POLITICAL THEORY

Undergraduate Program

Undergraduate majors must take at least one upper-level course in this area from among a number that are regularly offered, including courses covering the history of ancient-medieval and modern political thought, contemporary political theory, liberal and democratic theory, feminist theory, human rights, and American political thought. A departmental honors seminar in political theory is offered every other year.

Graduate Program

The department encourages all graduate students to acquire familiarity with the classic works of political thought and to reflect on the intellectual linkages between theory and the other subfields of the discipline. To this end, all students are required to take PS 2040, a core course in political theory.

Beyond this, political theory is offered as both an MA and a PhD secondary field. It comprises the history of early modern and modern political thought (Machiavelli to the present) as well as contemporary work in normative and analytic political theory, with emphasis on the philosophy of liberalism and its critics and on the theory and practice of democracy. Other areas of inquiry that reflect joint interests of students and faculty members may also be pursued.

The two full-time political theory professors in the department share broad and complementary interests in both historical and contemporary theory. Professor Frederick G. Whelan (PhD, Harvard, 1976) teaches and has written widely in the history of political thought, including publications on Greek theory, Hobbes, and Marx; his main work, however, has been on the eighteenth century and the Enlightenment tradition, with books on David Hume and Edmund Burke. Associate Professor Michael Goodhart (PhD, UCLA, 2000) has written on Hobbes and the history of liberalism, but his teaching and current research concentrate on democratic theory, human rights, and globalization.

Other members of the department with interests in theory include Professors Jonathan Harris and John Markoff. Graduate students concentrating in political theory often take seminars in Pitt’s Department of Philosophy as well.

In September 2007, Jonathan Woon joined the faculty as our specialist in formal (rational choice or game) theory. This important branch of contemporary political science most often develops models that guide empirical research, but formal theory has important philosophical links to normative and historical theory, and interested students may include work in this area in the political theory field.

More information for students interested in graduate study in Political Science can be found in the Graduate Student Handbook.