Graduate Program - American Politics

American Politics: Institutions, Individuals, Ideas
Woodrow Wilson Department of Politics
University of Virginia
December 2004

With twelve full-time faculty members, American Politics is the largest subfield within the Department. Accordingly, we cover a lot of ground: our group is genuinely diverse and pluralistic in the ways we ask questions about American politics. If there is a unifying theme running through our collectivity, however, it is our shared focus on the politics of democratic procedure in the case of the United States. Some of us study these politics by focusing on American institutions, whether the Presidency, the courts, or the process of public policy formation and implementation. A significant number of us look at how Americans think, feel and act as individual citizens, by examining voting, other forms of participation, and public opinion. All of our work is animated more or less explicitly by American political ideas: here in Virginia, we still wonder how the principles articulated by Thomas Jefferson and embraced by Woodrow Wilson continue to shape, open or limit American politics today.

Students who embark on graduate work at the University of Virginia will be trained to use a broad set of methodological approaches to study American politics. The current faculty is particularly strong in political behavior, American institutions, and public policy, with historical and quantitative methods predominant, but Virginia graduate students will be exposed to all major analytical approaches used by political scientists investigating the United States. In addition, our interests are significantly shared with other fields in the department: for example, our curiosity about elections and party systems is appreciated by our colleagues in Comparative Politics, and our interest in American Political Thought by the Political Theory wing of the Department. In short, our combination of substantive range and methodological scope makes Virginia a great place to study the ideas, individuals and institutions behind American politics.

University of Virginia Department of Politics Professors specializing in American Government include: