World-leading Research

Our research looks at big and broad-ranging topics and answers important questions through rigorous analysis and strong theoretical approaches.

With access to expertise in a wide range of quantitative and qualitative methods, our people apply their academic and methodological skill to help us understand the political worlds of today—and shape those of the future.

Funding opportunities

Research Excellence

REF

DPIR achieved excellent scores in the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021, confirming the excellence of our research. The proportion of Oxford’s research outputs judged to be world-leading has also risen significantly since the last REF exercise in 2014.

Pluralism

DPIR's diverse community bridges International Relations, Comparative Politics, and Political Theory. It creates a rich intellectual environment for interdisciplinary engagement.

Global Expertise

Our research community holds in-depth, area-specific expertise in the politics of Europe, Russia and the Former Soviet Union, the US, Latin America, the Middle East and North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.

A nexus for big questions and big ideas. We develop innovative new ways for gathering, processing and analysing data; we create new theoretical frameworks; and our research projects tackle some of the most-pressing challenges around the globe.

Research Networks

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Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism

Programme for Global Leadership

Centre for Democratic Resilience

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Oxford Computational Political Science Group

OxPo network

Centre for Advanced Social Science Methods

Yeandle, A. and Doyle, D. (2026) “Migration, remittances and petty corruption in Africa”, International Studies Quarterly [Preprint].

Billingham, P. (2026) “Justifying the Political Liberal Justificatory Constituency”, Political Studies Review [Preprint].

Lieberman, R. and King, D. (2026) “The American Civil Rights State: The Role of Federal Power in the Pursuit of Racial Justice”, Studies in American Political Development, pp. 1–20.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1017/s0898588x26100364

Billingham, P. and Hordern, J. (2026) “Introduction to OJLR Special Issue: The New Catholic Integralism and Religious Anti-Liberalism”, Oxford Journal of Law and Religion [Preprint].

Available at https://doi.org/10.1093/ojlr/rwag013

THORNTON, P. (2026) “China Leadership Monitor”, China Leadership Monitor [Preprint].

Thornton, P. (2026) “Why Xi’s pro-natalist turn is failing: legibility, marketized neo-familism, and micropolitical refusal in China”, China Leadership Monitor [Preprint], (88).

Schleiter, P. (2026) “Voter Access under Mandatory Voter ID: The Promise and Limits of the Voter Authority Certificate”, The Political Quarterly [Preprint].

Available at https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-923x.70081

Duch, R. (2026) “Attitudes to mandatory COVID-19 vaccination in early life: findings from the multi-country cross-sectional CANDOUR study”, Health Promotion International [Preprint].

Available at https://doi.org/10.1093/heapro/daag077

Green, E. and Harding, R. (2026) “Political Business Cycles and Democratization: Evidence From Sub-Saharan Africa”, Comparative Political Studies [Preprint].

Available at https://doi.org/10.1177/00104140261448128

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