Celebrating 75 Years of Excellence in Political Science
On April 1, the Department will host a special celebration to mark our 75th anniversary at UConn.
The UConn Department of Political Science studies how the political process shapes the choices we face as a community.
We offer academic programs that bridge the humanities and social sciences. Our cutting-edge research reflects our commitment to methodological and intellectual openness and diversity. Our community provides a bedrock for academic exploration and intellectual engagement at the University.
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Students can pursue a major, minor, or fast-track master's in political science.
Graduates
Our department offers Ph.D., master's degree, and graduate certificate options.
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News
- Student Successes: Early Spring 2023Yejie Kim and Jessica Cross along with IIREP MA student Gregory Franklin, Jr. had papers accepted to the NEPSA 2023 conference in April Bianka Adamatti was awarded the 2023 Master’s Thesis Award from the Conference of Southern Graduate Schools (CSGS). The award is given each year in four different disciplinary categories on a rotating basis. […]Posted on February 22, 2023
- Faculty Achievements: Early Spring 2023Talbot Andrew’s paper, Preferences for prevention: People assume expensive problems have expensive solutions won the award for best paper published in Risk Analysis in 2022. Prof. Andrews also had new work coauthored with a large international team studying climate impacts, published in iScience: Adaptation to compound climate risks: A systematic global stocktake. Finally, she talked […]Posted on February 22, 2023
- Graduate Students to Present at NEPSA Annual MeetingGregory Franklin, Jr., Jessica Cross, and Yejie Kim will present papers at the 2023 Annual Meeting of the New England Political Science Association (NEPSA) in April.Posted on January 30, 2023
Upcoming Events
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Mar
21
POLS Presentation: Advisors in Foreign Policy12:20pm
POLS Presentation: Advisors in Foreign Policy
Tuesday, March 21st, 2023
12:20 PM - 01:25 PM
Storrs Campus OAK 408
Presentation and talk by Joshua Kertzer of Harvard UniversityContact Information: Jessamy Hoffmann
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Mar
21
Joshua Kertzer Presentation: Advisers and Aggregation in Foreign Policy Decision-Making12:20pm
Joshua Kertzer Presentation: Advisers and Aggregation in Foreign Policy Decision-Making
Tuesday, March 21st, 2023
12:20 PM - 01:25 PM
Storrs Campus OAK 408
Tuesday, March 21
12:20-1:25 pm | Oak 408
Streamed at https://uconn-cmr.webex.com/meet/mas07010
Free and Open to the PublicContact Information: matthew.m.singer@uconn.edu
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Mar
21
Presentation: "The Coloniality of Law in the US and Brazilian Indigenous Peoples' Contexts"3:00pm
Presentation: "The Coloniality of Law in the US and Brazilian Indigenous Peoples' Contexts"
Tuesday, March 21st, 2023
03:00 PM - 05:45 PM
Storrs Campus Dodd Conference Room 162
How and why does law undermine Indigenous rights in the USand Brazil? Legal rules and legal adjudication enable a broad
range of deprivations in Indigenous rights to continue the
colonial project.Contact Information: jane.gordon@uconn.edu
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Mar
22
Middle East Studies Colloquium: Activism in War: How International Aid Shapes Nonviolent Action in Violent Contexts12:15pm
Middle East Studies Colloquium: Activism in War: How International Aid Shapes Nonviolent Action in Violent Contexts
Wednesday, March 22nd, 2023
12:15 PM - 01:15 PM
Storrs Campus Virtual - Zoom
Co-sponsored by the Department of Political Science and HRI’s Human Rights Research and Data Hub
Register in advance for this meeting:
https://uconn-edu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0tf-irqDgiGNJXCJQu51tK5oafTjRmBtAD
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
How and why do international aid actors connect with local actors during crises, and with what consequences? I theorize that international aid actors forge social, behavioral, and material relations with local actors to achieve their objectives in crisis response. In so doing, they generate change in nonviolent activism, constituting activists as “capable” and organized crisis responders. This means, concurrently, that international aid actors enable wartime activism to persist even in the depths of violence. I process trace to build this theory in the Syrian war. Evidence of its observable implications comes from immersion and interviews with Syrians and international actors in neighboring countries, and an original dataset of Facebook pages representing activist organizations. Findings related to post-protest and non-rebel-facing action, and the constitutive power of humanitarian actors, contribute to understandings of wartime agency and the international dimensions of internal conflicts.Contact Information: jessamy.hoffmann@uconn.edu
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Mar
29
POLS Internship Open House3:00pm
POLS Internship Open House
Wednesday, March 29th, 2023
03:00 PM - 04:30 PM
Storrs Campus OAK 408
POLS Internship Open House
Looking for an internship? This event provides you with an opportunity to meet and connect with representatives from several internship sites. This is not a recruiting event, but rather an opportunity to receive information and ask questions on popular internships related to the fields of law, politics, crime and justice, and public policy.
Tentative list includes: The CT Legislative Internship Program, the CT Judicial Branch Experiential Learning Program, Perception Programs, Inc., the Connecticut Business and Industry Association (CBIA), the Office of Senator Chris Murphy, the Office of Representative Joseph Courtney, the Connecticut League of Conservation Voters, and the London Program through Experiential Global Learning
Representatives from the Center for Career Development will also provide information on resources they offer for landing that perfect internship.Contact Information: kimberly.bergendahl@uconn.edu
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Here in the POLS Department, we are excited to spotlight three amazing POLS major and their accomplishments both inside and outside the school community. We are so proud of them, as well as every POLS major going above and beyond. ...
Do advisers affect foreign policy and, if so, how? Recent scholarship on elite decision-making prioritizes leaders and the institutions that surround them, rather than the dispositions of advisers themselves. We argue that despite the hierarchical nature of foreign policy decision-making, advisers’ predispositions towards the use of force shape state behavior through the counsel advisers provide in deliberations. We test our argument by introducing three datasets, including a dataset of foreign policy deliberations between US presidents and their advisers from 1947 to 1988.
Dr. Joshua Kertzer is Professor of Government and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Government at Harvard University. He earned a Ph.D from the Ohio State University. Among, his many publications, his book Resolve in International Politics (Princeton University Press) received the 2017 Alexander L George Award from the International Society of Political Psychology.
The event will take place on March 21st from 12:20-1:25pm in Oak 408. It will also be streamed at https://uconn-cmr.webex.com/meet/mas07010 ...
We may be on break, but our appreciation for our faculty sure isn't! Today we are highlighting Professor Shareen Hertel. Read this post to learn more about Professor Hertel and why she loves Political Science! ...
Please join us for the March Political Theory Workshop! "Caribbean Anticolonial Thought," Aaron Kamugisha, Africana Studies, Smith College with commentary by San Lee, Political Science, UCONN. March 27th, 12:15-1:30p.m. in Oak 438 and on Zoom! Pre-circulated paper and Zoom link to follow!! Questions? email jane.gordon@uconn.edu. The Political Theory Workshop is generously sponsored by UCONN's Humanities Institute. ...
Happy Fabulous Faculty Friday! Today we're spotlighting Professor Bob Lupton- swipe to read more about him and why he loves Political Science! ...
As we approach break, here are some upcoming dates students may need to know! Stop in to Oak 409, make an appointment with Dr. Hoffmann, or visit our website for more information. ...
"When girls are given the right tools to succeed, they can create incredible futures, not only for themselves but also for those around them."
Happy International Women's Day- Today, we celebrate and acknowledge all of the strong women within our department! ...
The POLS website now has a new landing page, called "Get Involved"! You can find this under the "Undergraduate" tab, or you can go directly to https://polisci.uconn.edu/undergraduate/get-involved/. If you're clicking on the tab, you'll find that if you hover over "Get Involved" you can choose to go to "Ways to Get Involved", "Internships", and "Undergraduate Research". Clicking on "Ways to Get Involved" takes you to the main "Get Involved" landing page, linked above, where you can choose to learn more about internships, research, clubs and organizations, and study abroad. Clicking on "Internships" takes you to the main internships page, which is https://polisci.uconn.edu/undergraduate/internships/. Clicking on "Undergraduate Research" takes you to a page where you can learn all about that topic: https://polisci.uconn.edu/undergraduate/research/. ...