Departmental website: lse.ac.uk/government|
Number of graduate students (full-time equivalent)
Taught: 460
Research: 71
Number of faculty (full-time equivalent): 53
RAE: 60% of the Department's research was rated world leading or internationally excellent
Location: Connaught House
About the Department
The Government Department is one of the largest in the UK and covers almost all areas of politics. We offer a comprehensive range of academic approaches, from political theory and philosophy to public choice and comparative government, and the history of institutions and policy.
Being based within the only UK institution that specialises solely in the social sciences is a great benefit and our graduate programmes involve close collaboration with other departments and institutes in the School. In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, the Government and International Relations Departments together with the Department of International Development were assessed as one unit. The majority of the research was graded in the world leading and internationally excellent categories.
We currently have students from all corners of the globe researching across the whole field of politics.
Staff and their academic interests
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Professor Sumantra Bose: Ethnic conflict and democratisation; national self-determination; peace building; politics in India, Kashmir, former Yugoslavia.
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Professor John Breuilly: Nationalism and ethnicity; modern German history; comparative European history especially labour movements; bourgeoisie; urban cultural history in 19th century Europe; modern liberalism.
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Dr Michael Bruter: European Union; European identity; elections; political behaviour; research methods; European politics; institutions; public opinion; extreme right.
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Dr John Chalcraft: Popular history of the Middle East and the global south; issues of hegemony and resistance; political contention; Eurocentrism; uneven capitalism; imperialism; migration; transnational power.
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Dr Rory Costello: Empirical democratic theory; EU politics; legislative decision-making; voting behaviour.
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Professor Torun Dewan: Public choice; party strategy; ministerial and legislative behaviour; political economy; formal analysis of parties and coalitions; ministerial turnover; legislative and executive behaviour.
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Dr Vesselin Dimitrov: Eastern Europe; government and politics; communism and post-communism; democratisation.
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Professor Patrick Dunleavy: Electoral systems; voting behaviour; parties; government structures; executive budgeting; new public management and globalisation; urban politics; political sociology; public choice theory.
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Dr Katrin Flikschuh: Kant's political philosophy; metaphysics and meta-level justification in contemporary political philosophy; contemporary liberalism; global justice; history of political thought.
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Dr James Gledhill: Contemporary political and moral philosophy; justification in political and moral philosophy; history of modern political thought.
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Dr Nilima Gulrajani: Performance management and aid effectiveness; organisational dynamics in development; comparative public administration and development policy.
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Dr Daphne Halikiopoulou: Nationalism and national identity; sociology of religion and secularisation theory; comparative European politics; British politics; comparative politics methodology.
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Professor David Held: Democracy; democratisation; globalisation; global politics; modern political and social theory.
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Dr Steffen Hertog: Comparative political economy; comparative politics of the developing world; Gulf and Middle East politics.
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Professor Simon Hix: EU politics and policy; the EU legislative process and the European Parliament; parties and elections; rational choice theory.
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Dr Jonathan Hopkin: Political parties in advanced industrial democracies; economic theories of corruption; political decentralisation; the political economy of European social democracy; the politics of southern Europe; west European politics and political economy; political parties; political decentralisation.
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Dr Rafael Hortala-Vallve: Formal political theory; political economy; social choice; public economics; collective decision-making; coalition formation; voting and elections; experimental social sciences.
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Professor James Hughes: Post-communist transitions; elites; federalism; regionalism and nationalism in FSU; Russian politics; conflict resolution; dynamics of political violence.
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Dr John Hutchinson: Theories of nationalism; cultural nationalism warfare and nationalism.
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Professor Paul Kelly: Modern political theory; history of political thought; philosophy of Jeremy Bentham and Ronald Dworkin; multiculturalism; group rights and national identity; equality of outcomes and equality of opportunity and theories of social justice.
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Dr Bill Kissane: Civil wars and reconstruction; comparative constitutionalism; democratisation; nationalism; democratic theory; Irish politics.
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Dr Mathias Koenig-Archibugi: International institutions; global democracy; international labour standards; globalisation; global governance; European political integration.
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Dr Nikitas Konstantinidis: comparative and international political economy; applied formal theory; regional integration; international organisations; European Union politics.
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Dr Denisa Kostovicova: Democratisation and ethnic conflict; nationalism and globalisation; post-conflict reconstruction; human security; civil society and transitional justice; European integration of western Balkans; Democratic transition in former Yugoslavia; regional security and stability in the post-Milosevic Balkans; the impact of the UN protectorates in Kosovo and Bosnia-Herzegovina; foreign policy of Serbia and Montenegro; Albanian diaspora in the United Kingdom.
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Professor Chandran Kukathas: History of liberal thought; contemporary liberal political theory; multiculturalism.
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Dr Valentino Larcinese: Public choice; voting; information; mass media; redistribution; public economics; taxation and public spending.
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Dr Chun Lin: Post WWII cultural radicalism; Marxism; communism and post-communism; modern China; patterns of history and development; women; work; citizenship; south Asian and east Asian politics.
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Professor Christian List: Political Theory, formal and normative; social choice theory and its foundations; theories of democracy and deliberation; philosophy of science and social science.
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Dr Martin Lodge: Comparative regulatory regimes and policies; institutional analysis; German, British and EU public policy.
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Dr Kira Matus: Sustainability science; sustainable production and consumption systems; innovation systems and policy; green chemistry and engineering; science policy; biofuels; certification and ecolabels; voluntary and private regulation; corporate sustainability.
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Dr Omar McDoom: Ethnic violence; civil wars; genocides; African politics; international development; religious extremism; terrorism; radical Islam; insurgency; guerrilla warfare; human rights; international criminal law.
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Dr Paul Mitchell: Party competition; coalition governments; electoral systems; Irish politics.
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Dr Hande Mutlu-Eren: Political parties; party competition; coalitions; government formation; advanced industrialised democracies.
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Dr Adnan Naseemullah: Political economy of industrialisation; state capacity and state-building; politics of south Asia.
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Professor Ed Page: Comparative public administration and policy; British government.
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Dr Francisco Panizza: Democracy and human rights in Latin American politics; politics and economy of MERCOSUR countries.
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Professor George Philip: Latin American politics and oil politics; Mexican, Venezuelan and Peruvian politics and economy.
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Professor Anne Phillips: Feminist political theory; normative political theory; democracy; citizenship and political representation; especially representation of gender; ethnicity and race; multiculturalism; coercion.
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Dr Marco Pinfari: Global politics
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Dr Stephanie Rickard: International trade politics; redistribution; globalisation; strategic budgeteering; electoral institutions; industrial subsidies; comparative welfare states; labour market regulation; government procurement; international organisations.
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Dr Cheryl Schonhardt-Bailey: Legislative politics; analysis of legislative debates; new methodologies for measuring ideas and political rhetoric; political economy of trade and monetary policy; political economy; agricultural politics; trade policy; public choice; American politics.
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Dr Zhand Shakibi: Iran; economic and political transition in Russia and central Asia; oil politics of Caspian region; Islam and modernity.
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Professor John Sidel: International politics of south East Asia, Indonesia and Philippines; Islam and international relations; local politics; religion and politics; nationalism and transnational forces.
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Dr Kai Spiekerman: Philosophy of the social sciences; normative and positive questions of moral theory and political philosophy; game theory and its philosophical applications.
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Dr Jill Stuart: The global commons; international political theory; sovereignty and globalisation; gender and international relations; regime theory; constructivism; cultural healthcare; politics, law and theory of outer space.
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Professor Mark Thatcher: Comparative public policy; information and communications technology in Europe; British, French and EU policy and policy-making.
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Dr Eiko Thielemann: EU and comparative European politics and policy; asylum; immigration and citizenship; regionalism and devolution; regional and state aid policy; German politics and policy.
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Dr Joachim Wehner: Public sector budgeting; comparative federalism and decentralisation; legislatures; comparative government; socio-economic rights; African politics.
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Matthew Whiting: Political moderation; democratisation; electoral politics; nationalism; Irish politics.
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Dr David Woodruff: Politics and economics of Russia and other post-socialist countries; political economy of capitalist institutions; international trade and capital flows; qualitative methods and philosophy of social science.
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Dr Lea Ypi: Political Theory.
Opportunities for research
We aim to create a sense of community among our research students, encouraging you to appreciate the variety within political science by engaging in discussion with colleagues whose research topics are different from your own. If you join the Department to undertake research you will have both a supervisor and an adviser, or if appropriate, two supervisors. Your adviser provides an alternative source of advice and also gives you wider contact with the Department.
In the first year of your research programme you attend the Department's doctoral programme seminar. The Department is closely associated with the work of the School's Methodology Institute. We will advise you about additional methodological training appropriate to your project.
There are regular graduate seminars in each of the Department's subject areas. From the second year onwards you attend one of the following workshops: Political Theory, Political Economy and Public Policy, Comparative Politics, European Politics and Policy, or Ethnicity and Nationalism. You may also attend a workshop in your first year. We review your progress annually. If you successfully pass your review in the Summer term of your first year you will be upgraded to PhD status.
The application deadline is 10 January 2012. Successful candidates will be notified in March. In exceptional cases, late applications can be considered until 27 April 2012, but candidates are advised that places for late admission are limited and late applicants are not eligible for consideration for LSE/ESRC/AHRC funding.
Supporting documentation
We require a personal statement, a research proposal, samples of written work, two academic references and degree/language-test transcripts.
Personal statement
Researching for, and writing, a doctoral thesis is an enjoyable intellectual experience, but also a demanding one. It is crucially important, therefore, that you embark on this process, starting with the application, with realistic views of what doing a PhD actually consists of, as well as with a good sense of what your reasons are for doing it. Your personal statement should state clearly your motivation, academic interests and your purpose and objectives in applying for the MPhil/PhD in the Government Department. The statement should be between 1,000 and 1,500 words. We do not require or consider CVs.
Research proposal
The research proposal, which should be of approximately 1,500 words, is absolutely crucial to the success of your application. To be eligible for admission as an MPhil/PhD student, you need to have more than a vaguely defined research topic. Your proposal should be written as clearly and concisely as possible and should address the following questions:
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What is your general topic?
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What questions do you want to answer?
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What is the key literature and its limitations?
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What are the main hypotheses of the work?
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What methodology do you intend to use? What are your case studies, if any?
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What are the limitations of your proposed research?
In addition, you should describe your reasons for selecting your topic. Why do you want to spend four years on this particular topic? What is particularly interesting about it? Is it a new topic? A much researched topic which requires a new approach? You should also indicate why, in your view, your proposed work will make a significant and original contribution to the field. Finally, you should be able to complete your thesis within four years. While your proposal may evolve in the course of your research, you should endeavour to present a project which will be feasible within the framework of a three to four year MPhil/PhD programme.
The selection panel places great importance on the originality, substance and feasibility of your proposal. Moreover, the proposal must fall into a research area in which the Department is able to offer supervision. Candidates are encouraged to study the Department's webpages carefully and to take due care in the preparation of the proposal, to consult former academic advisers and to make contact with potential supervisors in the Department for advice on preparing a proposal. You will find a list of members of staff, with their research interests, at Academic staff (full-time) and Postdoctoral Fellows|
If you have discussed your proposed research with a member of the Department's academic staff, you should indicate their name in your proposal.
For a good overview of what a PhD consists of, the good and bad experiences that doctoral students often have, and for advice on how to formulate a research question and plan a doctorate, you may wish to consult the following two books: P Dunleavy, Authoring a PhD: how to plan, draft, write and finish a doctoral thesis or dissertation (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003); E M Phillips and D S Pugh, How to Get a PhD (Open University Press, 2005, 4th edition).
Written work
Applicants must submit either two master's degree essays of 5,000 words or a master's dissertation. If you do not have a master's dissertation you can submit other relevant work demonstrating essay writing and topical knowledge.
References
You should nominate two referees who are familiar with your academic work and, ideally, who know of your proposed field of research. It is your responsibility to make contact with your referees promptly to allow your application to be completed in time. Please note that outside term time many academics may be away from their department and therefore difficult to contact. Referees can complete their references online. Complete applications must be received by the deadline, and it is the candidate's responsibility to ensure their completeness.
Taught programmes