In 2021

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 academics, researchers and students apply their academic and methodological skill to help us understand the political worlds of today—and shape those of the future.

Our specialist networks

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.

Research Methods

The Department prides itself on being a centre of excellence for advanced methods training and expertise.

Back

Two women and a child sit and stand by some washing, drying on a line, in front of war torn buildings

Cumulative Civilian Harm in War

Two people walk past an electronic street sign advertising 'Remember photo ID to vote on 4 May' message from the UK Electoral Commission.

Voter ID in the UK: Electoral Integrity, and Access to the Ballot Box

How the world wants to be governed

Skyline of Lagos, Nigeria showing buildings and green spaces

Africa Offshore: The Global Offshore Economy and the Reshaping of African Politics

Back from the Brink: Countering Illiberalism in Liberal Democracies.

A crowd are climbing a building with various flags

The Stigmatization of Political Ideologies

22 Mar 2023

The first DPIR Research Support Fund winners announced

Outline graphic of Egypt with a red line depicting the development of Egypt’s railway network from 1852 to 1919

Infrastructures of Anti-Colonial Revolt: Mass Politics in the 1919 Egyptian Revolution

24 Feb 2023

The legacy of the Iraq War is reflected in a changed regional and international order, says Professor Louise Fawcett

14 Feb 2023

Evidence on ‘boosting UK-China capabilities’ published by UK Foreign Affairs Committee

Map of Europe colour coding for varying levels of 'emergency' and response levels to the COVID-19 pandemic

3 Feb 2023

European Parliament hears DPIR academic review of Governments’ pandemic response

A number of foreign newspapers in a newspaper stand

18 Jan 2023

Media publishers less positive about their prospects than last year, new Reuters Institute research finds

A picture containing curtain, furniture, indoor, shower

Intergenerational cycles of violence: the effects of war on intimate partner violence

Black an white image of the front of a plantation house in Washington County, Texas, with a tree and grass in front of it

The Development of Inefficient Property Rights in the Postbellum U.S South

Image of a damaged building with firemen in front of it amidst debris

9 Nov 2022

New research shows how Ukrainian nationalism has endured and evolved amidst the Ukraine-Russia conflict

27 Oct 2022

New Reuters Institute research sheds light on what we can learn from how Global South digital publishers use platforms

A picture containing sky, outdoor, city, mountain

Islamo-gangsterism: organized crime and Islamist insurgency

The red wall of a large building with a clock tower

Providing the Evidence and Analysis for a UK Counter-Kleptocracy Strategy

'ill-gotten' and 'illiberal words' highlighted in a dictionary

Neo-authoritarianisms in Europe and the liberal democratic response (AUTHLIB)

UN Peacekeeper looking out with binoculars, UN flag on the left, blue sky background

20 Jun 2022

Library of policy digests and podcasts on peacekeeping launched for the United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) initiative

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.

Browse our library of research funding and postdoctoral fellowship opportunities.

Research

Our specialist networks

Comparative Politics and Government

Political Theory

International Relations

Research Methods

Research news

Cumulative Civilian Harm in War

Janina Dill

Voter ID in the UK: Electoral Integrity, and Access to the Ballot Box

How the world wants to be governed

Africa Offshore: The Global Offshore Economy and the Reshaping of African Politics

Back from the Brink: Countering Illiberalism in Liberal Democracies.

The Stigmatization of Political Ideologies

Lenka Buštíková Siroky

Eli Gateva

Marnie Howlett

Andrew Payne

Tena Prelec

Infrastructures of Anti-Colonial Revolt: Mass Politics in the 1919 Egyptian Revolution

Louise Fawcett

Scott Singer

Mihail Chiru

Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism

Intergenerational cycles of violence: the effects of war on intimate partner violence

The Development of Inefficient Property Rights in the Postbellum U.S South

Marnie Howlett

Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism

Islamo-gangsterism: organized crime and Islamist insurgency

Providing the Evidence and Analysis for a UK Counter-Kleptocracy Strategy

Thomas Mayne

Neo-authoritarianisms in Europe and the liberal democratic response (AUTHLIB)

Zofia Stemplowska

Spyros Kosmidis

Andrea Ruggeri

Sam Daws

Rachel Morrow-Nguyen

Tiril Høye Rahn

Elizabeth Russ

Ana Vilhelmina Verdnik

Research Excellence

REF

Pluralism

Global expertise

Advanced methods

Funding Opportunities