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.

View Our Current Research Projects

Comparative Politics and Government

From constitutions to executives to parliaments to parties to electoral laws - at DPIR we rigorously examine the processes and relationships responsible for stability and change on a global, national, and local level.

Political Theory

Combining analytic, critical and historical political thought, we ask the big philosophical questions such as 'What is the true nature of politics?' and 'What values can—and should—politics realise?'

International Relations

Oxford's traditional concern with international and global order is now combined with institutionalist analysis of governance and international political economy. We offer extensive opportunities for the study of diverse regions of the world.

Funding Opportunities

There is a wealth of research funding opportunities available in politics and international relations, for academics at all career stages.

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 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.

Advanced Methods

Our researchers are committed to academic and analytical rigour. We create new theoretical frameworks and develop innovative new ways for gathering, processing and analysing data.

Research Networks

OxPo network

Programme for Global Leadership

Research Team

Centre for Democratic Resilience

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Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism

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Oxford Computational Political Science Group

Smith, A. (2025) Gettysburg. Oxford University Press.

Nejjar, S. and Ketchley, N. (2025) “MENA Historic Shapefiles”, Center for Open Science.

Available at https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/nfeh4_v2

Eijking, J. (2025) “The Micro-politics of International Commissions”, in Ways of Seeing International Organisations. Cambridge University Press (CUP), pp. 186–207.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009552646.015

Howlett, M. and Dvornichenko, D. (2025) “Losing and finding home twice: Ukrainian women’s experiences of secondary internal displacement”, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies [Preprint].

Kelly, E., Tilley, J. and Oskarsson, S. (2025) “Revisiting the link between political trust and political participation”, Journal of Politics [Preprint].

Fawcett, L. (2025) “‘New’ regional order in the Middle East: plus ça change?”, APSA-MENA Newsletter [Preprint].

Howlett, M. and Kurylo, B. (2025) “Reframing Reflexivity”, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, pp. 1–14.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1525/cpcs.2025.2465198

Laborde, C. (2025) “Secularism”, in R. Bellamy and J. King (eds.) The Cambridge Handbook of Constitutional Theory. Cambridge University Press, pp. 333–342.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108868143.023

Ward, A., Tilley, J. and Hobolt, S. (2025) “Why regional spending does not affect support for the European Union”, Journal of European Public Policy, ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print), pp. 1–25.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2025.2479532

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