The DPhil in Politics is a full-time, three year programme of doctoral study which is intended for students who would like to undertake detailed research in preparation for an academic career. If you are admitted to this degree, you will conduct your own research under the guidance of a University supervisor. You must be prepared to work on their own a good deal, and will need considerable personal motivation. You are required to have a good general knowledge of the field within which your research falls and of the methods appropriate to the study of this field.
You will be required to develop your research training skills in your first year via attendance at a series of courses and seminars. You can find more information about the first year under the Probationer Research Student heading below. In addition to the Department's graduate programme, you will find a very wide variety of seminars, lectures and workshops taking place all over the University, which touch upon all aspects of the discipline. You are expected to present your work at least once at an appropriate research seminar.
With the exception of those who complete the MPhil first, candidates for the DPhil normally proceed through Probationer Research Student status to DPhil status. DPhil students are expected to present aspects of their work at the relevant research seminars at Oxford. This will help you to develop presentational skills, and to give and receive feedback. You are also encouraged to present your work at seminars, conferences etc. outside Oxford (e.g. PSA, APSA, ECPR etc.). You may submit your thesis up to 12 terms after the date of your admission as a graduate student. Any additional time required beyond that must be applied for through the Graduate Studies Committee. The maximum length of a DPhil thesis is 100,000 words, excluding the bibliography. This maximum is taken seriously and permission to exceed it is rarely given.
The examiners of a DPhil thesis are asked to certify that:
you possess a good general knowledge of the field of learning within which the subject of the thesis falls;
you have made a significant and substantial contribution in the particular field of learning within which the subject of your thesis falls;
it is presented in a lucid and scholarly manner;
you have presented a satisfactory abstract of the thesis.
DPhil examiners are asked to bear in mind that their judgement of the substantial significance of the work should take into account what may reasonably be expected of a capable and diligent graduate student after three or at most four years of full-time study.
Successful Theses
Resuscitation of German Strategy
Economic Reforms in Saudi Arabia: Transformation of the Rentier State
On Cultural Rights
"This is People's Water!": Water Services Struggles and the Emergence of the New Social Movements in Mpumalanga, Durban; 1998 2005
Chinese Nationalism and Chinese Foreign Policy Making: A Camouflage?
The Quest for Land Reform: Forced Removals, Land NGO's and Community Politics in Kwazulu Natal, South Africa, c.1950 to 2000
Property and the Power to Say No: A Freedom based Argument for basic income
Bringing Desert into Liberal Egalitarian Justice
Blame Avoidance and the Politics of Public Inquiries in the UK 1984 2003
A Justified Claim? Reparations, Historical Injustice and the Case of American Slavery
The Presidency of the Council of Ministers of the European Union and its Agenda Setting Powers
Social Democracy in Latin America. The Post Transition Politics of the Left in Chile and Uruguay
Islamic Doctrines of Citizenship in Liberal Democracies: The Search for an Overlapping Consensus
Immigration Policy and Party Organization: Explaining the Rise of the Populist Right in Western Europe
Anarchism and Political Theory: Contemporary Problems
Magic Numbers? Women, Men and the Representation of Women in the British Parliaments
The Political Economy of the Budget Making Policy in Venezuela, 1974-1999
New Party Success and Failure in Japan: The Experiences of the Liberal Party, 1998 2003
The Concept of Luck and Responsibility in Contemporary Theories of Justice
