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American Politics

American Politics

American politics at Notre Dame empirically analyzes mass political behavior, political institutions, and public policies to gain a deeper understanding of the nature of democracy.

We provide a fruitful, collegial, collaborative intellectual community around questions of political equality, political behavior and public opinion, American political development, political parties and representation, political institutions, and research methods.

The study of American politics has been enriched by the Rooney Center for the Study of American Democracy. The Rooney Center:

organizes weekly research workshops for faculty and graduate students
sponsors seminars and lectures by visiting scholars
organizes conferences
provides research grants for students and faculty

We emphasize close interaction between faculty and graduate students. In particular, faculty make special efforts to prepare students for future careers through close mentoring and collaborative research projects.

Graduate students simultaneously specialize in a subfield of American politics and develop a broad foundation in the study of American politics.