WORLD POLITICS

The study of world politics (also known as “international relations”) in the graduate program of the Department of Political Science is focused on issues of international organization and global governance and on international political economy. The Department also includes faculty working on international conflict and security. In all these areas, the Department’s faculty is supplemented by professors in the University’s professional schools, especially the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs.

Regardless of specialization, our faculty members believe that as the line separating domestic from international and transnational politics becomes increasingly tenuous, sophisticated study of politics requires analytical perspectives that cross these divisions. The Department’s world politics faculty therefore emphasizes the linkages between international, transnational, and domestic politics.

These concentrations and perspectives, in conjunction with the Department's and University's strengths in the study of national and regional politics, provide a unique opportunity for students to acquire the knowledge necessary to analyze the most pressing political issues of the twenty-first century.

Faculty Specializations

International Organization and Global Governance (IO)

Within the Department, David Bearce works on problems of international cooperation and regimes. Michael Goodhart, a political theorist, works on the relations between globalization and international governance, including the issue of global civil society. Among our comparative politics faculty, Ronald Linden, Guy Peters, Ilya Prizel, and Alberta Sbragia work on European and comparative regional integration. Within GSPIA, Charli Carpenter offers courses on humanitarian action and norms in world politics and Simon Reich teaches global governance.

International Political Economy (IPE)

Within the Department, there is considerable strength in political economy among faculty who specialize in European politics (Ronald Linden, Guy Peters, Alberta Sbragia), Latin American politics (Barry Ames), and Asian politics (Wenfang Tang). Among the GSPIA faculty, Davis Bobrow, Simon Reich, Nita Rudra, and Martin Staniland work in IPE as well.

International Conflict and Security (ICS)

Within the Department, Charles Gochman and Burcu Savun do statistical analyses of the causes of interstate and intrastate conflict. Students are also encouraged to take classes in GSPIA, where a number of faculty members are engaged in both traditional and non-traditional security studies, including Davis Bobrow, Michael Brenner, Charli Carpenter, Donald Goldstein, William Keller, Janne Nolan, Simon Reich, and Phil Williams.

Regional Specializations

In keeping with our commitment to bridging the international-domestic divide, the Department includes numerous specialists on Western Europe, East Europe and Russia, Asia, and Latin America.

Course Requirements

Students may select world politics as their first, second, or third field of study. It is our intention that students of world politics be conversant in the politics of a geographic region and our hope that other students will be able to connect international developments to their areas of specialization. We therefore encourage students whose primary field of study is American politics, comparative politics, or political theory to adopt world politics as their second or third field.

As indicated above, the study of World Politics in this Department is divided into three areas of concentration: International Organization and Global Governance (IO), International Political Economy (IPE), and International Conflict and Security (ICS). At present, the Department regularly offers advanced seminars in the IO and IPE concentrations, and occasionally in the ICS concentration. Where the department does not offer courses, students may fulfill WP requirements by enrolling in GSPIA courses. A committee of WP faculty will decide which courses outside the Department satisfy the WP requirements.

All students studying world politics are required to enroll in “Theories of International Relations” (PS 2501) so that, whatever their principal substantive, theoretical, or geographic focus, they will be able to locate their work within the theoretical literature of the field. Additional course requirements differ for students who choose world politics as a first, second or third field. “First field” students must complete a minimum of six courses, distributed as follows: Theories of International Relations (PS 2501), two courses in each of two areas of concentration within WP, and a sixth course in any area of concentration within WP. “Second field” students must complete a minimum of four WP courses, distributed as follows: Theories of International Relations (PS 2501), two courses in one area of concentration within WP, and one course in another area of concentration within WP. “Third field” students must complete a minimum of three WP courses, distributed as follows: Theories of International Relations (PS 2501), plus any other two WP courses.

More information on the graduate program of the Department of Political Science can be found in the Graduate Student Handbook.

Other Campus Resources in International Studies

Students in world politics can take full advantage of the intellectual and financial resources offered by the interdisciplinary University Center for International Studies (UCIS), which houses the Asian Studies Center, the Center for Latin American Studies, the Center for Russian and East European Studies, and the Center for West European Studies. In addition, UCIS is home to a European Union Center, one of only fifteen in the United States so designated and partially funded by the European Union. It also operates programs in African Studies and in Global Studies.

The professional schools at the University of Pittsburgh are also home to several centers for international research, including the Matthew B. Ridgway Center for International Security Studies and its Ford Institute for Human Security (both within the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs), the Center for International Legal Education (School of Law), the Institute for International Studies in Education (School of Education), and the International Business Center (Katz Graduate School of Business).

Admissions

The Political Science Department encourages applications for graduate study from individuals interested in world politics. Click here for further information on the applications process.

Date revised: May 15, 2007