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Maxwell / Department of Political Science

  • Department of Political Science

    The Department of Political Science is devoted to the study of politics and government, domestically and abroad. This includes the study of political institutions that exercise government authority, including legislatures, courts, and administrative agencies; political organizations through which individuals and groups seek to reshape the political landscape, including parties, interest groups, and social movements; public policies that reflect governmental efforts to regulate the actions of individuals and corporations, including civil rights, immigration, and environmental policy; and the interactions between and among nation-states and transnational organizations that shape patterns of trade and development, conflict and cooperation, war and peace.

    At the undergraduate level, political science majors will be exposed to political inquiry across a broad array of substantive topics, while also concentrating in one of the following areas: American Politics & History, Law & Politics, Political Economy, Political Participation & Mobilization, Global Governance & Foreign Policy, Political Violence & Conflict, Public Policy, Parties & Elections, Comparative Politics, Citizenship & Democracy, or Political Thought & Philosophy.

    At the graduate level, doctoral students receive broad training in quantitative and qualitative methods of social science research, while also concentrating in two of the following substantive fields: American Politics, Comparative Politics, International Relations, Political Theory, Public Administration & Policy, Law & Courts, or Security Studies.

  • Commitment to Inclusion

    The Maxwell School stands in support of all who are demanding change in the face of racism, violence, and hate speech. We are committed to making our school, our university, and our communities more inclusive and just for all.

    There is absolutely no place for behavior or language that degrades any individual or group’s race, ethnicity, sexuality, gender, disability, or religious beliefs.

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  • Political Science News

    Thompson discusses the possibility of Trump resigning with WPIX

    President Trump could resign shortly before his term ends on Jan. 20 at which point Vice President Mike Pence would assume office and could issue a pardon. "This would certainly be legal, if questionably ethical, especially if there were a prior agreement between Pence and Trump," says Margaret Susan Thompson, associate professor of history and political science. "You’ll recall that Ford pardoned Nixon under similar circumstances, though Ford denied throughout his life that there had been any agreement between him and Nixon." Read more in the WPIX-11 article, "Could President Trump resign?"

     

    New study examines age‐at‐death disparity, people with and without IDD

    "Evidence of continued reduction in the age‐at‐death disparity between adults with and without intellectual and/or developmental disabilities," co-authored by sociologists Scott Landes and Janet Wilmoth, along with social science PhD student Erika Carter Grosso '10 MA (PSc), was published in the Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities. Evidence from the study demonstrates that the age‐at‐death disparity between adults who did or did not have an intellectual and/or developmental disability reported on their death certificate continues to decrease, but the magnitude of the remaining disparity varied considerably by type of disability.

     

    White quoted in Patch article on police unions

    Steven White, assistant professor of political science, says one reason it's so hard to fire a police officer, even one who appears to have broken the law, is because there are so many opportunities for the officers and their unions to appeal. These provisions are often built into the collective bargaining agreements, which makes it unlikely that there will be much in the way of reform, he says. "The language in the contracts is very much stacked toward officers and letting officers get away with things, which is not surprising," White says. Read more in the Patch article, "Here's How One Honolulu Cop Got His Job Back After He Was Fired For Misconduct."