The department’s faculty members pursue wide-ranging research and teaching interests. Current faculty interests include  ideologies of globalization, legislative activism by state legislators, comparative democratization, citizenship, party polarization in Congress, international negotiations, identity and foreign policy, immigration, courts and constitutional law, and states’ coercive capacities.

In addition, the department actively encourages political science students to take courses throughout the Maxwell School. Many students’ programs of study have been usefully supplemented, and their perspectives broadened, by courses in public administration, history, economics, sociology, geography, and anthropology. 

The department admits approximately 10 to 12 graduate students each year. The small size fosters an environment characterized by extensive personal contact with faculty members, faculty-student collaboration on research projects, and joint faculty-student publications.

The department is an active participant in the University-wide Future Professoriate Project, which helps graduate students become effective teachers. A student begins the second year by leading discussion sections under faculty guidance. In subsequent years, he or she might design a syllabus, and, finally, assume responsibility for teaching an entire summer school or evening extension course. This structured preparation lays the foundation for careers in both teaching and research.

The department offers both M.A. and Ph.D. degrees. Those who seek an M.A. in political science have diverse goals and are thus allowed considerable flexibility in designing a program. The degree requires the completion of 30 credits, no more than 9 of which may be earned at another institution. There is no thesis requirement for the M.A., and coursework may be included from other Maxwell departments. Most students earn an M.A. in one calendar year.

The Ph.D. program requires 72 credits, with coursework covering the first two-and-one-half years. The Ph.D. program includes five required courses: The Logic of Political Inquiry, two methods courses, Research Design in Political Analysis, and a Research Writing Seminar.

Two qualifying examinations, selected from the five fields offered, immediately follow the coursework, and a dissertation proposal is required shortly thereafter.

• American politics,

• comparative politics,

• international politics,

• political inquiry, and

• public administration and policy.

Applicants to the political science department must submit scores from a recent Graduate Record Examination (GRE). Strong letters of recommendation are important, as is the applicant’s personal statement, particularly the degree to which the student’s academic and intellectual goals fit the interdisciplinary nature of the political science department and the Maxwell School. Most Ph.D. students are funded with graduate assistantships for at least four years in the program.