Department of Political Science

Student Ambassadors Video

Watch video testimonial made by our own students and contact them for first-hand experience about studying political science at CEU.

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Welcome to the Department of Political Science! As a community of students, faculty and staff

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Get to know more about our new BA program and sign up now:

Philosophy, Politics, and Economics

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August 14, 2020 (23:59, CET): Final application deadline for self-financing applicants from EU/EEA countries.

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Receive a Scholarship

The department offers a wide range of financial assistance for prospective students.

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Excellence in Teaching & Research

Read statements from our Faculty members about our programs and the Department

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Programs

The Political Science Department provides a comprehensive program of instruction and research in the fundamental areas of the discipline.

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Why Political Science at CEU?

Competitive scholarships, an international environment, US accredited one-year MA, two-year MA and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) programs.

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Upcoming Events

Thursday May 21

Departmental Seminar: Feminist Institutionalism(s)

Matthijs Bogaards

May 21, 2020

More Events

RECENT NEWS

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July 3, 2020

Winners of Outstanding Academic Achievement Award

June 22, 2020

Call for Papers: 7th Political Science Day – Conference of Austrian Political Science Association in Cooperation with CEU

April 14, 2020

Call for Abstracts: The World after the Pandemic - Virtual Conference

April 1, 2020

Faculty Spotlights

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June 24, 2020

Bruszt's Latest Co-Authored Article in Review of International Political Economy

June 19, 2020

Analysis of Emergency Rule in Hungary by Matthijs Bogaards

WHAT OUR ALUMNI SAY

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Maria Stanisheva (MA '03)

January 15, 2020

Alumni Testimonials

Film director, producer and founder of ANIMADOCS

"The MA program was unique as it was specifically designed for the change that was happening in Central and Eastern Europe at that point in time and it gave me an incredible insight into critical thinking and contemporary political thought."

https://alumni.ceu.edu/article/2017-10-18/her-own-words-maria-stanisheva

Ioana Petre (MA 2009-2011, PhD 2011-2016)

January 6, 2020

Alumni Testimonials

Policy Officer at the European Commission’s Directorate General for Research and Innovation

Ivan Vukovic (PhD 2009-2014)

December 13, 2019

Alumni Testimonials

Mayor of Podgorica, Montenegro

Chirayu Thakkar (MA 2018-2019)

December 11, 2019

Alumni Testimonials

Manager to a Member of Parliament in India

"I am Chirayu Thakkar, a recent graduate from the CEU Political Science Department. Before coming to CEU, I read a master’s degree in Modern South Asian Studies at the University of Oxford. Currently, I am working as a manager to a Member of Parliament in India, looking after his administrative, political, and legislative affairs. I am also working as a consultant for various regional governments and NGOs that design projects aimed at bringing youth closer to governance.

Akop Gabrielyan (MA 2012-2014)

February 25, 2019

Alumni Testimonials

Executive Assistant to Founder & CEO at Teach For Armenia Foundation "Today I visited CEU, where a Master's degree was received some years ago. Referring to the years of my study here, I always remember these years with satisfaction and the feeling of pride, as I didn't betrayed my views, remained loyal to the idea of academic impartiality..."

Hani Sulastri Hamid & Marko Kukec (MA 2012-2013)

February 12, 2019

Alumni Testimonials

Hani is Planning, Learning and Accountability Coordinator at Rikolto Indonesia & Marko is Post-doctoral researcher at Helmut Schmidt Universität, Hamburg "When we first met as colleagues at the Department of Political Science, we could not have imagined how profoundly the year spent at the CEU will shape our professional and private lives."

Bruno Castanho Silva (PhD 2012-2017)

January 8, 2019

Alumni Testimonials

Post-doctoral researcher, Cologne Center for Comparative Politics, University of Cologne "Pursuing a PhD in political science at CEU was one of the best decisions I took in my academic career. The department is incredibly diverse in both methodological and substantive interests, with world class scholars."

Gergo Zavecz (MA 2010-2011, PhD 2011-2017)

December 17, 2018

Alumni Testimonials

Junior Research Fellow, Central Bank of Hungary "My time at CEU was remarkable in so many aspects: I was a CEU student when I did my first empirical research, when I first received a research grant, when I first published in a journal, when I was first asked to write a book chapter..."

Imre Szabo (MA 2009-2010, PhD 2011-2016)

December 4, 2018

Alumni Testimonials

Post-doctoral fellow at University College Dublin "The single best decision in my professional life was when I applied to CEU’s Political Science MA program in 2009. I had an experience at CEU that shaped who I am in fundamental ways. I have learnt how to process complex information about the functioning of political systems and societies."

Bogdana Buzarnescu (MA 2009-2010)

November 28, 2018

Alumni Testimonials

Principal Assistant - Parliamentary Assembly, Council of Europe "CEU, and in particular, it’s political science department, has been an enriching and truly formative period for me. Firstly, it has been a year of intensely demanding yet intellectually stimulating studies."

Constantin Manuel Bosancianu (MA 2008-2009, PhD 2011-2017)

November 27, 2018

Alumni Testimonials

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, “Institutions and Political Inequality”, Political Economy of Development research area, WZB Berlin Social Science Center, Germany. "I have pursued both my MA and my PhD degrees at CEU, and I consider it to have been an excellent choice. The programs have allowed me to gain the skills that are indispensable on an increasingly competitive European academic job market."

Maria Fedorova (MA 2013-2014)

November 19, 2018

Alumni Testimonials

Data Analyst at International Organization for Migration "Few years in my life so far were as intense, challenging, and rewarding as the year I spent at CEU. The academic excellence combined with a great variety of classes was truly impressive. The knowledge I got proved to be useful years later and helped me substantially in my work."

Sharon S. Belli (MA 2014-2016)

November 16, 2018

Alumni Testimonials

PhD Researcher, Political Science Dpt., University of Antwerp, Belgium "CEU made me fully understand my potential. Each student is treated individually and professors make sure that everyone develops a critical mind along with valuable skills. I would never have gone on with the research if it were not for the mentors, professors and colleagues who challenged me."

Ivan Nikolovski (MA 2015-2017)

June 25, 2018

Alumni Testimonials

Junior researcher at the Institute for Democracy ‘Societas Civilis’ – Skopje and President of JEF Macedonia – Macedonian national section of the Young European Federalists movement "The primary reason for choosing the 2-year master program in Political Science at CEU was to upgrade my knowledge of the state-of-the-art and gain the necessary research skills. But CEU offered me more than that."

Martin Molder (PhD 2012-2017)

January 15, 2018

Alumni Testimonials

Researcher, Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies at the University of Tartu "I will always look back at CEU with fondness and gratitude. By now I have been working and studying at different universities for around 15 years. From all that, my time at the Department of Political Science at CEU clearly stands out."

Zainiddin Karaev (PhD 2001-2004)

July 9, 2015

Alumni Testimonials

Trust Funds management - Fragility, Conflict and Violence (FCV) Group, The World Bank "For me, experience at CEU and Budapest has been transformative in every way. CEU offered enabling learning environment, backed by a strong group of professors, who were friendly yet demanding."

Maximilian Spinner (2007, PhD)

May 18, 2015

Alumni Testimonials

Foreign Policy Department of the Federal Chancellery, Berlin “For me CEU was a very intense and enriching experience, both academically and personally. Academically in terms of a demanding but intellectually very rewarding environment, personally through the great variety of students’ nationalities, academic and professional backgrounds.”

Armin Haeberle (MA 2004-2005)

May 12, 2015

Alumni Testimonials

Head of Corporate Development Frankfurt Business Media - Part of the F.A.Z. Publishing Group, Frankfurt, Germany "CEU was a great experience for me. While the academic level was really demanding, the atmosphere was always friendly and the support and interaction with the professors and university staff a real pleasure. I wouldn’t have thought that a Master’s Degree can be so intense and intellectually stimulating and so much fun at the same time."

Juliane Sophie Stein (MA 2012-2014)

October 9, 2014

Alumni Testimonials

Researcher, Institute for Political Science - Centre for Political Science, Hungarian Academy of Science "One of my major motivations for choosing CEU's Department of Political Science was the attractive combination of excellence in teaching and research on the one hand, and the good range of scholarships on the other. "

Olga Victorovna Smirnova (MA 2001-2002)

July 24, 2014

Alumni Testimonials

Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, East Carolina University "My life can be divided into before and after CEU. This was a truly transformative year for me as a student of Political Science. Coming from one of the far most regions of Russia, I have experienced new cultures, met new life-long friends..."

Anna and Dave McKeever (MA 2011-2012)

July 23, 2014

Alumni Testimonials

Anna is Research Associate at Ulster University, while Dave is Part-Time Lecturer at Ulster University "We studied together on the Political Science MA program and married two years after meeting for the first time. CEU education, the outstanding staff, the resources at the department, and the intense workload (there is no point in pretending otherwise) change people."

Benedek Kurdi (MA 2012-2013)

July 23, 2014

Alumni Testimonials

Doctoral Candidate, Social Psychology, Harvard University "The curriculum of the Political Science MA program at CEU offers a reasonably broad and, at the same time, in-depth introduction to the social sciences. The Department of Political Science is very special in the sense that whereas each professor has their own preferred methods..."

Aliya Abbasi (MA 2012-2013)

July 23, 2014

Alumni Testimonials

PhD candidate, University of Queensland "Every day spent at CEU was full of learning, challenges, opportunities, motivation and a sense of achievement. I came to the Political Science Department with a particular aim to study research methodology but my whole conception about knowledge has changed."

Batlang Seabo (MA 2012-2013)

July 23, 2014

Alumni Testimonials

Lecturer in Political Science, University of Botswana "Studying at CEU, in the Political Science department, is indeed a rare privilege that will potentially open up opportunities for me in the future, particularly for my career in research. It is a life-changing experience, an investment in my future."

Andrej Nosko (IRES MA 2005-2006, PhD 2013)

July 23, 2014

Alumni Testimonials

Director for Europe at PILnet: The Global Network for Public Interest Law "To succeed in the current world, you need transferable skills, which will enable you to succeed in many walks of life. CEU provided me with intellectually stimulating environment to acquire them and head start my career."

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