laosheep Posted October 2, 2011 Posted October 2, 2011 I'm a Ph.D. student on Applied Math. I came from China, and my undergraduate study is major on Fundamental Science. I'm really interested in political science very much, especially the comparative politics about China and the U.S.. I have worked 3 years as a clerk in the Government, and studied several courses on political science. I wrote many essays on Chinese politics, based on my experience and what I learned from the courses. Is there any Ph.D. program on comparative politics focusing on China, and using math tools a lot? I think that area is of the most suitable for me.
gradcafe26 Posted October 2, 2011 Posted October 2, 2011 It seems to me that the most common method in this area is comparative historical analysis. CHA should be mainly qualitative, but maybe there are people quantifying it? It will be helpful if someone can name a few existing political science (not economics) works on China (or other regions) that deploy quant method, then you can trace the authors and their respective institutions from there.
Penelope Higgins Posted October 2, 2011 Posted October 2, 2011 One person I can think of that might fit your interests is Victor Shih, who is moving from Northwestern to UCSD very soon. UCSD in general is a fairly quantitative department in comparative politics, so that might be a good fit.
laosheep Posted October 3, 2011 Author Posted October 3, 2011 One person I can think of that might fit your interests is Victor Shih, who is moving from Northwestern to UCSD very soon. UCSD in general is a fairly quantitative department in comparative politics, so that might be a good fit. Thanks for your information. I check nearly most of the available universities, and found that the most suitable scholar for my interest and background might be Peter Lorentzen; he's focusing on China and using Game Theory. Actually I have written some essays on China's politics by using dynamics game model, and one of them was accepted by a Chinese academic paper. But he is now in Berkeley, and I think it's really hard for me to get enrolled.
Penelope Higgins Posted October 3, 2011 Posted October 3, 2011 OK. His degree is in economics, and he received it from the business school at Stanford. Admission there is going to be very competitive, but I would look into that program.
mv0027 Posted October 3, 2011 Posted October 3, 2011 UCSD is totally the way to go. The pol sci department has close ties to IR/PS (which has a strong Asia focus with several very well-known scholars) and they are very quanty program. I did my master's at IR/PS. San Diego is a great place to be!!! Oh, and I've always heard never go to a program for one professor.
Charlie2010 Posted October 3, 2011 Posted October 3, 2011 I'd agree you shouldn't pick a program for just one professor, and especially not an untenured one, as they are the most likely to move (both voluntarily and involuntarily). Any place that has a strong group of quantitative comparativists and at least one China person should work. And even if they don't have a China specialist, you could still make that research program work since you already have the language and institutional knowledge. UCSD and Wisconsin would be great choices.
laosheep Posted October 3, 2011 Author Posted October 3, 2011 Oh, and I've always heard never go to a program for one professor. That's really a good point. I've never think of it. What I want to do is to take some field study on China, to get more information and analyze them. Most information we can get from outside is usually misleading. There are many issues that we need to think about but we don't have materials on them. For example the Primary School education is really bad in many areas. I talked with some old teachers, and they said that the young teachers care only about the money now. They don't care about the children they teach, but ask for money from the parents all the time, for better seats( location) in the classroom, for lessons after school, etc. I really want to take a deep look into that issue, and many others as well.
Charlie2010 Posted October 3, 2011 Posted October 3, 2011 That sounds more like development economics than poli sci. Look at Esther Duflo's work in India. kaykaykay 1
laosheep Posted October 3, 2011 Author Posted October 3, 2011 That sounds more like development economics than poli sci. Look at Esther Duflo's work in India. Not really. India has different political structure, and I think the major concern for them is to develop the economy. Actually I don't know much about India, though i know that there are also lots of corruptions in India. But China is different. Chinese people now are focusing on politics, and you can feel the atmosphere of angry and anxiety from any kind of Chinese forum. What I'm concerning about is the political reform. I have talked with many friends who are interested in politics and economies, and we all agree that the economic methods can not promote the development Chinese society too much. The political structure is the bottle neck of the whole nation. That's the key reason I want to study political science. northstar22 and RWBG 1 1
Charlie2010 Posted October 4, 2011 Posted October 4, 2011 Well, no political scientist will argue against you if you believe politics matters! RWBG 1
laosheep Posted October 4, 2011 Author Posted October 4, 2011 Well, no political scientist will argue against you if you believe politics matters! I don't quite follow you. Do you mean that politics is some kind of belief or religion? And if a group of people have the same belief, they won't fight against each other? Or you just mean that the political science is just brain washing, and we could not trust it too much?
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