Research

The field of American Politics encompasses the study of the structure and dynamics of mass behavior and opinion and of the major governmental and extragovernmental institutions, their interrelationships, their historical evolution and their role in the policy process. Specifically, the field covers the major national government institutions (presidency, Congress, bureaucracy and courts); subnational governments and the federal system; extragovernmental organizations such as parties, interest groups and social movements; the behavior and opinions of elites and masses who operate within these institutions and organizations who may seek (as in the case of elections and voting) to influence them; the impact of institutions, organizations, and actors on public policy; the determinants of public policy; the legal and constitutional context in which politics occurs; and changes in all of these elements and their relations with each other and with society over time.

Resources in the field of American politics include:

• American Politics Workshop
• Tommy G. Thompson Center on Public Leadership
• Elections Research Center
• Experimental Politics Workshop
• Models and Data Group
• Election Law Journal (edited by David Canon)
• Faculty shared with the La Follette School of Public Affairs

Scholars of Comparative Politics investigate similarities and differences in patterns of politics across the world. They engage in within-country, cross-national, and cross-regional research with a geographic focus outside the United States (although the US may be included as a case in cross-national comparative research). Comparativists use a variety of methods and often possess deep expertise in particular countries or regions. This knowledge is important for the purpose of systematic comparison, theory building, theory testing, and awareness of context specific variables and causal relationships masked by immersion in our own polities and societies. The field of Comparative Politics includes, among others, the study of political institutions and regimes; electoral behavior and procedures; identity, ideology, and culture; public policy; political economy; political violence; social movements and organizations; and protest and revolution.

International relations attempts to explain the interactions of states in the global interstate system, and it also attempts to explain the interactions of others whose behavior originates within one country and is targeted toward members of other countries. In short, the study of international relations is an attempt to explain behavior that occurs across the boundaries of states, the broader relationships of which such behavior is a part, and the institutions (private, state, nongovernmental, and intergovernmental) that oversee those interactions. Explanations of that behavior may be sought at any level of human aggregation. Some look to psychological and social-psychological understandings of why foreign policymakers act as they do. Others investigate institutional processes and politics as factors contributing to the externally directed goals and behavior of states. Alternatively, explanations may be found in the relationships between and among the participants (for example, balance of power), in the intergovernmental arrangements among states (for example, collective security), in the activities of multinational corporations (for example, the distribution of wealth), or in the distribution of power and control in the world as a single system.

Political theory is an integral part of the Department of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin, and our current faculty continues a long tradition of intellectual openness and methodological diversity.  Faculty research and teaching cover a broad historical range and reflect the thematic diversity of political theory.

Students interested in pursuing graduate studies at Wisconsin will find a rigorous and exciting intellectual environment. Through coursework, research, and active participation in our Political Theory Workshop, our students acquire a broad knowledge of the history of political thought, become conversant with the central issues and debates animating the field today, and learn to embrace political theory as a vocation. The program is very selective, admitting only a small number of students each year. Faculty thus mentor only a few graduate students, actively fostering the professional development and scholarly rigor necessary to continue our excellent placement record.

The UW-Madison American Politics Workshop (APW) is a multidisciplinary group of faculty and graduate students that meets most Mondays at noon to discuss new and ongoing research projects in American Politics. A typical workshop meeting will open with 10-15 minutes of comments by the paper author followed by an hour of discussion. Papers are posted online for reading prior to the meeting.

The Comparative Politics Colloquium (CPC) is the intellectual forum for comparativists of all areas and methods to meet and discuss current work. In addition to featuring faculty papers and occasional outside speakers, the CPC is an integral part of graduate training in the department of political science, serving as a place for students to present papers as well as dissertation prospectuses, grant proposals, dissertation chapters and practice job talks.

The Diversity, Equity, Justice and Power (DEJP) Lecture Series features research that asks questions or relies on evidence that focus on underrepresented or marginalized groups and/or centers research by scholars from historically underrepresented groups. It spotlights research and scholarship that enhance the department’s ongoing efforts to recognize, integrate, and learn from diverse ideas, perspectives, and viewpoints. The series involves joint meetings with other department colloquia as well as standalone lectures.

The International Relations Colloquium (IRC) brings students and faculty together to discuss international security, foreign policy, international organizations, and international political economy. Visiting scholars as well as faculty and graduate students from UW present their ongoing research, followed by questions and open discussion among the participants. For updated information about meetings, discussion papers etc.

The Models, Experiments, and Data Workshop (MEAD) is the methods subfield workshop, designed to assist UW-Madison faculty, graduate students, and visiting scholars in thinking through and improving the methodological aspects of ongoing research. MEAD welcomes all kinds of methodological approaches and strongly encourages works that apply those methods to substantive questions. The workshop crosses subfield and methodological boundaries. Examples of the applied methods discussed include, but are not limited to, observational studies, experiments, text data, case studies, and ethnographic research. MEAD is the merged result of what were formerly the Experimental Politics Workshop and the more informal Methods and Data reading group.

Modern political economy may be defined as the study of incentives in group life. Central to the field are such questions as the nature of cooperation and competition among individuals and organizations, the role of institutions in structuring individual behavior, and the aggregation of individual preferences into group choice. Using tools and concepts that largely originate in economic theory, political economy has grown to encompass theoretical and applied work in economics, political science, sociology, and related disciplines. The Political Economy Colloquium features presentations by visiting and University of Wisconsin-Madison speakers on a wide range of topics within this field.

The Political Theory Workshop brings together graduate students and faculty with an interest in the history of social and political thought, normative social and political theory, and the normative and theoretical dimensions of public policy and public law. Our meetings center around the discussion of work in progress by UW graduate students and faculty, as well as by invited guests from around the country. They include a brief presentation by the author and a prepared response by an advanced graduate student, followed by a general discussion. In most cases papers are distributed in advance of the meetings. We welcome participants from a broad range of disciplinary and methodological approaches.