Political Science

Political science explores big questions about the systems and societies that make up our world: What is democracy? Why and how does democracy flourish — or decline? How do emotions shape our political behavior? What does injustice mean and how does it manifest? Who calls the shots in a global economy? Political Science grapples with these and many other questions.

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A.B.
department
Department of Political Science
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Political Science

Political science explores big questions about the systems and societies that make up our world: What is democracy? Why and how does democracy flourish — or decline? How do emotions shape our political behavior? What does injustice mean and how does it manifest? Who calls the shots in a global economy? Political Science grapples with these and many other questions.

The faculty and students in Brown’s Department of Political Science study how people — nations, regions, cities, communities — live their common lives; how they solve (or duck) their common problems; how they govern themselves; and how they think, talk, argue, fight and vote. Brown scholars seek to better understand the institutions, ideas, practices and relationships that constitute public life, and the modes of inquiry that promote citizenship.

Among the many questions Brown's political science scholars are exploring are:

  • Why do Hindus and Muslims live in harmony in one city and fight bitterly in another just a few miles away?
  • How does smuggling (of drugs, guns and people) reshape international relations?
  • Why is the U.S. the only industrialized nation without national health insurance?
  • What is the legacy of slavery in the U.S.?
  • What explains the rise of China? and
  • How does the Constitution shape governmental power in the U.S.?