Research

Department of Politics

All of Drexel’s political science faculty are active researchers whose work is published in various books, articles and reports. The faculty has particular research strengths in urban politics; electoral systems; human rights; security studies; conflict studies; politics of policing; and science, technology, and environmental politics. The department encourages faculty-student research collaborations, especially through research assistantships and independent studies. Several students have coauthored work with our faculty that have been published in various venues, including journal articles and book chapters.

Across the Department of Politics, research clusters reinforce our undergraduate plans of study in the major and minor, and allow students to explore the political science discipline on a more detailed level. Our faculty members bring their research into the classroom, both in introductory classes like Introduction to International Relations, and in upper-level seminars like Food Politics or Civilians in Armed Conflict.

Interested students should email Khushi Patel, kp3248@drexel.edu, the department administrator, to learn more.

Student Research Assistants

Assisting with research is an excellent way to become more familiar with high-level political scholarship and to gain experience in data collection, analysis as well as writing. Our department faculty are involved in a wide variety of research projects at the forefront of political science. Faculty members frequently employ and mentor students who are interested in gaining hands-on research experience and learning more about their research interests. If you would like to conduct research with a professor in the Department of Politics, please contact them.

Research Clusters

International Law and Organizations

This political research cluster asks questions regarding the role of international agreements and international institutions in world politics. Faculty in the international research cluster are interested in a wide range of questions related to the design, development and effects of institutions, about how power is exercised and maintained through them, and about how they result in both policy change and changes in behavior of nation states. Their research investigates a diverse set of institutional forms, ranging from formal, bureaucratic organizations like the United Nations and European Union, to international treaties, as well as various types of informal institutions like the G20 and customary law. Our faculty are also particularly strong in international treaties and NGO research.

Faculty Members

Faculty Member	Contact	Specialization
	Joel E. Oestreich Professor jeo25@drexel.edu	Human rights; Economic development; United Nations; Sustainable Development; International Ethics; Rights-based Approach to Development

Social Movements and Contentious Politics

This political research cluster asks questions regarding the role of social and political movements — protests, riots, insurgencies, political violence and war—in domestic and transnational politics. Faculty research investigates how people are mobilized into both violent and non-violent movements, how grievances are voiced, and the conditions under which social movements and other contentious politics succeed at producing changes in regimes, policies and public opinion. The movements investigated are quite diverse: the environmental movement; movements of women, LGBTQIA+ people and ethnic minorities; and violently contentious politics such as riots, insurgency and war. Throughout these diverse areas, the social movement research cluster is especially attentive to the human rights of marginalized peoples and their transnational interactions, and produces systematically rigorous, problem-driven research.

Faculty Members

Faculty Member	Contact	Specialization
	Rose Corrigan Associate Professor School of Law, Room 265 rose.corrigan@drexel.edu	Women and politics, public law, American politics and policy
	Richardson Dilworth Professor of Politics; Department Head, Department of Politics MacAlister, Room 3025 dilworth@drexel.edu	American political development, urban politics, public policy
	Christian Hunold Professor of Politics; Associate Dean for Faculty Advancement 3021-F MacAlister Hall hunoldc@drexel.edu	Environmental political theory; deliberative democracy; human-animal studies; multispecies ethnography; multispecies urbanism; wild horses and burros
	Jose Tapia Professor MacAlister 3021-E jat368@drexel.edu	political economy; mortality; social development; business cycles; Chernobyl; climate change; world economy;

Center for Public Policy

The College of Arts and Sciences' Center for Public Policy is an interdisciplinary hub for Drexel faculty who conduct policy-oriented research. In addition, it serves as an interface between those faculty and government agencies and nonprofit organizations, especially in the Philadelphia region. The Center offers two advanced degrees: a Master of Science in Environmental Policy and a Master of Science in Public Policy.

Faculty Members

Faculty Member	Contact	Specialization
	Richardson Dilworth Professor of Politics; Department Head, Department of Politics MacAlister, Room 3025 dilworth@drexel.edu	American political development, urban politics, public policy
	Christian Hunold Professor of Politics; Associate Dean for Faculty Advancement 3021-F MacAlister Hall hunoldc@drexel.edu	Environmental political theory; deliberative democracy; human-animal studies; multispecies ethnography; multispecies urbanism; wild horses and burros
	Gwen Ottinger Professor 3101 Market Street, Room 217 ottinger@drexel.edu	Environmental justice; Political theory; Science and technology policy; Citizen science; Science and engineering ethics; Information infrastructures; Community-based research

Recent News

David S. Brown, PhD, dean, Drexel University College of Arts and Sciences and professor of Politics

Meet David S. Brown, PhD, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences

The College of Arts and Sciences is pleased to welcome our new dean, David S. Brown, PhD. Dean Brown joined Drexel from the University of Colorado Boulder where he served as Divisional Dean for Social Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences. We spoke with Dean Brown about his political science research, the purpose of liberal arts education and what he loves about Philadelphia so far.

Philosophy, Politics & Economics Major August Modiga Finds Co-op Success

As a global alliances intern at SAP, August Modiga was part of a team that presented SAP’s business solutions and products to potential customers. The philosophy, politics and economics major shares her experience and the skills she developed that she will carry with her throughout her career.

Meet Assistant Professor of Politics Travis Curtice, PhD

Travis Curtice is an assistant professor in the Department of Politics. Prior to coming to Drexel, he held fellowships with the Dickey Center for International Understanding at Dartmouth College, the U.S. Institute for Peace, and the Democracy Program at the Carter Center.

CoAS Students Present Research at UN Commission on the Status of Women

CoAS students Liz Pham and Zyrah Alvi recently presented their research on corruption at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) 2021 Forum.

Junior Medina Talebi Accepted to Prestigious Ralph Bunche Summer Institute

College of Arts and Sciences junior Medina Talebi has been accepted to attend the highly competitive Ralph Bunche Summer Institute (RBSI), which helps prepare undergraduate students from traditionally underrepresented racial and ethnic minorities for an academic career in political science.

Policy Student’s Op-Ed Leads to Recycling Program Grant

Breath Hand, MS environmental policy ’21, knew from the early years of adulthood that every action she took in favor of the environment would help counteract the daunting effects of climate change and global warming. Studying environmental policy at Drexel was one of those actions.