Political Science

Program | Faculty | Courses

Web site: www.umass.edu/polsci/

The Department of Political Science offers graduate work leading to the Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees. Detailed information on requirements for degrees may be obtained from the Department of Political Science.

The M.A. and Ph.D. programs are intended to prepare students for careers in research, in college or university teaching, or in public service. The department's view of the discipline of political science is eclectic, based on the assumption that the study of politics is not reducible to any single set of methodological premises through which certainty and comprehensiveness of knowledge can be established. Instead, the department attempts to maintain a broadly based overview of political science, using whatever theories and methods seem likely to provide appropriate responses to the central questions of politics.

M.A. and Ph.D. students are required to do course work in each of three major subdivisions of political science: political theory, American government and politics, and international relations and comparative government. A thesis or analogous evidence of research capacity is required of all M.A. candidates. Ph.D. candidates will be required to complete comprehensive examinations in three fields of concentration prior to undertaking the Ph.D. dissertation. Competency in foreign languages and or quantitative techniques must be demonstrated by all M.A. and Ph.D. candidates.

A degree of Master of Public Administration is offered through the Public Policy and Administration program, described in its own section in this Bulletin.