Need a primer on history of political thought PhD programs

[jonathanswift22x]

"History of political thought with a touch of philosophy, economic history" is the best description I can give of my broad interests. Tracing the origin of ideas, their evolution and proponents, cultural impacts, and even some analysis of the ideas themselves is what I want to do. Particular interest in anarchist, Marxist, socialist and other ideas originating from labor movements in the 19th century.

It seems like, given this interest, there are a number of different types of PhD programs I can apply to: history, political theory, political philosophy, intellectual history (in some cases there seem to be standalone programs for this). There might be some overlap in terms of my interests with economic history.

I'm not really certain of which of these is most appropriate to apply to.

Can someone give me a quick rundown? If you happen to know of particular programs to apply to, even better.

 

[gradpumpkin]

Check out the ASPECT PhD program at Virginia Tech! Seems like it would be right up your alley in terms of research interest. 

[MrsPhD]

I'd start by looking into scholarships for European universities. Doing a masters first would serve you well and Europe has a much longer tradition for these interests, particularly in the UK and France. It's usually called History of Ideas or political ideas. Your interests seem to be in Europe. 

I don't think that applying to a political science PhD right now would be a good idea. You wouldn't be able to take classes that give you the background you need. After doing a Masters you'll have a clearer idea of what you want to focus on and you'd have the background. If you don't want to do the Masters route and just want to do the US PhD one, then I'd recommend looking into history and if there's one that has a tradition of political history for the specific period you are interested in and if it has professors studying labor. 

 

 

Edited December 4, 2021 by MrsPhD

[jonathanswift22x]

On 12/4/2021 at 4:20 PM, MrsPhD said:

I'd start by looking into scholarships for European universities. Doing a masters first would serve you well and Europe has a much longer tradition for these interests, particularly in the UK and France. It's usually called History of Ideas or political ideas. Your interests seem to be in Europe. 

I don't think that applying to a political science PhD right now would be a good idea. You wouldn't be able to take classes that give you the background you need. After doing a Masters you'll have a clearer idea of what you want to focus on and you'd have the background. If you don't want to do the Masters route and just want to do the US PhD one, then I'd recommend looking into history and if there's one that has a tradition of political history for the specific period you are interested in and if it has professors studying labor. 

 

 

Thank you for your input.

Seems like the UK will be very difficult to secure funding from. Do you know of any European unis to check out for this type of PhD program?