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4400 Massachusetts Avenue NW Washington, DC 20016 United StatesEffective Fall 2024: Applications for the CRS program will no longer be accepted, as the curriculum is integrated into a reimagined degree beginning in Fall 2025. These changes will not affect current students who will complete the program as expected.
Department Chair
Research interests
- Comparative democratization
- Authoritarianism in Africa
- Politics of constitution-making
Department Director of Graduate Studies
Jennifer Poole Associate Professor SIS | Politics, Governance & Economics
Research interests
- Global integration on local labor markets
- Information transfer in trade
- Labor institutions
Core Faculty
Sumitra Badrinathan Assistant Professor SIS | Politics, Governance & Economics
Research interests
- Political misinformation
- Comparative political economy
Keith Darden Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Politics, Governance & Economics SIS | Politics, Governance & Economics
Research interests
- Politics of Eurasia
- National loyalties and state-building
- Insurgency
Michelle Egan Professor SIS | Politics, Governance & Economics
Research interests
- Comparative European politics
- Federalism, trade, governance, and law
- Comparative political economy
Research interests
- Democracy in Latin America
- Subnational politics
- Institutional integrity and accountability
Anders Hardig Senior Professorial Lecturer SIS | Politics, Governance & Economics
Research interests
- Middle Eastern Islamist movement
- Political Islam in South Asia
- Development of grassroots network
Claudia Hofmann Hurst Senior Professorial Lecturer SIS | Foreign Policy & Global Security
Research interests
- Community resilience
- Transitional organized crime
- Violent conflicts
Gina Lambright Senior Professorial Lecturer SIS | Politics, Governance & Economics
Research interests
- Quality of political institutions
- Decentralization
- Politics of development in Africa
Research interests
- Democracy, dictatorship and resistance
- Racial and ethnic discrimination
- Europe, the US, and Latin America
Andrew Spath Senior Professorial Lecturer SIS | General Academics & Research
Research interests
- Politics of the Middle East
- Authoriarianism, protest and repression
- Research methods
Elizabeth Thompson Professor and Mohamed S. Farsi Chair of Islamic Peace, SIS SIS | Global Inquiry
Research interests
- Liberal constitutionalism in the Middle East
- Race and gender in international law
Joseph Torigian Associate Professor SIS | Global Inquiry
Research interests
- Elite power struggles
- Civil-military relations
- Grand strategy
Research interests
- Democratic backsliding
- Politics of gender in Central East Europe
- Comparative politics
Research interests
- Comparative historical sociology
- Contentious politics
- Political networks
Quansheng Zhao Professor SIS | Foreign Policy & Global Security
Research interests
- Comparative politics of East Asia
- Strategies of great powers in the Asia-Pacific
Affiliated Faculty
Scott Freeman Assistant Professor SIS | Environment, Development & Health
Carolyn Gallaher Professor SIS | Peace, Human Rights & Cultural Relations
Louis Goodman Professor and Dean Emeritus, SIS SIS | Environment, Development & Health
Garrett Graddy-Lovelace Provost Associate Professor SIS | Environment, Development & Health
Pek Koon Heng-Blackburn Assistant Prof Emerita
Ji-Young Lee Associate Professor SIS | General Academics & Research
