Research
Comparative Politics
Faculty
Faculty |
Faculty |
Comparative politics faculty members are involved in research related to a broad set of issues including state formation and decay, regime change, institutional design, ethnic conflict, social movements, public policy, and political economy. Although emphasis is placed on theory-driven research, the faculty has regional expertise in Latin America, Western and Eastern Europe, Africa, Southeast Asia and post-Soviet countries. The comparative politics group at Illinois takes full advantage of the range of methods available to political scientists, combining in original ways formal, quantitative and qualitative methods. Members of the comparative group have been successful in disseminating their research through publications in top journals (American Political Science Review, World Politics, American Journal of Political Science, International Organization, British Journal of Political Science, Comparative Political Studies, Comparative Politics, Journal of Democracy) and leading university presses (Cambridge, Michigan, Princeton, Oxford).
In addition to the solid methods sequence that the department offers, formal graduate training in comparative politics consists of two core seminars that examine both classical works and research at the frontier of the field. Furthermore, students interested in comparative politics can take a number of specialized research seminars, offered in areas in which faculty are active in their own research. In addition to helping students develop interests related to potential dissertation topics, these seminars provide an excellent locus for research collaboration among students and faculty. Finally, the comparative field offers each semester a weekly workshop in which invited guests, faculty and advanced graduate students present work in progress, and students at the earlier stages of their career serve as discussants.