Objectives
The Doctoral program in Political Science is intended to:
- Develop research skills and creation of original knowledge in Political Science following diverse methodologies from the discipline.
- Contribute to the consolidation of a national academic community of politologists with a solid theoric and methodologic education, which provides relevant contributions to Political Science debates.
- Encourage academic production of students as means of communication and expansion of knowledge in critical areas for our country and discipline.
Study Plan
Students who have an undergraduate degree or those who can validate their Masters Degree courses may join the Doctoral program. The following is the syllabus for students according to their academic education.
Study Plan for students without a Masters Degree
This plan rules for those students who are admitted to the Doctoral Program and who have not taken previous courses in the Masters Degree programs. These students must take courses in Los Andes for the Masters Degree Program in the Department of Political Science, as follows:
Three mandatory seminars (one is Theoretical and two are Research Methodology)
Choose two areas of the discipline and in each area take a mandatory course (theoretical) and an elective offered by the Masters in Political Science, for a total of four more seminars.
In this way, students will have to approve these seven seminars of the Masters Degree program, and to be able to advance to the Doctoral Program they must also: a) Write an academic article (4 credits) that is competent enough according to the Doctoral program committee, to be submitted for its publication to the publishing committee of an indexed magazine, which will be chosen from a list made by said Committe; b) Obtain a favorable evaluation from the Graduate Committee.
To summarize, students who have been admitted to the Doctoral Program and who have not taken a Masters program before, or who do not have a Masters Degree in Social Sciences, must take a total of 32 credits from the Social Science Masters program, as a requirement to advance towards the Doctoral program.
Study Plan for students with a Masters Degree
For those students who have previously studied a Masters program, the Doctoral program committe will review the programs of the courses that they have taken and will determine which of them will serve as transfer equivalents of the Doctoral program and which seminars of the Masters Degree program in Political Science, must they register.
Research or Concentration Areas
The program develops its research work related to the following aspects:
- Colombian Politics
- Compared Politics
- Theory and political philosophy
- International Relations
Model Program
First Semester
| CPOL-XX1 | Theory in larger area | 4 |
| CPOL-XX2 | Theory in smaller area | 4 |
| CPOL-4401 | Political Philosophy and Theory | 4 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 12 |
Second Semester
| CPOL-XX3 | Elective Seminar in larger area | 4 |
| CPOL-XX4 | Elective Seminar in smaller area | 4 |
| CPOL-4101 | Research Methods on Political Science | 4 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 12 |
Third Semester
| CPOL-XX5 | Elective Seminar in larger area | 4 |
| CPOL-XX6 | Elective Seminar | 4 |
| CPOL-XX7 | Working with Research Group | 4 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 12 |
Fourth Semester
| CPOL-XX8 | Required Doctoral Seminar | 4 |
| CPOL-XX9 | Elective Theory Seminar | 4 |
| CPOL-XX10 | Research Seminar II Research Group | 4 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 12 |
Fifth Semester
| CPOL-XX11 | Elective Seminar in larger area | 4 |
| CPOL-XX12 | Complementary Elective Seminar | 4 |
| CPOL-XX13 | Research Seminar II Research Group | 4 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 12 |
Sixth Semester
| CPOL-XX14 | Areas Knowledge Tests major and minor | 8 |
| CPOL-XX15 | Working with Research Group | 1 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 9 |
Seventh Semester
| CPOL-XX16 | Working with Research Group | 1 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 1 |
Eighth Semester
| CPOL-XX17 | Working with Research Group | 1 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 1 |
Ninth Semester
| CPOL-XX18 | Working with Research Group | 1 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 1 |
Tenth Semester
| CPOL-XX20 | Sustaining Doctoral Thesis | 15 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 15 |
Alumni Profile
It is intended to educate a group of professionals interested in knowledge construction about core topics for Colombia and Latinamerica, as the foundation of State and nation, democracy, armed conflict, construction of peace and international relations.
Alumni from the Doctoral program are capable of working as highly qualified researchers in the discipline, to later work in research institutes, universities, governmental entities, international agencies and public and private international organizations.