Introduction Doctoral Program Requirements Admission Standards and Procedures Financial Aid Graduate Student Body Placement Centers and Special Programs |
|
Introduction Doctoral Program Requirements Admission Standards and Procedures Financial Aid Graduate Student Body Placement Centers and Special Programs |
Department of Government and Politics
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
Telephone: (301) 405-4161
FAX: (301) 314-9690
ACLARK@bss2.umd.edu
The Department of Government and Politics offers a Ph.D. degree in political science, intended primarily for those planning academic careers. Students can specialize in American politics, international relations, comparative politics, political economy and political theory. In addition, students can study in depth more specialized fields such as formal theory, public law, national security, public policy, political psychology, international and inter-ethnic conflict, international political economy, urban politics, post-Soviet and post-communist studies, East-Asian studies, environmental politics, and the politics of advanced industrial societies.
Many students work with faculty in major funded research projects. Departmental faculty have acquired a significant base of external research funding with over one million dollars per year in support from a variety of granting agencies and foundations. These include the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the U.S. Institute of Peace, the National Security Agency, the State Department, and the Erhart, Pew, MacArthur, Ford, and Johnson Foundations.
In addition to their work in the Department, faculty members as well as students participate in activities in the Center for International Development and Conflict Management, the Center for Philosophy and Public Policy, the Center for the Study of Post-Communist Societies, Maryland Collective Choice Center, the Center for International Security Studies at Maryland, Project ICONS, the Committee on the Political Economy of the Good Society, and the Harrison Program on the Future Global Agenda. Members of the faculty also participate in a number of on-campus and off-campus networks that facilitate professional exchanges and collaborative efforts.
The University's location in the Washington suburban area provides unequaled opportunities for graduate students working in the field of political science. These opportunities include easy access to:
In addition, students are able to draw upon the contacts and experience of other students who are working in government agencies as well as the faculty contacts with such agencies. Students can also use the many specialized libraries located in the area, and they can take courses offered at other local institutions through the Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan area.
On the College Park campus graduate students have full access to the McKeldin Library, and the facilities of the Computer Science Center, as well as personal computers in the departmental offices. Students may also participate in the activities of, and use data from, the InterUniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research and the Council for European Studies.
The doctoral program is divided into a core program, the methods requirement, specialized fields, and the research component. Students must complete a minimum of 42 hours of course work (14 courses) plus 12 credit hours for doctoral dissertation work (GVPT 899). In exceptional circumstances students may petition the Graduate Studies Committee for a reduction in the minimum number of required course credits.
Except in special circumstances, with the approval of the Director of Graduate Studies, the first 7 courses taken in the doctoral program will include: 622, 700, one required political theory course, and both of the required graduate survey courses.
The basic methods requirement for all students is (1) completion of GVPT 622 or passing the appropriate test, and (2) completion of the quantitative or the language options. The quantitative option requires completing a second statistics course (GVPT 722) or the appropriate test, and completing a third course in methodology. The language option requires completion of a language test.
Each of the fields of study and examination for doctoral students contains its own body of literature, reflects different theoretical perspectives, and requires different substantive and methodological knowledge. Students must identify two fields in which they will pursue an integrated program of study and take the appropriate comprehensive written examination.
The first field represents a broadly defined body of knowledge, and must be one of the following:
American Politics
International Relations
Comparative Politics
Political Economy
Political Theory
The second field may also be taken from the above list, or students may pursue in-depth knowledge in a more narrowly focused field. Students pursuing an in-depth field must submit an appropriate field description endorsed by three faculty members, who serve as the examiners. The second field must be more than just a subfield of student's first field. In recent years students have offered second fields in public law, Soviet-East European studies, national security, East-Asian studies, political development, public policy, political psychology, politics of advanced industrial societies, and international political economy. Political methodology is not considered to be an examination field.
Four courses constitute the normal course preparation for a doctoral field. At least two courses in each field must be taken at the University of Maryland.
Beginning in January 1999 the PhD field exams will be 6-8 hour in-class exams. All students must take both of their exams in the same examination period. There are three 5 day examination periods every academic year, in August, January, and May.
Students who fail to pass either written examination on the first attempt may take one or both examinations a second time. A second failure will result in termination of the student's doctoral program.
The research component consists of a research paper and the doctoral dissertation. The research paper is a paper of a size and quality sufficient to make it publishable as an article in a political science journal. The procedure for the acceptance of the research paper mimics the procedures of refereed journals. The paper can be a rewrite of a seminar paper, or in some way closely related to the student's Ph.D. dissertation. A student will not be admitted to candidacy without completing the research paper requirement.
After completing 18 credits in the doctoral program, at the latest, all students enroll in a non-credit research workshop led by three members of the faculty. The workshop meets once a week for presentation of drafts of research papers by graduate students and faculty.
The doctoral dissertation is a monograph length work reflecting original research, which shows the student's ability to generate scholarly knowledge. Although students will probably not begin full-time work on the dissertation until after completion of course work and examinations, they should explore possible research ideas and projects throughout the doctoral program.
In the initial stages of the dissertation the student submits a dissertation prospectus to a faculty committee, chosen by the student. The committee must meet with the student and approve the prospectus. The student must also have a formal oral defense of the dissertation. Students are expected to complete the dissertation within four years after being advanced to doctoral candidacy.
1. Transfer Credits: Students may petition the Graduate Studies Committee for approval to transfer credit from another institution or graduate program to apply to the doctoral program. In order to count as a part of the 42 hours, the courses transferred may not be taken more than four years prior to the time of entry into the Department graduate program. Doctoral students must complete a minimum of 30 hours at the University of Maryland. In exceptional circumstances, students may petition the Graduate Studies Committee for a waiver of this requirement.
2. Directed Readings. (GVPT 898) Doctoral students may offer 12 hours of directed readings as a part of the doctoral program. Before registering for such readings, students must obtain the approval of the faculty member who will supervise the readings. A statement of the planned readings program and the graded assignments must be filed with the Director of Graduate Studies.
3. Advancement to Candidacy: Under Graduate School rules doctoral students must be admitted to candidacy within five years after admission to the doctoral program. This requires that students complete all course work, successfully pass comprehensive examinations, remove all "Incomplete" grades and defend a dissertation prospectus.
The Department recruits highly qualified students, and admits only a limited number of the strongest applicants. The Admissions Committee rarely grants provisional or conditional admission to the graduate program. Because the Department admits a very limited number of M.A. applicants, students whose ultimate objective is the Ph.D. should apply for direct admission to that program. Admission is granted only for the Fall Semester.
Instructions for completion of applications can be found in the Graduate School application booklet. It is the student's responsibility to see that all necessary materials are received by the University. A completed application must include an application form, a personal statement indicating reasons for pursuing graduate study, transcripts from previous institutions, both undergraduate and graduate, an official report of GRE scores, three letters of recommendation, and a writing sample.
All applications for admission are reviewed by the Admissions Committee consisting of both faculty and graduate students. All completed applications must be received by February 1.
Applications from foreign students are reviewed first by the International Education Services Office before they are forwarded to the Department. That office evaluates foreign transcripts and deals with visa status, English language skills, and requirements for financial support. As a result, the deadlines for foreign applications are earlier, and are given in the application form.
Various types of financial aid are available to full-time graduate students. Applicants for financial aid are evaluated by the Admissions' Committee with assistance offered to the highest ranked students. Approximately fifty percent of the graduate students receive some type of financial aid.
Students who wish to be considered for any type of financial assistance should submit the form entitled "Merit-Based Award Form". Completed applications must be received by February 1.
The Department offers a limited number of graduate assistantships. Students with assistantships receive a remission of ten hours of tuition fees per semester and a stipend ranging from $10,000.00 to $10,300.00 per academic year. Assistants are expected to devote twenty hours a week to their duties in the instructional or research programs.
The Graduate School awards Fellowships on a competitive basis to students nominated by the Department. Fellows are provided office space in the Department but are not required to perform services in the instructional program. Fellows receive a stipend of at least $10,000.00 for the academic year and twelve hours of tuition remission. These fellowships may be awarded for two years. Only students with exceptional academic qualifications are nominated for these awards. The strongest candidates may be nominated for a Calvert Fellowship, which supplements the regular fellowship with two years of summer support, and a research fund at the dissertation stage.
This form of aid is based on financial need and students must submit the appropriate FAF form. Information and application forms are available in the Office of Financial Aid, Mitchell Bldg.
Fellows in this program receive a stipend of $10,000.00, plus remission of tuition. More information on the Public Service Fellowship Program is located in the Centers and Special Programs section.
Approximately 150 students are enrolled in the graduate programs in the Department and actively pursuing graduate degrees. Almost all of these students are in the doctoral program. The entering class each year typically consists of about 25 students. The department seeks to maintain a diverse graduate student body and ranks in the top ten percent of the political science departments in the number of African-Americans and women enrolled in the doctoral program. In addition the department also enrolls a number of international students. In recent years they have come from Algeria, Argentina, Canada, Egypt, Finland, Germany, Greece, Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Norway, Pakistan, People's Republic of China, Poland, Turkey, Viet Nam, Bulgaria and the United Kingdom.
The Department offers a placement service for Ph.D. students seeking academic employment, although some contacts can also be made for non-academic positions. The Placement Director, acting with assistance from faculty members in the Department, locates vacancies in other departments throughout the country and actively promotes the Department's candidates.
Graduates of the department have obtained teaching positions in a variety of institutions throughout the country. Recently these have included: Alberta; Charleston; University of California, Davis; Clark; Colorado; Connecticut; Dayton; Duke; Emory; George Washington; Howard; Iowa State; University of Illinois, Chicago; Kentucky; Louisville; University of Massachusetts, Boston; Michigan State; Miami; University of Missouri; New York University; Notre Dame; Ohio; Oregon; Purdue; St. Lawrence; Southern Illinois; and Wittenberg.
Graduate students are able to participate in several centers and special programs. These programs frequently involve both teaching and research activities and provide opportunities for valuable multidisciplinary experiences.
The Center for International Development and Conflict Management (CIDCM) brings together faculty, researchers, students and practitioners to investigate the complex relations among economic, social and political development and the conflicts that frequently arise from them. CIDCM provides opportunities for selected graduate students to gain experience and technical skills in data generation, research and analysis and research management. The Center currently hosts a number of research activities, including projects on Africa, Latin America, Transcaucasia, the Middle East and Japan.
Dr. Ernest Wilson who serves as Director of CIDCM, holds faculty appointments in both the Department of Government and Politics and the African American Studies Program. Dr. Wilson's research currently focuses on information technology and Africa.
Dr. Ted Robert Gurr, Distinguished University Professor, directs the Minorities at Risk Project .
Dr. Shibley Telhami is the holder of the Anwar Sadat Chair for Peace, Population and Development, housed in CIDCM. Professor Telhami is a scholar of global conflict with particular expertise in the Middle East.
Dr. John L. Davies directs the Global Event Data System (GEDS) Project. The project tracks the day-to-day interactions of states and major non-state communities and organizations world wide, mainly using on-line newswire reports.
Dr. Suheil Bushrui is the holder of the Bahai Chair for World Peace. Dr. Bushrui's research focuses on the link between cultural and spiritual values and peace.
Barri Sanders directs a research project entitled "Partners in Conflict: Building Bridges to Peace in the Transcaucasus and Central Asia." This project aims to teach conflict resolution techniques to selected scholars from the Transcaucasus region, with the further goal of helping those scholars establish conflict resolution centers in their own regions.
The Center for International Security Studies at Maryland, established in 1987, provides university-wide opportunities for research, training, and publication in the field of international security studies. The Center works with many colleges and departments throughout the University to provide conferences, guest lectures, and special seminars on topics that relate to the complex challenges of achieving peace and security in the 1990s.
Each year, CISSM invites a multinational group of junior and senior scholars to College Park to work with the Center's faculty, staff and students on a variety of individual and collaborative projects. The Center maintains an archive of selected historical materials in international security affairs.
CISSM is a non-degree granting program. It is in a position, however, to advise students on how to develop a balanced and comprehensive program in international security studies.
Professors I.M. Destler, George H. Quester, and Michael Nacht are directors of the program.
The Center for the Study of Post-Communist Societies (CSPCS) was established in May, 1990 by Professor Bartlomiej Kaminski. The purpose of the Center is to serve as a focal point for collaborative research, business and public policy activities, linking American, Central European and former Soviet leadership groups in efforts to analyze and assess problems being confronted in the transition from communism to democracy and the market.
CSPCS conducts research on developments in post-communist societies, and organizes seminars and workshops in the United States and Central Europe.
Professor Bartlomiej Kaminski is director of the Center and Professors Karol Soltan and Vladimir Tismaneanu are associate directors.
The national offices of the Committee on the Political Economy of the Good Society ("PEGS") is located in the Department and Professor Stephen Elkin is Chair of the Executive Board. The two other members of the Executive Board also have Department appointments. PEGS is an ideologically diverse non-profit organization that seeks to promote discussion regarding alternative political-economic theories and new institutional designs. By encouraging the development of practical visions of the good society, PEGS is attempting to create the theoretical foundations necessary for the restructuring of political-economic systems and the institutions to promote the values of liberty, democracy, equality and environmental sustainability.
The PEGS journal, The Good Society, is published with the assistance of graduate students interested in political economy. In addition, PEGS conducts colloquia on relevant topics for faculty and students on the campus.
The Harrison Program aims to understand the nature and interaction of environmental, technological, social, and political systems, and to suggest potential means of breaking out of destructive patterns of behavior. To this end, faculty develop new and innovative educational materials, conduct scholarly research, and organize conferences and workshops that bring together scientists, social theorists, advocates, and policy makers to examine key components of the future global agenda. Harrison Program research is broadly concerned with five themes: international politics of environmental change; impacts of demographic shifts; socio- political consequences of technological change; policy responses and problems of governance; and comparative politics of environmental policy formation.
Program faculty, students and associates publish frequently on these themes in a wide range of professional journals and books. Recent books include the following: L. Anathea Brooks and Stacy D. VanDeveer (eds.), Saving the Seas: Values, Scientists and International Governance; Ken Conca, Manufacturing Insecurity: The Rise and Fall of Brazil's Military-Industrial Complex; Ken Conca, Geoffrey D. Dabelko, and Michael Alberty (eds.), Green Planet Blues: Environmental Politics from Stockholm to Rio; Ronnie D. Lipschutz, and Ken Conca (eds.), The State and Social Power in Global Environmental Politics; Dennis Pirages (ed.), Building Sustainable Societies: A Blueprint for a Post-Industrial World; Dennis Pirages, Global Technopolitics: The International Politics of Technology and Resources; Miranda Schreurs and Elizabeth Economy (eds.), The Internationalization of Environmental Protection.
The Harrison Program also sponsors conferences on timely topics in global affairs. These events bring together scholars, researchers, government officials and activists concerned with the impact of environmental change and technological developments on international security and cooperation. Recent conferences have included: Environmental Security in Northeast Asia (held in Seoul, South Korea). Engagement and Disengagement: New Directions in U.S. Foreign Policy. Footsteps to Sustainability.
The Maryland Collective Choice Center coordinates and sponsors both educational and research efforts in the field of collective choice. These efforts include seminars, conferences, workshops and courses at the Ph.D. level. The field of collective choice, also called formal theory and public choice, uses theories of individual rational choice behavior to study non-market phenomena.
Professor Mancur Olson of the Department of Economics is the Director of the Center. Professor Joe Oppenheimer is the Associate Director. The following faculty are members of the Center:
From the Department of Government and Politics: David Lalman, Joe Oppenheimer, Karol Soltan, Piotr Swistak.
From the Department of Economics: Peter Coughlin, Peter Murrell, Mancur Olson, Thomas Schelling.
The International Communication and Negotiation Simulations (ICONS) Project is an interdisciplinary effort that uses computer simulation techniques to teach international negotiation. ICONS focuses on the ways foreign policies are developed and negotiated, and its aim is to help students better understand the interdependence of international issues and the complexities of intercultural communication. Professor Jonathan Wilkenfeld is the Director of Project ICONS.
Participants assume the roles of foreign policy makers and negotiate through teleconferencing on behalf of the nations they represent, grappling with such problems as the international debt crisis, human rights violations, north-south relations and development issues, arms control, the balance of trade, and global environmental concerns.
ICONS was begun as a tool to enable students to grasp the complexities of international relations. ICONS has now grown to include nearly 2,000 students each year at universities and high schools throughout the United States, and in Canada, Latin America, Europe and Asia.
The Public Service Fellowship Program combines academic studies with work experiences in the public sector. Most Fellows spend the Fall semester on campus in course work and undertake the work experience off campus in the Spring semester. In some cases the work experience can be spread over the Fall and Spring semesters.
Most Fellows will be placed with agencies of the Maryland State government. Others may be assigned to local of regional organizations, including governmental agencies, interest groups, and political parties, as opportunities arise. Fellows receive the same stipend and tuition remission as graduate teaching assistants.
Professor Vincent Marando serves as the director of the program.
Students interested in applying for the Public Service Fellowship Program should complete the regular application form as well as a special application.
Applications must be received by February 1. For application materials or for additional information, please contact the Director of Graduate Studies.