The political science discipline is represented at the University of Basel by the Political Science Department, which is affiliated with the Department of Social Sciences of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.

The research focuses on peace and conflict issues, foreign policy analysis, the field of European integration, comparative political science (especially parliamentarianism), and European and international decision and negotiation analysis.

General literature

• Reference works (lexicons, dictionaries, bibliographies, etc.)
• Introductory literature and textbooks
  Political methods
• Political sociology
• Political education
• Political history of ideas and theory
• Ideologies
• Democracy/sovereignty
• Political legitimation
• Political philosophy

Comparative politics

• Comparative government
• Government theory and political systems in individual countries (focus on Switzerland (municipalities, cantons, federal government), Europe, Africa, Middle East, supranational organisations)
• Political party research, interest groups, political groups
• Elections
• Political and social movements
• Political communication, public opinion
• Political participation
• Political disputes

International relations

• Theories of IR
• Development aid and development policy
• Foreign policy
• Security policy
• Peace and conflict research
• Peace building, peacekeeping, peace making
• Non-state political actors
• International and supranational organisations
• Regional integration
• Global governance
• International legitimation
• International relations of individual countries

Other policy areas

• Social policy
• Migration policy 
• Gender policy
• Educational and cultural policy
• Health policy
• Environmental policy
• Military policy
• not: economic and financial policy

Plagiarism detection

The University Library supports lecturers, researchers and students with regard to honest  scientific works by providing the Turnitin plagiarism detection software.

Course reserves

University lecturers have the opportunity to set up print course reserves for their courses during the semester and to provide their students with individual journal articles as well as book chapters in electronic format as digital course reserves through ADAM.

Dissertations

The University Library is responsible for the archiving of dissertations written at the university. The regulations of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences apply to the submission of dissertations.

Text and data mining (TDM)

Research projects which require access to TDM analytical methods for licensed digital content at the University Library are offered first-level support by the University Library.

Research data management

The University Library regularly offers training courses and workshops on creating data management plans. The library also advises and supports researchers at the university with their requirements for modern data management over the entire life cycle of research data. Detailed information can be found here.

OA publications fund

The University of Basel supports researchers in publishing open access articles. This applies to open access publications for which the article processing charge (APC) is not covered by third-party funding. More information is available here.

Institutional repository and OA publication platforms

UNIverse is the University of Basel’s research portal. The edoc document server provides full-text versions of the publications listed in UNIverse. In addition, edoc is used to publish dissertations submitted electronically and provides permanent access to their full texts.

For the publication of OA journals, the periodical portal eterna is available for university members. The publication platform emono offers the possibility of publishing books and series as Open Access. Further information can be obtained here.

The University Library supports students in their search for and in accessing academic literature. The subject area page serves as the starting point for searching databases and additional search resources. If you need specific literature for your studies that is still missing, you can submit your requests to the subject librarian. The subject specialist supports you in particular with literature searches, using Swisscovery and databases, locating e-resources, developing research strategies, and using reference management software such as Zotero. Upon request, the subject librarian offers group and individual consultations. Please feel free to contact us.

Reference management

The University Library offers regular introductory courses and training sessions on various reference management programs for all members of the university.

Program advising & Student counselling

If you have any questions about your studies, you can arrange an appointment with a student counselling advisor. Before your appointment, please familiarise yourself with the relevant guidelines.

Plagiarism detection

The University Library supports lecturers, researchers and students with regard to honest  scientific works by providing the Turnitin plagiarism detection software.