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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.
“Polarization and Democracy in Latin America: Legacies of the Left Turn," co-authored by Cornell College of Arts and Sciences professor Kenneth Roberts, examines how inequality, elite strategy and democratic failures have fueled political polarization and challenged democracy across Latin America.
Cornell University launched the Cornell Center on Democracy to strengthen democratic institutions through research, education and public engagement. The initiative convenes scholars to address disinformation, polarization, governance and civic engagement challenges globally.
Cornell College of Arts and Sciences professor Isabel M. Perera won the Charles H. Levine Memorial Book Prize and the 2026 European Studies Book Award for “The Welfare Workforce.” Her book examines disparities in mental health care policy.
Cornell University honored 31 Merrill Presidential Scholars May 19, recognizing academic excellence and mentorship. College of Arts and Sciences senior Carolina Aguilera-Garza and peers celebrated influential teachers and Cornell mentors shaping leadership, scholarship, and public impact.
Since the Cornell in Washington program launched in 1980, about 4,400 Cornellians have taken part in immersive lessons in the nation’s capital. Alumni have become U.S. representatives, federal judges, agency leaders and political journalists.
A federal jury has sided with OpenAI in a court battle with Elon Musk, and the trial outcome leaves questions and debates unresolved, says Cornell College of Arts and Sciences government scholar Sarah Kreps.
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.