American politics specialists are engaged in cutting-edge scholarship that frequently has real-world political ramifications, in their research on minority voting rights, primary systems, legislative term limits, and the impact of the media and technology in American politics.  Public law, public policy, minority and urban politics are also subfields in which a rich array of courses are offered through this Department.

The Department faculty specializing in comparative politics pursue topics in democratization, comparative political behavior and electoral systems, human rights, globalization, political economy, immigration, and citizenship.  The faculty have specialists in Western Europe, China, Latin America, Japan, Korea, and South Asia.  The strength of the Department in comparative politics is exceptional because of  its links to the interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD).

Democracy Studies at UCI integrates comparative politics and American politics in the study of both established and emerging democracies.  UCI has become one of the leading places in the world to study empirical democratic theory.  Department faculty are very active scholars in these areas and are joined by nearly two dozen sociologists and economists in organizing a set of core courses in democracy studies administered under the umbrella of the Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD).

The Department has exceptional strength in international relations.  Department faculty are experts is the fields of foreign policy, ethics and international relations, human rights, the environment and movement politics, security studies, and international political economy.  Some are regionalists, mostly in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia.   In addition, there is the interdisciplinary Research Center in Global Peace and Conflict Studies (GPACS).

The political theory group has particular strengths in contemporary European political theory; democratic theory; critical theory and poststructuralism; multiculturalism, diversity, and identity; colonialism and imperialism; and the philosophical and methodological foundations of political inquiry. This group has a strongly interdisciplinary focus and maintains close connections with a number of campus research centers in the humanities and social sciences.

The Department has some of the world's leading scholars in political psychology on its faculty, including distinguished international visitors.  Students interested in this field can take courses leading to a specialization in political psychology in our graduate program.

The Department faculty have some of the most prolific and visible scholars in the fields of public choice and political economy, including the past president of the Public Choice Society.  The faculty teach statistical analysis techniques.   Joint with Economics, the Department also offers a concentration in political economy/public choice to its doctoral students.

The Department has assembled a team of nationally known scholars working in the field of race, ethnicity, and politics who have produced seminal scholarship on questions pertaining to racial redistricting, racism and intra-minority group conflict, electoral and insurgent group politics.