After some very long conversations and thinking through things on my own, I decided I wanted to go back to school and study poli sci, as that, communications, or sociology seemed the best to start off working towards a career in a ngo. I wanted to know if there was anything I should do ahead of time? I was thinking I should start studying the history and theory of what kind of ngo I want to work for, along with attending town hall meetings, but would that be too idealistic?

An acquaintance who's an assistant professor (we say adjunkt, I'm unsure of the english here!) in an unrelated subject asked me this, and I wasn't sure if there is one.. Perhaps Karl Marx, or maybe that's too broad. Ideas?

I’m a high school senior and I got into an ok college that apparently does not have a good system for poli sci majors and will provide minimal internship opportunities. What should I do? Should I just major in something else or should I fight for this degree and internships? I am quite interested in Poli Sci and a few of my friends are interning in the HoR but I’ve also heard many people do not feel satisfied with this degree. I’ve browsed this subreddit for awhile and many people who seem to speak positively about this degree have decided to go back to college to pursue another degree. Please let me know your opinions :)

I ended up as a partisan hack for a while (lol) and now I’m a union rep. I dabbled in Econ a bit in school but apart from that I feel like I need some technical training. I don’t want to get a masters or Jurid doctors quite yet so is there a nigh program or something else out there to pick from? (Should I learn how to code? Haha)

How does a country gain an ideological basis? Through what methods? For example, a political scientist said that Romania has and always had a weak "ideological basis". I know the basic stuff about ideologies, but how does a country solve the problem of a "weak" ideological basis?

Hello, I was admitted into NU’s PoliSci PhD program and would like to know more about how it compares to other programs in the country. What are people saying? Does it have a certain reputation? How does it fare compared red to colleges in the Midwest, the Ivy Leagues, and schools outside of the US?

It seems that reputation is important for the social sciences but I’ve been having a hard time trying to gauge Northwestern’s rep and what people are generally saying about it. I’d greatly appreciate any info, thanks!

Over the past 15 years, it has become mainstream and even axiomatic to regard interventionist foreign policy as categorically bad. More than that, an increasing share of Americans now hold isolationist views, desiring to see the US pull back almost entirely from the world stage. This piece goes through the opinion landscape and catalogues the US’s many blunders abroad, but also explores America’s foreign policy successes, builds a case for why interventionism can be a force for good, and highlights why a US withdrawal from geopolitics only creates a power vacuum that less scrupulous actors will rush in to fill.

https://americandreaming.substack.com/p/why-interventionism-isnt-a-dirty

I’m currently working on a research paper for my school (IB Extended Essay) and I’ve chosen to explore the concept of meritocracy in politics, specifically in the context of India. The idea is to ensure that anyone who stands for elections or is part of a political party is not only properly vetted (background, criminal records, etc.) but also has the relevant education.

I believe that integrating meritocracy into our political system could potentially improve democracy by ensuring competent leadership and better decision-making. However, I also understand that such a system could potentially undermine the democratic principle of equal representation.

I was wondering how viable this solution is and whether it would work for a research paper that has to be 4000 words

in political science the govt creating security in society after it literally creates currency?

I'm mostly just curious, everybody has a very strong opinion on communism with most being staunchly anti-communist. I'd like to ask if you've ever read Marxist theory and also what your position on Marxism is.

By theory I mean actual books by actual Marxists, this means Marx, Engels, Lenin, Mao, Luxemburg, etc. if you just skimmed the communist manifesto one night, that really doesn't mean you read theory. Please be honest, pamphlets and fiction (looking at you 1984 and animal farm) don't count.

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Does anyone have insight into scholarly debate around the following? I’m also curious where people stand here. Thinking about writing a research project summarizing scholarly debate around MAD as a deterrence policy

hey everyone!

during the upcoming fall semester i’m thinking of taking some poli sci courses at my college. i really have a very surface level understanding of the US political scene and political theory.

do any of y’all have go to books you’d recommend for someone wanting to learn more?

please and thank you!

Hey so I graduated back in December with a bachelor's in Political Science and am wondering what career(s) I can do with the bachelor's degree.

Accepted with political science major for fall2024 undergrad, but she wants to be in the medicine field, what other course she should take from the very first year to ensure she has completed all pre reqs to apply to medical schools at the end of her undergrad.

She is also accepted with Neuroscience major in some schools, but people are advising to go for Political science major so her GPA can be higher.. I have no clue the right path so pls. help.. Thanks!

I am currently a polisci undergrad at a highly rated American university. I have a long term interest of entering academia and contributing to the field, but feel I would benefit from an additional couple of years to further study the crafts of the trade and expand my research portfolio at a masters program. As it stands, I have a very strong GPA with decent, perhaps subpar, extracurriculars and research experience, though I still have a year and a half left before I graduate. Although I intend on applying to American programs, I think I would benefit from expanding my search to include a few European programs as well. I have been eyeing a couple at schools like Oxbridge, LSE, and Science Po, but am less familiar with the European university ecosystem and would be curious to know if any of you guys have experience with any research-based masters out there? TIA

hi there ! i will be voting for the first time in november and i know this sounds like a stupid question but, im starting university this fall and im moving to a different county for university. so for the general election in november do i need to drive back to my county to vote or can i vote in my college county. also if anyone has info about volunteering for the polls that would be great!ps: my major is going to communications and political science so i feel like i should know this stuff haha

Ok so besides the obvious intellectual integrity that comes with entertaining any ideology, why are there people that actually think communism is a good idea? What are they going off of?

i’ve always had a great interest in politics and etc which is why i applied for polisci in many of my applications for fall 2025. i love the major but i am really concerned that it wouldn’t make enough to cover for the debt i go into to gain a degree on it which is why im so concerned… currently i am only in purdue for polisci and likely (hoping) that i get into udub for polisci as well. what do you think about this, alumnis who are already employed? i know that going to these colleges would cost me a fortune due to the low amount of aid my parents could give and nonexistent need based scholarship opportunities. as much as id love to study polisci im concerned because i know that these decisions would impact me lifelong. any advice would be appreciated.

I just got introduced with the subject International Relations and I find the World System very interesting. I always thought that Unipolarity is the best possible world system as it provides the most stable in my opinion. However, after much research, I can feel that I'm leaning toward Multipolarity.

I want to ask, what's your definition of power and what makes a country a superpower? Also, what is the best world system that you can stomach and with what factor? Thank you!

Heyy yall , i have to write a research proposal , and i just started my research question , "How does peer pressure on social media effect voters turnout" , this is my current research question , would you guys think this is a good research question or no . Hellp

I'm from the U.S. so I may have a bit of a misconception about what it's like to live under communism and socialism in terms of living conditions, family structures, the distribution of wealth and resources (etc.) I only have a very small and vague understanding of what living in both types of sociey are actually like. Could someone please explain both concepts to me so I can get a clearer picture? Or at the very least recommend some reading material for me to start my own research?

Hello!

I have a political science background and was admitted to two programs : 1) PhD in Political Science at a mid university in my country (North America) but with amazing financial support + supervisor who I already work with 2) PhD in Slavic Studies at a top university in the UK with regular funding + good supervisor
Now I'm wondering, as I want to work in poli sci, would it be possible with a slavic studies PhD from the UK ? Or should I stick with the poli sci PhD from a mid univ in NA ? My topic is very poli sci orientated but I'm afraid of the discipline and system switch.

Thanks!

I'm pretty broke this year but could probably afford a trip to Chicago for the DNC this year. It's within driving distance and not like, the most expensive city. Would attending the DNC as someone who just cares about politics professionally? Or is it more for TV? Does it cost anything to attend?

Thanks everyone.

Concept of direct democracy in the United States?

My BA project seeks to answer the research question: "What is the effect of crisis on the framing of Al-Manar’s online news reporting?". I am assuming that Al-Manar's news reporting is to a high degree biased by Hezbollah. The study will be theoretically based on Situational Crisis Communication Theory by Coombs. Basic idea of the theory is, that the public attributes responsibility for a crisis to the organization based on their perception. The author provides several guidelines for organizational actions. I have transformed some of these guidelines to hypotheses. For the initial time period that I will measure, H1 is "If the level of responsibility attribution is low, diminish crisis response strategies are used." Thus, the level of responsibility attribution is my independent variable and the crisis response strategy - which I will measure through journalistic frames - is the dependent variable.

So far, my take was to assume a moderate level of responsibility attribution towards Hezbollah, based on international news reporting that immediately mentioned Hezbollah's potential involvement. I am taking international audiences as a basis since I can only analyze Al-Manar's English reporting. Therefore, I would have assumed diminishment strategies. In case my content analysis could prove predominance of such frames, I would confirm the theory. If not, I would conclude that either the theory can not be applied to this case, or that I might have assumed a wrong level of responsibility attribution.

However, my supervisor suggested that I test all values of the independent Variable that I consider possible. While I cannot rule out a lower level of responsibility (sources can be interpreted as both), I wonder if I would still be measuring the effect of crises on framing or, instead, the effect of crises on the public's responsibility attribution towards the organization.

This was quite elaborate but previous exchanges have demonstrated that some context is necessary to understand my confusion. Unfortunately, my supervisor is currently unavailable, but the deadline is approaching. I would therefore be very grateful for any supportive feedback.

As a transgender woman living in a patriarchal country, it's hard for me to benefit from it at all. And even if we lived in a matriarchal society, who's to say people outside the gender binary would even be included? What I'm trying to ask is whether or not it's possible for a society that benefits everyone regardless of gender can exist?

Title- I'm a current college freshman; I saw the description and was interested in applying, but I have no idea how competitive it is/if I should even bother with what little education and relative experience I have (worked as a polls reporter, was a fellow two summers ago for my local congresswoman's DCCC National Democracy Summer School, interned last summer at an overseas pharma startup assisting w/GDPR/legal regulations on health data, currently volunteering as a campus coordinator for a state senate campaign). I'm not too familiar with this process and the program itself, so any advice/tips/thoughts would be appreciated, thanks so much :)

Hi i am having trouble understanding the theories of international relations more specifically realism (classical, neo, and structural) liberal theories as opposed to realism and complex interdependency

Does anyone here know any material, book, vid literally anything that can make me fully understand those ???

and also once i fully understand them, how to i make my knowledge deeper ?

Though it isn't 100% confirmed in central America we are having a replay of 2020 with Biden v. trump, and I'm guessing with other Americans I'm not particularly excited about the situation. No matter what your political beliefs maybe trump has so many legal issues that i wouldn't want that to represent Americans and Biden is ready to go in a home instead of affecting lives of quite literally billions of people.

So I come to the question, how should I use my vote the most effective way? The closest we have to a third party is RFK Jr. Which though he seems to making waves, not enough for this election season.

Could try vote ins for someone I do trust but that would never compete with the dominate parties, and not voting is just irresponsible as change needs action.

So people who are Smarter than I in this subject, what is the best possible way to use my vote against the current situation, or am I simply needing to wake up and "choose the lesser of two evils"

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMM2mFtjJ/