The Department of Political Science has one of the largest departments at Stockholm University with fifty researchers and teachers, and about fifty Ph.D. students. The department’s research within international relations (IR) has grown strongly during recent years and now includes around twenty senior and junior researchers. Thematically, the emphasis nowadays is mainly on three areas: (1) global governance, (2) EU and regional integration, and (3) foreign and security policy.

 In 2011, the department’s research within the area “Transnational Actors and Global Governance” was appointed as one of the university’s leading research areas. The Political Science Department's research in IR has a clear international profile through international publications, international recruitment of postdocs and Ph.D. students, strong international networks, and funding from international research grants.

 The research in the field of global governance tackles themes such as: international organizations power, transparency, legitimacy and effectiveness; transnational actors cooperation with international organizations and opportunities for influence in global governance; the growth and legitimacy of public-private partnerships in global governance; and conditions for democracy at the global level.

 The department’s research in the field of EU and regional integration undertakes themes such as: Europeanization of national political systems and policy areas; negotiations and decision-making in the EU; the emergence of soft forms of governance at the European level; the EU as an international actor; and the observance of the EUs legal framework.

 The department’s research in the field of foreign and security policy tackles themes such as: American foreign policy; the EU as a foreign policy actor; conditions for the emergence of security communities; international organizations as conflict solvers; as well as crisis management.

 The research group within IR has a wide range of international partnerships. These include formal collaboration agreements with Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung (WZB), the Center for Citizenship, Governance and Democracy at the University of Southampton and Institute of Intercultural Studies in Bremen, as well as informal collaborations with research groups, including London School of Economics and Political Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Princeton University, University of Munich, and University of Konstanz.

 

The department’s researchers in IR are frequent guests in international environments and have in recent years been present at Harvard University, Stanford University, Columbia University, George Mason University, the New School of Social Research New York, London School of Economics, University of Melbourne, University of Washington in Seattle, and Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin, among others. Conversely, the group has in recent years recruited or served as a host to researchers from Humboldt University, University of Konstanz, University of Washington in Seattle, Harvard University, Australian National University, University of Maastricht, University of Salzburg, University of Glasgow, University of Southampton, and Wissenschafszentrum Berlin, among others.