Good Programs for Comparative Democratization

[Gulielmus]

Hi.

I'm considering phd programs to apply to for 2014, and I'm having trouble figuring out which programs might be a good fit. I'm interested in comparative democratization, democratic transition, and democratic theory (feeding into the others). 

Clearly Stanford seems to have outstanding faculty in this field — or a hugely disproportionate number of authors of papers that I cited in my undergraduate work on the subject. NYU is similar. However, digging through faculty at other schools whose other features I'm interest in is a little daunting. Is there anyone with similar interests that could recommend other programs?

I'm also fairly certain Stanford is out of my range, and maybe NYU too. I completed my undergraduate degree in polisci as an adult, while working full-time (after living and working abroad in IT for several years). My overall GPA was 3.4, but in-major it was 3.7. I haven't taken the GRE yet, and I intend to work my ass off for a good score (math shouldn't be a problem, my background is in physics before polisci), and I think I can write a pretty strong SOP, but still... 

So I'm looking for any lower-top-25 or lower programs that might be a good fit. It doesn't mean I'm not going to apply to Stanford or NYU, but I want to be realistic.

Thanks!!

[Cederstacker]

Do you have a particular region you want to study? That will go a long way to determine fit....for example, Michigan State would be one of the best places to study African democratization.

[Penelope Higgins]

In addition to clarifying whether you have a region of interest, and if so which one, I'd think about whether you want formal/quantitative approaches to democratization (in which case NYU, Yale, and Stanford would be top choices) or more comparative-historical approaches, in which case I would rank Harvard, Princeton, Chicago, and Northwestern quite highly. If you're looking for schools that are somewhat lower ranked, Texas is also very strong on these issues for Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East. Ohio State also does quite well on some regions, including Latin America, and Cornell might be worth a look as well depending on your region of interest.

[Gulielmus]

I do not particularly have a region I'd like to specialize in, I'm interested in the phenomena of democratization as a whole — and I think that statement implies a formal/quantitative approach. If I had to pick a region, I'd pick South Asia, although the Middle East will be interesting in the near future.

[PoliSwede]

I used USNews rankings and the NRC rankings to find the top 50 (or so) programs in the country. I eliminated some of them based on location, and then I went to work on finding out what programs in that range that had a good fit for me/decent placement records/etc.

 

I'd suggest that you do the same (within whatever range/ranking you feel comfortable with) and try to find people that study democratization. I know it's not much help, but it might aid you in discovering programs that are a good fit for you!

[NBM]

If I had to pick a region, I'd pick South Asia, although the Middle East will be interesting in the near future.

 

The first school that came to mind was Cornell (Pepinsky).

[Penelope Higgins]

The advice above is right. The best strategy is to identify published work that matches the kind of research you want to do, then see where the authors are teaching and (especially if they are fairly recent grads) where they were trained. For the kind of work you describe, I would look at the faculty and recent grads from Stanford and NYU as you mention, as well as Yale and UCLA.

[hubert1990]

Indiana University (Bloomington)-- look at Sumit Ganguly

[jazzrap]

OP,

 

It would be more helpful to determine your fit if we know a little more of your quantitative background. Stanford and NYU are highly quantitative departments.

 

If you are looking for any schools below 25th, then I think Notre Dame could also be a great choice for you. Coppedge is a top scholar of democratization. ND is a strong program in Latin America. If you want to do Middle East, then ND is not a good choice. But since you said you kinda want a large-N approach, then ND should come to your radar.

[Gulielmus]

Thanks for all of the advice. I've started digging through faculty and what they've written at a few different schools.

As far as my quantitative background, I have a heavy background in math (calculus, linear algebra, statistics), physics, and software development in my previous life.

I'm also interested in what I see from Duke and UNC, but I'm curious as to what the overall character of the departments are, how one might go about determining that without necessarily reading everything the department has published.

Everyone has been very helpful so far, thank you!!