Faculty by Fields

American Politics

This field focuses on the design and functioning of the American system of governance.  Some of the scholarship in this field studies mass politics, seeking to determine how citizens form opinions and participate in politics.  Other research in American politics examines governing institutions, asking how the rules, incentives, and political constraints of particular institutions influence their policy decisions.  This is a vital field both nationally and at the UW involving methodologically rigorous research with both scholarly and practical implications.  Faculty associated with this field at the UW have won national awards for their scholarship and educational contributions and have received numerous research grants and fellowships.  The UW sub-field strengths are in media and political communications, political participation and representation, public law, public policy processes, and race and ethnicity.  These subfields are supported by a network of interrelated research centers involving departmental faculty that include the Center for American Politics and Public Policy, Center for Communication and Civic Engagement, Center for Labor Studies, Comparative Law and Studies Center, and the Washington Institute for the Study of Ethnicity, Race, and Sexuality.

Comparative Politics

The faculty of the comparative politics sub-field is engaged in cutting-edge research that contributes to the development of comparative theory, employs sophisticated research methodologies, and builds on substantial area expertise. Thus the faculty is committed to transcending sterile debates about area studies and comparative methods. Jointly, the faculty generates an impressive synergy among methodological, theoretical, and empirical skills that contributes to the success of faculty research. The faculty maintains an active research agenda reflecting diverse conceptual approaches to thecomparative study of topics such as the development of state capacity and rule of law, labor-management relations, political party formation and behavior, and judicial institutions. Moreover, the field's leading book series, Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics, and journal, Comparative Political Studies,
are based at the University of Washington. The Cambridge/Seattle Seminar work shops major new works by leading international scholars. The journal publishes important research by top scholars, and also provides valuable opportunities for graduate students to submit scholarly articles, and become
familiar with the process of peer review. A core strategy for further developing the sub-field and supporting the active research agendas of the comparative faculty lies in expanding graduate student support and participation in faculty research. The faculty already has a strong record
of published collaborative work.

International Relations

The international relations faculty at the University of Washington is a distinguished group of diverse yet complementary scholars.  We cover the field in terms of approaches ranging from international political economy, political geography, political psychology, culture and security, international environmental movements, arms races, regional integration, and the role of firms and non-governmental organizations in the world polity.  Core courses cover the basic theoretical orientations of our discipline and advanced courses provide in-depth coverage  of research into numerous topics, many of them mentioned above.  Our faculty has distinctive strengths in international political economy, international security, formal models of conflict and democracy, global environmental politics, and international institutions.

In addition, a close relationship with our excellent comparative politics group enhances cooperation between problems requiring country and area-specific knowledge and the international (systemic) dimension.

Political Theory

The theory group comprises a wide range of interests and expertise.  The strength of our faculty is contemporary political theory, especially American political thought, continental theory, critical theory, critical race theory, democratic theory, feminist theory, theories of human rights, and liberal political theory.  Students are encouraged to craft their political theory studies and research in conjunction with other departmental subfields as well as related disciplines such as comparative literature, geography, philosophy, and women's studies.  In this department, political theory enjoys an especially productive relationship with the subfields of American race politics, comparative politics, and public law.

Faculty by Subfields

In addition to the four main fields, the department has significant strength in a number of subfields:

Area Studies

Methodology

Political Communication

Political Economy

Public Law

Graduate study in the public law field addresses a host of issues related to the politics of legal institutions, actors, practices, and norms.  The public law field at UW is broader in character than public law subfields in most U.S. Political Science departments.  Distinctive features of study include:
•    Emphasis on the interaction of courts and adjudicatory processes with other legal domains, including the politics of legislation, economic and social regulatory practice, health and welfare administration, policing and criminal justice, and ordinary civil disputing. 
•    Attention to legal phenomena at multiple levels of political interaction, including subnational (local business, workplace, neighborhood, religious, familial) and transnational levels as well as national arenas.
•    Emphasis on comparative cross-national study.  We offer strengths in comparative socio-legal theory as well as area specialization in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Latin America as well as North America.
•    Close working relationships with faculty in other fields, including the American Politics, Comparative Politics, and Political Theory fields as well as in the subfields of Public Policy, Race, Ethnicity, and Gender Studies, Political Economy, and various geographic area specializations.
•    Sophisticated socio-legal study regarding the “politics of rights,” including human rights around the world, with an emphasis on analyzing relationships “from the bottom up.”
•    Option for the interdisciplinary CLASS Graduate Certificate, which expands the classes, faculty, graduate students, and funding available for student development.
    See http://depts.washington.edu/class/graduate.html#fellows
•    A very impressive record of placing Ph.D. students in diverse types of faculty positions at top institutions across the US and around the world.

Public Policy

Race, Ethnicity, and Politics