Political theory/history of political thought - history dept. or political science dept.

[nerdspeak]

I did well (3.8 overall, 3.9 departmental) in a history department as an undergraduate taking mostly intellectual history courses and wrote a well-received (high honors) thesis. I won various awards, etc. The work I want to do in graduate school could conceivably be done in history, and my professors tell me I would have a shot at any doctoral program in history.

However, I anticipate that certain aspects of the historical profession--that I would need to defend the "historicity" of any theoretical work I published to traditional political historians--will prove somewhat limiting. Consequently, I'm entertaining the possibility of doing political theory. How hard would it be to sell myself to a top 15 doctoral program in political science?

[Penelope Higgins]

The history undergrad degree won't be an obstacle at all, but you'll have to navigate the divides in the subfield of political theory. You want to find a department that is focused on, or at least open to, history of political thought rather than post-modern/contemporary theory, or analytical philosophy. Harvard, Yale, Chicago, Princeton (to a lesser extent) are all good options to explore.

On a side-note, remember to check to see your POI is still at the university you'd like to go to. It seems Justin Fox has left Yale and Princeton for WUSTL.

[Zahar Berkut]

I'll add Duke and UT Austin to Penelope's list, if Straussians are amenable to your preferred approach.

As far as selling yourself, I also agree that your background is just fine for any political theory program. All of your efforts should be focused on arguing for how well you'd fit with a given department.

Be aware, though, that the academic job market for political theory is considered absolutely dreadful-- though I don't know how it compares to intellectual historians'.

Edited September 5, 2012 by Zahar Berkut

[nerdspeak]

Would I be more marketable if, after being accepted as a political theorist, I developed a secondary specialty in political economy/institutional economics? I am thinking outside of the academy as well--think tanks, consulting, etc.

I am already very interested in political economy as a result of outside reading I've done since leaving college. But I didn't do sufficient quantitative coursework to get into a Ph.D. program as a political economist. So, in this circumstance, I would get into school as a pure theorist, but eventually go on the market as a theoretically-sophisticated political economist.

[Zahar Berkut]

Interesting question-- that sounds like a sound way to hedge your bets, provided you find a department that encourages you to spend the time to develop that secondary field. Most political theorists I know promptly forget their secondary fields as they focus solely on a humanities-type dissertation, and I would be wary of getting tracked into that if you want to maintain a secondary field in political economy for academic or career reasons. If you're proposing keeping the theory focus and just allowing the secondary field to stand out as a back-up, I'm guessing it would help a lot to produce a decent paper or two in that specialty, if only to keep your methodology and quant skills fresh and to have extra credibility on your resume.

Personally, I think it would be cool to incorporate formal methods and contemporary positive theory into a traditional-type theory dissertation, especially if you're writing on a political economist like Adam Smith or Marx. I don't know if you have something like that in mind, but as always, the key is to find a department that will support the type of work you want to do and the plans you may have for your career.