Department of Political Science and International Relations

Founded in 1969, our department is made up of around 60 teachers, including 15 professors. As the largest department of political science in Switzerland, we cover all the main areas in the field, including administration and public policy, political behavior, comparative politics, Swiss politics, international relations and political theory.

Strongly rooted in international political science – particularly Anglo-Saxon political science – we seek to understand how society functions at a global and local level, in particular with regard to power, the State, and political institutions and actors.

We offer courses that cover the whole range of subjects associated with contemporary political science: polity (political institutions, political system, State, international system), politics (power, parties, social movements, public opinion, negotiations, conflict), and policies (economic policy, environmental policy, social policy).

Our department was renamed the Department of Political Science and International Relations in 2011 in order to highlight our international focus and make international relations one of our main areas of development.