The Department of Political Science offers a Ph.D. program in Political Science. The department has attained a reputation for producing the very best innovative and interdisciplinary scholarship. Faculty are engaged in the study of such key questions as the politics of advanced and democratizing societies, international cooperation and peace, the politics of racial and ethnic minority groups, and the origins of altruism and morality and their impact on world politics.
Graduate students can pursue concentration in public choice and specializations in democracy studies, international relations, and race and minority politics. The Ph.D. program offers big payoffs to graduate students, in fact, because of the extended range of inquiry an interdisciplinary program affords.
Political science faculty members are regular participants in and help direct several research units on campus. The Center for the Study of Democracy, an Organized Research Unit at UCI, sponsors research and education aimed at improving the democratic process in the United States and expanding democracy around the world. The UCI Interdisciplinary Center for the Scientific Study of Ethics and Morality explores questions concerning the origins and causes of morality. The Center for Global Peace and Conflict Studies (CGPACS), housed in the School of Social Sciences, is a multidisciplinary program dedicated to promoting scholarly, student and public understanding of international conflict and cooperation. The Institute for Mathematical Behavioral Sciences, also located in the School of Social Sciences, offers opportunities for participation in ongoing faculty research, notably with faculty members engaged in fields of public choice and political economy.