Univ. of Maryland - Government and Politics

	The Department of Government & Politics University of Maryland 3140 Tydings Hall College Park, MD 20742

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Both Graduate and Undergraduate 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 American Politics and Citizenship (CAPC) was established for the purpose of using social science research to improve democracy in the United States. It brings together faculty, researchers, political practitioners and students who study political institutions, processes, behavior, and public policy. One of the center's guiding principles, first popularized during the Progressive Movement, is that a significant portion of academic research should be devoted to public purposes, including helping government officials and citizens understand complex policy concerns. A second principle is that academic research should be used to help citizens participate more effectively in politics. CAPC's research focuses on campaigns and elections, American national, state, and local government, public policy, civil society, and ethnic and racial politics. CAPC faculty supervise internships and teach graduate and undergraduate classes in political science, research methodology, and political leadership. CAPC is the home of Real Politics in America, a book series published by Prentice-Hall.

CAPC is directed by Professor Paul S. Herrnson. It draws personnel from the Department of Government and Politics, the Joint Program in Survey Methodology, the Department of Sociology, the School of Public Affairs, and other departments at the University of Maryland. Faculty from other Washington, D.C.-area universities, elected officials, political appointees, civil servants, party officials, interest group leaders, think tank researchers, journalists, and political consultants also participate in various CAPC activities.

The Committee on Politics, Philosophy, and Public Policy (CP4), which began in 1998, is an interdisciplinary graduate specialization and research consortium that is a joint venture of the Department of Government and Politics, the Department of Philosophy, the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy, and the School of Public Affairs. The Committee is open to graduate students pursuing the Ph.D. in Government and Politics, Philosophy, or the School of Public Affairs. The College Park campus possesses special strengths in political theory, moral philosophy, and public policy, and the Committee offers graduate students from various departments the opportunity to take advantage of these strengths. For more information contact the Director, Committee on Politics, Philosophy, and Public Policy, 3111 Van Munching Hall, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742. E-mail: JL38@umail.umd.edu. For more information visit the Committee's website.

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. Dr. Christian Davenport is the Director of Research as well as director of the Radical Information Project

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.For more information, visit the CIDCM Home Page.

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 1990. The CSPCS' mission is to develop and foster collaborative interdisciplinary research and public policy activities between American and East Central European educational institutions. The Center's aim is to advance and cultivate cooperation between scholars and policy makers working on issues of consolidation of democracy, market oriented economic transition, institutional development in post-communist countries, political culture, and the emergence of nationalism in the region of East Central Europe. For more information, visit the CSPCS homepage.

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. Visit the PEGS Home Page for more information.

Democracy Collaborative Engaged Scholarship & Informed Practice for a More Democratic World

The Democracy Collaborative is an international consortium of leading academic centers, civil society organizations, distinguished scholars and seasoned practitioners. It was created in 2000 as a response to the “democratic deficit” that imperils the world and to the unprecedented opportunities for building democracy in the post-Cold War era. The Collaborative’s founding premise is that while democracy as theory has triumphed over its adversaries, democracy as practice faces daunting challenges in the US and in every region of the world. The global network created by the Collaborative works together to strengthen democracy, employing innovative cross-disciplinary approaches to theoretical and practical research, curricular enhancement, policy development, teaching, training, and community action.

A number of professors within the Department of Government and Politics are among the founders of The Democracy Collaborative, including Gar Alperovitz, Benjamin Barber, Stephen Elkin and Linda Williams. For more information, visit the Collaborative’s website at: www.democracycollaborative.org.

Global environmental change, demographic trends, and the diffusion of technological innovations are rapidly reshaping the international system. Disregarding national borders, these forces are transforming international relations, deepening interdependence, and forging a global system from a world of sovereign states. Creating a more sustainable planet for the next century will require dealing with a wide range of policy issues raised by this rapid acceleration of events. The Harrison Program on the Future Global Agenda engages in futures-oriented teaching and research that will contribute to humanity’s ability to anticipate and deal effectively with these important currents of change.

Global trends suggest both promise and peril. Sharpening differences between rich and poor have shifted the axis of international conflict from East-West to North-South. Rapid population growth and environmental degradation threaten to perpetuate the cycle of disease and poverty in the world’s poorer countries, many of which are also burdened by problems of debt, social conflict, and political instability. Wealthier countries are distracted by their own problems and authority crises, intensified by increasing integration into the global economy and the aging of their populations. On a more positive note, a fundamental trend is now discernible which bears the potential to change the predominant notion of progress from one that emphasizes quantitative growth to one that values qualitative human growth informed by a growing concern for long-term sustainability.

The Harrison Program examines these significant issues in an effort 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. Visit the Harrison Home Page for more information.

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 Joe Oppenheimer is the Director of the Center. The following faculty are members of the Center:

From the Department of Government and Politics: Douglas Grob, David Lalman, Mark Lichbach, Joe Oppenheimer, Karol Soltan, Piotr Swistak.
From the Department of Economics: Larry Ausubel, Peter Coughlin, Peter Crampton, Allan Drazen, Peter Murrell, Francisco Rodriguez, Thomas Schelling, John Wallis.

The Program on Global Security and Disarmament (PGSD) is based in the Department of Government and Politics, at the University of Maryland. PGSD is an integrated program of research, analysis, international networking, training and public education. The program focuses on increasing the understanding of issues in global security, including the concept of general disarmament, both in the academic community and the general public.

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. Visit the ICONS Home Page for more information.

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 James Gimpel 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.