The Department of Political Science (formerly Government and International Studies) is a large and diverse academic community. The faculty has achieved international recognition by publishing regularly in outlets of the highest quality, and university-wide recognition for the quality of its instruction.

With programs providing major or minor fields in American Politics, International Relations, Comparative Politics, Public Administration, Political Theory, and Methodology, departmental faculty research interests represent virtually all of the major sub-fields of modern political science, with particular strengths in: American foreign policy; judicial politics; state politics and policy; American Politics; international conflict; international organizations and world order; and public administration.