, and the powers and rights that exist under it—with special emphasis on First Amendment rights, state-federal relationships, interstate commerce, criminal law, and civil rights, including treatment, specifically from a constitutionallaw perspective, of topics of interest to Catholics, such as abortion, state aid to private schools, and freedom of religion. (2 semesters, 3 credit hours per semester)

PSAE 335 Macroeconomics Introduces macroeconomics in the context of current problems. Includes the study of national income analysis, money and banking, economic growth and

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