Welcome to the Department of Politics & Government
The Department of Politics & Government is committed to providing high quality graduate education that weaves broad theoretical concerns about politics and political values with more focused questions of applied policy analysis. Students are able to pursue Master’s and PhD level study in the traditional fields of political philosophy, American politics, and public policy, as well as innovative joint programs of study with economics, psychology, and religion. Students also benefit from having the opportunity to work with affiliated faculty from the Claremont Colleges. A distinctive feature of our program is the close relationships that we develop with our students, many of whom have opportunities to be involved in collaborative research with faculty mentors. We look forward to welcoming you to this exciting community of scholars.
Heather E. Campbell
Chair, Department of Politics & Government
Professor, Department of Politics & Government
Field Chair, Public Policy
Masters Programs
Doctoral Programs
Dual Degree Programs
Faculty
Core Faculty
Mark Blitz
Fletcher Jones Professor of Political Philosophy
Field Chair, Political Philosophy
Director, Salvatori Center for the Study of Individual Freedom
Research Interests
Political science, Philosophy, Plato, Heidegger, American politics
Heather E. Campbell
Chair, Department of Politics & Government
Professor, Department of Politics & Government
Field Chair, Public Policy
Research Interests
Environmental policy, Public policy, Water policy, Racial profiling, Housing, K–12 education, Student evaluations of teaching, Public utility regulation
Robert Klitgaard
University Professor
Research Interests
Public policy, Economic strategy, Institutional reform, Corruption
Christopher N. Krewson
Assistant Professor, Department of Politics & Government
Research Interests
American political institutions, Judicial behavior, Public opinion, Research methodology
Javier Rodríguez
Mary Toepelt Nicolai and George S. Blair Assistant Professor
Research Interests
Public and health policy, social inequality; Causal identification in policy analysis and program evaluation; Quantitative methods for social science research
Jean Reith Schroedel
Professor of Political Science
Field Chair, American Politics
Research Interests
Native American voting rights, American political development, women and politics, religion and politics, and congressional policy-making
Michael Uhlmann
Professor of Government
Director, Tribal Administration Certificate Program
Research Interests
American presidency, Executive–congressional relations, Federal judiciary,
Federal administrative process, National security decision making
Extended Faculty – CGU
Mark Abdollahian
Full Clinical Professor
Research Interests
Strategic decision making, International political economy, Sustainable development, Growth, Human social cultural behavioral modeling, Econometrics, Predictive analytics, Computational modeling and simulation, Data analytics, Visualization
Yi Feng
Luther Lee Jr. Memorial Chair in Government
Research Interests
International political economy, Public policy analysis, Quantitative methodology, Global power shifts, Globalization
Jacek Kugler
Elisabeth Helm Rosecrans Professor of International Relations
Research Interests
Causes and consequences of war, Political performance, Nuclear deterrence, Power transition, Political demography, Development, Decision-making
Melissa Rogers
Assistant Professor of Political Science
Research Interests
Comparative politics, political economy, economic inequality, Latin American politics, state institutional and economic development, research design, econometrics
Sallama Shaker
Full Clinical Professor of Middle East & International Studies
Research Interests
Power politics, religion, and culture in the Middle East; Feminization of poverty and global challenges; Islam state politics; Islamic feminism; Cultural diversity; Globalization
Zining Yang
Assistant Clinical Professor
Research Interests
Formal modeling, data analysis
Extended Faculty
Jennifer L. Merolla
University of California, Riverside
Research Interests
Candidate evaluations during elections, immigration policy attitudes, foreign policy attitudes, and support for democratic values and institutions
Hal T. Nelson
Portland State University
Research Interests
Environmental, social, and economic sustainability, primarily in the energy sector
Joseph M. Bessette
Claremont McKenna College
Research Interests
American constitutionalism, American politics, crime and criminal justice, ethics and American democracy, presidency
Charles R. Kesler
Claremont McKenna College
Research Interests
American constitutionalism, American political thought, American politics, conservative movement in America, constitutional law, Greek and Roman political thought, idealism and nihilism, political philosophy, term limitations
John J. Pitney, Jr.
Claremont McKenna College
Research Interests
American politics, California politics, Congress, electoral politics, internet & politics, media politics, national elections, Obama administration, political advertising, political parties, presidency, public policy
George Thomas
Claremont McKenna College
Research Interests
American constitutionalism, American political thought, constitutional law, Supreme Court