The Institutions and Governance major enables students to study the formal and informal rules that societies use to govern themselves at the local, national, and global levels. By focusing on institutions and governance as a guiding framework, students can better understand the dynamics of wealth and poverty, innovation versus technological/economic stagnation, and  stability versus turmoil in different states and societies. Students in this major will be exposed to the deep political science, economic, sociological, historical and anthropological explorations of institutional designs in a variety of constructs, such as governments, interest groups and social movements, media, and religion, among others. By their senior year, students will be able to speak authoritatively on the comparative theory of institutions, the history of institutional and policy development, the drivers of institutional change, and distributional effects of institutional  choices. Particular attention will be paid to the challenges of governance, such as the processes and structures that societies adopt to manage their collective affairs, with an emphasis on the implementation and evaluation of government programs.

The world is more and more interconnected at a variety of levels and students are going to need a better understanding of the institutions that govern this global integration. The more that students can identify, analyze and engage with global institutions and understand their governing processes, the more they will be able to navigate these complexities. This focus in Institutions and Governance will prepare students for a variety of careers requiring expertise in public administration, international development, political risk analysis, multinational investment and work in the non- profit sector at both the domestic and international levels. Students can choose among three disciplinary tracks: Economics, Political Science, or Public Policy.