Welcome to the Department of Political Science!

Political Science Commencement 2013 Information!

Location: Kennedy Grove

Seating is first-come first serve.  We do not require tickets but graduates are asked to inform department staff of the size of their group and if disability accommodations are needed.

Diploma Ceremony Schedule:
11:30am-12:15pm: Political Science reception with beverages and sandwiches
12:15-2:30pm: Diploma Ceremony...

This innovative program leads to a BA degree with honors and will give participants the analytical tools they need to write top-notch honors theses and collaborate with Stanford faculty and Ph.D. students.  Through a specially designed program of study and research, students will develop the foundation for successful careers in academia, law, government, business, and other fields.  Undeclared freshmen and sophomores are welcome to apply.  Download an application HERE.

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Inequality and Democratization: An Elite-Competition Approach

What explains why democracy emerges in some places but not others? Scholarship on ‘endogenous’ democratization has in recent years shifted attention away from the hypothesized impact of economic growth on regime change, and turned to consider the political consequences of different patterns of equal and unequal growth. These ‘redistributivist’ arguments highlight a supposed tension between democracy and property, suggesting that economic inequality forestalls regime change because it implies that under universal suffrage, the poor would vote to redistribute wealth. We suggest such...

Not on the Merits: Kant and the Law of War

Arthur Ripstein is Professor of Law and Philosophy at the University of Toronto, and Chair of the Department of Philosophy. He was appointed to the Department of Philosophy in 1987, promoted to full professor in 1996, and appointed to the Faculty of Law in 1999. He received a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Pittsburgh, a degree in law from Yale, and an undergraduate degree from the University of Manitoba.