A female student holding a microphone towards another female student to ask questions at a political debate.

Department of Political Science News

Faculty in the political science department cover a broad range of specialties including American politics, public policy, public law, political theory, comparative politics, and international politics.

Current Political Science News

a set of model teeth with blue plastic gums
Campus News | May 16, 2023

News highlights featuring UNLV faculty and students who made local and national headlines.

environmental portrait of student Zachary Billot
People | May 9, 2023

Zachary Billot is the first student in UNLV history to receive the nationally-competitive award. 

Decorated grad cap at UNLV commencement
Campus News | May 5, 2023

President Keith E. Whitfield continues decades-long commencement tradition, honoring 10 students who embody the academic, research, and community tenacity of the graduating class.
 

women wearing t-shirt that says UNLV Home of the Brave
Campus News | April 21, 2023

A collection of news stories highlighting the experts and student changemakers at UNLV.

portrait of student Zach Billot
People | April 14, 2023

Billot, a political science major and a member of the Honors College, is one of just 62 students nationwide to win the highly coveted award.

four students at promo table
Campus News | February 10, 2023

More internships on the horizon for students interested in sports entertainment careers, thanks to a privately funded program.

Political Science In The News

Las Vegas Review Journal
June 2, 2023

Are thousands of Nevadans losing the right to vote because of problems with the ballot curing process? Or is the system working, preventing fraudulent ballots from being cast?

Las Vegas Review Journal
May 25, 2023

Republican April Becker is accusing her potential 2024 Democratic opponent, Clark County Commissioner Ross Miller, of numerous campaign finance violations, according to a complaint filed with the Nevada secretary of state’s office Wednesday.

Voice of America
May 9, 2023

Austin Wang, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, believes that in order to stabilize the US-China relationship and get it back on track, Washington is not without demands on Beijing.

The Paradise
April 30, 2023

An outspoken China hawk who is seeking the White House is due to become the first 2024 presidential hopeful to visit Taiwan as American political positions toward Beijing harden ahead of next year’s U.S. election.

Taipei Times
April 24, 2023

John Bolton said in January that he might run for the Republican US presidential nomination next year against former US president Donald Trump, telling the New York Post that “Trump’s support within the party itself is in terminal decline.”

Las Vegas Review Journal
April 22, 2023

Imagine: It’s 2028, and it’s time to go vote in the primary. You check your phone to see how long the wait time is at your nearest polling site. You’re a nonpartisan, but you wait with Republicans and Democrats to get the same ballot and vote for your favorite candidates, some red and some blue.

Political Science Experts

An expert in polling, campaign finance, political communication, and elections.
An expert on American politics, campaigns and elections and public policy.
An expert on judges, judicial selection, and race and gender bias.
An expert in international security, immigration and refugee policies, and political violence.
A political scientists specializing in international relations, security, and terrorism.
An expert on environmental security, economic development, and political violence.

Recent Political Science Accomplishments

May 27, 2023
Austin Horng-En Wang (Political Science) presented an invited paper titled, "Public Opinion on National Defense in Taiwan: One Year after the Ukraine Crisis," in the Project on Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Region 2023 Annual Conference at Hoover Institute, Stanford University on May 22-23, 2023. In this article, he analyzed multiple waves of…
May 12, 2023
David Fott (Political Science) published "Philosophy, Politics, and Rhetoric in Cicero's On the Orator" in the latest issue of Interpretation: A Journal of Political Philosophy. Several scholars maintain that Cicero regards philosophy and rhetoric as coexisting in ultimate harmony. Fott argues instead that Cicero subtly demonstrates that their…
May 3, 2023
Austin Horng-En Wang (Political Science) published a co-authored article, "Mediation Analysis of Conspiratorial Thinking and Anti-Expert Sentiments on Vaccine Willingness," in Health Psychology, along with 120 coauthors. This article analyzes a survey across 137 countries and 40 languages (n = 15740) on political trust and vaccine willingness.…
April 22, 2023
Austin Horng-En Wang (Political Science) published a co-authored article, "Why does Taiwan Identity Decline?" in Journal of Asian and African Studies. This article exploits 53 waves of survey in Taiwan to examine four competing theories on the decline of Taiwan identity. Empirical evidence supports the hypothesis of issue ownership + hedging while…
April 21, 2023
Elizabeth Maltby (Political Science) and Olivia Cheche (recent UNLV graduate in Political Science) were awarded the 2023 Award for the Best Paper on Blacks and Politics from the Western Political Science Association for their paper, "Racial Threat, Black Lives Matter, and Shaping 2020 Politics: How Race Influenced Political Participation in the…
April 19, 2023
Dan Lee (Political Science) was appointed to the Advisory Committee on Participatory Democracy by Nevada Secretary of State Francisco V. Aguilar. The Advisory Committee is "charged with assisting the Secretary of State in identifying and proposing programs that support participatory democracy and solutions to any problem concerning the level of…