Research projects cover a wide range of topics within the policy areas of public administration, e.g. defense, energy conservation and environmental protection, state building, health and social affairs, local politics, town and regional governance and professionalisation. The Department is also involved in research on management, industrial life, internationalisation and adaption to Europe as well as studies on public policy and governance in Africa and Asia. The Department offers programmes of study at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, the latter including a hovedfag programme, as well as a master's and a doctoral programme. Theoretical Orientation Administration and Organisation Theory is the comparative analysis of politics, administration, and organisation. The field is political science and it is founded on political and social theories.
Emphasis is placed on theories of democracy, organisations, and organised efforts.
This is achieved largely through theoretically oriented and empirically based research on formal, complex organisations. A basic starting point is that the manner in which people think and act is to a large extent shaped by existing institutional arrangements and the organisational context in which they operate. The manner in which something is organised and what effects it has is important to study. Further, the organisational context is affected and even shaped by individual actions. In a similar vein, organisations must be understood and studied in relation to their surroundings - including the historical context.