The Amherst Political Science department offers a broad range of courses, including small introductory offerings in areas such as political theory, war and refugees, and contemporary China, and advanced seminars in geopolitics, nuclear security, Machiavelli and more.
Amherst Political Science majors conduct advanced research and develop an in-depth understanding of a political theme of their own choosing.
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The Five College International Relations Certificate Program allows students to pursue an interest in international relations as a complement to their major.
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We award Latham Scholarships each year to Amherst students who seek to spend the summer working as interns in Washington, D.C., in offices of the federal government or in other positions in public service.
This annual series supports and promotes the College's commitment to faculty research.
Schedule of EventsFocusing on the philosophical, social, legal, institutional, cultural, and economic lenses through which Americans have made sense of the role of firearms in American politics, this course addresses the politics of gun ownership, and the meanings of guns in American civic life.
In this course, we will study the political thought of Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Sigmund Freud, devoting equal parts of the term to each thinker and learn about the intellectual and social crises that animated what they wrote.
Indigenous women are rarely considered actors in world politics. Yet they are shaping politics in significant ways. This course inter-weaves feminist and Indigenous approaches to suggest the importance of Indigenous women’s political contributions. .
Read Sophia Wolmer’s article, “Days Before the Election, Political Science Professors Emphasize ‘Why Democracy Matters,’” in the Amherst Student.
The Political Science Department’s “Why Democracy Matters” event brought together three panelists—Professors of Political Science Kerry Ratigan, Javier Corrales and Jonathan Obert— to present information on democratization and its intersection with both American politics and other regimes.
Drawing on their respectives areas of expertise, each professor advocated for democracy and warned of threats of democratic backsliding in the present day United States.
You can read Sophia Wolmer’s Amherst Student article on the discussion and watch a recording of the discussion below.