The graduate program in Political Theory at Michigan State University offers a rigorous training in the whole range and history of political philosophy. Whatever the student’s ultimate area of specialization, he or she will acquire a solid background in the philosophic tradition from Plato to Heidegger. At the same time, students receive up-to-date training in the methods and findings of modern political science.

The Political Science Department contains five senior theorists — William Allen, Werner J. Dannhauser (emeritus), Steven Kautz, Arthur Melzer, and Jerry Weinberger. Students may also study with political theorists at James Madison College (a residential social science college within MSU), including Richard Zinman — who was recently appointed University Distinguished Professor – Louis Hunt, Constance Hunt, Folke Lindahl, and Eric Petrie. The number and quality of these scholars make MSU a major center for political thought. In a recent survey of the last twenty-two years of the American Political Science Review — the premier journal of the profession — the MSU political science department ranked third in the nation for articles published in the field of political philosophy.