Department of Politics and International Studies (POLIS)


Alison Richard Building, 7 West Road.Cambridge has a long and distinctive tradition in the study of politics and international relations with particular emphasis, going back over a century, on historical, legal, economic and philosophical approaches to the study of political thought and national and international politics.

The establishment of the Department of Politics and International Studies (POLIS) in January 2009 provided a new institutional focus at Cambridge for teaching and research on politics in all its dimensions; international and comparative, theoretical and empirical, abstract and practical.

The Department offers a wide range of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. It has particular research strengths in international politics, including international history and international law, international relations, political economy, comparative politics and political thought. It has three new Research Centres, the Centre of Governance and Human Rights, the Centre for Rising Powers and the Cambridge Centre of Political Thought, which is run jointly with History.

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Cambridge Public Policy (CPP)
Cambridge Public Policy (CPP) is a University of Cambridge initiative set up to coordinate, support and encourage the development of new approaches to public policy, informed by the best available research, teaching and practice.
YouGov-Polis Programme for Public Opinion Research
The YouGov-Polis Programme for Public Opinion Researchwas established at the beginning of 2011 and constitutes the core, coordinating centre for the collaboration between the pollster and the University. The aim of this partnership is to find innovative ways to use public opinion data within academic programmes, both undergraduate and postgraduate. We want to encourage students to draw on public opinion data to use in their projects and their dissertations. Cambridge education is designed to develop in all its students the ability to think critically, to question assumptions, and to base conclusions on evidence. We encourage students to develop their own arguments in their own way, but always to back up their claims. For more information please see: www.yougov.polis.cam.ac.uk
Politics in Spires
Politics in Spiresis a collaborative effort between the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford and the Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Cambridge. Politics in Spires was created with the intent to share, amongst ourselves and with a wider community, thoughts on politics and international relations from scholars at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and aims to promote and disseminate our research, to engage in scholarly debate on current affairs, addressing topical issues in a timely fashion.