Introduction
The Faculty
The work of the UCSC Politics Department’s faculty has led the field toward interdisciplinary and engaged research, and represents the diverse cutting edge of U.S. and international political research. A group of affiliated graduate faculty extends the program’s intellectual breadth and the range of the course offerings.
The department enjoys several areas of special strength, including American political development, the social foundations of democratic politics and democratization; political economy; politics of the developing world; the politics of language; sub-national politics; post-colonial theory and nationalist discourse; early modern political thought; and informal and translocal political organization.
The Curriculum
The Politics Department is impressed by the fact that many of the best studies of politics today disregard the conventional boundaries of the political science’s disciplinary subfields. Therefore, the core graduate curriculum and qualifying examination process are structured around four interrelated themes central to political inquiry. Each of these areas of emphasis focuses, in a different way, on the relations among material life, institutional authority, collective mobilization, and political vision at all levels of politics.
Political and Social Thought. Brings together the history of political thought; contemporary social and critical theory; and the contributions of legal and institutional analysis of various kinds. This area of inquiry emphasizes the critical study of political practices that are experienced or understood as in some way limiting, oppressive, or wrong. The work of political and social theory as we see it is to transform our understanding of these practices; to see their contingent conditions; and to articulate the possibilities of governing ourselves differently.
Political and Social Forces. Concerns the interaction of social forces and political forces, drawing upon the work of scholars focused on social mobilizations and histories. Accordingly, this area of inquiry focuses on the articulation and organization of political interest and identities. This area studies the mutual interaction of these interests and identities with structure (states, discourses, public policy, and the law) uniting substantive and theoretical concerns across regional, national, and global politics.
States and Political Institutions. Emphasizes the international study of political institutions as instruments of collective decision-making and action. This area of inquiry focuses on the state and on transnational, subnational, and regional political institutions. In this area, we emphasize historical patterns of institutional development in relation to domestic political conflict and the changing contours of international political economy and patterns of conflict and cooperation among states.
Political Economy. Focuses on the relationship between states, markets, and societies. This area of inquiry explores the various understandings of political economy that have emerged within a number of different theoretical perspectives, including Marxism, realism, and liberalism. At subnational, national, and supranational levels, this area seeks to understand political economy outcomes as the result of the mutual interactions between political institutions, societal interests, and ideas and norms.
The politics graduate curriculum works critically upon and within conventional social science research and also ranges beyond its methods, drawing upon cultural studies, historical sociology, and history as they inform the study of politics. Students in the politics graduate program also work with faculty in other distinguished departments at UCSC, including literature, history of consciousness, history, Latin American and Latino studies, environmental studies, sociology, philosophy, international economics, and feminist studies.
Scholars and students in the program emphasize the articulation of important questions prior to the development of methods for grappling with them, while recognizing the importance of appropriate methodological tools for doing meaningful political research.
To support the growth of students as scholars, the department also offers a series of professional development sessions to introduce and help develop the skills of successful academic work. All graduate students are also expected to attend department events with notable visitors brought to campus for public lectures, presentation, and/or graduate colloquia.
Advancement to Candidacy
Course Requirements
All curricular requirements are aimed at preparing students for timely and successful completion of a doctoral dissertation. The graduate curriculum in politics includes seven stages: 1) three core seminars plus POLI 201, Logics of Inquiry seminar; 2) five other graduate-level Politics Department courses; 3) three additional graduate-level courses that may be from Politics or other departments, along with further training as appropriate in language and methodology; 4) teaching assistant seminar training; 5) a qualifying examination consisting of written and oral parts; 6) the research and writing of the dissertation; and 7) its oral defense.
Core Seminars and Methods Training
Required Core Seminars:
During the first two years in residence, students are required to take three of the four core seminars that correspond to the areas of emphasis:
| POLI 200A | Political and Social Thought Core Seminar | 5 |
| POLI 200B | Social Forces and Political Change Core Seminar | 5 |
| POLI 200C | States and Political Institutions Core Seminar | 5 |
| POLI 200D | Political Economy Core Seminar | 5 |
The core seminars provide a broad foundation for research in politics and offer structured opportunities to foster a community of scholarship within the program.
Logics of Inquiry:
The department also recognizes the importance of informed and critically engaged methodology. Logics of Inquiry, POLI 201, is a required course that investigates approaches to the study of politics and to the enterprise of social science in general. We also regularly offer POLI 202, Political Research, a seminar providing a foundation in qualitative methods, and occasionally offer other methods courses as well. Students sometimes pursue further coursework in other UC Santa Cruz departments, and the department has sent many students to summer training programs such as the Institute for Qualitative and Multi-Method Research (IQMR).
Additional Courses
Prior to the qualifying examination, a minimum of five additional politics graduate courses taught by Politics Department faculty or affiliated graduate faculty must be completed. Three additional graduate-level courses are also required, which may be taken from any UCSC department (including Politics).
Each candidate shall develop with his or her adviser language and method requirements appropriate to the student's project, graduate education, and career goals.
Teaching Requirement
Throughout its history, the department has been strongly committed to undergraduate teaching. The graduate program offers graduate students the opportunity to work closely with faculty and undergraduates as teaching assistants. The Politics Department’s faculty is committed to “the teaching of teaching”: its training of college educators emphasizes the importance of civic education in undergraduate instruction. All students who are teaching assistants will be required to attend a TA training program in which pedagogic and substantive issues will be considered.
See our website for details about the policies for admission to graduate standing as well as the application, and information about financial-support opportunities. For more information, refer to the Graduate Division website.
Qualifying Examination
The Qualifying Examination (QE) process intends to demonstrate a student’s mastery of and engagement with a range of literatures, including a) core literatures in two of the program’s four areas of emphasis, and b) specialized literatures relevant to the research trajectory. It provides a forum to specify and develop research questions and plans for the dissertation.
Preparation begins with the first core seminar and continues throughout the required coursework. The QE is completed during the third year and has three components: 1) two written examinations; 2) the dissertation prospectus; and 3) an oral examination. All components are evaluated by a committee of four faculty members, one of whom is not a member of the Politics Department.
Students must complete the QE process by the end of their third year. A student who fails any component of the QE process twice will not be permitted to continue in the program.
1. Two Written Examinations
Students choose between two formats of written examinations; take-home exams or field statements. The content and goals are the same—to demonstrate, engage and articulate knowledge of core literatures (fall quarter), and the ability to develop a coherent argument through a review of a broad range of literature that frames the dissertation focus (winter quarter). Additional information on the structure and timeline can be found on the department website.
Take-Home Exam Format
Students complete two 72-hour take-home exams. The Core Literatures Exam is organized around questions presented by the QE Committee. The Dissertation Literature Exam is focused on questions determined by the student in conversation with the QE committee.
Field Statements Format
Students complete two field statements of approximately 25 double-spaced pages with a 7500-word maximum.
2. Dissertation Prospectus
The prospectus is a research and writing plan that provides an opportunity for faculty to help refine a question, sharpen the approach, identify literatures and sources of information, and minimize the risk of research duplication. It also provides a template for funding applications. Students prepare the prospectus in consultation with members of their committee and submit during spring quarter. The prospectus should be approximately 15 pages and describe:
- The political problem to address.
- The specific questions to be examined.
- The significance of the research for larger theoretical and intellectual concerns in the study of politics, and its relation to relevant literatures.
- The planned research strategy and methodology.
- The principal sources that are available.
- The qualifications or limitations that may attend the results.
- A proposed table of contents and a bibliography.
- A projected timetable for completing the dissertation.
3. The Oral Examination
This is a closed meeting of the student with four members of the QE committee and the proposed dissertation chair (if s/he is not already a member of the QE committee). The meeting runs up to three hours and consists of two principal parts:
1. A review of the two field statements or take-home exams. The student reviews her or his work; the committee raises any unresolved questions from their initial review of the written exams and may raise additional questions pertaining to the readings.
2. A review of the prospectus. During this frank scholarly exchange the candidate may be asked to elaborate on certain areas of the project.
Upon committee approval, a final prospectus is submitted to the graduate program coordinator along with a Dissertation Committee Nomination form before the end of spring quarter. The Graduate Division must receive a QE Report, Dissertation Committee Nomination form and Advancement to Candidacy fee for a student to complete the QE process and advance to candidacy.
Dissertation
Dissertation
Upon advancing to candidacy students begin formal work on the dissertation, with the assistance and oversight of the dissertation committee.
Dissertation Committee
The dissertation committee must be composed of at least three professors, two of whom (including the chair) are members of the Politics faculty. The dissertation committee is selected by the student and approved by the Graduate Division. The dissertation committee need not be the same as the QE committee. The chair of the two committees can be the same professor.
Dissertation Defense
Upon completion, the student will be asked to defend her/his dissertation before the dissertation committee.
Academic Progress
Normative time to completion of the Ph.D. is six years. Upon advancement to candidacy, students are expected to complete the dissertation within three years.
At the end of each academic year, whether the student is in residence at UC Santa Cruz or not, s/he will file a statement of progress with the dissertation committee.
If the Ph.D degree is not awarded within seven years from the date of advancement to candidacy, the student's candidacy shall lapse and the the student will be required to pass a new qualifying exam prior to submitting the dissertation or undergo such other formal review as the department directs.
Applying for Graduation
At the end of the dissertation writing process, the student must file a petition for the degree, format the dissertation according to Graduate Division guidelines, complete an oral defense, and obtain signatures of the committee members on the official title page. One these items are complete, the student may file the dissertation to complete the Ph.D.
Students must either be registered or on Filing Fee the quarter in which the degree is to be conferred. In order to be eligible for Filing Fee, a student must have been registered or on an approved leave of absence the previous quarter.