During the senior year, each student writes a thesis. The senior thesis is expected to make an original (or otherwise distinctive) contribution to broader knowledge in the field in which the student is working. It is important that the thesis be situated explicitly in relation to existing published literature. The senior thesis must be judged satisfactory by two members of the faculty, at least one of whom must be a member of the Department of Politics.
It is common, but by no means required, for junior paper topics, especially in the spring term, to serve as starting points for a senior thesis topic. The Department encourages students to use the summer between junior and senior year for work on the senior thesis.
Your senior thesis may expand upon ideas that you explored in the JP. You may draw on and cite your own JP just like you would use other resources. In addition, you may re-use a limited portion of your JP in your senior thesis; for instance, the literature review could be re-used across the two. Whenever material from the JP is re-used, you must add a footnote noting the duplication across the JP or senior thesis. Note this policy does not affect the standard university guidelines for attributing ideas and research findings, whenever appropriate. The same policy holds with respect to incorporating the Fall junior research prospectus into either the Spring JP or senior thesis.
The length of a senior thesis is generally about 100 double-spaced pages and rarely under 80 pages. No thesis should be longer than 125 pages, including appendices. (This limit does not include the ancillary pages for the title, dedication, table of contents, abstract, bibliography and honor code statement.) Any pages after 125 may or may not be read by the second reader. A thesis longer than 125 pages will not be considered for Politics thesis prizes.
- Senior Thesis Project Planning Map and Timeline
- Research Advice
- Senior Thesis Funding
- Formatting
- Submission and Grading of Independent Work
Also, seniors are required to prepare and present a professional poster describing their senior thesis results.
| Advisers | Fields of Study | Areas of Expertise |
|---|---|---|
| Gregory Conti | Political Theory | History of Political Thought, Democratic Theory, Representation, Freedom of Speech |
| Rafaela Dancygier | Comparative Politics, Race, Ethnicity and Identity | Representation, Immigration, Elections, Political Violence |
| Aaron Friedberg | International Relations | International Security, Globalization, Political Economy, East Asia, Foreign and Defense Policy |
| Paul Frymer | American Politics, Public Law, Race, Ethnicity and Identity | American Political Institutions, Law, Parties and Organizations, Civil Rights and Race, Labor and Employment, Historical Institutionalism |
| Robert P. George | Political Theory, Public Law | Philosophy of Law, Constitutional Interpretation, Civil Liberties, Moral and Political Philosophy, Bioethics, Law and Religion, Natural Law Theory |
| Naima Green-Riley | International Relations | Chinese Foreign Policy, U.S. Foreign Policy, Political Communication, Public Opinion |
| G. John Ikenberry | International Relations | International Relations Theory, U.S. Grand Strategy, International Organizations, International Order, Liberalism and International Relations |
| Marzenna James | International Relations | Case Study Methods, Economic Power in Central and Eastern Europe, Russian Foreign Policy |
| Gleason Judd | Formal Theory & Quantitative Methods, Political Economy | Political Economy, Elections, Lobbying, Legislative Bargaining |
| Ethan Kapstein | International Relations | International Political Economy, Economic Development, U.S. Foreign Policy, Conflict |
| Atul Kohli | Comparative Politics | Political Economy of Development, Politics in India, Imperialism and the Developing World |
| Nicholas Kuipers | Comparative Politics | Comparative Politics, Bureaucracy, Development, Southeast Asian Politics |
| Melissa Lane | Political Theory | Ancient Greek and Roman Political Thought, Plato, Aristotle, Climate Change, Environmental Political Theory, Modern Political Thought |
| Frances Lee | American Politics | Congress, Political Parties, Policymaking |
| John B. Londregan | International Relations, Formal Theory & Quantitative Methods | South America, Political Economy, Electoral Politics, Text as Data |
| Nicholas Lotito | International Relations | International Security, Civil-Military Relations, Middle East and North Africa, Political Violence, Terrorism, Conflict, Democratization, Extremism |
| Stephen Macedo | Political Theory | Citizenship and Civic Education, The Constitution, Marriage and Family, Immigration, Diversity, Civil Liberties, Free Speech and Hate Speech |
| Nolan McCarty | American Politics | American Politics, Political Institutions, Political Polarization, Economic and Social Inequality, Political Economy of Financial Markets |
| Corrine McConnaughy | American Politics, Race, Ethnicity and Identity | American Politics, Gender and Politics, Race, Ethnicity and Politics, American Political Development, Democratization, Social Movements and Protests, Policymaking, Social Identities, Federalism, State and Local Politics, Voting Rights, Political Decisionmaking |
| Andrew Moravcsik | International Relations | European Union Politics, International Relations Theory, Transatlantic Relations, International Human Rights, Qualitative Methods, International Organizations, International Law, Foreign Policy, Far-Right Populism, Global Democracy |
| Layna Mosley | International Relations, Political Economy | International Political Economy, Globalization, International Finance, Multinational Corporations, Global Supply Chains, International Trade, Sovereign Debt |
| Jan-Werner Müller | Political Theory | Democratic Theory, Constitutionalism, European Union, Politics and Religion |
| Temi Ogunye | Political Theory | Activism, Authority and Political Obligation, Civil Resistance, Social Norms, Political Theory, Social Change, Civil Disobedience |
| Grigore Pop-Eleches | Comparative Politics | Comparative Political Behavior, Authoritarian Politics, Historical Legacies, Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union, Latin America |
| Markus Prior | American Politics | Public Opinion, Media and Politics, Political Involvement, Elections, Politics of Time |
| Kristopher Ramsay | International Relations, Formal Theory & Quantitative Methods, Political Economy | Violent Conflict, War, Strategy, Political Economy, Environmental Politics |
| Jacob N. Shapiro | International Relations | Conflict, Political Economy, Security, Development, Disinformation |
| Arthur Spirling | Formal Theory & Quantitative Methods | Comparative Politics, Political Methodology, Text as Data, Machine Learning/AI, Political Institutions, Parliaments, British Politics |
| Sarah Staszak | American Politics, Public Law | American Political Development, Bureaucratic Politics, Public Law |
| LaFleur Stephens-Dougan | American Politics, Race, Ethnicity and Identity | Racial Attitudes, Public Opinion, Black Politics, Race, Ethnicity and Politics, Political Communication, Experimental Methods |
| Rocío Titiunik | Formal Theory & Quantitative Methods | Quantitative Methods, Political Methodology, Applied Statistics, Comparative Politics, Party Systems |
| Rory Truex | Comparative Politics | Chinese Politics, Authoritarianism, Repression, Human Rights |
| Sam Van Noort | Comparative Politics | Comparative Politics, Political Economy, Democratization, Democratic Backsliding |
| James Raymond Vreeland | Comparative Politics, International Relations | International Political Economy, International Organizations, Democratization, Transparency |
| Leonard Wantchekon | Comparative Politics, Formal Theory & Quantitative Methods, Political Economy | Political Economy, Elections, Democratization, Governance |
| Ismail White | American Politics, Race, Ethnicity and Identity | Race, Ethnicity and Politics, Racial Attitudes, American Politics, Political Behavior, Public Opinion, African American Politics |
| Jennifer Widner | Comparative Politics | Public Management, State Capacity, International and Comparative Constitutional Law, Public Law, African Politics, Public Goods Provision, Politics of Reform, Disaster Response, Electoral Systems, U.S. Community Development Block Grant Program |
| Andreas Wiedemann | Comparative Politics, Political Economy | Political Economy, Economic Inequality, Social Policy, Representation |
| Lauren A. Wright | American Politics | Media and Politics, Executive Branch Politics and Policymaking, Public Opinion, Gender and Politics, Celebrity Politics |
| Xu Xu | Comparative Politics, Political Economy | Digital Authoritarianism, Repression, Chinese Politics, Political Economy of Development |
| Hye Young You | American Politics | Interest Groups, Lobbying, American Political Institutions, Political Economy, Congress, Bureaucracy, Federalism |
| Zeyang (Arthur) Yu | Formal Theory & Quantitative Methods | Causal Inference, Political Methodology, Political Institutions, Quantitative Methods, Comparative Politics, Chinese Politics, Political Economy of Development, Bureaucratic Organizations, Political Communication, Media and Politics |
| Noah Zucker | Comparative Politics, International Relations, Race, Ethnicity and Identity, Political Economy | Comparative Political Economy, Climate Change, Identity Politics, International Political Economy |