Department of Political Science

Both the general public and political science experts rate the performance of US democratic institutions significantly lower than half a year ago, according to the fifth and latest survey from Bright Line Watch.

Luke Meyerson ’18 and Blake Harriman ’16, ’18W (MS) — student workers in the Department of Political Science and the Medical Center's Edward G. Miner Library, respectively — are 2018 student employees of the year.

“One of the greatest threats to democracy is the idea that it is unassailable.” That’s the tagline of Bright Line Watch, which neatly sums up the group’s motivation. Made up of four political scientists including University of Rochester professor Gretchen Helmke, the non-partisan initiative has set out to monitor democratic institutions in the United States and potential threats to those practices.

“We need to take a look at the bigger picture here, which is that this bill does nothing to deal with our long-term budget challenges,” says Rochester political scientist David Primo. “Whether you are on the left or the right, that should be a big concern.”

In this episode of the Quadcast, University of Rochester professor of political science Randy Stone talks about his findings that indicate undue corporate influence at the World Bank. 

In the wake of the Trump administration's $4.4 trillion federal budget proposal last week, Rochester political scientist and author David Primo says he’s worried about the long-term effects of the growing national debt.

David Primo, the Ani and Mark Gabrellian Professor and associate professor of political science and business administration at the University of Rochester, sought to put the recent government shutdown into perspective on a guest appearance on NPR.

In a new research report, professor David Primo argues that there’s a disconnect between what the public believe about campaign finance law and the reality, and that many popular reform proposals unlikely to bring the desired results.

Congress is currently considering legislation that would regulate political advertising on social media.

The long-time collaborators and co-authors of Why Nations Fail were honored by the University's Department of Political Science for their work toward essentially building a new theory of political economy.