Department of Political Science

The Department of Political Science offers courses in American politics, comparative politics, international relations, political theory, public policy, and public administration. Students have the option of earning either a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) or a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree in political science. Graduate degrees include a Master of Public Administration and a Ph.D. in Policy Studies. 

Political science majors enjoy many small classes that foster research, critical thinking, student participation, and faculty-student interaction. The department is known for both teaching excellence and rigorous academic standards. Since 1990, political science faculty have won the Alumni Master Teacher Award, the Centennial Professorship Award, and numerous other teaching awards.

The department also provides several opportunities for political science majors to work on research teams led by faculty members. In the past, students have participated in teams dealing with research topics such as domestic violence and civil wars, congressional voting, U.S.-China relations, the religious rhetoric of American presidents, community and economic development, comparative politics, and local government. Several students have presented their research at major political science conferences including the Midwest Political Science Association’s conference and the “Posters on the Hill” conference sponsored by the Council on Undergraduate Research that is held in Washington, D.C.

Political science graduates have carved out successful careers in law, government, journalism, and teaching. Many of our majors have attended graduate and law schools at leading institutions such as Harvard, Yale, Michigan, Virginia, Rice, Texas A&M, Duke, Notre Dame, Georgetown, Texas, American, Vanderbilt, Georgia, Pittsburgh, North Carolina, Pennsylvania State, University of Arizona, CUNY Graduate Center, University of Pennsylvania, Emory, Florida, Wake Forest, Florida State, and South Carolina.

Departmental alumni have worked for major law firms in Atlanta, Dallas, Washington, Charlotte, and New Orleans. Political science majors also have held careers on the staff of U. S. senators and representatives; in the CIA and Secret Service; in radio, television, and print; in banking, real estate, and commerce; in state and federal judgeships, and in state legislatures.

Political science faculty have authored or edited nearly four dozen books on topics such as democratization, religion and politics in the United States, Latin American politics, political ideology, presidential executive orders, racial and ethnic politics, treaties and executive agreements, Chinese politics, John Adams, public budgeting, ethnic conflict, Benjamin V. Cohen, and the Supreme Court. The faculty have also written scores of articles for academic journals including American Political Science Review,American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, Political Research Quarterly, Social Science Quarterly, Presidential Studies Quarterly, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Political Behavior, Congress & the Presidency, International Studies Review, American Politics Research, Administration & Society, Political Communication, International Journal of Press/Politics, Journal of Contemporary Asia, Public Administration Review, Policy Studies, and Politics & Gender.

In addition, faculty have won grants from, among others, the Fulbright, Olin and MacArthur foundations, the Twentieth Century Fund, Center for the Study of Religion, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woodrow Wilson Center, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, U.S. Institute of Peace, and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. One faculty member was elected as an APSA Congressional Fellow in 2013-14, where he worked as a domestic policy fellow in the U.S. Senate.

Frequently on call by the press, faculty have been quoted in the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, CNN, CBS, BBC, National Public Radio, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, National Law Journal, Voice of America, Le Monde, Guardian (UK), and Newsweek. Several faculty members have gained practical experience serving as former heads of federal and state commissions, advisors to governors, and strategists for congressional and gubernatorial campaigns.

For more information about the Department of Political Science at Clemson University, please contact us at: