Research

The Department of Political Science is deeply committed to research. Research is what most clearly defines each individual faculty member and, collectively, the department. The output of research by the faculty has increased to impressive levels during recent years. This dramatic increase in both the quantity and quality of published research distinguishes this department as one of the most active in the nation and has generated a growing national and international reputation. This transformation is not based just on the talent and energy of a few faculty members (although some have been extraordinary) but it is rather the product of the efforts of the entire faculty across all ranks and fields of study. Ours is a dynamic and productive faculty in all regards.

The range of our faculty research agenda is wide, reflecting the extraordinary diversity of the field of political science as well as the variety of ways in which our faculty seek to understand and explain political phenomena. While diverse, one of the strengths and unifying features of our faculty is the commitment to generating theory-driven, broad- based, and multifaceted research on important political phenomena. Intellectual coherence is provided to our research efforts by multiple clusters of scholars undertaking interrelated research projects that cut across the various traditional field divisions of the discipline. While most faculty work at the intersection of several fundamental sub-fields in which we have strengths, we have worked to build and maintain quality and depth of research in each of the four traditional major fields in the discipline of political science: American politics, comparative politics, international relations, and political theory.