The Department of Political Science offers to its MA students the possibility of earning, in addition to their MA-degree in Political Science, a specialization showing that they focused on the study of a particular field within the discipline of Political Science in the course of their studies.
The conditions for obtaining a certificate of specialization for students in the One-year MA Program are:
- students satisfy all requirements to earn an MA degree in CEU's Political Science program;
- students earn 10 credits in courses related to the specific field in question; and received a B+ or better grade in each course
- students write their MA thesis on a topic related to this field of specialization
The conditions for obtaining a certificate of specialization for students in the Two-year MA Program are:
- students satisfy all requirements to earn an MA degree in CEU's Political Science program;
- students earn 40 ECTS in courses related to the specific field in question; and received a B+ or better grade in each course
- students write their MA thesis on a topic related to this field of specialization
- please consult the course lists in both of your academic years
Below you will find the fields of specialization in which the students can earn a certificate and sample courses that belong to each specialization (specific courses for the academic year are listed at the bottom of the page):
Certificate in Comparative Politics
Sample courses: Comparative Politics, Political Institutions, Terrorism: A Comparative Politics Perspective, Political Change, Parties and Party Systems, Hybrid Regimes in Modern Times
Certificate in Electoral Politics
Sample courses: Voting Behavior, Elections and Democracy, Religion and Party Politics in the West, Parties and Party Systems, Survey Methodology
Certificate in Political Communication
Sample courses: Citizen Politics: How and When Do Ordinary People Get Voice and Impact?, Automated Text Analysis in Political Science, Introduction to Political Communication, Social Movements
Certificate in Political Economy
Sample courses: Concepts in Political Economy, Democracy, Autocracy and Economic Development: Business, State and Markets; Decentralisation, Devolution, Federalism; Neoliberalism and Its Alternatives: Orthodoxies and Heterodoxies; Globalization and Inequality
Certificate in Political Research Methodology and Social Analysis
Sample courses: Applied Statistics; Introduction to Statistics; Field Research and Data Analysis; Multivariate Statistics; Causality
Certificate in Social and Political Theory
Sample courses: Political Institutions; Individuals in the Microcosm of Power; Popular Sovereignty and Populism; Reinterpreting Political Violence in 20th Century Europe: A Comparative Analysis; Representation, Power and Manipulation in Legislatures
Certificate in Post-Communist Politics
Sample courses: Frontiers of Political Research: Topics, Trends, Techniques; Hybrid Regimes in Modern Times; Populism; Nationalism & Democracy
Each year courses offered by the department are distributed to specific fields of specialization before the beginning of each academic year.