The Default Library
Paths / Path 34

Political Science

Who gets what, when and how: power, institutions, elections, war and peace, studied with evidence.

For: anyone starting the degree, anyone who votes, anyone who wants to read the news with a better model of why things happen.

Shaped by MIT's Course 17, Oxford's Politics in PPE, Sciences Po and Harvard Government: theory, comparative politics, international relations and methods in every one.

15readings
3.2 hoursof reading
4stages
14 reads · 1 deep dive
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Stage 1

Year 1 · The questions

4 readings · 51 min
  1. 01ReadInteractiveQuiz13 min

    Political Theory: Justice, Power, Legitimacy and Liberty

    Justice, power and legitimacy, from Plato and Confucius to Rawls.
  2. 02ReadInteractiveQuiz13 min

    Comparative Politics: Why Countries Are Governed So Differently

    Why countries are governed so differently.
  3. 03ReadInteractiveQuiz12 min

    Probability & Statistics: Reasoning with Uncertainty

    The statistics behind every poll and study.
  4. 04ReadInteractiveQuiz13 min

    Microeconomics: Why Nothing Is Free and Every Price Is a Message

    Incentives and markets: half of political economy.
Stage 2

Year 2 · The evidence

4 readings · 52 min
  1. 05ReadInteractiveQuiz13 min

    Research Methods in Political Science: How Anyone Knows Anything About Politics

    Experiments, natural experiments and case studies: how political scientists know.
  2. 06ReadInteractiveQuiz14 min

    Elections, Parties & Public Opinion: Rules That Turn Votes into Power

    Voters, parties, polls and electoral systems.
  3. 07ReadInteractiveQuiz13 min

    International Relations: Why Fear Needs No Villain

    War, peace, trade and the institutions between states.
  4. 08ReadInteractiveQuiz12 min

    Econometrics: How to Find What Caused What

    Regression and causal inference.
Stage 3

Year 3 · Institutions at work

4 readings · 50 min
  1. 09ReadInteractiveQuiz13 min

    Constitutional Law: The Rules for the People Who Make the Rules

    Constitutions and the courts that guard them.
  2. 10ReadInteractiveQuiz13 min

    Public Policy: How Problems Become Policies, and What Then Goes Wrong

    How problems become policies.
  3. 11ReadInteractiveQuiz12 min

    Political Economy: Why the Rules Decide Who Gets Rich

    Why some nations prosper: states, markets and institutions.
  4. 12ReadInteractiveQuiz12 min

    Game Theory: When Your Best Move Depends on Mine

    Strategy, voting paradoxes and collective action.
Stage 4

Year 4 · Where it leads

3 readings · 42 min
  1. 13ReadInteractiveQuiz14 min

    International Law & Human Rights: Rules Between Nations Without a World Police

    International law and human rights.
  2. 14ReadInteractiveQuiz13 min

    Public Economics: What Governments Can and Can't Fix

    Taxes, public goods and the welfare state.
  3. 15Deep diveInteractiveQuiz15 min

    Social Psychology: How Other People Change What We Do

    Conformity, obedience and group identity.
When you finish

Robert Dahl, On Democracy; the textbooks named at the end of each subject. See also the library's 18 Politics, Democracy & Government and 31 Political Economy for gentler first reads.

Next path →

Psychology

How minds work, how we know, and which famous findings held up.