MRes/PhD in Political Science

Special features of the degree

In 2002 the Government Department at LSE, in a departure from the traditional 'thesis only' manner of doing doctoral work in most of Europe, introduced an exciting new PhD Programme in Political Science that combines rigorous training with specialised research.

Traditionally, doctoral students in most European departments spend several years working almost exclusively on their own research topic. The MRes/PhD is designed to provide a more structured route into a PhD. It provides a teaching programme in the first year. This involves collective and collaborative working, a broad training in research skills and methods, and a systematic emphasis on research design and methodology. This first year of the programme leads to an MRes award. Students build on this first year in their doctoral research in the following three years. Graduates will be carefully trained and widely read - indeed they will be able to interpret, evaluate, and use research results across a broad spectrum of topics, well beyond the field of their specific doctoral research. This combination of training and research is also intended to produce a new generation of political scientists who upon graduation will be well qualified to take up important positions in their professions. The benefits of this programme are already clear to see in the first cohort of graduates. (See below for details of the career success of graduates.)

Advantages of study at LSE

• LSE has been rated in various rankings (e.g. the leagues produced by The Times Higher Educational Supplement) as one of the best social science university institutions in the world and as one of the best universities in the UK at which to study political science.
• The programme is based in the Department of Government which has been rated as excellent in both teaching and research. Those involved in teaching the programme include academics with international reputations in all branches of political science - contemporary and historical, quantitative and qualitative, and with expertise across most regions of the world.
• Students will benefit from the range of library and archival resources in London - including the School's own library which is regarded as the leading collection of social science literature in the UK.
• Students will acquire a range of skills and contacts well suited for those contemplating careers in such fields as the media, politics, think-tanks, NGOs, international organisations and the academic profession.
• LSE is a unique social science research community. This is reflected in the high proportion of postgraduates in the student body, the concentration of the institution upon social science subjects, the range and reputation of its research centres and individual academic staff, and a constant supply of visiting speakers from academic, political, business and many other walks of life.

Two streams in the MRes/PhD in Political Science

Students on both streams will be broadly trained in a range of methods in political science and will be able to apply quantitative and/or qualitative methods in their own research. In Stream A there is a greater emphasis on training in quantitative political science, while in Stream B there is a greater emphasis on training in qualitative approaches to the study of politics as well as in some quantitative methods. Both streams provide grounding in the scope and theory of political science and the challenges of research design. Students must meet high standards in all these fields and must apply their training to the construction of a research prospectus designed to underpin subsequent doctoral research.

Every student will be allocated a supervisor at the start of their first year. This supervision relationship will be confirmed or changed in the early part of the Lent Term of that year. In addition there will be either a second supervisor or an advisor allocated to each student.

MRes: Stream A (Quantitative Emphasis)

Compulsory courses

(*=half-unit)

• GV511 Scope and Theory in the Study of Politics*
• GV505 Research Design in Political Science*
• Mi452 Quantitative Analysis II: the Generalised Linear Model* (students with no prior statistics are advised to take the Methodology Institute's Mi451: Quantitative Analysis 1, Description and Inference or some equivalent course).

Options

Courses to the value of three half units, or equivalent. At least one half unit must be a quantitative or qualitative methods course. Students can select courses from anywhere in the School that are appropriate for their doctoral training and research. All course selections require the approval of the student's supervisor.

MRes:Stream tream B (Qualitative Emphasis)

Compulsory courses

• GV511 Scope and Theory in the Study of Politics *
• GV512 Research Design: Comparative, Case Study and Historical Approaches*
• GV513 Qualitative Methodsin the Study of Politics*
• Mi 451 Quantitative Analysis I: Description and Inference* (A student may be exempt from this course if s/he can demonstrate existing introductory training in quantitative analysis. In that case the student will choose one more optional course to the value of one half unit.)

Options

Courses to the value of two half units, or equivalent. Students can select courses from other departments provided that they can demonstrate that these are appropriate for their doctoral training and research. All course selections require the approval of the student's supervisor and the Stream B convenor.

Award of the MRes in Political Science

The MRes in Political Science will be awarded if all the exams are passed. A 'Merit' grade will be awarded for the MRes if the exams are passed with an average mark of between 60 and 67, and a 'Distinction' will be awarded if EITHER (a) a mark of 70 is achieved in a majority of the exams, OR (b) the exams are passed with an average mark of 68 or more.

Upgrade to PhD

1. Award of the MRes with at least an average of the Merit grade, plus passes in all exams that are required. In the event that a candidate achieves an average of at least 60, but fails an individual exam, the candidate may in the discretion of the exam board be upgraded, with the expectation that the failed exam will be retaken and passed at the next opportunity.
2. Approval of the Research Prospectus by the Prospectus Approval Committee.
   The prospectus is defended in front of the Prospectus Approval Committee (in late September or early October). The Committee will be comprised of: (a) a supervisor of the student, (b) one of the MRes/PhD Programme Convenors, and (c) an External Examiner.
3. Appropriate arrangements for supervision of the doctoral research.
4. Funding to support doctoral research.

The Prospectus Approval Committee will make one of four decisions: Unconditional Approval, Conditional Approval, Revise and Resubmit, and Fail. Students who are required to Revise and Resubmit are usually expected to resubmit the Prospectus within three months. There will usually be only one opportunity to resubmit the Prospectus.

Advice to Applicants

We welcome applications from students with a good undergraduate degree in political science or a closely related discipline (such as sociology, economics or history) and, preferably, an MA or MSc degree in political science or a closely related discipline.

In addition to the documents required by LSE admissions, all applications should include:

• LSE application form
• Two academic references
• Curriculum Vitae (CV or resume)
• Short statement of why you want to do the Mres/PhD
• An outline of the PhD research that you want to conduct (motivation, research questions, approach, methods etc. in no more than 4-5 pages of text)
• It is advisable in outlining your proposed research plan to pay some attention to the research interests of the academic staff in the Department of Government. Applicants can consult staff webpages and LSE 'Experts'

How to apply 

For further details about how to apply please see the Admissions| section in The Graduate School Prospectus. You can also find more information on the Graduate Admissions| and Graduate Prospectus 2008| websites.

Further application details

Application codes: M1ZL (Quantitative stream A), M1ZM (Qualitative stream B) (check availability|)

Duration: MRes 1 year, PhD 3/4 years (minimum 2)

Minimum entry requirement: Good undergraduate degree and preferably an MA or MSc degree in political science or a closely related discipline (such as sociology, economics or history) (See entry requirements|)

English requirement: Higher (See entry requirements|)

GRE/GMAT requirement: None

Fee level: See (Tuition Fees|)

Financial support: LSE Research Studentships are available for this programme and UK/EU applicants may apply for ESRC 1+3 awards (see www.esrc.ac.uk|)

Application deadline: First round: January 10, 2011 (includes consideration for departmental scholarships). Second round: April 29, 2010 (limited financial support from departmental funds).

Careers of successful graduates in this programme (as of November 2007)

• Dr Bjorn Hoyland (PhD 2005): Post-Doctoral Fellow, Department of Political Science, University of Oslo, Norway
• Dr Rehka Diwakar (PhD 2006): LSE Fellow on the MPA Programme
• Dr Sara Hagemann (PhD 2006): Research Programme Officer, European Policy Centre, Brussels, Belgium
• Dr Keiichi Kubo: Lecturer (PhD 2007), Department of Political Science, Wasseda University, Japan.
• Dr Andreas Warntjen (PhD 2007): Lecturer, University of Twente, The Netherlands.
• Kai Spiekermann (PhD 2008), Lecturer, Department of Government. LSE

Preliminary reading

Here is a short list of some recommended reading. This is not a mandatory labour sentence, but if you read some of these over the summer before you arrive you will be off to a flying start. If you don't find any of these interesting, you should be doing a different degree!

Anyone wishing to do some preparatory reading for the introductory and intermediate statistical knowledge required by the degree as a minimal standard, might like to consult the following book: Alan Agresti and Barbara Finlay, Statistical Methods for the Social Sciences, 3rd ed . Prentice Hall, 1997 (of course many other books at a similar level may be substituted). 

General

• Pennings, Paul, Hans Keman and Jan Kleinnijenhuis (2006). Doing Research in Political Science.
• Landman, Todd (2003, 2007). Issues and Methods in Comparative Politics .
• Fulbrook, Mary (2002), Historical Theory.
• King, Keohane and Verba [KKV] (1994). Designing Social Enquiry: Scientific Inference in Qualitative Research.
• Geddes, Barbara (2003) Paradigms and Sand Castles: Theory Building and Research Design in Comparative Politics.
• Brady, H. and Collier, D. (eds) (2004) Rethinking Social Inquiry: Diverse Tools, Shared Standards (A kind of reply to KKV or 'the qualitative researchers bite back!').
• Chalmers, A.F. (1999) What is this thing called Science? 3rd edition.
• Brown, Fauvel & Finnegan (eds) (1981) Concepts of Inquiry: A Reader.
• Peters, B. Guy (1998) Comparative Politics: Theory and Methods.

Stream A

• Shepsle, K.A. and Bonchek, M.S. (1997) Analysing Politics: Rationality, Behavior and Institutions.
• Goodwin, Robert and Klingemann, H.D (1998) A New Handbook of Political Science.
• Lijphart Arend (1999) Patterns of Democracy: Government Forms and Performance in 36 Countries (Yale University Press).
• Perry, Robert and Robertson, John (2002). Comparative Analysis of Nations: Quantitative Approaches.
• Powell, G. Bingham (2000) Elections as Instruments of Democracy, New Haven.
• Boix, Carles (1998) Political Parties, Growth and Equality.
• Gerring, John (2007). Case Study Research: Principles and Practices .
• George, Alexander and Andrew Bennett (2004). Case Studies and Theory Development in the Social Sciences.
• Morton, Rebecca (1999). Methods and Models: A Guide to the Empirical Analysis of Formal Models in Political Science.

Stream B

• Steinmetz, George, ed. (2005). The Politics of Method in the Human Sciences: positivism and its epistemological others.
• Przeworski, A & Teune, H (1970). The Logic of Comparative Social Inquiry : Part I.
• Coombs, C.H (1967). A Theory of Data.
• Ragin, Charles C. 2000. Fuzzy-set social science.
• Bernard, H. Russell (2006). 'Interviewing: Unstructured and Semi-Structured' Chapter 9 of Bernard, Research Methods in Anthropology: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches, 3rd edition (Altamira Press, 2006), pp. 203-39.
• Burton, Antoinette, ed. (2006). Archive Stories: Facts, Fictions, and the Writing of History. Read introduction 'Archive Fever'.
• Emerson, Robert M. , Fretz, Rachel I. & Shaw, Linda L. (1995). Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes, pp. 1-11, 52-81, 89-128, 142-44, 166-74.
• Franzosi, Robert (2004). From Words to Numbers: narrative, data and social science.
• Brass, Paul, (1997). Theft of an Idol: Text and Context in the Representation of Collective Violence.