which subject is best for phd in political science

Graduate Program

Pushing the Scholarly Frontier

PhD in Political Science

Our doctoral students are advancing political science as a discipline. They explore the empirical phenomena that produce new scholarly insights—insights that improve the way governments and societies function. As a result, MIT Political Science graduates are sought after for top teaching and research positions in the U.S. and abroad. Read where program alumni are working around the world.

How the PhD program works

The MIT PhD in Political Science requires preparation in two of these major fields:

• American Politics
• Comparative Politics
• International Relations
• Models and Methods
• Political Economy
• Security Studies

We recommend that you take a broad array of courses across your two major fields. In some cases, a single course may overlap across the subject matter of both fields. You may not use more than one such course to "double count" for the course distribution requirement. Keep in mind that specific fields may have additional requirements.

You are free to take subjects in other departments across the Institute. Cross-registration arrangements also permit enrollment in subjects taught in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University and in some of Harvard's other graduate schools.

Requirements

1. number of subjects.

You will need two full academic years of work to prepare for the general examinations and to meet other pre-dissertation requirements. Typically, a minimum of eight graduate subjects are required for a PhD.

2. Scope and Methods

This required one-semester seminar for first-year students introduces principles of empirical and theoretical analysis in political science.

3. Statistics

You must successfully complete at least one class in statistics.

You must successfully complete at least one class in empirical research methods.

5. Philosophy

You must successfully complete at least one class in political philosophy.

6. Foreign language or advanced statistics

You must demonstrate reading proficiency in one language other than English by successfully completing two semesters of intermediate-level coursework or an exam in that language, or you must demonstrate your knowledge of advanced statistics by successfully completing three semesters of coursework in advanced statistics. International students whose native language is not English are not subject to the language requirement.

7. Field research

We encourage you to conduct field research and to develop close working ties with faculty members engaged in major research activities.

8. Second Year Paper/workshop

You must complete an article-length research paper and related workshop in the spring semester of the second year. The second-year paper often develops into a dissertation project.

9. Two examinations

In each of your two elected fields, you must take a general written and oral examination. To prepare for these examinations, you should take at least three courses in each of the two fields, including the field seminar.

10. Doctoral thesis

As a rule, the doctoral thesis requires at least one year of original research and data collection. Writing the dissertation usually takes a substantially longer time. The thesis process includes a first and second colloquium and an oral defense. Be sure to consult the MIT Specifications for Thesis Preparation as well as the MIT Political Science Thesis Guidelines . Consult the MIT academic calendar to learn the due date for final submission of your defended, signed thesis.

Questions? Consult the MIT Political Science Departmental Handbook or a member of the staff in the MIT Political Science Graduate Office .

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Ph.d. in political science.

We are ranked as a top-ten research department and our graduate program has an excellent job placement record. Over the past decade, the vast majority of our PhD graduates have gone on to attain tenure-track positions, and many other students have become leaders in the public, private, and non-profit sectors. 

In addition to a demanding sequence of courses during the first two years, our graduates begin working with faculty from the very first day, to gain an appreciation of the challenges involved in producing innovative research.

This paves the way to their own intellectual development, the first major milestone of which is a solo-authored research paper to be presented to the department during their second year in the program. From that point on, until the completion of the dissertation in year five, the focus is primarily on independent and collaborative research.

Our graduate program is organized around subfields that address major theoretical questions about political life, encourage collaboration across intellectual boundaries, and place us at the frontiers of the discipline. As a graduate student here, you will become certified in two major fields and gain exposure to other fields through our graduate workshop series.

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The Ph.D. in Political Science program  prepares students  to be outstanding researchers and scholars at top universities, policy think tanks, consulting firms, and U.S. and international institutions. Working in small classes and with experienced faculty mentors, doctoral students construct a program around a major and minor field of study.

Recent dissertation topics have spanned women's organizations and the partisan gender gap, judicial politics in the Middle East, media freedom in Turkey, social justice in the corporate world, and coercive kidnappings in violent political organizations. Our students present their research at conferences around the country, earn awards and prestigious research grants for their scholarship, and publish articles in major journals, such as International Security, American Political Science Review, International Organization, Perspectives on Politics, and Journal of Politics.

Funding is guaranteed for five years, conditional on adequate progress.

Admissions & Requirements

Course Offerings by Subfield

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PhD Job Placement Data

The deadline for our MA program is April 1, 2025, for Fall 2025 admission. Our next PhD application deadline is Dec. 15, 2024, for Fall 2025 admission. If you have questions, please contact the Department Administrator by email: [email protected] .

Major and Minor Fields

Doctoral students choose both a major and minor field of study. Any of the major fields is also an option for a minor.

Major Fields

• American Politics
• International Relations
• Comparative Politics

Minor Fields

• Political Theory
• Public Policy
• Research Methods

Learn About Research by Field

Course Requirements 

The following requirements must be fulfilled:

The general requirements stated under  Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, Graduate Programs .

The requirements for the  Doctor of Philosophy Program .

Additional requirements

In addition to required coursework, program requirements consists of two comprehensive examinations covering a primary and supporting field, an original research paper, and a dissertation demonstrating the capacity to undertake original and significant research. The research paper, to be completed by the second year in the program, must reflect the student's ability to conduct original research. Students prepare for the comprehensive exams by taking at least five courses in their primary field and at least four courses in their supporting field, selected according to departmental guidelines. Three primary fields are available: American politics, international relations, and comparative politics. In addition, political theory, public policy, and research methodology are available as supporting fields. Petitions for a self-designed minor field (e.g., political communications) composed primarily of courses not offered by the established fields can be jointly proposed by students and faculty. All students must complete a sequence of courses in research methodology comprising PSC 8101 , PSC 8108 , and PSC 8109 . 

A recommendation to the Dean for Admissions to candidacy, or the dissertation research stage, will be considered upon satisfactory completion of all coursework, research paper, field examinations, and successful defense of the dissertation prospectus. Students must pass their primary field examination with a satisfactory pass or above and must pass their supporting field examination with a bare pass or above in order to be considered eligible for promotion to candidacy. Admission to candidacy is permitted only if the student’s performance on the examinations and in the coursework gives a good indication of success in the second unit. Passing the field examinations does not in itself ensure admission to candidacy.

The dissertation prospectus must outline the central research question(s), relate the proposed research to the existing literature, detail a research methodology, and explain the nature of the original contribution that the completed project will provide. The prospectus must be presented and defended in an open forum, which all faculty and doctoral students are invited to attend. The full dissertation must be similarly defended. A dual degree program enables students to earn the master of public policy along with the PhD in the field of political science.

Graduate School

General Information

Program offerings:, director of graduate studies:, graduate program administrator:.

The graduate program in the Department of Politics leads to the doctor of philosophy (Ph.D.) degree in politics. There is no separate program for a master’s degree. The program is designed to offer broad professional training in political science and to enable students to specialize in any of the main subfields of political science (American politics, comparative politics, international politics, and political theory), as well as public law and formal and quantitative analysis.

Additional departmental requirements

Sample of written work, 25 page maximum. Applicants are required to select an academic subplan when applying.

Program Offerings

Program offering: ph.d..

Each student must complete at least six graded seminars by May of the first year, and a total of at least 12 graded seminars by May of the second year. If students take two rather than three of the general examinations, then they must complete 14 graded seminars by May of the third year. The required seminars must include at least one in three of the seven regular fields offered by the department. The director of graduate studies must approve all course selections.

Seminars (500-level courses) may be chosen from the 20 to 30 typically offered in the department each year. Students may also take Ph.D. seminars offered in neighboring departments and in the School of Public and International Affairs. These may be counted toward the seminar requirement if they have political content. All students taking courses outside the department must complete a comparable writing or examination requirement to politics seminars in order for those courses to be counted toward the seminar requirement.

Students participating in the Program in Political Philosophy may compose a special field made up of courses in one of the other cooperating departments in the program (classics, history, philosophy, and religion). Other departments that have been of interest to students include economics, sociology, psychology, East Asian studies, and Near Eastern studies.

In addition to regularly offered seminars, graduate students may create reading courses under the direction of a faculty member to explore more specialized topics. Reading courses typically include one faculty member and one student, although some include several students.

Seminars end on the last regular day of classes (December and April), and students must complete all assigned short essays within one week of that day. Students complete their fall-term research papers by approximately the third week of January, and their spring-term research papers by the third week of May.

Additional pre-generals requirements

Writing Requirement Each student is required to write at least three research papers in the first three years, at least two of which must be completed in the second year. With the approval and advice of the instructor, a research paper may be completed in a seminar and counted toward the seminar grade.

In addition, each student is required to take one term of directed research (POL 591) in the spring term of the second year. This project is independent of any seminar. To encourage students to become involved in research and collaboration with faculty as soon as possible, students select their independent work adviser and the general topic of their paper by mid-term in the spring term of the first year. Students convey these choices to the director of graduate studies in writing. This paper often builds on prior work done in a seminar. Students are required to present the POL 591 paper in the appropriate research seminar during the fall or spring term of the second year. The final paper is due by August 30 before the fifth semester.

Students are urged to use these various research and writing experiences to build toward a dissertation. For example, a student with a promising seminar paper might use POL 591 to do more extensive research on the subject and to develop a dissertation proposal based on it.

In order to encourage students to write papers of article length, all research papers are limited to 22,000 words. This applies to papers written for seminars and for POL 591.

Research Seminars Every year the department offers research seminars in each of the four major fields of political science (political theory, comparative politics/systems and culture, American politics, and international relations). Each enrolled student in residence is required to join one of these seminars each year, attend it regularly, and present their research at least once during the year. Research seminars are graded on a pass/fail basis.

Students present forms of work appropriate to their standing in the graduate program. First-year students typically offer seminar papers (sometimes in draft form), usually in the spring. Second-year students usually present their POL 591 paper.

General exam

Each student must successfully stand for the general examination and be recommended for continuation in the program before undertaking dissertation research. The purpose of the general examination is to ascertain a student’s knowledge of political science and his or her preparedness for advanced research. The best preparation is extensive seminar work in the department, supplemented as necessary by independent reading and study.

The general examination consists of written examinations in three separate fields and an oral examination. Students may opt to take written examinations in two rather than three fields on the condition that they complete 14 (rather than the required 12) graded seminars, including a coherent three-course 500-level sequence in a third field (but not including SPI 507b, 508b, or 508c). Students must receive an average grade of B or better in these three courses in order for them to be used for the third field. These courses must be chosen from outside the fields covered by the two written exams.

Normally at least two of a student’s general examination fields are selected from the seven regular examination fields listed below. A student may design a third, “substitute” field to replace the third regular examination field. Substitute fields should cohere with the student’s educational and research interests, and must not substantially overlap with the student’s other fields. A student may propose either a standard exam from another department (for example, political economy in economics) or in unusual circumstances a special examination. Special examinations require the agreement of a sponsoring faculty member in another department and the director of graduate studies. Alternatively, the “substitute” third field may be completed under the two-exam, 14-course option described above.

The politics faculty regularly sets examinations in the following seven fields: political theory, comparative politics, regional studies, American politics, international relations, public law, and formal and quantitative analysis. The Regional Studies exams test for mastery of theoretical and empirical knowledge about one of the following world regions: Africa, Asia (with the possibility to specify East Asia, Southeast Asia, or South Asia), Latin America, the Middle East, Western Europe, or the Former Soviet Union and East Europe.  Students must specify in advance the region in which they are specializing.

All written examinations are four hours in length, with an additional hour for preparation. All written examinations are closed-book. An oral examination will be administered in every case in which the candidate’s grade on the overall written examination averages to 1.995 or worse or the candidate’s grade on any individual field exam is 1.995 or worse. For students receiving a grade better than 1.995 on the overall written exam and each field of the written exam, the requirement of an oral examination is waived. The oral examination is conducted by a faculty panel, with one member from each of the fields in which the student is being examined. For students taking only two written exams, the faculty panel for the oral examination will include two members of the primary field.  The faculty panels of the oral examination are constituted by the DGS.

Students must stand for the general examination no later than the end of the fourth term of enrollment. They may opt to take the examination sooner. All students must complete at least seven graded seminars at Princeton before taking the general examination.

Qualifying for the M.A.

The Master of Arts (M.A.) degree is normally an incidental degree on the way to full Ph.D. candidacy. To qualify for the award of the M.A., a student must earn an average grade of B- or better in 12 seminars and complete two research papers with a grade of B- or better. The M.A. may also be awarded to students who, for various reasons, leave the Ph.D. program, provided that these requirements have been met. 

Each student must lead undergraduate preceptorials during the five years of enrollment. Students typically teach after passing the general examination. A preceptorial is a discussion section of up to 13 undergraduates, which meets once a week as a supplement to a faculty-taught lecture course.

By April of each year, each student must inform the department manager which semesters they are available to teach in the next academic year. Each student is ultimately required to be available to teach for a minimum of four semesters. The student must accept any number of precepts offered in a class during the agreed upon semesters, up to a maximum of three precepts. The requirement that a student be available for teaching is waived once the student has led a minimum of nine preceptorials. Each student is expected to lead preceptorials in at least one undergraduate class as part of satisfying the teaching requirement.

The teaching requirement may be reduced to as few as six preceptorials if a student obtains substantial funding from outside the University or work as a research assistant for a faculty member during an academic year or term. The teaching requirement is reduced to three preceptorials if students graduate within four and a half years or begin a tenure-track job or its equivalent within five years.  The teaching requirement is waived entirely if students graduate within three years or begin a tenure-track job or its equivalent within three and a half years.

Certain fellowships for which post-generals students may be eligible do not allow teaching during the tenure of the fellowship. These include University honorific fellowships, Prize Fellowships of the University Center for Human Values, and the Fellowship of the Woodrow Wilson Society. Students who expect to be candidates for these fellowships are advised to accelerate their teaching so that their teaching obligation will not interfere with their eligibility.

Dissertation and FPO

Before presenting the prospectus in the student’s subfield research seminar, the student should select three advisers for the prospectus.  At least two members of the prospectus committee must be regular members of the politics department.  Before the end of the fifth semester, with the approval of the prospectus committee, each student will present a draft prospectus or first dissertation chapter to the student’s subfield research seminar, if possible with the advisers present. The seminar will function as a workshop where advice can be given about the definition of the topic and plan of research. The prospectus or dissertation chapters should be 12,000-25,000 words. Students are required to secure final acceptance of the prospectus from their advisers before the end of the sixth term of enrollment in order to remain in good standing.

After the prospectus has been approved, students should designate at least two readers to advise the writing of the dissertation.  Students may change this designation as needed.  In order to serve as first or second readers, the advisers must be members of the Princeton faculty at the rank of assistant professor or above, and at least one must be a member of the politics department. During the third, fourth, or fifth year, a third reader is identified by the student in consultation with the first two readers.  Students must first secure the consent of the third reader and submit the name for approval by the director of graduate studies (DGS).  The third reader is normally a Princeton faculty member, but may instead be a faculty member at another university holding the rank of assistant professor or above. Any external readers must be of comparable standing in a relevant branch of the scholarly community.  Third readers are less involved in advising than are the first two readers. The DGS appoints a fourth reader.  Students should submit the names of three appropriate faculty members, along with the title of the dissertation, to the DGS in order to initiate the process of appointing a fourth reader.  The fourth reader is normally a member of the politics department.  The fourth reader is expected to read only the final version of the dissertation.

A final public oral examination is scheduled no fewer than fourteen calendar days after the approval of the thesis.  At least three examiners, two of whom have not served as first or second readers of the dissertation, and at least two of whom are members of the University faculty, conduct the examination.  Normally, therefore, the committee must consist of the first and/or the second reader and the third and fourth readers.  After the student successfully defends their thesis, he or she is recommended to the Graduate School for receipt of a doctoral degree.

• Alan W. Patten

Associate Chair

• Kristopher W. Ramsay

Director of Graduate Studies

• Mark R. Beissinger

Director of Undergraduate Studies

• Matias Iaryczower
• Gary J. Bass
• Charles R. Beitz
• Carles Boix
• Charles M. Cameron
• Rafaela M. Dancygier
• Aaron L. Friedberg
• Paul Frymer
• Robert P. George
• G. John Ikenberry
• John Kastellec
• Melissa Lane
• Frances E. Lee
• John B. Londregan
• Stephen J. Macedo
• Nolan McCarty
• Tali Mendelberg
• Helen V. Milner
• Andrew Moravcsik
• Layna Mosley
• Jan-Werner Müller
• Grigore Pop-Eleches
• Markus Prior
• Jacob N. Shapiro
• Arthur Spirling
• Anna B. Stilz
• Rocío Titiunik
• James Raymond Vreeland
• Leonard Wantchekon
• Ismail K. White
• Keith E. Whittington
• Jennifer A. Widner
• Deborah J. Yashar

Associate Professor

• Jonathan F. Mummolo
• LaFleur Stephens-Dougan
• Hye Young You

Assistant Professor

• Christopher W. Blair
• Gregory A. Conti
• German S. Gieczewski
• Tanushree Goyal
• Naima N. Green-Riley
• Saad A. Gulzar
• Gleason Judd
• Patricia A. Kirkland
• Melissa Megan Lee
• Elizabeth R. Nugent
• Rebecca L. Perlman
• Guadalupe Tuñón
• Andreas B. Wiedemann

Associated Faculty

• Christopher L. Eisgruber, President
• Daniel Garber, Philosophy
• Elizabeth L. Paluck, Psychology
• Philip N. Pettit, Center for Human Values
• Kim Lane Scheppele, Schl of Public & Int'l Affairs
• Michael Smith, Philosophy
• Brandon M. Stewart, Sociology

Lecturer with Rank of Professor

• Allen Carl Guelzo
• Shilo Brooks
• Tolgahan Dilgin
• David R. Hill
• Thomas D. Howes
• Marzenna James
• Corrine M. McConnaughy

Visiting Lecturer

• Mark O'Brien
• Gregory Sullivan

For a full list of faculty members and fellows please visit the department or program website.

Permanent Courses

Courses listed below are graduate-level courses that have been approved by the program’s faculty as well as the Curriculum Subcommittee of the Faculty Committee on the Graduate School as permanent course offerings. Permanent courses may be offered by the department or program on an ongoing basis, depending on curricular needs, scheduling requirements, and student interest. Not listed below are undergraduate courses and one-time-only graduate courses, which may be found for a specific term through the Registrar’s website. Also not listed are graduate-level independent reading and research courses, which may be approved by the Graduate School for individual students.

ECO 520 - Economics and Politics (also POL 577)

Gss 543 - interest groups and social movements in american politics and policy (also aas 543/ams 543/pol 543), phi 503 - plato's political philosophy (half-term) (also cla 530/pol 556), pol 502 - mathematics for political science, pol 503 - survey analysis, pol 505 - experimental methods in political science, pol 506 - qualitative methods (also spi 595), pol 507 - topics in plato (half-term) (also cla 507/hls 507/phi 507), pol 511 - problems in political theory, pol 516 - politics of middle east authoritarianism in comparative perspective (half-term), pol 517 - international political theory, pol 518 - political philosophy (also phi 529), pol 519 - john stuart mill's politics: ideas and context, pol 520 - democracy and its enemies (half-term), pol 521 - the study of comparative politics, pol 524 - introduction to critical theory (half-term), pol 528 - the study of comparative politics: institutions and behavior, pol 530 - the politics of growth & redistribution, pol 533 - clientelism and state capture, pol 538 - comparative political behavior, pol 541 - judicial politics, pol 542 - american political institutions, pol 544 - introduction to american politics, part i: political behavior, pol 547 - identity politics, pol 548 - political psychology, pol 549 - seminar in american politics, pol 550 - international organization, pol 551 - seminar in international politics, pol 552 - seminar in media and politics, pol 553 - political theory, athens to augustine: graduate seminar (also cla 535/hls 552/phi 552), pol 554 - international security studies, pol 561 - constitutional theory, pol 563 - philosophy of law (also phi 526), pol 565 - theories of judicial review, pol 568 - hegel and marx, pol 570b - seminar in formal theory: american politics theory (half-term), pol 571 - empirical research methods for political science, pol 572 - quantitative analysis i, pol 573 - quantitative analysis ii (also soc 595), pol 574 - quantitative analysis iv, pol 575 - formal political analysis i, pol 576 - formal political analysis ii, pol 578 - seminar in quantitative analysis, pol 581 - advanced political institutions, pol 584 - foundations of political economy (also eco 576), pol 585 - international political economy, pol 588 - political theory of french revolution, pol 589 - states, democracies, nations, pol 591 - directed research, pol 592 - social movements and revolutions, pol 593 - research seminar, pol 594 - research seminar, pol 595 - research seminar, pol 596 - research seminar, pol 597 - research seminars, pol 599 - responsible conduct of research in political science, spi 556b - topics in ir (also las 566/pol 564), spi 556d - topics in ir (also pol 522), spi 561 - the comparative political economy of development (also pol 523), spi 590b - politics of inequality and redistribution (half-term) (also pol 598), spi 595b - phd seminar: qualitative research design (also pol 509).

Ph.D. Admissions

Apply here . 

Preparing to Apply

Before starting the application process please read the information about the graduate program requirements  and read our  Frequently Asked Questions . You may also find the Guide to Getting Into Grad School helpful. 

The Political Science department recognizes that the Supreme Court issued a ruling in June 2023 about the consideration of certain types of demographic information as part of an admission review. All applications submitted during upcoming application cycles will be reviewed in conformance with that decision.

All questions regarding graduate admissions should be directed to politicalscience [at] stanford.edu (subject: Admissions%20Enquiry) ( politicalscience[at]stanford[dot]edu ) .

The principal goal of the Stanford Ph.D. program in political science is the training of scholars. Most students who receive doctorates in the program do research and teach at colleges or universities. We offer courses and research opportunities in a wide variety of fields in the discipline, including American Politics, Comparative Politics, International Relations, Political Theory, and Political Methodology. The program is built around small seminars that analyze critically the literature of a field or focus on a research problem. These courses prepare students for the Ph.D. comprehensive exam requirement within a two-year period and for work on the doctoral dissertation.  

Admission to the graduate program in political science is highly selective. About twelve to fifteen students, chosen from a large pool of applicants, enter the program each year. The small size of our student body allows more individual work with members of the faculty than most graduate programs. It also makes possible financial assistance in one form or another to most students admitted to the Ph.D. program. 

Graduate Admissions FAQ

Please visit our list of  frequently asked questions.

You may also find the following links useful if you have general questions about student life and graduate study at Stanford University:  

Vice Provost of Graduate Education (VPGE)

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• Graduate Life Office
• Stanford Bulletin
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Knight-Hennessy Scholars

Join dozens of Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences students who gain valuable leadership skills in a multidisciplinary, multicultural community as Knight-Hennessy Scholars (KHS). KHS admits up to 100 select applicants each year from across Stanford’s seven graduate schools, and delivers engaging experiences that prepare them to be visionary, courageous, and collaborative leaders ready to address complex global challenges. As a scholar, you join a distinguished cohort, participate in up to three years of leadership programming, and receive full funding for up to three years of your PhD studies at Stanford. Candidates of any country may apply. KHS applicants must have earned their first undergraduate degree within the last seven years, and must apply to both a Stanford graduate program and to KHS. Stanford PhD students may also apply to KHS during their first year of PhD enrollment. If you aspire to be a leader in your field, we invite you to apply. The KHS application deadline is October 11, 2023. Learn more about KHS admission .

Graduate Programs

Political science.

Our faculty and students profit from the many outstanding institutes, centers and programs at Brown that relate to the study of politics.

The Department of Political Science covers the four main subfields in the discipline:

• American politics focuses on the behavior of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government; state and local politics; the influence of public opinion, interest groups, and political parties on decision-making; and issues of race and gender.
• Comparative politics focuses on the comparative study of the behavior of governments and political institutions, non-governmental actors across the world, and on the relationships between political and economic factors in different cultures and societies.
• International politics considers how political decisions are made in a world without a central authority above the nation-state. Recent emphases include a significant role for international law, norms, and organizations.
• Political theory seeks to analyze both historically and philosophically the origins and underpinnings of political values.

Additional Resources

Our faculty and students profit from the many outstanding institutes, centers, and programs at Brown that relate to the study of politics. These include the  Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions , the  Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs , the  Master of Public Affairs program , the  Urban Studies Program , the  Saxena Center for Contemporary South Asia , the  Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies , the  Center for Philosophy, Politics and Economics , the  Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America ,  Middle East Studies ,  Development Studies , the  Population Studies and Training Center , and  Africana Studies .

Application Information

In addition to the GRE and writing sample, applicants are required to submit a personal statement, three letters of recommendation, transcript(s), and, if applicable, proof of language proficiency. For further application information, please also see the  Political Science admission guidance  and the  Graduate School's admission guidance .

Application Requirements

Gre subject:.

Not required

GRE General:

Official transcripts:, letters of recommendations:.

Required (3)

Writing Sample:

Personal statement:, dates/deadlines, application deadline, completion requirements.

The Ph.D. requires passing thirteen graduate level courses with a minimum grade of B or better, though A grades are expected, including methods, field proseminars, course(s) in political theory, and Prospectus Writing. Students must also pass written and oral preliminary examinations in two subfields; written and oral presentation of a dissertation proposal; and written and oral presentation of a dissertation. A minimum of two semesters as a teaching assistant is also required.  

Alumni Careers

Contact and Location

Department of political science, mailing address.

• Program Faculty
• Program Handbook
• Graduate School Handbook

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PhD in Political Science

Doctor of philosophy in political science.

Our program maintains the traditional concentrations of the field. Students must select one major and one minor concentration in either

• political philosophy/political theory
• American politics/constitutional law; or
• comparative politics/international relations.

Each of these three traditional areas of concentration, however, will be informed by a set of questions and themes, grounded in the training and research of our faculty, which make this program unique. We focus on the foundations and operation of constitutional government, the character and cultivation of political leadership, and the relation of both to civil society and to the task of educating citizens for the exercise of liberty. Civic education involves learning the mechanics of government, but it also involves the formation of citizens through involvement with civil society and service to the community. Proper civic institutions do not merely buttress individuals from the abuse of political power; they also shape the habits of mind and heart necessary for responsible citizenship and political leadership.

Our program also allows doctoral students to work in an interdisciplinary concentration , such as "Religion and Politics" or "Politics and Literature." This concentration allows students to draw on programs throughout the university, such as Church-State Studies, English, history, philosophy and sociology.

Most importantly, our doctoral program takes as its calling not simply the education of future scholars but also the education of teachers. Teaching apprenticeships -with a one-on-one relationship between an apprentice and a teacher-is another distinguishing feature of our program. Graduate students serve as apprentices for undergraduate courses, and are then given the opportunity to teach them. Doctoral students also have the opportunity to work in Baylor's long-established program in Philanthropy and Public Service.

Political Philosophy/Political Theory

We offer courses in the history of political thought, from the Greeks to the present, as well as in contemporary debates in political theory and in the social sciences as a whole. Related to our program themes of the philosophic origins and development of constitutional government and the character of statecraft and citizenship, are questions about the future and evolution of liberalism; the nature and function of civil society; the condition of its complex web of intermediate institutions such as family, church, and civic organizations; the nature and preconditions of justice; the virtues demanded by good citizenship; and the challenges of politics in a global society.

Our graduate seminars in the history of political thought - Classical Political Thought, Medieval Political Thought, and Modern Political Thought - provide students with an exceptional foundation in the history of Western political thought. "Contemporary Political Thought" explores such thinkers as Oakeshott, Voegelin, and Strauss, or a theme such as just war theory. "Contemporary Democratic Theory" explores recent debates concerning a properly "deliberative democracy" and assesses the special challenges for citizenship and public culture posed by a radically multicultural and pluralistic political setting. Our course in "Politics and Literature" may focus on such topics as "Shakespeare as a Political Thinker," "The American Political Novel," and "Greek Drama and Political Theory." Finally, "Advanced Study in Political Phlosophy" allows professors and students to explore a particular thinker or theme in great depth, and prepares students for their own dissertation research.

American Politics/Constitutional Law

In addition to our courses in institutions, policy, administration, and behavior, our doctoral program in American politics emphasizes the study of constitutional government, especially constitutional law. Our "Seminar in Public Law," which can be taken up to three times for credit, covers a broad range of questions concerning the American judicial system, including judicial politics, constitutional and judicial theory, and jurisprudence. "The American Founding" studies the politics and principles that played a role in the American Founding, utilizing the debates at the 1787 Constitutional Convention, the First Congress, and early fundamental decisions of the Supreme Court that were seminal in its future interpretation. "American Political Development" examines the interaction between institutional structures created by the Constitution and the practice of American politics from the founding period to the present. At issue in both these courses is the relation between political ideas and practical politics, including the institutional, economic, and social constraints both in which statecraft operates and which are in turn shaped by political ideas and actions. We also offer "Presidential Rhetoric," which surveys theories of the rhetorical presidency and genres of presidential discourse in selected eras of American history, from the early republic through the present.

"Comparative Constitutional Law" enables students to study constitutional and legal issues in a comparative perspective. However important the American contribution to the theory and practice of constitutional government, constitutionalism is today a global phenomenon. Through this course students explore the problems and prospects of the fastest growing form of government in the world today. Moreover, this course not only helps to complete their education in American politics and constitutional law, but also serves as a bridge to our third subfield: comparative politics/international relations.

Comparative Politics/International Relations

In addition to our basic seminars in "International Relations" and "Comparative Politics," which offer graduate students introductions to these fields, and "Comparative Constitutional Law," mentioned above, we offer a range of graduate seminars. "American Foreign Policy" examines the intellectual background of American diplomacy, the interaction of constitutional, legal, and informal institutions that shape official actions, and the dilemmas confronting the United States at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Students with interests in both international relations and political theory will enjoy "The Development of International Relations Thought," which studies the realist, rationalist, and revolutionary traditions, as articulated by such thinkers as Hobbes, Grotius, and Kant, and the relation of these traditions to contemporary international relations thought. So, too, "The Development of Strategic Thought" examines the ideas of strategic thinkers who lived in a variety of historical periods, including Thucydides, Sun Tzu, Machiavelli, and Clausewitz.

We also offer senior-level courses for graduate credit (as in the other subfields) in courses in "Grand Strategy," "Terrorism," "Intelligence and Covert Action," "Diplomacy," "International Law," "International Organizations," "International Political Economy," and "Power, Morality, and International Relations." In the area of comparative politics, we offer courses in the governments and politics of such countries or areas as Britain, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, Mexico, and Russia.

Course work in other departments

Having elected a major and minor field of study in political science, graduate students may take approved courses in other departments that supplement their overall plan of study in political science. In the past, graduate students who have wished to study politics and literature, for example, or religion and politics, have supplemented Political Science offerings in these areas with courses in other departments, such as English, Philosophy, History, Communication Studies, Religion, and Great Texts. We think that such courses can deepen a student’s understanding of the contributions of theology, philosophy and literature (epic poetry, comedies and tragedies, novels, etc.) to fundamental questions of political philosophy and to the formation of a nation’s or an individual’s spiritual and political self-understanding. Such courses can also deepen a student’s grasp of constitutional and political issues, such as religious freedom and its place in liberal government, or the role of civil society in linking the individual to the broader political community and in fostering a responsible and engaged citizenry.

Methodology Requirement

"Seminar in Research Design and Research Methods" provides an introduction to the discipline of political science, introduces the logic of research design as well as specific research strategies and techniques, whether quantitative or qualitative, and discusses questions related to the philosophy of science.

In addition, students are required either to demonstrate competence in one foreign language (Classical or Modern), as defined by the Graduate School, or to take an advanced methodology course, such as SOC 5312, Social Science Data Analysis (cross-listed as PSC 5312).

Teaching Apprenticeship Requirements

In their second and third years of the program, students have the opportunity to serve in an apprenticeship with a faculty member each semester. Apprenticeships will be arranged on an individual basis by the student in consultation with the graduate director. The apprenticeship will ordinarily involve full participation in planning and executing an undergraduate course. Apprentices will attend the classes of their faculty mentor, and help with student evaluation.

While apprentices, students may take a section of the 5000-level course, "Teaching Political Science," a directed readings course with a faculty member for whose course they serve as apprentice. The readings will involve the subject matter of the undergraduate course, and the requirements might involve a graduate level paper on those materials, or an annotated bibliography of materials that might be used in the undergraduate course. One section of 5396 is required of all graduate students, but no more than two are permitted to count toward the PhD requirements. "Teaching Political Science" courses count toward the major and minor.

During the third or fourth year of their program, students will have responsibility for at least one course, in most cases a course of the same kind in which they served their apprenticeship. For example, an apprentice for "Government and Politics of Latin America" or for "Government and Politics of the Middle East" might then teach a section of "Comparative Politics," depending on student preference and departmental need. "American Constitutional Development" has proven particularly useful for apprenticeships, which have prepared many of our doctoral students to teach sections of their own of this course. Student evaluations administered by the University will be given and become part of a student's placement file, along with the faculty member's evaluation.

In addition to the department's teaching apprenticeships, Baylor graduate students have the opportunity to participate in Seminars for Excellence in Teaching .

Department of Political Science

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Ph.D. Program

Candidates for a doctorate in Political Science will be expected to produce and defend an original significant contribution to knowledge in the discipline of Political Science, demonstrate mastery of subject material, participate in professional academic community activities and be able to teach the discipline at the undergraduate level.

To take a look at our program profile, visit our page here .

Degree requirements include (a) course work, (b) a primary (second year) paper, (c) the qualifying examination, (d) the Ph.D prospectus and (e) the Ph.D. dissertation.   All requirements for the doctorate should be completed within seven years (exceptions require a petition to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences). The sections that follow clarify what is involved in each of these requirements and provide a schedule for the completion of these requirements.

Please be aware that you must be registered as a student during any semester in which you complete any degree requirements. You must also be registered as a student during the semester prior to the one in which you defend your dissertation.

Learning Outcomes

• Produce and defend an original and significant contribution to knowledge in the discipline of Political Science
• Demonstrate mastery of subject material by developing a minimum level of competence in five of the six fields of Political Science (American Politics, Public Policy, Comparative Politics, International Relations, Political Theory, and Methodology) and a high level of competence in two of these fields
• Participate in professional academic community activities, such as attending local seminar series, presenting papers at conferences, and submitting papers to academic journals
• Be able to teach the discipline at the undergraduate level

Course Requirements

Students are required to complete sixteen graduate-level courses. Students entering the Program from Boston University’s BA/MA Program or other BU MA programs will be able to transfer some of their 500-level, 700-level or 800-level courses. These students should schedule a meeting with the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) to resolve this question upon arriving at Boston University.  Students from other universities that hold an M.A. may be exempt from specific requirements of the BU Ph.D. program (at the discretion of the DGS), but still need to take sixteen classes in total. Coursework completed outside of Boston University cannot apply to the 64 credits required for graduation.

• NOTE: In general, we do not recommend trying to waive required courses. Even if you have taken a similar course in a different graduate program, there is a benefit to getting to know the intellectual approach of our faculty, which will help prepare you for comprehensive exams—and, in the case of methods courses, get additional practice with an important technique. However, if you have taken a prior graduate course in another program that you feel is substantially similar to one of the required courses, you may petition the DGS for a waiver. Please provide a copy of the syllabus to the DGS, who will consult with relevant faculty members to assess whether the course will satisfy this requirement. Please note that even in the case that a required course is waived, the credits earned in that class will not count toward the 64 required for the degree.

Selection of these courses must be approved by the Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Political Science. Courses may be drawn from the offerings of this and related departments subject to the following requirements:

• A total of 64 units of credit must be completed to advance to candidacy.
• At least 56 units of credit (14 4-unit courses) must be fulfilled by graduate-level courses (500-,600-,700-, or 800-level) taken for a letter grade.
• 8 units of credit may be fulfilled by other courses (e.g. Research Workshop, Directed study, Professional Development, and Dissertation Workshop).
• Four core seminars must be completed in Year 1: PO 711 (American Politics), PO 771 (International Relations), PO 751 (Comparative Politics), and PO 791 (Political Theory).
• The Research Workshop must be taken in Years 2 and 3.  Students are strongly encouraged to continue taking this course in subsequent years so long as they are in the program and living in the Boston area.
• PO 841: Quantitative Research Methods
• PO 842: Qualitative Approaches to the Study of Political Science
• PO 843: Techniques in Political Analysis: Maximum Likelihood Estimation
• PO 844: Methods for Causal Inference
• The Professional Development course (currently offered every other year), must be completed–preferably in Year 2 or 3.  Students may choose to audit subsequent iterations of this course, as desired.
• Students are encouraged to take courses offered in related disciplines such as economics, philosophy, psychology, sociology, and history. Such course selections vary according to the student’s overall program and must be planned in consultation with the student’s advisor and the DGS.
• All requirements, except those imposed by GRS, may be waived by permission of the DGS.

Grades & Incompletes

In order to maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress, students must maintain a GPA of 3.5 or higher and complete course work on time. Incomplete grades (“I” grades) may become permanent unless course work is completed within twelve months. On graduate transcripts, grades lower than B- are interpreted as failures. Students receiving more than eight credit hours of failing grades will be liable for termination by GRS.

Ph.D. Qualifying Examinations

In order to advance to candidacy (for the Ph.D.), a student must write a second year paper and take two timed exams. These are the three elements of the Qualifying Examination. Requirements for a terminal M.A. (without advancing to candidacy) may be met by either the two written exams or the master’s thesis.

As one element of the Qualifying Examination, students must submit the Second Year Paper, an independent research paper of high quality. Typically, this will involve a substantial revision, expansion, and polishing of a graduate seminar paper. A student who does not pass the Second Year Paper is required to submit a revision that incorporates feedback from the evaluating committee.

The other two elements of the Qualifying Examination consist of timed examinations taken in Year 3 of the Ph.D. program. Exams are scheduled once a year in September and will be offered at other times only in the case of a failed exam. It is the student’s responsibility to inform the graduate program coordinator and the examining faculty that they are planning on taking the exams at least one month in advance. Students should have contacted the examining faculty members well before this point to discuss how to prepare for the exams. Students may not take the timed examinations if they have any incompletes.

Timed examinations are given in two fields of the student’s choosing: American politics, comparative politics, international relations, political theory, and methodology. Committees of three drawn from the Graduate Faculty of Political Science (GFPS) will be established by the DGS in each of the five fields. Each committee should include whoever teaches the core course in that field on a regular basis or has taught it recently.

Committees are charged with (a) constructing a single reading list for each exam, (b) revising that list periodically, (c) writing a single exam for each exam period, and (d) grading that set of exams, along with whatever second year papers fall into their field. Reading lists include material presented in core 700- and 800- level courses, though they need not be limited to that material. An online database including the current reading list along with old exams will be kept on Blackboard, by approval of the committee.

The standard time-limit for the exam will be 8 hours, i.e., 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. This time limit will be strictly enforced. If students do not hand in their exam at 5:00 it will be counted as a failed exam and they will need to re-take it.

Committees will determine whether the student (a) fails each exam (including the Second Year Paper), (b) passes at an M.A. level (setting in motion an exit from the program with a terminal masters), or (c) passes at a Ph.D. level (allowing for advancement to candidacy). Along with notification of the decision, the committee will give written feedback to the student pertaining to their performance on the exams and the Second Year Paper. Students who fail one or more elements of the qualifying examination are permitted to take that element(s) a second time, but not a third.

Prospectus Defense

Students are encouraged to defend their prospectus in Spring of Year 3. Work on the proposal can begin at any time. However, it cannot be submitted to GRS until all requirements for the Ph.D. — other than the dissertation itself — have been met.

Once a student has decided on a probable dissertation topic, they must assemble a committee of three faculty members (the first, second, and third readers) for the prospectus defense. The first reader must be a regular faculty member of the GFPS except under unusual circumstances (which must be approved by the Director of Graduate Studies). It is the student’s responsibility to approach relevant faculty about the possibility that they might serve in one of these capacities. The student should write the first draft of the dissertation proposal in close consultation with the faculty member who agrees to serve as the first reader.

Students should check with the Director of Graduate Studies regarding the length and format of the prospectus. The main source of guidance in the completion of the proposal will come from the student’s advisor(s) who set the standards on content.

When the proposal is completed, the student should circulate copies to readers, and — working through the Graduate Program Coordinator — schedule a defense of the proposal. The defense committee, a minimum of three members, must include the faculty members who have been designated as first, second, and third readers. At least one committee member must be a tenured or tenure-track professor in the Graduate Faculty of Political Science and must ultimately serve as first, second, or third reader of the dissertation. (Other graduate students and faculty may attend, but not participate in, these defenses.)

The outcome of the defense, including any recommendations for change, will be forwarded to the Graduate Program Coordinator to be placed in the student’s file, and the appropriate Prospectus Approval form will be forwarded to the Graduate School for review.

In the event that a proposal is not approved at the defense, candidates are given the opportunity to schedule a second defense. Failure to receive approval for the dissertation proposal at the second defense, however, will lead to recommendation to the Graduate School for termination from the program.

The Dissertation Defense

A completed dissertation must be submitted for defense no more than five years after the completion of the Qualifying Examinations. Students are responsible for keeping faculty members informed of their progress in completing the dissertation and should contact the Graduate Program Coordinator for information about graduation deadlines, the scheduling of the defense, the submission of the dissertation abstract, and the format of the dissertation. Please consult the Graduate School guidelines .

The defense committee is composed of four or more faculty members – typically the three readers who approved the prospectus plus one additional reader. Students are encouraged to select a fourth reader as early as possible in the dissertation-writing process; ideally, this person will also participate in the prospectus defense. At least half of the dissertation committee must be members of the Graduate Faculty of Political Science; this includes the first reader, except under unusual circumstances (which must be approved by the Director of Graduate Studies).

In some cases, a student – with the first reader’s approval – may request that a faculty member from another university serve on the dissertation defense committee. If this is the case, the student should notify the Graduate Program Coordinator in advance and submit a copy of the individual’s curriculum vitae. Following departmental approval, the outside reader must also be approved by the Graduate School for Arts and Sciences. The department cannot be expected to cover the travel expenses of outside readers, but it is usually possible for them to participate remotely.

Prior to scheduling a defense of the dissertation, the student must submit an abstract describing the dissertation’s thesis, methods, and main findings. Since abstracts will be the principal means through which other scholars first make contact with the dissertation, it is important that the abstract provide as much concrete information as possible about the dissertation and present it in a fashion that is understandable to readers who may not be familiar with the approach or the focus of the dissertation. Abstracts must be approved by the first reader of the dissertation, the Director of Graduate Studies, the Department Chair, and the Dean of the Graduate School.

The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, using information provided by the candidate, will send an announcement of defense to each member of the committee, and will provide the chair of the committee with the necessary forms on which to report the results of the defense. After the defense, the chair will return the forms, with the necessary signatures, to the Political Science administrative offices. At this time, the necessary signatures will also be entered onto the signature page of the dissertation itself.

Timetable for Completing Ph.D. Requirements

The maximum time limit set by the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences is 7 years; extensions require a petition. Boston University fully funds students for 5 years. A typical breakdown of a student’s work schedule is as follows:

• Year 1: Complete 8 required courses
• Year 2: Complete 6 required courses + Research Workshop and/or Professional Development Course + Teaching Fellowship + Second Year Paper
• Year 3: Take 1 course, Complete the Comprehensive Exams + Research Workshop and/or Professional Development Course + Teaching Fellowship + Dissertation Prospectus
• Years 4 and 5: Complete and defend dissertation

The above schedule can be used as a rule-of-thumb to measure one’s progress. Students who find themselves more than six months “off schedule” should discuss their status with the Director of Graduate Studies.

Leaves of Absence

Students must register for each (Fall/Spring) semester until all degree requirements are completed. However, upon a written petition, and for appropriate cause, a student will be permitted a leave of absence for up to two semesters. Leaves of absence beyond two semesters are granted only in exceptional cases and require the approval of GRS (see the Graduate School Bulletin for details). Time spent on leave is counted as part of the time allowed for the completion of degree requirements.  Given these time constraints, students should work closely with their dissertation readers to devise an efficient schedule for research, writing and revision. A leave cannot be approved for the semester before the student defends their dissertation.

Tactical Menu

College of Arts and Science

Truman School of Government and Public Affairs

Phd in political science, program overview .

Our program is organized into the traditional major subfields of political science (including American politics, public policy/administration, international relations and comparative politics).  Beyond that, we focus on a number of research cores on the cutting edge of political science research including race and ethnic politics, voting behavior, political movements, civil wars, American political institutions, and conflict management.  We offer comprehensive methodological training in quantitative techniques, formal modeling and game theory, and qualitative techniques (such as interviews and archival research).  Students are trained in state-of-the-art methodologies such as experiments, spatial econometrics, and techniques to collect and analyze big data (including automated data collection and text analysis).   We are looking for promising students to help us answer important research questions with the most advanced techniques.  

At Mizzou, we provide opportunities for collaborative research projects with faculty members who are experts in their area.  Our vibrant program  features professors who publish their research in top academic journals and university presses, edit leading journals in the discipline, and teach classes on advanced techniques at international methods institutes.  The result is that our PhD students consistently publish in top academic journals while in graduate school.  Nationally, it is somewhat rare to see students graduate with multiple publications, both solo and co-authored with faculty members; at Mizzou, it is the norm.   

Coursework in our program consists of small seminars, allowing for intensive study of political science concepts and research, close interaction with faculty, and individual attention to student progress. Advised by graduate faculty, students at MU are encouraged to become active scholars capable of conducting independent analysis and research of political and social phenomena. 

Mizzou Political Science maintains a low graduate student to faculty ratio, a commitment to student success, and a high rate of retention and graduation. 

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The COVID pandemic has been extremely hard on students, especially for students from the developing world, rural backgrounds, or from groups that are underrepresented in academia.  The significant disruptions caused by lockdowns, health issues, and local ordinances mean that it may be difficult to prepare for the GRE exam, or even travel to the testing facility.  In the interests of fairness, we have removed this requirement for applicants for the Fall 2024 admissions cycle.  We hope that this small step makes it easier for a diverse group of students to reach their goals at Mizzou.  

We don’t have minimum scores for the GRE.  As for the GRE averages, the above figure shows admitted students from a previous application cycle (circled) across quantitative and verbal percentiles (50th, 75th and 95th percentiles).  As you can see, higher GRE scores improve your chances of being admitted.  At the same time, it is not a perfect relationship.  Unlike other top schools, we prefer to take a comprehensive or holistic approach to evaluating applicants.  

Keep in mind that we have waived the GRE requirement for applicants for Fall 2023, so it your choice as to whether to provide GRE scores or not. 

The Truman School strives to be a diverse and inclusive environment where students are encouraged to pursue their research interests in vibrant intellectual community.  As such, we take a holistic approach to  admissions .  This means that we look for students with unique backgrounds, exceptional academic performance, research interests that overlap those of our faculty, strong letters of recommendation, and experience conducting political science research.  Exceptional performance in one area could certainly compensate for less experience in another. 

More specifically, the best personal statements are those that a) describe your post-PhD employment goals, b) lay out your skills and tools—such as experience with data analysis, statistical software, language skills, and conducting independent research—that will help you succeed in graduate school, and c) show why Mizzou’s graduate program appeals to you—this includes noting how your research interests overlap with those of our faculty. 

No, there is no need to secure a professor’s approval before noting in the personal statement that you would like to work with them.  If you would like to chat with a particular professor, contact the Director of Graduate Studies, Laron Williams, and he would be happy to establish the connection and get the conversation going. 

While having an MA helps demonstrate that you are familiar with the intellectual demands of graduate school, it is not a requirement for admission.  In fact, the majority of our PhD students choose to begin the program immediately after graduating from their undergraduate institution.  In short, we welcome applicants from all backgrounds: applying straight from undergrad, after pursuing an MA, and mid-career applicants. 

All Ph.D. students have graduate assistantships and receive a tuition waiver and a health insurance subsidy.  Remaining expenses include course fees which—depending on the number of credit hours—typically do not exceed $1,000 a semester.  

Our graduate student stipends are highly competitive (over $18,000) and quite generous when one factors in the low cost-of-living of Columbia ( example ).  Historically, our students have won multiple university fellowships that provide additional funding (often $11,000-16,000). 

The Truman School is also unique in guaranteeing funding for the five years it takes students to complete their PhD requirements, rather than make acquiring funding a competition between students.  We have found that our approach reduces student anxiety about their economic situation.  When students don’t compete with each other for their funding, they are free to build lasting friendships and connections.      

Graduate assistants typically work 20 hours a week as either a teaching assistant or a research assistant.  Graduate students in RA positions are paired with faculty members with similar research interests, so promising research assistantships often evolve into full-fledged co-authored projects.  Teaching assistant duties vary according to the class, sometimes involving mostly grading while other times involving leading discussion sections. We also have opportunities for students interested in applied policy research to work as an RA with the  Institute of Public Policy .   

Students are allocated to either TA or RA positions based on a mixture of departmental need and the strengths and preferences of students.  

Most of our PhD alumni work in academia as professors, so a critical part of the graduate training at Mizzou revolves around teaching.  The ideal sequence is for students to serve as teaching assistants in substantive courses for a few semesters and then become lab instructors.  As a lab instructor, TAs build teaching experience by providing one-on-one and small group instruction to a lab.  We also encourage students to pursue guest lecturing opportunities so that they can strengthen their teaching skills.  Moreover, our students have taken advantage of the additional training offered by the  Teaching for Learning Center  and the  Minor in College Teaching . 

Advanced graduate students are allowed to take the reins and teach their own independent courses.  The goal is for our graduates to have a diverse teaching portfolio of classes so that they can hit the ground running in their first post-graduation academic job.    

Yes!  The professors in the Truman School believe that a critical part of training graduate students is collaborating with them on  research projects .  So much of the research process can only be learned by getting your hands dirty, brainstorming with coauthors, and writing on interests that you share with faculty.  Graduate education is certainly less rewarding if you don’t have these experiences.  

These collaborative opportunities arise organically, and often come out of a research assistantship position or as the result of a research paper for a graduate course.  The result is that the vast majority of students go on the academic job market with multiple publications—often with faculty and other graduate students as coauthors—which places them in a stronger competitive position than their peers.  Nationally, it is somewhat rare for graduate students to have multiple publications; at Mizzou, it’s the norm. 

We expect our students to produce high-quality, innovative political science research, so we provide the funds that help them along the way.  We group these funds into three categories: 

• All students receive  funding  to attend and present at academic conferences.  Academic conferences are a great way to network with others who share your passions, stay current on cutting-edge research, and receive feedback on your own research projects.  We encourage students to begin attending smaller or regional conferences early on so that they are comfortable with presenting research at national conferences later on in the program.  
• For some students, their research and teaching interests require additional training.  This could include immersive language training in other countries or classes on advanced methodological topics.  For example, in the past few years, we have funded students to receive additional training on Political Psychology, qualitative methods, and a variety of quantitative methods at American and international summer schools.  
• During the research process, students often discover that their project requires data that has never been collected before.  Whether the data comes from fieldwork in other countries, through experiments, or surveys, we are happy to provide small grants to get the ball rolling. 

Students choose to spend their summers in a variety of ways, whether it is taking a course or two, doing fieldwork or original data collection, gaining language training in an immersive environment, or attending summer schools in methodologies.  These decisions are made by the student in consultation with their advisor and committee. 

Departmental assistantships are based on 10-month appointments (you can spread payments over 12 months), but there are limited opportunities for 1- to 2-month summer research assistantships.  Any student with a departmental assistantship receives a tuition waiver for summer classes. 

Full-time PhD students take three classes a week and each class meets for 2.5 hours once a week.  We make sure that these graduate courses don’t conflict with the undergraduate courses related to your teaching assistantship.  

Students select a primary and a secondary field out of American Politics, Comparative Politics, International Relations and Public Policy/Public Administration.  Students must take four classes from their primary field, three from their secondary field, and four methods classes.  Besides that, we encourage students to take classes outside of their two fields and outside of the Truman School.  For more information on these courses—as well as available syllabi— click here . 

Here is a rough outline of the 2.5 years of coursework. 

Year 1 

Fall  Methods Core I, Primary Core, Secondary Core 

Spring  Methods Core II, Substantive (Primary), Substantive (Secondary) 

Year 2 

Fall  Methods, Substantive (Primary), Elective from outside TSGPA 

Spring  Methods, Substantive (Primary), Substantive (Secondary) 

Year 3 

Fall  Methods, Core, Substantive (Primary) 

Spring  Comprehensive Examinations and Dissertation Proposal Defense 

Year 4 

Fall  Dissertation Research 

Spring  Dissertation Research 

Year 5 

Fall   Dissertation Research and Job Market 

Spring  

Core Courses:  each field has a broad seminar that introduces the fundamental topics and big questions in that field: Public Policy, Introduction to International Relations, and Introduction to Comparative Politics.  American Politics offers two core courses: American Political Behavior and American Political Institutions. 

Methods Courses:  each PhD student must take at least 13 hours of advanced methods courses.  The two core courses include Introductory Statistics for Political Science (and its 1-hour lab) in the Fall of Year 1, and Linear Models in Politics in the Spring of Year 2.  After that, students can take two other 3-hour courses on topics including Maximum Likelihood Estimation, Time Series Analysis, Formal Models, and Qualitative Research Methods.  Students are also encouraged to pursue methods training from other departments at Mizzou and at summer methods schools. 

Substantive Courses:  each field offers at least one substantive course per semester on an important topic in that field.  Click on this  link  to see the substantive courses we’ve offered in the last few years.   

Elective:  students are free to take classes outside of the Truman School at Mizzou.  Oftentimes students will want to gain expertise or learn some methodological skill that is found outside of political science.  In the past, students have taken courses in Black Studies, Statistics, Economics, Philosophy, Communications, and Sociology, to name a few. 

Comprehensive Examinations:  in the Spring of Year 3, students take comprehensive examinations in both their primary and secondary fields.  The examinations take place over two days (one for each field) and assess whether students understand the foundational research on big questions in their field.  After passing comprehensive examinations, students start writing their dissertation proposal. 

The Graduate Association of Political Scientists ( GAPS ) is the student organization for graduate students involved in political science degree programs.  It hosts monthly meetings with informational sessions, seminars on health and wellness, professional development activities, and social activities. 

GAPS also runs the Truman School’s mentoring program, which connects all first-year students with an advanced student in the program with similar research interests.  The mentors provide advice and guidance about how to navigate the PhD program.  We have found that this eases the transition to full-time graduate student and improves student retention. 

Since we recruit students from diverse backgrounds, there is considerable variance in students’ previous academic experiences.  To help the transition from undergraduate education (or full-time employment) to a PhD program, we provide a comprehensive professional development program.  The goal is to train students on all the tools and skills they’ll need to make the most out of the PhD program.  The professional development program is made up of three main components: 

• Boot camp :  This 3-hour graduate class (POLS 9010: Research Design and Analysis) is offered immediately prior to the start of the fall semester and is required for all first-year PhD students.  The primary objective of the course is to make sure that all students have the necessary skills to succeed in the first year of the program, regardless of their prior training or academic experiences.  The class provides a strong foundation in mathematics, statistics and probability theory so that students have the knowledge required for the methods sequence.  Other topics covered include professionalization, writing for a political science audience, the typesetting program LaTeX, and an introduction to Stata.  
• Methods workshops : 3-4 times a semester the Truman School offers a 2- or 3-hour methods workshop for graduate students.  The workshops focus on a topic that is not covered in our graduate methods sequence, but is useful for students wanting to produce high-quality research.  While these classes are typically taught by Mizzou faculty, we are happy to give advanced graduate students the opportunity to teach their peers in their area of expertise.  Over the last four years there have been almost 30 different workshops, ranging from Race and Ethnicity to Python, to Text Analysis and Network Analysis. 
• Mini-conferences : Presenting at academic conferences is a critical part of success in graduate school.  Of course, some people might be stressed at the thought of finishing their paper, producing their presentation, and presenting it in front of strangers.  We get it, as we were students at one point too.  To help our students become more comfortable with academic conferences, we host a number of mini-conferences through the year.  These mini-conferences typically take place about a month before a major political science conference and they give students the opportunity to practice presenting and receive feedback before they attend the conference.  We have found that presenting the project in a low-stress environment not only improves the overall research quality, but also puts students in the best chance to succeed. 

Degree Options 

Doctoral students identify a primary and a secondary field among four areas of study offered in the Political Science: 

• American Politics 
• Comparative Politics 
• International Relations 
• Public Policy and Administration 

The PhD program of study consists of 45 hours of graduate course work, including: 

• 12 hours in a primary field of study 
• 9 hours in a secondary field of study 
• 13 hours in methodology 

Up to 24 hours of courses from a student's master's program may be counted toward the doctoral degree, at the discretion of the student's doctoral committee. The doctoral degree requires a minimum of 72 hours of course credit including reading and research hours. 

Students typically take comprehensive exams in the spring of the third year. After passing the comprehensive examination, students work on independent research and a dissertation under the advisement of a doctoral committee.   

PhD Placement 

Our assistance to students doesn’t end when the student gets their PhD.  Each student pursuing a job on the academic job market goes through the placement program, where we review job market materials, discuss strategy, and offer interview prep.  We also offer seminars on how to succeed in non-academic careers, and have placed recent graduates in all levels of government, think tanks, and the private sector. 

The Truman School is extremely proud of its recent placement efforts (see below). In addition to placing students in tenure-track professor positions in research-dominated universities, we have an excellent track record in students gaining employment at small state universities and liberal arts colleges.  Professors in the latter type of universities can engage in their teaching passions while still having the opportunity to conduct research. 

Tenure-track Assistant Professor Placement Institutions: 

• Knox College
• Anderson University
• University of Louisiana-Lafayette
• Luther College
• Mount St. Mary's University
• Texas Tech University
• University of Macau
• University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley
• Lincoln University
• Baylor University
• State University of New York—Geneseo 
• University of South Carolina 
• Arkansas State University 
• University of Stavanger (Norway) 
• Georgia Southern University 
• University of Reading (UK) 
• University of South Carolina—Aiken 
• University of York (UK) 

Post-Doctoral Fellowships Placement Institutions: 

• Stanford University
• University of Kentucky
• Dartmouth College
• Korea University
• University of Georgia
• Ohio State University
• University of Gothenburg 
• Arizona State University 
• University of Copenhagen 
• Columbia University
• Vanderbilt University

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2024 Best Online PhD in Political Science Programs

An online PhD political science program may be a good fit for you if you’re interested in gaining an advanced understanding of public policy, governance, and political institutions.

This career path may allow you to participate in valuable research activities within an academic or government setting. You may also get the opportunity to teach political science students at a postsecondary level.

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By earning this advanced degree in political science, you may take advantage of the field’s positive job outlook and high annual salaries.

Universities Offering Online PhD in Political Science Degree Programs

Methodology: The following school list is in alphabetical order. To be included, a college or university must be regionally accredited and offer degree programs online or in a hybrid format.

California Baptist University

California Baptist University’s Doctor of Public Administration program requires 56 units for completion and can be finished in only 3 years. It’s a cohort-model program, and courses are delivered via 8 week courses. Graduating students should be able to address issues in a global context, using Christian ethics as a guide.

California Baptist University is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges Senior College and University Commission.

Liberty University

The PhD in Public Policy program at Liberty University is a 60 credit program that takes about 3 years to complete. The curriculum is delivered 100% online through a series of 8 week courses. There are optional specializations in foreign policy, education policy, social policy, economic policy, and national security policy.

Liberty University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.

National University

National University offers a Doctor of Public Administration program that requires the completion of 18 courses and can typically be completed in 41 months.

The program seeks to teach students how to evaluate current issues in public organizations, create practical strategies based on evidence-based research, and formulate domestic and global solutions to public policy issues.

National University is accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission.

Old Dominion University

The PhD in Public Administration and Policy program offered at Old Dominion University provides students with solid foundations in theory and issues surrounding public administration and public policy. Students learn to conduct policy analyses, conduct original research in public administration, report on their research, and assess policy and implementation issues.

Old Dominion University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.

Regent University

Regent University’s online PhD in Governement program will provide training in the study and practice of government. Students learn from specialized, field-specific coursework tailored to their interests and career goals with international development, international relations, security studies, and policy advocacy concentrations.

Regent University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.

Salve Regina University

Students interested in public policy and public administration at Salve Regina University can enroll in the school’s PhD in International Relations program. It’s the first program of its kind in the nation, and it seeks to “promote humanity and eliminate prejudice” by teaching students to have a more comprehensive, empathetic global worldview.

Salve Regina University is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.

Tennessee State University

Tennessee State University offers a PhD in Public Policy and Administration. The degree is available in a synchronous online format that enables students to continue working full-time. Some electives are asynchronous. Students in the program are given opportunities to conduct research and present their findings at scholarly conferences.

Tennessee State University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.

Valdosta State University

Valdosta State University’s Doctor of Public Administration program is a 54 credit program that can be taken online. It’s a good program for students interested in pursuing careers as public policy analysts, directors, specialists or consultants, public works directors, city managers, or professors. There are specific GRE and GPA requirements.

Valdosta State University  is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.

Walden University

Students in the PhD in Public Policy and Administration program at Walden University will take foundational, core, research, and dissertation-related courses. Students must also complete a doctoral capstone and four residencies to graduate. Available courses include foundations for doctoral studies, ethics and social justice, and strategic planning: collaboration, cooperation, and coordination.

Walden is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission.

West Chester University

West Chester University’s Doctor of Public Administration degree can be earned entirely online. There are four concentrations available in graduate social work, geography and planning, criminal justice, and public policy and administration. The curriculum focuses on policy advocacy and leadership, public sector financial and economic decision making, and strategic management.

West Chester University is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.

Online PhD in Political Science Programs

Earning a PhD in Political Science online may provide you with the opportunity to pursue advanced research and education related to governance, political systems, policy, and political theory.

This educational pursuit may contribute to a deeper understanding of international political relations and comparative politics. Your coursework may include a look at how politics operate in different countries around the world, including Russia, Eastern and Western Europe, Asia, and South America.

With a PhD in Political Science, you may be qualified for advanced positions in policy planning, development, and analysis. You may also evaluate and explain legislative and governance processes at a local, national, and international level.

Positions in research within a government institution, academic setting, or bipartisan think tank may be available to you as well. Areas of study in a PhD political science program may include comparative politics, American politics, international politics, economics, and national security.

Comparative politics emphasizes understanding the differences and nuances of political processes, policies, and institutions of different countries. American politics focuses on the study of the US specifically. This includes a look at the two-party political system, constitution, and impact of public policy on the population in the United States.

In most PhD programs, research is the cornerstone of the curriculum. As a result, you may be required to complete coursework to advance your research practices. This may include taking courses in qualitative and quantitative research methods related to political science.

Political Science Careers & Salaries

With a PhD in Political Science, you may be in a position to pursue advanced career paths in government, from local, state, and national politics to foreign policy and international relations.

You may also be qualified to become a member of faculty at various postsecondary institutions, acting as a professor or instructor. In this role, you may be responsible for the development of curriculum in relation to various political science topics as well as instructing students on those content areas.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics , there are several rewarding and lucrative careers in the field of political science .

Another common career for those with an online doctorate in political science is a researcher. Research positions may exist within government, academia, or business sectors.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, careers stemming from a PhD in Poli Sci are predicted to experience growth over the next ten years. This includes the positions of political scientists (6%), postsecondary teachers (9%), urban and regional planners (11%), and economists (14%).

PhD in Political Science Curriculum

Within political science PhD programs, the curriculum builds on the foundation of previous studies in master level programs and work experience in the field of poli sci.s

Courses may cover a range of political science, public policy, and public administration topics at national and international levels of politics.

• Public Administration : This course will give an advanced look at the development and implementation of public policies by various levels of government in America.
• Public Policy Analysis : You’ll examine the principles of analysis in relation to public policy and governance in American society and with consideration to population equity and globalization.
• American Political Parties : This course gives an in-depth analysis of the two-party political system in US politics, including the various roles within the parties, historical party performance, and ideological foundations.
• Political Theory : You’ll receive a comprehensive review of various political theories in relation to American politics throughout history, including social, revolutionary, progressive, and conservative politics.
• Comparative Politics : This course utilizes comparative and empirical methodologies to examine similarities and differences between various countries, populations, and concepts in relation to politics.
• International Law : In this course, you’ll get an in-depth look at contemporary issues, perspectives, and topics in relation to international law and public policy, including human rights, environment, and terrorism.
• Global Politics : This course is a review of international relations, globalization, and the global economy and its relationship to and impact on government and public policy.
• European Politics : You’ll explore public administration, political behavior, voting patterns, and policy in a European context.
• Qualitative Research Methods : You’ll learn qualitative research methods utilized in the discipline of political science and policy analysis.
• Quantitative Research Methods : This course is an examination of quantitative research methods and best practices in the field of political science.

Other course topics covered in a PhD political science degree program may include foreign policy, organizational behavior, feminism, racism, and political revolutions.

Admissions Requirements

Due to the advanced nature of political science PhD programs, you may be required to have the following before being accepted into a program:

• Masters degree : You may be required to submit proof that you have completed a master’s degree program at an accredited postsecondary institution to be accepted into a PhD program.
• Work experience : Some schools may require you to have previous work experience in government or policy-related career paths.
• Letters of recommendation : In many cases, PhD programs will request one or more letters of recommendation from former academic or workplace supervisors and colleagues.

Additional admission requirements—such as a complete CV or proof of funding for your PhD studies—may depend on the program and school you’re interested in applying to.

Accreditation

Regional accreditation verifies the academic quality of a postsecondary program. The accreditation status of a program not only impacts your ability to transfer credits from one institution to another but can also play an important role in the hiring decisions of an organization.

A program’s accreditation status may also impact your ability to register with various political science member-based associations. It may also influence your ability to receive adequate funding for your PhD studies. You can find out the accreditation status of programs you’re interested in attending through the US Department of Education ‘s website.

Financial Aid and Scholarships

Pursuing a PhD in Political Science may be a significant and costly undertaking. Luckily, financial aid options, like federal and state aid or scholarships, may help ease the financial aspect of your degree.

Due to the large amount of research that is undertaken as part of a PhD program, some postsecondary institutions offer full or partial funding for PhD students. The availability of school-based funding varies from one school to the next. In some cases, funding may be limited to program length.

For example, a school that has a PhD program that can be completed in 5 years with full-time study may only provide funding for 5 years. In that instance, no additional funding may be given if you require additional time to complete your PhD.

For more information about the financial aid options that may be available to you, you can visit the US Department of Education’s website and fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid .

What Can You Do with a PhD in Political Science?

With a PhD in Political Science, you may be able to pursue a career as a political scientist working in government, business, or nonprofit. You may also be able to develop a career as a policy analyst or economist.

Other common careers with a PhD in Political Science include researchers as well as professors or instructors at postsecondary institutions. Online PhD programs in political science may advance your career as a social scientist, urban or regional planner, and survey researcher.

How Long Does It Take to Get a PhD in Political Science?

A PhD in Political Science may generally take between 3 to 5 years to complete, depending on the program you choose to enroll in. Programs may be composed of a combination of courses, research, teaching placements, examinations, and the completion of a dissertation.

In some cases, PhD programs will set a maximum number of years for completion. This means that you must complete your coursework, research, and dissertation within that timeframe in order to ensure your eligibility to graduate.

Can You Get a PhD in Political Science?

Yes, you may pursue a PhD in Political Science. Other common doctoral degrees related to the field of political science include a PhD in Public Policy or a PhD in Public Administration.

While there is some overlap between political science, public policy, and public administration programs, some key differences exist in the areas of emphasis or concentration. Political science focuses on content related to structures of the political system, analysis of policy and events, and researching political behavior. Political science encompasses both public policy and public administration.

Public policy, as the name suggests, centers more specifically around the advanced study of public policy. Public administration focuses on the bureaucracy of politics, including the implementation of policy and processes.

Is a PhD in Political Science Worth It?

Yes, a doctorate in political science is worth it for many students. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, life, physical, and social science jobs are set to grow at 5% over the next 10 years, faster than the average for all occupations.

Common careers for political science PhD graduates in this field include professor, political scientist, researcher, policy analyst, and economist. With your completed degree, you may be able to find exciting career opportunities in government, business, academic, and nonprofit sectors.

Getting Your PhD in Political Science Online

Earning your PhD in Political Science through an accredited online program may provide you with lucrative and rewarding career options.

This field may offer the opportunities to lead social advocacy initiatives, plan and develop public policy, develop postsecondary political science curriculum, and instruct future political science professionals. Careers in various areas of political science are expected to experience growth over the next decade.

If you are interested in advancing your career in this field, it may be an advantageous time to pursue your PhD in Political Science.

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• Political Science /

PhD in Political Science

• Updated on  
• Apr 28, 2023

Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science, or Ph.D. in Political Science, is a doctoral-level course. This program lasts between one and three years, although, for part-time Political Science students, it can last up to five years. A wide range of topics, including human rights, international politics, political theory, political economics, and more, are covered in the Ph.D. program in political science.

This Blog Includes:

What is ph.d. in political science, ph.d. political science syllabus, 4 parts of a ph.d. program (political science), degree options in political science, ph.d. in political science: eligibility, ph.d. in political science: universities, top universities in india, application & admission, careers and jobs after ph.d. in political science, popular job profiles and salary.

The vast field and subfields of political science offer students the opportunity to delve deeper into myriad issues related to international politics, governance, public administration , international relations , history, and much more. In particular, the Ph.D. in Political Science program caters to the interests of those individuals who wish to venture into advanced fields such as Area Studies, Public Policy, Law, Human Rights, political psychology, violence and war studies, and even topics related to Business, Globalisation, Financial Economics, etc. It provides individuals with the necessary flexibility and background to develop and express ideas, conduct research through quantitative and qualitative method, and analyzes cross-effects among socio-economic-cultural factors. In this blog, we will share some important details pertaining to this doctorate program.  

Owing to the diverse range, subdivisions, and specializations, there are different types of degree options for a Ph.D. in Political Science [3-8 years] one can pursue. This includes the traditional PhD program which includes a comprehensive coursework curriculum, research projects, electives, practical training, fieldwork, and teaching practicum along with a host of other elements. In addition to that, one can also go for an integrated PhD , an MPhil/PhD as well as dual PhD degrees amalgamating two different disciplines such as communication and political science, international relations and journalism, diplomacy and communication, etc. All of the above courses gear up an individual for a career in research in the capacities of research assistant , teaching assistant, and researcher in academic institutions, international research organizations, political consultancies, and governments, amongst others.

Also Read: International Relations Courses

While the Ph.D. in Political Science program is largely subjective and the department/university may implement varied eligibility conditions, in general, to enter such Ph.D. courses , one is required to possess a high-standing MA in Political Science or master’s degree in a related discipline, for instance, MA History, etc along with prior research, paper publication, assistantships under a professor or even professional experience. Relevant teaching exposure is also encouraged. In a fair amount of universities worldwide, one can also enroll directly after completing a BA in Political Science with strong credentials.

Related Article: Political Science Syllabus

As you may already be aware, institutions in the Ivy League(USA), London School of Economics & Political Science (UK), University of Toronto (Canada), etc have cemented themselves as household names when it comes to pursuing a PhD in Political Science as well as other Political Science Courses . However, there are many emerging study-abroad destinations and options which have steadily gained rankings, have internationally recognized faculty, and offer vibrant avenues for building a strong career in political science , amongst others. Here we mention a few of them.

Read more about pursuing doctorate programs at different destinations: Ph.D. in Europe , Ph.D. in France , Ph.D. in Canada  

• Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi
• University of Hyderabad [UOH], Hyderabad
• Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI), New Delhi
• IIT, Gandhinagar
• Banasthali Vidyapith University, Jaipur
• University of Delhi
• Amity University

As for application procedure, universities offering a PhD in Political Science conduct admissions through two routes namely, the general online application as well as through approaching professors directly. To gain admission through the latter route, your research interests must align with that of your potential professor. Application materials may also include GRE and IELTS / TOEFL scores, Research Proposals, statements of Purpose (SOP), Letters of Recommendation (LOR), official transcripts, and CVs, amongst others.

Here is a list of popular careers in political science :

• Advocate/Organizer
• Budget Examiner or Analyst
• Banking Analyst or Executive
• Career Counselor
• Congressional Officer/Committee Staffer
• Civil Services (Indian Administrative Services, Indian Foreign Services)
• Political Scientist
• Legislative Assistant
• Secretary to government departments 
• Human Rights Activists
• Legal Adviser to Political Parties
• Election and Campaign Manager
• Teacher/ Professor 
• Politician 
• Policy Analyst
• Public Relations Specialist
• Public Affairs Research Analyst
• Foreign Service Officer
• Corporate Manager
• Immigration Officer

Must Read Political Science Books!

Ans: Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science, or Ph.D. Political Science, is a degree that falls within the umbrella of the arts.

Ans: CRET, RET, and PET are some of the common entrance exams for Ph.D. Political Science admission.

Ans: Students can get placements globally and also appear for Indian Civil Services, Market Trend Analyst, or Professor in educational institutions.

A Ph.D. in Political Science, being a heavily research-inclined program requires consistent efforts toward one’s R&D goals and interests. If you wish to pursue it or any other Ph.D. programs, consult the experts and mentors at Leverage Edu who will in order to fulfill your study abroad dream  

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Yes, you are eligible for PhD in Political Science!

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PhD (Doctorate of Philosophy) Political Science Colleges, JNU Admission, Syllabus, Salary 2024

Sushil Pandey

Senior Content Specialist

PhD in Political Science or Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science is a 1-3 years duration doctoral-level course in India. But probably, this duration gets extended for Part-time Political Science scholars up to 5 years. For regular, it is a maximum of 3 years.

The basic eligibility to take up a Doctoral in Political Science is holding a PG degree in allied arts discipline since Political Science comes under the aegis of Arts.

The candidates should also have a minimum of 55% in PG from a recognized institution in India with a good academic record if needed.

The PG course graduate candidates could get admission to these courses by taking up national or institute level entrance exams, counselling or interviews as made valid by the affiliated university.

Some institutions prefer to track the candidate’s academic records and other related info after entrance exam qualification. NET is the most common entrance for this doctoral course. CRET, RET, and PET are the common entrance exams conducted by a variety of institutions in order to admit the candidates.

Few familiar subjects taught under this PhD course are Research Methodology, State and Politics in South Asia, Governance and Politics in India, Decentralisation and Development in India, and India and International Political Economy.

The cost of this doctoral in Political Science spans in the range of INR 25,000 to 5,00,000 depending upon the admitting university and institution.

After completing this course, the highest salary offered to the candidate is expected to be around INR 10,00,000 per annum. The minimum starting PhD Political Science salary for candidates is expected to be around INR 4,00,000 per annum.

After completing this course, a candidate can work in fields like education, media and journalism, civil services, political firms, along with various government sector offices.

Most familiar posts that any PhD Political Science scholars are offered are Political Scientist, Market trend Research Analysts, Professor, Public Relations Specialists, and Survey Researchers.

PhD Political Science: Course Highlights

PhD in Political Science: What is it About?

PhD in Political Science covers all the aspects of the political science area in which the candidate has chosen to do the research. The overall description of the course is given below:

• This course demands a detailed knowledge of Indian politics and the political whereabouts of other related countries with reference to Governance, Community Empowerment, Economy, Decentralisation and Development in India.
• These subjects will be distributed yearly depending upon the chosen mode of education like regular or part-time.
• The candidates will have to decide on which topic they want to do the research. The candidates will be provided more guidance on the chosen topics.
• The students will have to conduct case studies on Indian Economy and politics and showcase the results of these case studies in their thesis.
• After completing this course, the candidates could apply for the post-doctorate degree under Political Science.

Why Study a PhD in Political Science?

Majority of the PG graduates have their choice towards the PhD Political Science because of the following reasons:

• Research Opportunities: PG candidates tend to have their passion and interest towards the Indian Politics, economy and its development. Thus, a doctoral degree will be giving them ample research opportunities and the expertise in their interested discipline.
• Scope for funded projects: The doctoral holder in Political Science increases their chances of getting governmental and non-governmental funding to undertake the research.
• Good Annual CTC: Usually, PG graduates in Political Science receive lesser CTC annually because of the lack of research skills and expertise. But, PhD Political Science holders tend to receive better CTC annually of around 10 Lakhs since they have a variety of research skills and expertise pertaining to the politics and Indian Economy.
• Scope for Abroad studies: Because of holding one of the most reputed degree in the discipline and exposed to continuous knowledge gathering in many countries’ politics, these doctoral holders have chance to get placed or work in many foreign countries.
• Scope to work in polling companies: Because of being the experts in Indian and other countries’ politics, these candidates could work in the polling companies that decide the leadership in some countries.

PhD Political Science Admission Process

As PhD is expected to be a very tough course, many educational institutions prefer entrance exams-based admission over the merit-based admissions.

• Institutions like IIT, Gandhinagar and Amity University, Noida take personal interviews of the candidates even after entrance exams and scrutiny of academic track records.
• Some Institutions have their own entrances like Delhi University (DU), New Delhi . While others prefer common entrance exams like RET and PET.
• NET and JRF qualified candidates will not have to appear for any individual institution level entrance exams. But, they will still have to appear for a personal interview round if required.

Entrance Based Admission Process

• Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, University of Hyderabad [UOH], Hyderabad, and Banasthali Vidyapith University, Jaipur conduct the entrance exam alone and shortlist the candidates based on that score.
• After the results of entrance examinations are announced, candidates will have to go through the counseling process to finalize their seats.
• The minimum academic eligibility required to appear in the entrance exam and get admitted to the course is 55% marks at masters level.
• Universities like Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI), New Delhi conduct a personal interview round even after the entrance exams and counseling process.
• These institutions never consider academic performances during the whole admission process of a doctorate degree in Political Science. The admission is given solely on the basis of marks scored in the entrance exam.
• But in certain institutions like IIT Gandhinagar and Amity University, Noida, both previous academic records and the entrance exam scores are given equal importance.
• These institutions designate the minimum marks in PG/UG to be around 80% per cent or 8.0 CGPA towards the admission of PhD. Political Science degree.

Basic steps towards the PhD Political Science 2024 admission are listed below:

• Create the account and login ID through the official website of the institution/ exam conducting body with the correct contact number and email ID.
• Download and read the course/entrance brochure to be aware of the important dates.
• Keep all the scan copies of the mandated documents handy.
• Apply to the colleges and entrance exams by filling the application forms correctly with genuine details. Your application may get rejected later if you fill false details.
• Post qualification of the entrance exam and academic background verification, candidates will be called for a personal interview.
• Those who qualify all the steps will be granted admission to the course.
• PhD is also aided/funded under a variety of funded schemas/fellowships. Hence, the candidates needing financial assistance should apply for the same.

Read the full list of top political science colleges in New Delhi.

PhD Political Science Eligibility

Majority of the art institutions have plenty of selection criteria/basic eligibility for admitting the candidates into PhD Political Science. These eligibility criteria include:

• The candidates facing their PhD Political Science admission should possess at least 55% in PG/UG from any of the recognizable institutions in the nation.
• Central universities and other esteemed arts colleges set the minimum eligible marks in PG/UG to be around 80%.
• Academic excellence and research expertise are the factors considered by some institutions in India towards the PhD Political Science admission.

PhD Political Science Entrance Exams

Majority of the institutions consider entrance-based admissions in place of merit-based admission. Common entrance exams in many Indian institutions include:

• RET 2024: RET could be abbreviated as Research Entrance Test. This entrance exam is being administered by the University of Calcutta, Kolkata towards the admission of research scholars in Political Science.
• PET 2024: PET could be abbreviated as PhD Entrance Test. This entrance is conducted for the PhD admission by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University (BAMU), Aurangabad.
• UGC NET 2024: UGC NET stands for University Grants Commission (UGC) National Eligibility Test. This entrance exam is conducted by UGC under the Government of India towards the admission process of many courses including PhD in Political Science. Qualification of this exam alone can exempt you from many entrance exams conducted all over the nation.
• CRET 2024: CRET stands for Combined Research Entrance Test. This entrance exam is conducted every year by  Assam University, Silchar towards the admission of MPhil and PhD programs.
• DUET 2024: DUET stands for Delhi University Entrance Test. DUET exam conduct is done every year by Delhi University, New Delhi towards its research program related admissions.

How do you strategize your Preparation for the PhD Political Science entrance exams?

Anyone who wishes to clear the PhD political Science entrance exams should be aware of the following sections like:

• English Language
• Reasoning and quantitative parts if needed
• Major technical parts in social studies and politics in India.

Points to recall before the entrance exams:

• Be ready for the Advanced level of the English Language including the UG level.
• Practice the numerical well enough to gain expertise in solving the numerical sections wholly.
• Many complex levels of reasoning skills could be improved after analytical skills thorough.
• Go through the major political events including both pre and post era of independence in India.
• Go through the Constitution of India, article by article, with reference to its enforced purpose.
• Update yourself with all notifications from the taken-up entrance exams.

How to get admission in a good PhD Political Science college?

The points that might help you are listed one by one below.

• Download the admission and application info documents of the preferred college/university where the admission is sought.
• Do strategize your action plans for the entrance exams well before the intended entrance exam.
• Be aware of all the sections of the opted entrance exams.
• Do remember that some institutions make the PhD Political Science admission, a very critical one. So, match with your academic soundness.
• Be keen on the time taken for the numericals since the candidates who will do good in the mathematical sections will have higher chances of success.
• Practice mock tests to get familiarized with the actual exam pattern.

PhD Political Science Syllabus

Subjects in this PhD Political Science get distributed across the whole duration as listed below.

PhD in Political Science Books

Following reference books cover the 5 major subjects in the PhD Political Science.

PhD Political Science Colleges

There are 213 institutions (110 Governmental and 103 Private institutions) that offer political Science specialized doctoral courses in India. Out of these 213 institutions, 47 of the institutions come under the 2021 rankings of NIRF released everywhere by MHRD to recognize top most governmental and private educational institutions.

Thus, we tabulate both the top governmental and non-governmental institutions below.

Source: College Websites

PhD Political Science College Comparison

We make the comparison below pertaining to the topmost colleges providing PhD in Political Science in India.

Source: College Websites and NIRF database

PhD in Political Science Course Comparison

We depict a comparison between PhD Political Science and PhD Engineering below.

Source: College Websites and Payscale

PhD Political Science Job Prospects and Career options

Research scholars, after successful completion of PhD Political Science, get placed majorly in the industry wherein the knowledge of Indian Economy, Politics, developments are perquisites.

Most common roles that PhD Political Science holders can have are Market trend Research Analysts; Political Scientist; Public Relations Specialists; Survey Researchers; and Research Analysts. The average earned by these doctorate holders ranges from INR 5 LPA to 15 LPA.

Political and research/analyzing associated roles are offered from firms like NDTV, Transoplanet, Times of India, Pollstar |, QuisLex, India Today, Oxynello, etc.

Some favourite job roles for PhD Political Science and its respective salary are given below.

Source: PayScale

PhD Political Science Scope

Some of the futuristic scope that PhD Political Science could be benefited are as follows:

• Further Research: PhD Political Science candidates can take part in further research both in India and abroad.
• Political analysts and leadership: Since the political natures and economies of Indian and other countries are dealt under this discipline, the doctorate holders gain immense knowledge and skills related to leadership that might trigger and aid them in becoming a political analyst, and sometimes even political leaders in future.
• Scope for Civil Services in India: Since plenty of historical events pertaining to Indian Economy and Politics are gained through PhD Political Science, the candidates could fancy their chances to crack the Civil Services exams like UPSC because of few similarities in the syllabus of it.
• Economic Strategist: Any country strives to improve its economy in some way or other. Thus, it creates the demand for PhD Political Science holders all over the globe.
• Market requirements: PhDs in Political Science become expertise in the majority of the top economies through their research experience, thus it becomes usual for them to get placed in the market trend investigating firms.

PhD Political Science FAQs

Ques. What does a PhD Political Science stand for?

Ans. PhD Political Science stands for Doctorate of Philosophy in Political Science coming under the aegis of arts.

Ques. Which is the topmost institution offering PhD Political Science?

Ans. Presidency College located at Chennai is the topmost ranked (NIRF 2021) institution offering PhD Political Science.

Ques. What are the common entrance exams for PhD Political Science admission?

Ans. CRET, RET, and PET are the common entrance exams for PhD Political Science admission.

Ques. Which sectors are paying well for PhD Political Science?

Ans. Markets trending analyzing, teaching, and polling sectors are the sector that is paying the PhD in Political Science with good compensation.

Ques. What is the significance of taking PhD Political Science courses in India?

Ans. The significance of pursuing a PhD Political Science degree in India is that it makes one expert and leader in the arena of Politics and Economy.

Ques. What are the options after does PhD Political Science?

Ans. PhD Political Science holders could get placed globally, get placed in Indian Civil Services, market trend analyzer in markets, and Professor in the educational institution.

Ques. Which eligibility test exempt the candidates from appearing in many entrance exams?

Ans. National Eligibility Test (NET) is the national level entrance exams that exempt the candidates from appearing in majority of the entrance exams conducted by the India institutions.

Ques. List some top governmental institutions offering PhD Political Science?

Ans. Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI), and University of Hyderabad [UOH] are the top governmental institutions offering PhD Political Science.

Ques. List some top private institutions offering PhD Political Science?

Ans. Amity University and Banasthali Vidyapith University are the topmost private institutions offering PhD Political Science

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2 Reviews found

University of Hyderabad : A natural campus full with academic rigour

Loan/ scholarship provisions :.

There is no specific rate of hike. But in the last three years, they have increased the fees by 500. So it's almost 5000 per semester. In total, it's 25,000 per semester including food charges. One scholarship for master's students: 1000 per month. For PhD if you JRF then it's done or you will get 8,000 per month. There are good placements.

Campus Life :

The name of the big annual fest is Sukoon. But there are many other cultural fests that happen during the whole year. Liberation is very rich. The online database is also so big. Classrooms have projectors and speakers and screens. Sports infra is so well maintained and huge. Many social groups and clubs are here including reading circles.

Student's Review On Ravenshaw University - [RU], Cuttack

This is one of the best University of Odisha.Everybody wants a good university for his/her pH.d course. So I thought that this university will definitely give me a perfect platform. Feeling so proud to be a part of this university.

Placement Experience :

In pH.d course,no placement is there.one must complete the required qualifications to get into the job.Campus selection is there in Ravenshaw.But not for those with pH.d in arts subjects.Many notable alumni are there

Ph.D. (English)

Ph.d. (economics), ph.d. (history), m.phil. (english), ph.d. (hindi), ph.d. (political science) colleges in india.

IIT Madras - Indian Institute of Technology - [IITM]

National Law University - [NLU]

Amity University

Lovely Professional University - [LPU]

Jamia Millia Islamia University-[JMI]

Banaras Hindu University - [BHU]

Acharya Nagarjuna University - [ANU]

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This subreddit is for anyone who is going through the process of getting into graduate school, and for those who've been there and have advice to give.

What range of political science PhD programs could I get into?

Undergraduate major: political science, economics, mathematics

Undergraduate GPA: 3.8 (approximately 3.9, 3.9, 3.6 by major)

Undergraduate institution: 40-60 state public school; approximately top 10-20 political science grad program, 25-35 Econ, and not sure about math

No graduate degree

Graduate classes (as an undergraduate): 2 PhD political science seminars (A,A-), PhD Math for Econ (survey of metric spaces, topology, and measure theory, A), PhD Macro 1 (part 1 of 4 part first year sequence, B-), Masters microeconomics (A), graduate Topology (A), PhD econometrics 1 (audit)

Other Math and stats (undergraduate): Real analysis (A-, B+ or A-), Abstract algebra (B+,B+), Math Stats (B, B+), Linear Algebra (A-), econometrics (A,A; not calc or linear algebra based)

GRE (Q,V,W): 159, 156, 4.5

Teaching experience: tutoring

Research experience: currently RA for polisci prof for 1.5 years and counting (currently working a coauthored project)

Writing sample: if I had to apply right now it would be a term paper from an Econ research seminar, but it's not good (bad theory and identification)

Letters of Recommendation: prof I'm RAing for (just got tenure, top 5 graduate programme). From here it is inbetween: Econ prof I took research seminar with (tenured; wrote me a rec for other positions), polisci prof I took for grad seminar (got an A, seemed impressed by my potential at the time), other Econ and polisci profs I've taken classes with and talked about my research interests with

Programming: R (have used some, need more practice)

This is my profile as of right now, 1.5 out of undergrad (I've been working in an unrelated job since). I have not included anything that can change between now and December.

My main concerns: subpar grades in important math classes and a glaring B- in grad macro (these are bad signals and they hurt my GPA), not a lot of independent research experience (I would need to write something between now and application season to use as a writing sample), not to prestigious of an undergrad program, longish break between undergrad and grad school, bad GRE scores

What do you think?

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PhD Political Science: Course Details, Eligibility, Admission, Fees

Ph.D Political Science course is a three to five-year-long doctorate degree that deals with the regard to Governance, Community Empowerment, Economy, Decentralisation, and Development in India, Upon the completion of the course, graduates can start with job roles such as Professor, Consultant, Manager, Researcher, and Assistants.

PhD Political Science Course Details

About PhD Political Science

PhD Political Science Duration is three to five years. With the theories and tactics used in India's political arena. Politics' strategies and history are also adequately covered. The course falls under the umbrella of a PhD course .

According to Wikipedia “PhD in Political Science or politology, is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behaviour, and associated constitutions and laws.”

Table of Contents

• PhD Political Science Eligibility Criteria
• PhD Political Science Admission Process
• Popular PhD Political Science Entrance Exams
• Top PhD Political Science Colleges in India
• Fees Structure for PhD Political Science

Syllabus and Subjects for PhD Political Science

• Why Choose PhD Political Science ?

Preparation Tips for PhD Political Science

• PhD Political Science Salary
• Career Options After PhD Political Science
• Skills to Excel

Eligibility Criteria for PhD Political Science

Only those candidates who meet the eligibility standards for PhD Political Science in India are admitted. Some colleges require students to hold a master's degree with a 60 percent average. There are no age restrictions. Students must also take the course's mandatory entrance exam.

How To Get Admission in PhDPolitical Science?

PhD Political Science programs can be obtained either on the basis of merit or through direct admissions. Filling out the candidate's information in a form, either online or offline, is part of the admissions process. The following is a general description of the admissions process:

How to Apply?

Admissions applications can be obtained via the University website or by visiting the admissions office, according to the guidelines. Students must ensure that they meet the qualifying standards for the best universities for PhD Political Science in India. After that, complete the registration form by entering the necessary information. The PhD Political Science information will also be available on the website.

Selection Process

PhD Admission in Political Science in India is only available to students who meet the eligibility requirements. The list of selected candidates will be notified of the outcome and the next steps in the admission process via the college's official website or by email. PhD in Political Science course details are available on the official website.

Who Should Pursue a PhD Political Science?

This course is ideal for PG candidates who have a passion and interest in Indian Politics, the economy and its development. Thus, a doctoral degree will be giving them ample research opportunities and expertise in their interested discipline.

When To Do PhD Political Science?

The course is ideal for the students to pursue upon the completion of their postgraduate degree. Students with work experience will find it much easier to understand the concepts in the course. It is also vital for the students to ensure that they give the required entrance exam for the course.

Types of PhD Political Science

Given below are all the information that the students need to have regarding the types of PhD Political Science course:

Full-Time PhD Political Science

A full-time PhD Political Science degree is a 1-3 years duration doctoral-level course in India. The primary reason students may choose to pursue a full-time study instead of a part-time or distance study is that it enables them to gain all the experience and exposure in person. Additionally, they are able to meet their peers and teachers in person as well.

Part-Time  PhD Political Science

The part-time PhD Political Science course is designed for students who cannot attend regular classes. Part-time courses either entail weekend or night classes or online classes, depending on the type of course. The advantage of the part-time PhD Political Science course is that students can pursue this course while simultaneously being engaged in employment, research, etc.

Distance PhD Political Science

Many universities and colleges in India offer the Distance PhD Political Science course. The course is designed keeping the Distance Education methodology in mind. This course is designed for students who cannot afford to attend classes on-campus or those engaged in some form of employment and cannot take time out to pursue a full-time course.

Popular Entrance Exams for PhD Political Science

Entrance tests are required for admission for PhD Political Science in India. Short-listed candidates will be invited to an interview based on their performance in the written test, which is the qualifying exam. The following are the most popular exams for which most candidates apply for admission in PhD Political Science:

A Quick Glance at the PhD Political Science Entrance Exam

Students must pass an entrance exam administered by the colleges in order to be considered for a PhD Political Science in India. Short-listed candidates will be invited to an interview based on their performance in the written test, which is the qualifying exam. The following is a standard format for students' admission exams:

• Students must ensure that they fulfil all the required qualifications to ensure eligibility. 
• All test papers will be entirely objective. 
• It is a Computer-Based Test (Online)
• There are around 100-150 questions in the exams
• There is no negative marking for incorrect answers.
• One mark is awarded for the correct answers.

Top 10 PhD Political Science Colleges in India

PhD Political Science is available as a course in a variety of institutions. Students can select from a variety of PhD Political Science universities in India based on their interests and qualifications. The list of courses in India includes both private and public colleges in the country.

Fee Structure for PhD Political Science

PhD Political Science fees range from INR 1,000 to 10,000 PA. This range depends on the college or university. Below listed are the fees structure of some PhD Political Science colleges in India:

Pursuing a PhD Political Science in India is significant since it qualifies one as an expert or leader in the fields of politics and economics. There are both core and elective subjects in the curriculum. Listed below are some of the popular subjects that are taught to the students:

• Approaches and Perspectives on the Indian Political System
• Decentralisation and Development in India Party System in India
• Empowerment Protection for Minorities and Deprived Groups
• Governance and the Structure of Local Political Institutions

Read More: PhD Political Science Syllabus and Subjects

Why Choose PhD Political Science?

Students often think about the details of the subject before choosing the course. Before deciding on a career, students might come across these questions, “what is a PhD in Political Science?”, “how to do a PhD in Political Science?” and “how to get a PhD in Political Science?”. To clearly understand answers to these questions, we have framed the following three pointers:

What is PhD Political Science all About?

PhD Political Science is an important and helpful course that provides them with several research chances as well as experience in their chosen field. These candidates could work in polling companies that decide the leadership in some nations because they are specialists in Indian and other countries' politics.

What Does a PhD Political Science Graduate Do?

PhD Political Science is an important and helpful course that provides comprehensive job openings in various fields. Pursuing a PhD in Political Science in India is significant since it qualifies one as an expert and leader in the fields of politics and economics. 

Political Scientist: Political Scientist necessitates a thorough understanding of Indian politics, as well as the political landscapes of other comparable countries, with a focus on Governance, Community Empowerment, Economy, Decentralisation, and Development in India. 

Reasons Why PhD Political Science Can Fetch You a Rewarding Career?

This course is designed to create academic researchers as well as professionals who are capable of conducting various interdisciplinary perspectives. It is a great course for students who wish to pursue a career in politics and have an interest in research.

Career Scope and Options: Fresh graduates of the PhD Political Science courses have various jobs that are available at the foundation level. Essential on-the-job training is provided to the candidates, to ensure every part that is included in the process can be learned by the candidate.

Read More: PhD Political Science Job Opportunities & Scope

PhD Political Science Course Comparison

PhD Political Science is typically catered to students interested in and inclined towards humanities and social sciences. Below is a comparison of the PhD Political Science course with other courses:

PhD Political Science vs PhD Public Administration

The table below showcases the differences between PhD Political Science and PhD Public Administration:

Some of the course preparation tips for the PhD Political Science courses are listed below:

Time Management: For effective preparation and management of your PhD, you should consider writing a schedule early on in your research. It may even be possible to start before you commence your PhD.

Invest in Research Books: Reference books are a vital source of information for students who want to pursue a research career. They can help students navigate difficult topics with ease.

Build Relationships with Peers: Early on in the aspirant’s preparation for a PhD, developing effective working relationships with several key people is important.

Plan Your Research: At the start of the PhD, it'll be useful to plan the main topic and areas of research. It is valuable to grow to be more informed about the research field. 

Salary of a PhD Political Science Graduate

The average PhD Political Science salary in India according to Payscale is INR 5- 10 LPA for freshers. The salaries and annual earnings depend on the specific kind of practice and performance, expertise, and other related aspects. Students can further change this salary by obtaining a higher education and experience.

Read More:  Ph.D Political Science Salary

Career Options After a PhD Political Science

Graduates of the PhD Political Science program can work in a variety of fields. Graduates can work in both the public and private sectors. It also has a teaching position available. Some of the jobs available to PhD in Political Science graduates include 

Skills That Make You The Best PhD Political Science Graduate

The people are enthusiastic about Political Science and hope to pursue it as a career in the future. With its wide-ranging and in-depth subject content, the PhD Political Science is designed to assist students to achieve their goals. Some of the talents required are as follows: 

• Analytical Skill
• Critical Thinking Skill
• Communication Skill
• Ability to Manipulate precise and intricate ideas

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A scientist, a leftist and a former Mexico City mayor. Who is Claudia Sheinbaum?

Who is Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico’s future first female president?

Ruling party presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum greets supporters after the National Electoral Institute announced she held an irreversible lead in the election in Mexico City, early Monday, June 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

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Presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum arrives at her closing campaign rally at the Zocalo in Mexico City, Wednesday, May 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

A supporter of presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum takes a selfie with a campaign poster during Sheinbaum’s closing campaign rally at the Zocalo in Mexico City, Wednesday, May 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Ruling party presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum leaves the polling station where she voted during general elections in Mexico City, Sunday, June 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Ruling party presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum shows her ID as she leaves a polling station where she voted during general elections in Mexico City, Sunday, June 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Claudia Sheinbaum, who will be Mexico’s first woman leader in the nation’s more than 200 years of independence, captured the presidency by promising continuity.

The 61-year-old former Mexico City mayor and lifelong leftist ran a disciplined campaign capitalizing on her predecessor’s popularity before emerging victorious in Sunday’s vote, according to an official quick count. But with her victory now in hand, Mexicans will look to see how Sheinbaum, a very different personality from mentor and current President Andrés Manuel López Obrador , will assert herself.

While she hewed close to López Obrador politically and shares many of his ideas about the government’s role in addressing inequality, she is viewed as less combative and more data driven.

Sheinbaum’s background is in science. She has a Ph.D. in energy engineering. Her brother is a physicist. In a 2023 interview with The Associated Press, Sheinbaum said, “I believe in science.”

Observers say that grounding showed itself in Sheinbaum’s actions as mayor during the COVID-19 pandemic, when her city of some 9 million people took a different approach from what López Obrador espoused at the national level.

While the federal government was downplaying the importance of coronavirus testing, Mexico City expanded its testing regimen. Sheinbaum set limits on businesses’ hours and capacity when the virus was rapidly spreading, even though López Obrador wanted to avoid any measures that would hurt the economy. And she publicly wore protective masks and urged social distancing while the president was still lunging into crowds.

Over 50 countries go to the polls in 2024

• The year will test even the most robust democracies. Read more on what’s to come here .
• Take a look at the 25 places where a change in leadership could resonate around the world.
• Keep track of the latest AP elections coverage from around the world here.

Mexico’s persistently high levels of violence will be one of her most immediate challenges after she takes office Oct. 1. On the campaign trail she said little more than that she would expand the quasi-military National Guard created by López Obrador and continue his strategy of targeting social ills that make so many young Mexicans easy targets for cartel recruitment.

“Let it be clear, it doesn’t mean an iron fist, wars or authoritarianism,” Sheinbaum said of her approach to tackling criminal gangs, during her final campaign event. “We will promote a strategy of addressing the causes and continue moving toward zero impunity.”

Sheinbaum has praised López Obrador profusely and said little that the president hasn’t said himself. She blamed neoliberal economic policies for condemning millions to poverty, promised a strong welfare state and praised Mexico’s large state-owned oil company, Pemex, while also promising to emphasize clean energy.

“For me, being from the left has to do with that, with guaranteeing the minimum rights to all residents,” Sheinbaum told the AP last year.

In contrast to López Obrador, who seemed to relish his highly public battles with other branches of the government and also the news media, Sheinbaum is expected by many observers to be less combative or at least more selective in picking her fights.

“It appears she’s going to go in a different direction,” said Ivonne Acuña Murillo, a political scientist at Iberoamerican University. “I don’t know how much.”

Sheinbaum will also be the first person from a Jewish background to lead the overwhelmingly Catholic country.

Follow the AP’s coverage of global elections at: https://apnews.com/hub/global-elections/