Department Homepage
The College of Arts & Sciences
The department of government offers students a variety of opportunities to engage with politics and political science, beginning in the classroom, with the chance to work one-on-one with faculty; by participating in internships, and by drawing on the department's ties with programs across the College of Arts and Sciences.
In classes, research and through the new Cornell Center on Democracy, faculty are collaborating to study democratic declines, as well as strategies for strengthening the republic we still have. Cornell’s role in strengthening democracy is broad – faculty research guides democracies throughout the world, alumni serve in top government and public service positions, public engagement efforts boost community and policy organizations and, perhaps most importantly, students on campus are gaining the knowledge and communication skills they’ll need to move democracy forward.
The Cornell University Parole Initiative has helped secure the release of 42 incarcerated people since 2021. The organization, advised by government professor Joe Margulies, pairs students with applicants to prepare parole cases and support reentry after prison.
Cornell's Center on Democracy launches a new initiative to strengthen democratic institutions through research, policy frameworks, and interdisciplinary collaboration. The effort focuses on rule of law, democratic governance, free speech, and support for policymakers and civil society.
Cornell University and Demo Lab trained global democracy leaders at Cornell Tech to expand civic education and democratic participation worldwide. The Freedom Academy program equips educators, activists, and students with tools to promote freedom, civic engagement, and democracy across diverse communities.
Paul Graham ’86 discussed startup innovation and entrepreneurship Oct. 28 at Cornell University as the inaugural Distinguished Visitor in the Humanities, Social Sciences + AI Initiative. The Y Combinator founder encouraged students to pursue curiosity-driven projects and make products they would use themselves.
Atlantic journalist Graeme Wood will discuss al-Qaeda’s evolution and the War on Terror on Nov. 16 at Cornell. Organized by the Program on Freedom and Free Societies, the talk will examine al-Qaeda’s successes and failures alongside U.S. counterterrorism efforts.
Five professors from across the Cornell University campus will advocate that their discipline is the most important to save in the annual Apocalypse Debate set for Friday, Nov. 6 at 5 p.m.
The Government Department at Cornell is committed to free speech and academic freedom, to creating and sustaining a community all of whose members can teach, study, work and thrive, whatever their backgrounds or beliefs, without fear of intolerance, bigotry, harassment, or reprisal. Cornell University is justifiably proud of having committed itself to an affirmative responsibility to protect academic free speech, including extramural speech. It has declared this to be a year of "freedom of expression" at Cornell. We reaffirm.
Our doctoral students are trained in all the main fields of the discipline and have extensive research and teaching experience. Government graduates have gone on to outstanding careers in higher education, public service, and the private sector.