The Political Science Department was established in 1992 with the help of an international advisory board consisting of professors Robert Kaufman (Rutgers University), Janos Kornai (Harvard University) and Steven Lukes (New York University). The Department is a graduate teaching center in Political Science, bringing Western academic skills, standards, and perspectives in the region of Central and Eastern Europe. On the one hand, the Department aims to provide the region with highly trained experts and scholars responding to the specific needs of the post-communist countries. On the other hand, the Department seeks to be a leading institution in the studies of post-communist transition. In order to achieve these ultimate goals the department’s programs integrate teaching with research.
Originally, the department focused primarily on issues of the post-communist political and economic transformation. Since then the Department has become unique in Europe in covering almost all areas of political studies and offering in-depth expertise in the comparative politics of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Representing a comprehensive range of academic approaches and expertise, our department’s faculty address questions of political philosophy, democratization and regime change, constitutional politics, political economy, media, voting behavior, party politics, human rights, and Europeanization, in a comparative manner.
Our faculty is involved with the following research centers at the Central European University:
Center for Ethics and Law in Biomedicine
Center for Media and Communication Studies
Center for the Study of Imperfections in Democracy
The department of Political Science offers both M.A. and PhD programs. Our one year M.A. program, accredited in the US, has been running since 1993/1994. We are starting our two year M.A. program, accredited in Hungary, in 2008/09. Both MA programs have a dual focus towards educating future scholars in political science and those who plan to become policy-makers or expert civil servants. Besides the core component, covering the analytical and empirical foundations of the discipline, the M.A. program offers specific training in: Social and Political Theory, Comparative Politics, Political Economy, Political Communication, Electoral Politics, Political Research, Methodology and Social Analysis, Comparative European Politics, and Post-Communist Politics. In addition to their diploma students receive a Certificate for their specialization.
The department of Political Science has been running the PhD program since 1996/1997. Upon establishment the main purpose of the program was to offer doctoral-level education in the Central Eastern European region up to the standards of the western Institutions in order to train a new generation of scholars in Political Science. The Department’s PhD Program still focuses on Academia and our purpose is to train future scholars who may help to improve the higher education and academic life in their home countries. The Political Science Department integrates teaching with research and it incorporates Doctoral Candidates into different research programs. Students are encouraged to explore related issues in their home countries as the core of their thesis. Large scale research projects included topics related to transition from communism to democracy, comparative party formation and comparative political economy of stabilization. The department provides grants for conferences and for research related activities.
Upon completion of either of our programs, students will have acquired a solid background in political science, both generally and in relation to post-communist Central and Eastern Europe. Students have gained or returned to employment in a variety of fields including higher education, politics, political analysis, the media, civil service, international NGOs and other related areas. Other graduates are continuing their studies in PhD programs in the US and Europe. Graduates also take positions in education, research organizations, businesses and government.
For more information please direct all your inquiries to:
Department of Political Science
Central European University
1051 Budapest, Nador u. 9.
Hungary
Tel: +36-1-3283416
Fax: +36-1-3273087