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

Department of Political Science News

The Department of Political Science is dedicated to excellence in research, teaching, and service. Our students learn and receive mentorship from faculty members who specialize in various subjects including American politics, comparative politics, international politics, political theory, public law, and public policy.

Current Political Science News

Josh Hawkins, UNLV
Campus News |

News highlights featuring UNLV students and staff who made (refreshing) waves in the headlines.

UNLV banner with a plane flying in background
People |

The program will help Alejandro Rios prepare for career in immigrant and refugee advocacy.

student displays vegan product on table during market
Business and Community |

Leya Dagher knew she wanted to start a business and with the help of UNLV resources, she established Swalty Mediterranean.

Members of the UNLV Runway Rebels student fashion club pose on the steps of the Carol C. Harter Classroom Building complex
Campus News |

Group offers opportunities for exploration and growth of Las Vegas fashion industry — and themselves.

man sitting on stone partition on UNLV campus
People |

He was named the 2024 Junior Administrative Faculty of the Year.

Madison Montellano
People |

Madison Montellano knows what it means to take the road less traveled, embracing each twist and turn through her academic adventure.

Political Science In The News

Centre Daily Times

Democrats have rallied behind Vice President Kamala Harris since she announced her presidential run following President Joe Biden's dropout and endorsement Sunday, but it is unclear if she will fare better than her predecessor in the critical swing state of Nevada.

Las Vegas Review Journal

Democrats have rallied behind Vice President Kamala Harris since she announced her presidential run following President Joe Biden’s dropout and endorsement Sunday, but it is unclear if she will fare better than her predecessor in the critical swing state of Nevada.

Nevada Current

Former Pres. Donald Trump needs to discard his storied penchant for racist and sexist tropes and nicknames if he wants to win over independent voters in his likely race against Vice Pres. Kamala Harris, say political experts in Nevada, one of a handful of battleground states.

Las Vegas Sun

Kamala Harris is “breathing new life” into the presidential election, Las Vegas election experts said, and could help enhance voter participation with a younger generation that was disillusioned with what until this week had been shaping up as a race between the two oldest major-party candidates in American history.

The Olympian

Less than 24 hours after President Joe Biden ended his reelection bid, a slew of Democratic leaders threw their support behind Vice President Kamala Harris- including her highly influential Bay Area colleague, San Francisco Rep. Nancy Pelosi.

KTNV-TV: ABC 13

Vice President Kamala Harris has made numerous visits to Nevada, especially here in Las Vegas. As Nevada is a crucial swing state, Vice President Harris' success here could significantly impact the outcome of the 2024 election.

Political Science Experts

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An expert in political philosophy, and the intersection of politics and religion.
An expert in polling, campaign finance, political communication, and elections.
An expert on judges, judicial selection, and race and gender bias.
A political scientists specializing in international relations, security, and terrorism.
An expert on politics, elections, and the American party system. 

Recent Political Science Accomplishments

Austin Horng-En Wang (Political Science) was invited by the Radio Taiwan International in Taiwan to have a talk on July 2 titled, "Media Resilience and Geopolitics." In this talk, Wang discussed the definition of cognitive warfare and its conflict with the freedom of speech. Wang then shared examples of cognitive warfare in Taiwan and showed…
A co-authored paper by Andrew Lugg (Political Science), "The Politics of International Peace and Security: Introducing a New Dataset on the Creation of United Nations Security Council Subsidiary Bodies," was recently published in International Studies Quarterly. The paper examines newly collected data on the creation of "subsidiary bodies" by…
Andrew Lugg (Political Science) recently presented his co-authored paper, "Connecting Regimes: Preferential Trade Agreements and the Management of the Intellectual Property Rights Regime," at the plenary session of the 16th Annual Political Economy of International Organizations (PEIO) conference in Stockholm, Sweden. The paper develops a theory…
Austin Horng-En Wang (Political Science) was invited by the Academia Sinica in Taiwan to have a talk on June 21, titled "How the Large Language Model (LLM) may help advance quantitative studies" In this talk, Wang shared the recent development of ChatGPT and Copilot and explained the advantage and limitation of their advanced data analysis…
Naseem Benjelloun (Political Science) presented "Disproportionately Unrepresentative: The effects of Proportional Representation on the election of LGBT Parliamentarians" at the Southern Political Science Association Summer Virtual Conference 
Maryam Raja (The Lincy Institute; Brookings Mountain West; Political Science) recently attended the 2024 Annual Meeting of the Western Governors’ Association, representing Nevada as part of the Western Governors' Leadership Institute (WGLI). The WGLI is a prestigious program developed by the Western Governors' Association to…