Welcome to Political Science and International Relations

The Discipline Group of Political Science and International Relations is in the School of Social and Cultural Studies, within the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at The University of Western Australia.

The Discipline has undergraduate and postgraduate programs, and is actively involved in research.

Politics is famously said to concern "who gets what, when, and how." Political science studies politics -- and the ways in which groups of individuals govern themselves and make collective decisions, the moral arguments they make to justify these decisions, and the way in which they interact with others in the international system.

There are normally around 600 enrolments in our undergraduate program, with another 20 or more students in the fourth year honours course, and around 20 research postgraduates. The past three WA Rhodes Scholars (2006-2008) have been Political Science and International Relations honours graduates.

In a recent global survey of Political Science departments, we were ranked second in Australia and 27th in the world in research output relative to department size (Hix, Political Studies Review, 2004).

We maintain the Australian Goverment and Politics Database.

Contact Information

Our office is located on the second floor of the Social Sciences Building, Room 2.62.

Political Science and International Relations M259
The University of Western Australia
Crawley WA 6009
Australia

Telephone +61 8 6488 2086
Email

News

We welcome Professor Kim Beazley, former Australian Government Minister and former Leader of the Federal Parliamentary Labor Party, to the Discipline Group.

Congratulations to Political Science and International Relations graduate Daniel Vujcich, the 2008 Rhodes Scholar for Western Australia.

Master of International Relations

Public Policy Internship

Public Lecture: Obama, the US, and Future International Order