Grad

The Department of Political Science and International Relations offers MA and PhD degrees in Political Science. Graduate study in the Department is organized around the theme of global governance. Global governance may be defined as an approach to politics and public policy that transcends the nation-state and its formal institutions of government. It is global because it recognizes that virtually all issues on the public agenda - environment, gender, migration, security, etc - transcend in their scope, source, and solution national boundaries. It is governance (rather than "government") because non-formal, non-state actors -- nongovernmental organizations, interest groups, professional associations, and so forth -- have increasingly been accorded legitimacy in rule-making and rule-enforcement. The global governance perspective does not insist that the traditional nation-state has collapsed, or even that such a collapse is inevitable. It does suggest, however, that we will increasingly live in a world characterized by powerful tensions between the formal governmental institutions of individual nation-states, on the one hand, and a vast array of transnational, non-state forces on the other. It is this tension, with each set of forces laying claim to political legitimacy, which will shape the politics of the new century.

Currently about 45 graduate students from all over the USA and the world are enrolled in our graduate program. Our faculty provide close advising and mentoring to our graduate students who find a collegial atmosphere in the Department. Through colloquia and seminar series we offer a stimulating intellectual environment for our graduate students. In addition, we provide our advanced graduate students with opportunities to teach their own courses. Finally, we encourage our advanced graduate students to present their research at conferences and to publish their scholarship in peer-reviewed journals.

Dr. Matthew S. Weinert, Director of Graduate Studies

For more information about our graduate program, please contact Professor Matthew Weinert (mweinert@udel.edu), Director of Graduate Studies or Lynn Corbett (lccorbet@udel.edu), Graduate Secretary.