Bachelors in Political Economy

Overview

The Political Economy degree program is the newest program in the Department of Political Science and Government. Students may pursue a B.A. or a B.S., depending on their career goals and interests. The program focuses on the interaction between politics and economics in the formation of public policy and includes instruction in microeconomics, macroeconomics, political theory, American, comparative, and international political economy, and quantitative methods.

Graduates are prepared to:

• Evaluate political and economic principles and ideologies through the lens of a biblical worldview. Principles, constructs, and ideologies will include free-market economics and capitalism, decentralization, privatization, socialism, communism, influences of wealth and poverty, conservatism, fascism, green politics, and identity politics.
• Describe and apply biblical social justice principles to local and global problems.
• Synthesize political and economic theories, terminology, principles, and policies in application to national and global contexts.
• Develop and present an original political economy thesis supported with historical, biblical, and statistical evidence drawn from discipline-appropriate resources.
• Apply program knowledge and skills to case studies in the classroom, and in internship or practicum settings.

Why Political Economy at ACU?

Graduates will be uniquely equipped to make a difference in transforming culture with truth using biblical economic and political principles. ACU’s Political Economy degree aligns seamlessly with a Christian worldview and ACU’s mission, vision, and Core Commitments. The program addresses foundational ACU values including compassion for the poor, an understanding of God’s purposes for limited government, personal, economic and religious freedom, free markets, capitalism, and property rights. This versatile degree prepares graduates to enter many arenas in need of Christian voices with Christian values.

What will I study?

Students are provided a broad course of study including:

• Political Ideologies
• Macroeconomics and Microeconomics
• Intellectual Foundations of the Free Market
• Socialism: Theory and Reality
• Issues in Public & Economic Policy
• International Organizational Behavior
• Theology of Wealth & Poverty
• American Conservative Thought