The Department of Political Science offers graduate study leading to the doctor of philosophy in political science. The department admits students only for the Ph.D. program, but a master’s degree may be obtained en route to the Ph.D.
The Ph.D. is earned through a combination of coursework and dissertation. The program is designed to provide students with both a general training in political science and the opportunity to specialize in their areas of interest. Wisconsin has long been one of the world’s top programs in political science, with excellence in all four of the traditional subfields: American Politics, Comparative Politics, International Relations, and Political Theory. As a large department, we offer in-house training in a wide range of skills—everything from political ethnography to formal modeling to Bayesian statistics and political theory. We pride ourselves on our methodological and intellectual pluralism, and have a well-deserved reputation for collegiality and access to faculty.
The Political Science Department shares faculty with the Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs, the Law School, and the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies. The presence of programs and centers such as the African Studies Program, the Center for European Studies, the Center for Jewish Studies, the Center for Russia, East Europe, and Central Asia (CREECA), Integrated Liberal Studies, the International Studies major (B.A. and B.S.), Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian Studies, and others is also beneficial to our graduate students, providing opportunities for the advancement of interdisciplinary approaches in student research.
Please note: the department admits students only for the Ph.D. program, but a master’s degree may be obtained en route to the Ph.D.