Government | College of Liberal Arts
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Program Information

At UT, graduate students quickly become an integral part of a vibrant intellectual community. The Government Department is home to an eclectic and excellent faculty, with interests and methodological approaches spanning the breadth of political science. In this rich and diverse environment, new graduate students soon find a congenial group of professors and fellow students, and a wide range of resources to ease their entry into academic life.

Like any academic discipline, Political Science is essentially a global, ongoing conversation about many of the key issues of our time. Over the course of their stay in our department, our students become increasingly valued and substantive participants in this intellectual conversation, ready to take their place among the ranks of faculty at the most prestigious institutions in the world.

  • PhD

    Basic Requirements

    A doctoral degree candidate must fulfill the following general requirements:

    Complete a total of 14 organized courses before advancing to candidacy

    • Pass written preliminary examination in the major field
    • Prepare and orally defend a dissertation proposal
    • Write an original dissertation and successfully defend it in oral examination

    Program of Work

    The Department offers specialized instruction in seven fields:

    • American Political Institutions and Processes
    • Comparative Politics
    • International Relations
    • Methodology and Formal Theory
    • Political Theory
    • Public Law
    • Public Policy
       

    Students are required to designate one of these fields as the major field/ preliminary examination field, and take and pass four courses in this major field. The students are also required to complete three foundational courses, three courses in their minor field, three additional courses for their concentration, and take and pass a dissertation preparation course.

  • PhD/JD

    The "Law and Government Program" (LGP), is a combined degree program offered by the School of Law and the Department of Government. It leads to the J.D. in law and the Ph.D. in Government. Students must apply separately and secure admission to each unit, but by counting some law courses towards the Ph.D. and some Government courses towards the J.D., students can save some time in achieving the two degrees. Because the length of time to receive the Ph.D. is largely determined by the time needed to complete a dissertation rather than the amount of coursework required, and because coursework requirements in the Government Department can vary depending upon the sub-field of specialization, predicting the actual time saved is difficult. But the combined degree program certainly speeds up the process.

    The Department of Government is a large, "full service" department offering study in most areas of political science. With the Department's strong commitment to public law as a field of study, and the Law School's strong commitment to interdisciplinary study, the LGP offers unmatched coverage of topics at the two disciplines' intersection. Most students in the combined program choose public law as one of their sub-fields of specialization for the Ph.D. degree, but this is not required. The combined program's flexibility allows students to draw upon the wide offerings and resources of the University in ways that complement their interests. Faculty at Texas are particularly noted for work regarding the intersection of law and politics as well as Constitutional Law and Comparative Constitutionalism. Another area of particular strength in the two disciplines as well as throughout the University is Latin America.

    Jointly appointed faculty and close cooperation between the two units provides a supervised and coherent program of study. The Government Department offers competitive financial aid for the PhD program, and the Law School offers a limited number of fellowships each year to students at the dissertation stage, as well as in-state tuition waivers qualifying non-residents for in-state tuition during the first year of law school. After the first year, out-of-state students qualify for in-state law school tuition if they also hold a TA appointment in Government. LGP students are also eligible for substantial merit-based aid from the Law School.

    If you want to be considered for the Combined PhD/JD Program, you will need to apply to the School of Law AND to the Government Program. For more information, please contact H.W. Perry at 512-232-1852 or email him at hwperry@mail.utexas.edu.

    Here are directions for applying to the Department of Government.

    Here are directions for applying to the School of Law.

    There are two separate fees, one for GIAC and one for the School of Law.

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Fields

College of Liberal Arts

American Politics

Includes the study of a wide array of topics, including the Congress, presidency, courts, bureaucracy, public opinion and voting behavior, campaigns and elections, political parties, news media, and interest groups. 

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Comparative Politics

The study of domestic politics in foreign countries in a comparative perspective. The largest field in the department – whether in number of faculty, courses, and graduate students.

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International Relations

The study of borders: where they come from (conquest, secession, collapse), what crosses them (armies, money, people, ideas), and how they're governed (war, institutions, hierarchies). 

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Methods

Centrally about statistical theory and methods. Political methodology adapts and develops ideas from statistics to the empirical study of politics, in much the same ways as do econometrics in Economics and psychometrics in Psychology.

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Political Theory

Studies and contributes to an old and ever-evolving dialogue about the normative principles that should guide political life on the basis of what humans can understand of the ultimate realities that shape the human condition.

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Public Law

The study of legal institutions and law from the perspective of political science. Since politics is about the authoritative allocation of values, law and legal institutions are central to politics.

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Pubic Policy

The study and analysis of the patterns of actions or inactions taken by governments, including national governments, state and local governments, and various government entities (such as regulatory agencies).

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