The Department does not embrace or promote any particular school of theory or method of analysis. Its tradition is one that values theoretical diversity, intellectual breadth, analytic rigor, and scholarly excellence. It is committed to maintaining among its faculty, and in its graduate student training, the full range of expertise contained within the sub-fields of contemporary political science. It makes available training in all of the varied methodological approaches appropriate to the rigorous analysis of political phenomena. Berkeley is a large research university, but graduate courses in political science are small enough for intensive interchange among students and between students and faculty.
Most seminars have fewer than ten students.
There are many other opportunities for close contact between faculty and students, including special reading courses, teaching and research assistantships, detailed dissertation supervision, informal seminars and lunches. Research colloborations between graduate students and faculty often lead to joint presentations at professional conferences and co-authored publications in leading academic journals. One of the Berkeley political science department's great strengths is the University of which it is a part. The distinction of its academic departments and professional schools, across all disciplines, has led to its top ranking among graduate institutions and research universities in the nation, and it has produced for the campus a global reputation as one of the leading intellectual centers of the world. Political Science graduate students are encouraged to take advantage of Berkeley's intellectual and disciplinary richness.