r/PoliticalScience

Graduated top of my class. Did an internship. Got burnt out and was living in a terrible situation and honestly, just wanted to get out of the city. Took a quirky seasonal "USAjobs" job out in the mountains as an interpreter. Loved the research bit, but definitely had nothing to do with my degree, was seasonal, and paid poop. Did another seasonal job because I could not find anything related to my degree and wanted to stay in the mountains. Then...I met a boy and am semi-stuck in the mountains. Which is fine, because I want to stay here.

What is not fine...is there is not a market here for political science majors. That is all in capital cities. Luckily, our capital is only a couple of hours away and I am willing to live halfway between my job and my boyfriend. I have taken the leap and applied to some fancy policy analyst jobs...to no avail. I am wondering if it is because it's been two whole years since graduating and I haven't done anything, on paper, to maintain my knowledge, so maybe that is dissuading employers.

So, now I am racking my brain on how to become marketable in a tiny market. I am tempted to go back to school to get a certificate in data analytics, grant writing, etc.. I am even considering law school, but the idea that I will be done at 32 years old frightens me. I want to start making money sooner than later. I'm feeling pretty lost. I am EVEN considering making a total pivot and spending 2 years on another bachelors to become marketable in what IS here, which is mostly conservation, for obvious reasons.

If I was an emotionless robot, I would move to D.C. and I would be fine. But frankly, that is the last place I want to be.

I had a great academic experience, and I think I developed strong critical and analytical skills, as well as a lot of practical knowledge that could be valuable in a job interview.

The problem is that I barely remember much of what I studied. Over the past few years, I focused a lot on volunteering and practical experiences, including working with children, and I gradually stopped keeping up with current affairs and with the topics I had studied academically. Now I feel like I’m stuck: I want to work in international cooperation, specifically in child protection and human rights, but I don’t feel prepared for a career in this field because I feel like I don’t have enough knowledge to actually apply what I learned.

I also feel like other people who followed a similar academic path are much more naturally interested in keeping up with international affairs, politics, human rights issues, etc. They seem to read, research and follow developments because they genuinely enjoy it, whereas I struggle to find the motivation to do that, partly because of my current psychological state.

This creates a vicious cycle: I feel like I should know more before applying for jobs, but I don’t know where to start learning again, and because I feel so behind, I find it even harder to motivate myself. Has anyone experienced something similar after finishing university? How did you rebuild your knowledge and become informed about your field again without feeling completely overwhelmed?

I thought I would write a guide on how to have respectful discussions about politics about people around us. As a student, this is my first time having a go at writing an opinion piece like this, so feel free to give me lots of feedback.

During political debates, I often caught myself trying to make witty or sharp attacks to gain victory over the other person. After wondering more about why, I realised that I (and I suspect a lot of others too!) was using this political debate as an excuse to feel pride and victory rather than rationally discuss. 

So after reflecting on that, I thought I might write a guide on how to have better political discussions in democracy, which boils down to being respectful, resisting the urge to "win", genuinely listening and attempting to understand the other's ideas, and being willing to accept we are sometimes wrong. 

Here is my Substack article on it, feel free to have a quick read!

I am about to start a PhD in political science. I am interested in quantitative methods and causal inference but I don't know exactly what methods I am interested in yet. For my senior thesis and some research I did in undergrad, I had to use the supercomputer the university provided. I am deciding what kind of computer to get and am trying to decide between 24GB and 48GB of RAM in a MacBook Pro. What would you recommend?

Hi everyone! I am currently a second year Political Science and International Relations student. I recently applied for a double major and my options are Mathematics and Sociology.

Before college, I was always passionate about mathematics (For example I did math olympics) so I was really excited when I found out that I could pursue it as a double major. Even though I think it could be quite useful, most of the people around me think that the two fields are completely unrelated.

Do you think a Mathematics double major would be useful alongside Political Science and International Relations? What kinds of fields or career paths could I pursue with this combination?

Is it worth it go get a degree in political science in California? I’m thinking of attending either Cal Poly SLO, UC Davis, SDSU, or Sac State.

I'm currently doing my graduation in Brazil, and at my university, there's a pretty intense rivalry among the professors. Some of them do quantitative research and advocate for neoinstitutionalism, while others do qualitative research and are Marxists. I know it sounds super cliché, but they genuinely don't talk to each other. If you bring up a "rival" professor's name in class, the professor will literally stop their lecture to defend their own theory.

Personally, I just find it funny, but other students get really upset about it. I'm curious, what is it like in other countries? Is there a similar feud at your university? And do you take a side?

I'm a graduate student in Political Psychology, and this will be my first time attending anything like this; I would appreciate any tips and overall advice!

I’ve already started looking at the program and taking note of which panels I want to listen to.

The most nerve-wracking part for me right now is the fact that I joined out of my own volition for the experience. So far (I'm in an experimental research group at my Uni, so I’ll probably bring it up), I won’t be meeting up with any of my peers or professors.

Hi all, I'm a fresh Political Science graduate who completed my bachelor's degree about two months ago. I'm very fortunate to have secured a role that is within the risk management area

In my current position, I'm exposed to operational risk, third-party risk, and AI-related risk within the financial sector. While my undergraduate training was heavily focused on qualitative analysis, I had only limited exposure to quantitative methods.

Because many of these risk areas are closely tied to policies, governance, and regulatory frameworks, I'm generally able to understand and grasp the broader concepts. However, I sometimes struggle when discussions become highly technical, particularly when they involve topics such as AI systems, the development of guardrails, software and hardware considerations, and the underlying technological architecture.

For those who transitioned into similar roles from non-technical or political science/social science backgrounds, how did you cope with the technical learning curve? Were there any specific resources, courses, or strategies that helped you bridge the gap?

I'd appreciate any advice or insights. Thank you!

For example, I'd like you to raise the issue of resource concentration. Larger AI models require more and more RAM. Ultimately, I believe the ultimate outcome of AI development will be that only the supercomputers of a few countries will be able to handle the best versions of AI.

This could lead, for example, to people's opinions being easily manipulated using these large AIs. That is, AIs could literally create cascades of events, edit news and media across the entire internet simultaneously, and literally force people to vote a certain way without them even noticing.

It used to seem like technology could help democratize countries, but now it seems like democracy will become a relic of the past in the era of singularity.

I know my thoughts are a bit far-fetched, but I believe I'm talking about the 21st century; all of this could happen within the next 70 years.

I see a lot of left-wing anarchists running around lately, especially anarcho-communists, and I have never really seen it as something that could work on a national scale. I have read excerpts from prominent left-anarchists like Emma Goldman, and what sticks out the most to me is this notion that things will just fall into place in a left-anarchist society. I find this unrealistic. Say the commune happens, what is to stop anyone who dissents from gathering up the force needed to just take over everything? How does a commune stop dissent, or at least keep dissent from spiraling into counter-revolution?

okay so i don’t know if it’s the best community to ask this to but i wanna be a diplomat in the future by studying poli science and/or international relations. i’m in highschool rn but all i see in social media is people studying poli science saying that it’s literally impossible to become a diplomat, like it’s so hard to enter that circle, only elites do (and super rich and privileged people). and that the UN is corrupted and can’t do anything. so i don’t know what to do in the future if i can’t be a diplomat because it’s actually the only job that interests me.

I'm thinking of creating a small group of ** Political Science Students** who want something beyond the exam oriented discussion.

The idea is to create a space where we can **read, write and discuss political theory, research papers,** books, exchange useful academic resources, discuss research ideas, may work on them together, and maybe occasionally proper discussion on political concepts, contemporary issues and thinkers.

What we can do:

1. Pick a paper/ chapter / book evey week or two and discuss it.

2. Discuss political thinkers and different interpretations of their work (Hermenutics)

3. Share academic papers etc.

4. Help each other with research questions, literature reviews and methodology.

5. Help each other with feedback on papers, essays, research proposals etc.

6. Discuss academic opportunities, conferences which can be attended, publications, JRF etc.

7. Most importantly *understanding contemporary political developments with theoretical paradigms.*

It doesn't have to be a very formal group, but more of **a small reading community which eventually converts into a research community.**

If there are enough people, I'll setup the group and we can figure out the format together.

About me : I'm a 2nd year Master's student of Political Science in University of Delhi.

If interested, Drop me a message. Thank you :)

UPDATE: Woah, Quite overwhelming response, i wasn't expecting this. Those who still want to join, drop me a message, stating your name and academic background. I'll close this by tomorrow evening. Thank you everyone.

Hello people, I bought this book (title above)hoping it would be informative on the history of the Israel Palestinian conflict. Disclaimer I support Palestine. The author of the book is a judge named Roy K. Altman. I am wondering what everyone thinks of the author or the book if you've read it. I started the first few pages it he stated that the book would be using actual methodology used by law practitioners, but he's only be saying that the points people who support Palestine use are based on misinformation. I'm worried this book is propaganda and I would like to before I get into the book. I would still like to read it to be informed on what Israel supporters minds are like but I dont what to go into the book thinking everything is real if it is actually propaganda. Any opinions or facts are welcome. (First Reddit Post)

This is my last year in the Political Science and International Relations program. I’m planning to apply for a master’s degree, preferably in Europe, and I’d like to start my master’s as soon as I finish my bachelor’s degree. Do you have any recommendations? What are some of the best universities or programs where I could get a scholarship or study at an affordable cost?

so I have a very weird ideology I call Neo vanguardism. firstly it's based in neo reactionary thought compared to most other left-wing ideologies which are based in Marxist thought the reason why it's left wing is because of its economic system which I call national corporatism. the system is a mix of guild socialism local planning and market socialism we're all corporations are owned by the government and with unions that are basically part of the government where local governments set quotas. it is culturally nationalist compared to a lot of other left-wing ideologies nowadays are internationalist or anti-nationalist. it is technocratic and totalitarian but it also I believes in an idea of a living state or organic state where loyalty is with the state not the leader so it's anti-personalistic. honesty I want you to share your opinion on this and what normal ideology is the most similar to it.