Program Overview
The Department of Political Science offers two programs, a free-standing, one-year program leading to the Master of Arts degree in political (the M.A.O., or “Master of Arts Only” program), and a program leading to the Doctor of Philosophy in political science (the “Ph.D. program), which is to be completed in no more than seven years. The graduate program of the Department of Political Science, a
division of Columbia University's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, provide advanced study and research opportunities for students who intend to pursue careers in research, scholarship, teaching, and public life.
The department is organized into four major subfields: American politics, comparative politics, international relations, and political theory. Students select a major and minor field from among these, or they may minor in economics or research methods. All students in the department must fulfill a requirement in statistical, mathematical and analytical methods.
Study in American politics centers on political behavior, rational choice institutionalism, and historical institutionalism. Many American politics students choose research methods as their second field. Students majoring in comparative politics study theoretical and historical issues such as ethnicity and nationalism, political participation and culture in democratic and authoritarian regimes, transitions and consolidation of newly democratic regimes, and formal approaches to the design and comparison of institutions. International relations students and
faculty study almost the entire range of subjects in the field from NGOs and other nonstate actors, to the role of domestic politics, to the international system, using a similarly broad range of methodologies including interpretivist approaches to case studies, statistical analysis, and mathematical models. Our political theory faculty comprise one of the most distinguished groups of theorists to be found anywhere, having made leading contributions to the areas of normative political philosophy, constitutional issues and constitution-making processes, democratic theory, political psychology, the methodology of political inquiry, and the history of political thought.
Doctoral fellowships are awarded in recognition of academic achievement and in expectation of scholarly success. Teaching and research experience are considered an important aspect of the training of graduate students. Thus, graduate fellowships include some teaching and research apprenticeship.
Political science students regularly participate in the activities of the regional institutes of the School of International and Public Affairs, and research centers such as the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy, the Earth Policy Center, the Center for the Study of Human Rights, the Institute for Research on Women and Gender, the International Conflict Resolution Program, and the Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies.
The department is actively involved in the University-wide Columbia Public Policy Consortium, which is an interdisciplinary program that supports graduate teaching and doctoral research in public policy.
The department also participates fully in the interdisciplinary M.A. Program in Quantitative Methods in the Social Sciences. This M.A. program trains students in how to apply quantitative methods to problems in the social sciences as they arise in business, government, and nonprofit organizations. The program draws on the diverse strengths of the statistics and social sciences faculties at Columbia and other institutions in the New York metropolitan area. It is designed for students with a strong background in social sciences or quantitative methods who are interested in deepening their analytical skills and broadening their knowledge of the social sciences.
Recent graduates of the Ph.D. program have obtained teaching positions at colleges and universities throughout the U.S. and abroad, and research and staff positions at organizations such as the American Enterprise Institute, the Asia Society, and the Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs.
Recent M.A. graduates have applied their training to advance careers in journalism, business, applied research law, political activism and civil service. Others used the M.A. year to determine whether or not to enter a Ph.D. program in political science.
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The Four Subfields
The Department of Political Science is broadly organized into four
curricular subfields. These are American Politics, Comparative
Politics, International Relations, and Political Theory. Students in
the Doctoral program are required to choose from among these, except in
special circumstances, their major and minor fields of study. Students
in the Master's Only program must take courses in at least two
subfields to satisfy the degree requirements.
The
following section provides information on each of the major curricular
subfields as well as links to the economics and quantitative methods
subfields, which can be substituted for the minor by students in the
Doctoral program. Also listed are the names of the faculty members
whose specialties lie within each of the major subfields.
Organizing your studies
Graduate
students major in one of the fields of political science: American
Politics, Comparative Politics, International Relations, or Political
Theory. This usually means taking about six courses. In addition,
students minor in another field, which may include another subfield, as
well as Economics or Quantitative Methods. A minor usually involves
three to five classes. Finally, students receive additional breadth
through an additional field survey course.
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American Politics
The graduate program in American Politics strives for excellence in three areas:
1)
political behavior, 2) rational choice institutionalism, and 3)
historical institutionalism (American Political Development). In each
of these areas, Columbia scholars work at the cutting edge of the
discipline. In addition, to a degree matched in few other departments,
the American Politics faculty cross boundaries with Comparative
Politics. Finally, because of the strengths of faculty at Barnard, the
School of International and Public Affairs (especially the Center for
Urban Research and Policy), the Public Policy Consortium and the
African-American, Latino, and Asian-American Studies Programs, students
have rich opportunities to pursue research in public policy, urban
politics, and race and ethnicity.
Distinguishing features of the
American Politics Program are the extremely favorable faculty-student
ratio and the intense commitment of distinguished faculty to graduate
teaching. Together, these assure close interaction of students with
world-class scholars. Most students work with faculty on research
projects, co-author papers, present at conferences, and publish in the
field’s leading journals while still in the program. Extremely active
speaker series, run jointly by students and faculty through the Paul F.
Lazersfeld Center at the Institute for Social and Economic Research and
Policy, bring leading scholars from around the country to present their
latest research. There they meet students in seminar and continue
discussions over lunch and dinner. Ongoing workshops provide vehicles
for students to develop and present their own research in intense but
collegial settings.
The American Politics faculty frequently
deploy advanced research methods, especially quantitative methods, game
theory and mathematical modeling, and historical analysis in their own
work. Students are very strongly encouraged to master these techniques
as quickly as possible, and to continue honing their skills through
additional study in Columbia’s exceptional History, Statistics,
Economics, Sociology, and Mathematics Departments, as well as SIPA and
the Graduate School of Business. Many American Politics students choose
“Quantitative Methods” as their second field.
Virtually all of
the program’s recent graduates are employed in teaching and research,
including positions at leading universities and research organizations.
American Politics Resources
For federal government information, try browsing around in Fedworld. Thomas, a new service for Congressional documents is now available, with links to the Library of Congress. The US House of Representatives has it's own Website, and is a source for legistative data. It is also possible to visit the Whitehouse, which has it's own document service, as well as links to several US government agencies. A comprehensive listing of state government information is also accessible on the Web. Northwestern University's American Politics Gopher includes links to data resources on US politics, and information on political communication and public opinion.
The University of California San Diego Social Science Studies Center has on-line data holdings for subjects including mass political behavior and attitudes, and elections.
The US House of Representatives gopher provides access to the texts of current and former bills and amendments.
The US Senate gopher
provides access to documents and press releases from various
committees, including the Democratic Party Committee and the Republican
Party Committee. This has been recently supplemented by the US Senate web site.
Cornell Law School provides access to recent decisions made by the US Supreme Court. The texts are searchable. Log in to the server as "www."
The Democratic Party and the Republican Party each have their own web-sites.
The All Things Political
site provides access to a "What's New in Politics on the Internet"
page, as well as to information from American politics-related
newsgroups.
The Congressional Quarterly gopher provides analysis of congressional activity. The LEGI-SLATE
gopher provides access to all bills and resolutions issued by the 103rd
congress (N.B. certain aspects of this service are restricted to
members only).
The Library of Congress provides access to information about Congress, as well as to materials relating to federal, state, and local government.
The University of North Carolina's SunSITE
gopher provides access to Whitehouse press releases, and to important
documents such as the NAFTA agreement. Information more specifically
related to the Presidency is also available from UNC's PRESIDENT gopher.
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Comparative Politics
Students have the opportunity to study
the wide range of important theoretical and historical issues currently
at the forefront of concern in Comparative Politics, including
political economy, ethnicity and nationalism, political participation
and culture in democratic and authoritarian regimes, political parties
and party systems, transitions and consolidation of newly democratic
regimes, the origin of political institutions, and the effects of
institutions on political performance.
Columbia is also one of
the leading departments in analyzing the politics and societies of the
world’s major regions. Thanks to the resources provided by the regional
institutes of the School of International and Public Affairs, many of
whose faculty are drawn from the Department of Political Science,
students can gain in-depth training in the languages, culture, and
politics of Africa, East Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East,
South Asia, and Russia and East Central Europe. These regional
institutes also provide an important source of funding for
pre-dissertation and dissertation field research.
The Columbia
department has also contributed to many exciting new trends in the
field of Comparative Politics. Many students with strong regional
interests, for example, are writing dissertations involving
cross-regional comparisons. Many courses in the curriculum are taught
collaboratively by faculty with different regional and methodological
interests, including faculty in American Politics who are turning
attention to issues in Comparative Politics. Several faculty in
Comparative Politics utilize quantitative and formal methods, and
students majoring in Comparative Politics are encouraged to gain
training in statistical, mathematical, and analytical methods.
In
addition to the rich course offerings in Comparative Politics, students
have the opportunity to attend an extraordinary number of talks by
Columbia and other scholars, political leaders, and officials from
around the world. We are fortunate to be able to invite so many
visitors to Columbia as a result of our location in New York and our
close ties to the United Nations and important non-governmental
organizations in New York. On any given day, there are likely to be
lectures open to students by government ministers from several
countries, scholars from major research universities, business
executives, and activists from grassroots organizations. A large number
of workshops provide opportunities for students engaged in dissertation
research to discuss their work with faculty and fellow students from
Political Science, other departments (notably, Economics, Sociology,
History, and Anthropology), and the regional institutes.
Most
students who obtain the Ph.D. with a major in Comparative Politics
teach at the college or university level. Recent Ph.D.’s are on the
faculty of major research universities and excellent liberal arts
colleges, including Harvard, Northwestern, Ohio State, NYU, Carleton
College, Johns Hopkins, and Wellesley. Other students have research
positions in government and non-governmental organizations.
Comparative Politics Resources
Comparativists are well served, especially in the areas of Middle Eastern Studies, Latin American Studies, and Russian and Eastern European Studies.
Columbia University's South Asian Gopher
is a useful source of information about the region, providing access to
specialized databases, bibliographies, and job listings. David Magier's
South Asian Bookmarks supplements this service with a huge listing of web accessible sites related to South Asia.
The World Wide Web Virtual Library contains a considerable amount of general information about India, as well as links to a comprehensive archive on Asian Studies.
The China News Digest is a useful source of information about Chinese politics. More news
about China, as well as about Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Tibet, can be
obtained via the home page of James Miles, the BBC's Hong Kong
correspondent.
Omar Jadwat's list of South African Resources, together with the University of Pennsylvania's South African Page,
provide access to South African newspapers, libraries, and political
information. Both sites reproduce extracts from Nelson Mandela's
autobiography. Other ANC information is available via the ANC Home Page.
The University of the Witwatersrand provides links to South African constitutional documents and to important court opinions.
The Online Intelligence Project
contains regional links to countries in Eastern Europe, Africa, East
Asia, Western Europe, Canada, Latin America, the Middle East, and South
Asia.
The Central Office of Information makes available
British Government Press Releases for various departments, including the Home Office, the Ministry of Defence, and the Department of Social Security.
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International Relations
The students and faculty at Columbia
study almost the entire range of subjects of international politics,
from NGOs and other non-state actors, to the role of domestic politics,
to the international system. The range of methodologies is similarly
large, from interpretivist approaches to case studies to statistical
analyses and mathematical models. International security and political
economy are our particular strengths. Many students work with
historical materials and also study current problems.
The
faculty are all actively engaged in research; it is rare for a year to
go by without at least one book and several major articles by us.
Furthermore, we present this work to the students as we go along. If
you look at our books, you will see that the ideas and criticisms of
our students are gratefully acknowledged.
In addition to offering
more classes than any individual student will be able to take, we have
several speakers series and workshops. Many are ad hoc, but we have
continuing ones in political economy, security, and diplomatic history
and IR. The large size of our IR faculty means that students receive a
great deal of individual attention. Our former students are teaching at
most of the Ivy League universities and other leading schools.
International Relations Resources
There are also lots of resources in the field of International Relations. The International Political Economy Archive,
although still under construction, promises to be a significant source
of information in the field. It is also possible to access the United Nations, NATO, and the World Bank.
The Colorado Conflict Research Consortium
provides access to research materials on international conflict, as
well as to papers written in conjuction with the Harvard Program on
Nonviolent Sanctions.
The University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation has publications on security and strategic issues in the Middle East and Asia.
The Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy provides access to research papers and working papers in the sub-field of International Political Economy.
The Online Intelligence Project
contains information on commerce, defense, and security in Eastern
Europe, Africa, East Asia, Western Europe, Canada, Latin America, the
Middle East, and South Asia.
Diplonet is a web-site that contains information on issues related to post-war diplomacy.
The International Security Network Homepage provides links to information about conflict, security studies, and peace studies throughout the world.
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Political Theory
Columbia is home to one of the largest and
most distinguished groups of political theorists and philosophers of
law and politics to be found anywhere in the world in one institution.
Concentrated in the Department of Political Science but spreading
across several cognate departments and schools, including Philosophy,
Law, and History, the faculty has been at the forefront of scholarship
in a wide range of areas of Political Theory. Individual members of the
faculty have made leading and often groundbreaking contributions to the
areas of normative political philosophy, the study of constitutional
issues and constitution-making processes, democratic theory, legal
theory, political psychology, the methodology of political inquiry, and
the history of political thought, among others.
In addition to
an exceptionally rich and varied formal curriculum, graduate students
in Political Theory have access to numerous informal opportunities to
engage with some of the best thinkers in Political Theory today through
workshops and other fora. Especially noteworthy is the Columbia
Colloquium on Political Theory, which regularly brings faculty from
Columbia and other universities together with students under the
auspices of the Center for Law and Philosophy to discuss a variety of
issues in political and legal theory.
Recent Columbia Ph.D.’s
in political theory have been appointed to faculty positions in major
research universities, including departments that are currently ranked
among the ten best in the United States, as well as to positions in
highly regarded liberal arts colleges.
Political Theory Resources
For political theorists, the American Philosophical Association's gopher provides access to a preprint server as well as to many searchable classic texts. In addition, BEARS (Brown Electronic Article Review Service) provides reviews of recent articles in the fields of moral and political philosophy.
The
Perseus Project at Tufts University is a repository of useful
information on various aspects of ancient Greek literature and theory.
There is access to a very comprehensive body of Greek texts in translation. There is also an interesting collection of secondary texts on Thucydides, including Hobbes's On the Life and History of Thucydides, and Finlay's Three Essays on Thucydides.
The Hume Archives
at the University of Tennessee-Martin, provide access to a substantial
collection of Hume's texts, as well as to early biographies, and to
eighteenth century reviews of the philosopher's writings.
The Nietzsche Page at the University of Southern California contains information about various Nietzsche-related societies, the full text of Thus Spoke Zarathustra, and an assortment of Nietzschean maxims.
The Augustine Page
at the University of Pennsylvania includes selections from the works of
St. Augustine (in Latin and also in English translation), as well as
papers written by participants in an on-line seminar.
The Marxism Page provides access to texts by Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Trotsky, as well as to contemporary Marxist writings.
The Spoon Collective
provides links to archives of papers and discussions on theorists
including Deleuze, Foucault, Habermas, Heidigger, Lyotard, and Marx.
Oxford University provides access to a significant collection of political theory texts, from the classical to the contemporary.
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The Fifth Subfield
Methodology training at Columbia
In
formal modeling and statistical methods, there are two tracks, one that
assumes no specific mathematical background and one that assumes
students have a basic level of mathematical training in calculus,
linear algebra and methods of proof. Students who wish to take the
mathematical courses but lack the training can take Political Science
4360 in their first semester. The core courses are listed below. Those
with a * are courses that assume students have a strong math background
(i.e., have taken W4360 or its equivalent).
The basic courses are as follows:
4360. Math Methods for Political Science.
Provides
students in political science with a basic set of tools needed to
pursue advanced methods training in statistics and formal theory.
Topics include calculus, linear algebra, methods of proof, non-linear
programming and integration. Assumes students have basic knowledge of
algebra.
4910. Quantitative Political Research.
Introduction
to the use of quantitative techniques in political science and public
policy. Topics include descriptive statistics and principles of
statistical inference and probability through analysis of variance and
ordinary least-squares regression. Computer applications are
emphasized. No pre-requisite.
4911. Analysis of Political Data.
[Prerequisite:
W4910 or the equivalent.] Multivariate and time-series analysis of
political data. Topics include time-series regression, structural
equation models, factor analysis, and other special topics. Computer
applications are emphasized.
*4912Y Multivariate Political Analysis.
[Prerequisite:
W4910 and W4360 or equivalent course preparation in math and
statistics.] More mathematical treatment of topics covered in W4911.
Examines problems encountered in multivariate analysis of
cross-sectional and time-series data.
*4291. Advanced Topics in Quantitative Research.
[Pre-requisite,
W4912]. Instruction in methods for models that have dependent variables
that are not continuous, including dichotomous and polychotomous
response models, models for censored and truncated data, sample
selection models and duration models.
4209. Game Theory and Political Theory.
Application
of noncooperative game theory to strategic situations in politics.
Solution concepts, asymmetric information, incomplete information,
signaling, repeated games, and folk theorems. Models drawn from
elections, legislative strategy, interest group politics, regulation,
nuclear deterrence, international relations, and tariff policy.
*4210. Research Topics in Game Theory.
[Prerequisite:
W4209 and W4360, or equivalent course preparation in math and game
theory]. Advanced topics in game theory will cover the study of
repeated games, games of incomplete information and principal-agent
models with applications in the fields of voting, bargaining, lobbying
and violent conflict. Results from the study of social choice theory,
mechanism design and auction theory will also be treated. The course
will concentrate on mathematical techniques for constructing and
solving games. Students will be required to develop a topic relating to
political science and game theory and to write a formal research paper.
Data and Methodology Resources
NES will provide direct access to time series data on US election results from mid April, 1995. The National Bureau of Economic Research
publishes the Penn World Tables 5.6, with comparative statistical
information about consumption, investment, GDP, and standards of living
throughout the world.
The US Department of the Census.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The University of Keele in the UK provides links to an extensive list of data sites in Europe and North America.
The Multilevel Models Project
provides access to general information and newsletters about multilevel
modeling, and also to information about appropriate software.
The Population Index at Princeton University provides a large number of references to data sources about global demography.
Harvard
University's Government Department Gopher provides access to the
preface and first chapter of King, Keohane, and Verba's book Designing Social Inquiry.
The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research
provides information about accessing the Public Opinion Location
Library (POLL), along with other sources of computer readable data. The
Center's web-site also provides links to a comprehensive list of data
archives throughout the world.
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