Overview of the Sub-Fields

The department offers a comprehensive program in all subfields of political science. Particular strengths of the department lie in the broad area of American politics (including public law and public policy) and political theory. Faculty members are eclectic in terms of their methodological orientations and graduate students are exposed to a variety of research techniques, from quantitative methods, to elite interviews, documentary research, historical studies, and textual analysis.

American Politics

The faculty in American politics have research and teaching interests in all areas of the subfield: American political institutions (the presidency, Congress, courts, state and local government, political parties), as well as political processes (elections, public opinion, urban politics, minority politics, political behavior, public policy formation). Given its location in the state capital and within Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy, the department offers graduate students unique opportunities to work on ongoing research projects at the intersection of politics and public policy.

Public Policy

Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy is one of the largest and most distinguished graduate schools in the country devoted to the study of public policy. Political science graduate students interested in public policy have access not only to faculty in the political science department, but also scholars of public policy in the other schools and departments of Rockefeller College (public administration and policy, criminal justice, social welfare, information science) and in units of the university at large. Individual faculty members have written widely on substantive policy issues including the environment, welfare, education, urban affairs, and health care. They have also contributed to the study of the policy process through work on the policy process, implementation and impact, and policy analysis.

Public Law

With four active scholars in the field of public law, The University at Albany has a national reputation for the quality of its program in this subfield. The public law faculty pursue a variety of research interests related to law, legal actors, and legal systems. Faculty members in this area focus their research on trial and appellate court processes, the relationship of law and the legal system to public policy, interest groups, the media, and the political system in general. Faculty members also examine doctrinal issues in constitutional and administrative law, as well as the relationship of tort and other forms of private law to public policy.

Political Theory

The field of political theory includes four faculty members whose interests range from the traditional texts to contemporary theory, including critical theory, deconstructive readings of political theory, theories of political judgment, and German social and political theory. Although allowing students to work out their own program with faculty mentors, the program aims to give students a firm grounding in the history of political theory, interpretive theory and the philosophy of the social sciences, and the various strands of contemporary theory.

Comparative Politics

The comparative politics faculty have research and teaching interests in a range of substantive and geographical areas. All have a keen interest in basic theoretical and methodological issues concerning the comparative study of political systems that cut across disciplines of the social sciences. Particular areas of interest include constitutionalism, ethnicity, and civil-military relations. The faculty has regional specializations in Latin America, South Asia, Russia and Eastern Europe, Africa, and China.

International Relations

The international relations faculty are active researchers focusing on issues crucial to both the field of international relations and the current changes in the world. The faculty's research interests include international political economy, foreign policy formation, regional integration, institutional theory and military change, ethnicity and international relations, and comparative foreign policy.