Your complete guide to studying Political Science

Everything you need to know about studying Political Science in 2023

part of Social Sciences

Political Science deals with government and politics at state, national, and international levels. It focuses on understanding and implementing effective practices to develop and improve societies. You will become familiarized with the institutions operating within a state and such values as rights, justice, freedoms and obliagtions of political actors to the people who placed them in power.

Political Science looks for answers to questions such as: How do governments opperate? What social actions can be taken to influence government decisions? How is law enforced in a state? How does globalization influence the way we live?

Some of the subfields of Political Science are Political Theory, History of Politics, Comparative Politics, Political Philosophy, International Relations, Public Policy and others. Politics courses will teach you how to critically analyse political discourse and tactics, how to run a political campaign, and how to create voter awareness on relevant topics. A lot of Political Science studies are based on research on topics such as political systems, social trends, policies and laws, public opinion, and more.

You’ll also develop debating skills and discover how you can successfully build political arguments. You will be taught about the distribution of power and resources and how they impact individual countries and international relations. Additionally, you'll discover how to use factors such as ethics, justice, peace, and public health to analyse and measure the success of governance and democracy and how to improve them.

Political Science graduates find successful careers as a politicians, lobbyists, political campaign managers, political consultants, PR specialists, legal assistants, political commentators and more.

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Best Universities for Political Science on ShortCoursesPortal

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Universities Location Shanghai Jiao Tong University Ranking (2017) TopUniversities Ranking (2018)
Harvard University Cambridge, United States 1 1
Yale University New Haven, United States 2 7
Princeton University Princeton, United States 3 8
London School of Economics and Political Science London, United Kingdom 4 3
Columbia University New York City, United States 5 10
University of Oxford Oxford, United Kingdom 6 2
Stanford University Stanford, United States 7 19
Duke University Durham, United States 8 51
New York University New York City, United States 9 21
Georgetown University Washington, D. C., United States 10 11
University of California, San Diego San Diego, United States 11 24
University of Maryland College Park, United States 12 101
University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, United States 13 9
University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, United States 14 51
George Washington University Washington, D. C., United States 15 30
Pennsylvania State University State College, United States 16 151
University of Michigan Ann Arbor, United States 16 27
University of Essex Colchester, United Kingdom 18 36
University of Chicago Chicago, United States 19 13
University of Wisconsin Madison Madison, United States 20 51
University of Minnesota Twin Cities Minneapolis, United States 21 -
University of Texas at Austin Austin, United States 22 51
Northwestern University Evanston, United States 23 51
Australian National University Canberra, Australia 24 6
The Ohio State University Upper Arlington, United States 25 101
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Cambridge, United States 26 22
ETH Zurich - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich, Switzerland 27 48
University of Washington Seattle, United States 28 51
University of Colorado at Boulder Boulder, United States 29 151
Aarhus University Aarhus, Denmark 30 47
University of Sydney Sydney, Australia 31 23
University of Virginia Charlottesville, United States 32 101
Brown University Providence, United States 33 51
Uppsala University Uppsala, Sweden 34 51
University of Amsterdam Amsterdam, Netherlands 35 33
Emory University Atlanta, United States 36 -
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Los Angeles, United States 37 14
American University Washington DC Washington, D. C., United States 38 51
McGill University Montréal, Canada 39 37
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Jerusalem, Israel 40 -
University of Toronto Pickering, Canada 40 12
University of Copenhagen Copenhagen, Denmark 42 25
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, United States 43 101
Boston University Boston, United States 44 101
University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, United States 45 101
Rutgers University New Brunswick, United States 46 151
University of Warwick Coventry, United Kingdom 47 44
Vanderbilt University Nashville, United States 48 -
Cornell University Ithaca, United States 49 19
Lund University Lund, Sweden 50 51
Bar Ilan University Ramat Gan, Israel 101 -
Bilkent University Ankara, Turkey 101 151
Central European University (CEU) Vienna, Austria 101 42
City University of Hong Kong Kowloon, Hong Kong (SAR) 101 51
Dublin City University Dublin, Ireland 101 101
Freie Universität Berlin Berlin Steglitz, Germany 101 17
Georgia State University Atlanta, United States 101 -
IDC Herzliya Herzliya, Israel 101 -
Koc University Istanbul, Turkey 101 151
KU Leuven Brussels, Belgium 101 51
Leiden University Leiden, Netherlands 101 26
HSE University Moscow, Russia 101 51
Peking University Beijing, China 101 28
Queen Mary University of London London, United Kingdom 101 101
Simon Fraser University Burnaby, Canada 101 -
Texas Tech University Lubbock, United States 101 -
The University of Alabama Tuscaloosa, United States 101 -
Melbourne Business School Melbourne, Australia 101 38
University of Queensland South Brisbane, Australia 101 51
Tufts University Medford, United States 101 101
University at Albany Colonie, United States 101 -
University at Buffalo Buffalo, United States 101 -
University of Antwerp Antwerpen, Belgium 101 151
The University of Arizona Tucson, United States 101 -
University of Bern Bern, Switzerland 101 151
University of Bremen Bremen, Germany 101 -
University of Bristol Bristol, United Kingdom 101 51
University of Connecticut Storrs, United States 101 -
The University of Exeter Exeter, United Kingdom 101 51
University of Göttingen Göttingen, Germany 101 151
University of Hamburg Hamburg, Germany 101 101
University of Illinois at Chicago Chicago, United States 101 -
University of Leeds Leeds, United Kingdom 101 101
University of Miami Coral Gables, United States 101 -
University of Mississippi Oxford, United States 101 -
University of Montreal Montréal, Canada 101 51
Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU) Munich München, Germany 101 51
University of Nebraska-Lincoln Lincoln, United States 101 -
University of Oklahoma Norman, United States 101 -
University of Oregon Eugene, United States 101 -
University of Ottawa Ottawa, Canada 101 51
University of St. Gallen (HSG) St. Gallen, Switzerland 101 -
University of Sussex Brighton, United Kingdom 101 51
University of Victoria Victoria, Canada 101 -
Wageningen University and Research Wageningen, Netherlands 101 -
University of Wisconsin Milwaukee Milwaukee, United States 101 -
University of York York, United Kingdom 101 151
Victoria University of Wellington Wellington, New Zealand 101 101
Virginia Tech Blacksburg, United States 101 -
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Amsterdam, Netherlands 101 101
Boston College Newton, United States 151 -
Carleton University Ottawa, Canada 151 151
Durham University Durham, United Kingdom 151 51
Erasmus University Rotterdam Rotterdam, Netherlands 151 -
Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, United States 151 -
Ghent University Ledeberg, Belgium 151 151
Humboldt University Berlin Berlin, Germany 151 50
Iowa State University Ames, United States 151 -
Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, United States 151 16
LUISS University Roma, Italy 151 101
Maastricht University Maastricht, Netherlands 151 101
Monash University Notting Hill, Australia 151 51
Northeastern University Boston, United States 151 -
Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) Trondheim, Norway 151 151
Ohio University Athens, United States 151 -
Purdue University West Lafayette, United States 151 -
Queen's University Belfast Belfast, United Kingdom 151 101
Radboud University Nijmegen, Netherlands 151 -
SOAS University of London London, United Kingdom 151 39
Southern Methodist University Dallas, United States 151 -
Syracuse University Syracuse, United States 151 101
Temple University Philadelphia, United States 151 -
University of Glasgow Glasgow, United Kingdom 151 151
The University of New Mexico Albuquerque, United States 151 -
University of New South Wales Kingsford, Australia 151 51
Trinity College Dublin Dublin, Ireland 151 101
Tsinghua University Beijing, China 151 35
Institute for European Studies - Universite Libre de Bruxelles Brussels, Belgium 151 51
University of Aberdeen Aberdeen, United Kingdom 151 -
University of California, Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, United States 151 -
University of California, Santa Cruz Santa Cruz, United States 151 -
University of East Anglia Norwich, United Kingdom 151 151
University of Florida Gainesville, United States 151 -
Goethe University Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main, Germany 151 -
University of Helsinki Helsinki, Finland 151 101
University of Kent Canterbury, United Kingdom 151 151
University of Leicester Leicester, United Kingdom 151 -
University of Missouri - Columbia Columbia, United States 151 -
University of Southampton Southampton, United Kingdom 151 151
University of Southern Denmark Neder Holluf, Denmark 151 -
University of St Andrews St Andrews, United Kingdom 151 51
University of Strathclyde Glasgow, United Kingdom 151 -
University of Utah Salt Lake City, United States 151 -
University of Vienna Vienna, Austria 151 51
Utrecht University Utrecht, Netherlands 151 101
Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) Brussels, Belgium 151 101
Waseda University Nerima, Japan 151 51
University of Western Ontario London, Canada 151 -
Yonsei University Seoul, South Korea 151 51
York University Toronto, Canada 151 101
Arizona State University Tempe Junction, United States 51 -
Dartmouth College Hanover, United States 51 151
European University Institute (EUI) Fiesole, Italy 51 -
George Mason University Fairfax, United States 51 151
Indiana University Bloomington Bloomington, United States 51 51
Michigan State University East Lansing, United States 51 -
National University of Singapore Singapore, Singapore 51 15
Pompeu Fabra University Ciutat Vella, Spain 51 -
Stockholm University Bergshamra, Sweden 51 151
Stony Brook University Stony Brook, United States 51 -
Texas A&M University College Station, United States 51 -
The University of Edinburgh Edinburgh, United Kingdom 51 44
University of Texas at Dallas Richardson, United States 51 -
University College London (UCL) London, United Kingdom 51 40
University of British Columbia Vancouver, Canada 51 34
University of California, Davis Davis, United States 51 101
University of Geneva Genève, Switzerland 51 101
University of Gothenburg Göteborg, Sweden 51 101
University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign Urbana, United States 51 151
University of Mannheim Mannheim, Germany 51 51
University of Massachusetts Amherst Amherst Center, United States 51 151
University of Nottingham Nottingham, United Kingdom 51 51
University of Oslo Oslo, Norway 51 51
University of Zurich Zürich (Kreis 1), Switzerland 51 101
Washington University in St. Louis Saint Louis, United States 51 -
Binghamton University Johnson City, United States 76 -
Brigham Young University Provo, United States 76 -
Cardiff University Cardiff, United Kingdom 76 151
Copenhagen Business School (CBS) Copenhagen, Denmark 76 101
Florida State University Tallahassee, United States 76 -
Griffith University Southport, Australia 76 51
Heidelberg University Heidelberg, Germany 76 51
King's College London London, United Kingdom 76 32
Rice University Houston, United States 76 -
Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv Yaffo, Israel 76 -
University of Georgia Athens, United States 76 -
The University of Manchester Manchester, United Kingdom 76 46
University of Sheffield Sheffield, United Kingdom 76 51
University of Birmingham Birmingham, United Kingdom 76 51
University of California, Irvine (UCI) Irvine, United States 76 -
University of Cambridge Cambridge, United Kingdom 76 5
University of Denver Denver, United States 76 -
The University of Iowa Iowa City, United States 76 -
University of Kentucky Lexington, United States 76 -
University of Konstanz Konstanz, Germany 76 101
University of North Texas Denton, United States 76 -
University of Notre Dame South Bend, United States 76 51
University of Rochester Rochester, United States 76 -
University of Southern California Los Angeles, United States 76 101
Sciences Po Paris, France - 4
The University of Tokyo Tokyo, Japan - 17
Seoul National University Anyang, South Korea - 29
The University of Hong Kong Hong Kong, Hong Kong (SAR) - 31
Fudan University Shanghai, China - 41
Korea University Seoul, South Korea - 42
National Taiwan University Taipei, Taiwan - 49
Aberystwyth University Aberystwyth, United Kingdom - 101
Hanyang University Seoul, South Korea - 101
Hitotsubashi University Kunitachi, Japan - 101
Kyung Hee University Seoul, South Korea - 101
National Autonomous University of Mexico Coyoacán, Mexico - 101
Oxford Brookes University Oxford, United Kingdom - 101
Pontifical Catholic University of Chile Villa Presidente Frei, Ñuñoa, Santiago, Chile, Chile - 101
Queen's University Kingston, Canada - 101
Renmin University of China Beijing, China - 101
Sapienza University of Rome Roma, Italy - 101
UCLouvain Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium - 101
Université Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV) Paris, France - 101
Frankfurt University of Applied Science Frankfurt am Main, Germany - 101
University of Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, Argentina - 101
University of California, Irvine Extension Irvine, United States - 101
University of Cape Town Cape Town, South Africa - 101
University of Minnesota Minneapolis, United States - 101
University of Otago Dunedin, New Zealand - 101
University of the Andes Bogotá, Colombia - 101
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg Johannesburg, South Africa - 101
University of Waterloo Waterloo, Canada - 101
Charles University Prague, Czech Republic - 151
Cyber Hankuk University of Foreign Studies Seoul, South Korea - 151
Ewha Womans University Seoul, South Korea - 151
Fundação Getulio Vargas Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - 151
Goldsmiths, University of London London, United Kingdom - 151
McMaster University Hamilton, Canada - 151
METU Middle East Technical University Ankara, Turkey - 151
Osaka University Osaka-shi, Japan - 151
Saint-Petersburg University Saint Petersburg, Russia - 151
Stellenbosch University Stellenbosch, South Africa - 151
Sun Yat-sen University Guangzhou, China - 151
The University of Milan Sesto San Giovanni, Italy - 151
The University of Western Australia Perth, Australia - 151
Tohoku University Sendai-shi, Japan - 151
UNICAMP - University of Campinas Campinas, Brazil - 151
Complutense University of Madrid Madrid, Spain - 151
National University of Colombia Bogotá, Colombia - 151
University of Adelaide Adelaide, Australia - 151
University of Alberta Edmonton, Canada - 151
University of Barcelona Eixample, Spain - 151
University of Bath Bath, United Kingdom - 151
University of Bergen Bergen, Norway - 151
University of Brasil Brasília, Brazil - 151
University of Florence Florence, Italy - 151
University of Quebec Québec, Canada - 151
University of Siena Siena, Italy - 151
University of Technology Sydney Sydney, Australia - 151
University of Warsaw Warsaw, Poland - 151
Bologna Business School Bologna, Italy - 51
European University Institute Florence, Italy - 51
Keio University International Center Shinagawa-ku, Japan - 51
Kyoto University Kyoto, Japan - 51
Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU) Moscow, Russia - 51
Nanyang Technological University Singapore, Singapore - 51
National Chengchi University Taipei, Taiwan - 51
Sungkyunkwan University Seoul, South Korea - 51
The Chinese University of Hong Kong Shatin, Hong Kong (SAR) - 51
Panthéon-Sorbonne University Paris, France - 51
University College Dublin Dublin, Ireland - 51
University of Auckland Auckland, New Zealand - 51
University of Sao Paulo São Paulo, Brazil - 51
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