Research

Politics & International Relations majors often engage in original research, with faculty members serving as mentors for student-initiated research projects.  Opportunities for original research include independent study during a semester, participation in the Summer Fellows Program, and honors research. Honors thesis topics recently completed by Politics and International Relations majors have included: 

Other theses in the past included:

  • “COVID-19: The Impact of a Nation’s Political Economic Structure on its Labor Market Spending Policies”
  • “Piety and Mayhem: How Extremist Groups Misuse Religious Doctrine to Condone Violence and Achieve Political Goals”
  • “The Case of Kashmir: Ethnic Mobilization and Insurgency”
  • “Health Care Access for Children in Latinx Immigrant Families in the Greater Philadelphia Area”
  • “The Democratization Process in Chile and Its Global Implications”
  • “Radical vs. Rational:  Examining Western Media Portrayal of Islamist Terror”
  • “Immigration in the Thought of America’s Founders and Its Implications Today”
  • “A Critical Analysis of France’s Role in the Arab Spring”
  • “Spheres of Development: Factors Behind the Successful Development of the Asian Tigers and the Unsuccessful Development of Africa”
  • “An Investigation of the Evolution of Political Feminism in Argentina, 1930s - Present”
  • “Rape in Islam: How Misinterpretations of the Qur’an, Sunnahs, and Ahadith Enabled a Perpetuation of Rape Culture” 

Students regularly present their work at research conferences.  Majors also edit and publish their own research in the department’s Journal of Politics and International Relations