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.

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.

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.

Comparative Politics

What is comparative politics at Columbia University?

Our goal is to train a new generation of leading comparativists who employ a clear understanding of current theoretical debates, cutting edge methodological techniques, and deep area knowledge to answer important substantive questions in the world today. Our approach is to use rigorous studies of political processes around the world to contribute to general debates at the heart of the subdiscipline: Why are politicians responsive to the needs of citizens in some countries but not in others? Why do people vote on ethnic lines in some places but not others? Why do some states guarantee social protection for their citizens whereas others leave it in the hands of the market? How do political institutions and social factors shape the provision of public goods? What role do property rights play in transitions to democracy and to market economies? Why does the extent of policy redistribution vary across countries and across policy areas?

Who are our comparative students?

Each year we accept a very small group of four or five students in comparative politics. These students are typically selected from a pool of over two hundred applicants. They receive full funding for five years, and receive advanced training in theory development, research methods, and data analysis. They take courses that address general issues in comparative politics and seminars that allow them to engage with the major debates studied in their region of interest. Our small class size means that students can work in a collegial and stimulating environment, engage closely with faculty, become involved with faculty projects, and receive strong support as they develop their own projects.

What kinds of projects do students pursue?

In recent years comparative politics students have joined faculty to work on several major projects. They have undertaken research in China, Ukraine, Mexico, Nigeria, Europe, India, Pakistan, Brazil, Georgia, Argentina, Iran, Turkey, Uganda, Congo, and Indonesia. They have conducted their own surveys, often under difficult circumstances, such as those involving rioters in Nigeria or rebels in Burundi. They have devised laboratory and field experiments, including efforts to understand elite persuasion in Zambia and voting behavior in Argentina. They have been among the first to develop and study major new datasets on patterns of voting, on ethnic cleavages, on political institutions, on social protection and redistribution, and on peacebuilding. They have developed game theoretic political economy models of clientelism, press freedom, and redistribution, and have employed cutting-edge statistical techniques to analyze data on citizen voting, district-level election returns, and newspaper coverage of corruption. They have labored in archives, interviewed political actors, and devised maps to study the regional distribution of resources. In short, Columbia students can be found all over the world using the best techniques to answer the most significant and difficult questions in comparative politics. They draw on support not only from the Department but also from Columbia’s extraordinary collection of area institutes (including those focused on Latin America, the Former Soviet Union and East-Central Europe, and Africa).

What is the comparative course work?

Students in comparative politics take the field seminar (POLS G6403, Issues in Comparative Politics) in their first semester to become acquainted with the literature in the subfield across a range of topics. They then take two to four substantive courses in comparative politics (focusing on the politics of major areas or on major themes in comparative politics) and other courses that fulfill Department requirements. They participate and serve as discussants in the Comparative Politics Seminar, where guest speakers and Columbia graduate students and faculty present work in progress. Developing a research paper for one of their courses is usually the first step toward completing their second-year paper, which is presented in a departmental conference and discussed by a faculty member following the format of APSA annual meetings. Most students also take the methods sequence and game theory in their first two years, and they apply their training to their papers and research. Many take additional courses in history, anthropology, economics or statistics. In August of their second year, students take their comprehensive exams, and in their third year they draft and defend their dissertation proposals.

How is the interaction of comparative graduate students and faculty?

Students typically work closely with two or three advisors and usually collaborate in their research projects. Often, collaboration moves beyond research assistance, and graduate students co-author papers with faculty members. In recent years collaborative faculty-student work has included studies of post-conflict development projects in Indonesia; research on the distributional consequences of social programs; surveys of employers and labor unions; studies on the effects of electoral competition, partisanship, and crisis on policymaking; studies of religion and voting; analyses of cabinet turnover; analyses of inequality across ethnic groups; and analyses of presidential power in the postcommunist world. Students are also active in the Comparative Politics Seminar, where outside speakers present their work in progress (with a graduate student discussant) and where graduate students present new work (with faculty discussants). These workshops focus on the substance of the projects and also train students for professional presentations and job talks. Students and faculty also attend several other seminars related to comparative politics—which are based on regional interest (such as the Political Economy of Latin America seminar), approaches to the discipline (such as the Political Economy Workshop), or topics (such as the NYU-Columbia seminar on ethnic politics).

What kind of jobs do students take?

Our students have accepted positions in leading universities in the United States and around the world. In the past five years, our students in comparative politics have been offered faculty positions at Chicago University, Michigan University, New York University, Northwestern University, Princeton University, Brown University, Ohio State University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Notre Dame, Rice, Florida State University, Williams College, Barnard College, Washington University, the University of London, Beijing University, and the National Autonomous University of Mexico. They have obtained post-doctoral fellowships at Harvard, Princeton, Oxford, and the London School of Economics, and research positions at institutions such SAIS, the Brookings Institutions, and Healthfirst.

Who are our comparative politics faculty members?

(Click their names to see their Web sites for more information.)

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.

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.

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.