<p>How does Columbia's political science department compare to those of other Ivies and comparable schools, specifically Yale and Penn? (Not just better or worse, but the material that's taught, the way it's taught, the professors, etc.) Different schools have different "strong suits," so would you say that political science is one of Columbia's?</p>
<p>yes, particularly international politics and international political theory, which is really the most relevant frontier in political science. the university retains its share of realists (dinosaurs like ken waltz, who, in the 50s, wrote "man, the state, and war" which is still considered the seminal work on 20th century realism) but there are also IR liberals (not to be confused with the liberal label manufactured by the US political spectrum) like michael doyle in the department as well. </p>
<p>columbia's political science program is ranked top 3 or 4 every year with harvard, stanford and (because of its immense polling/american politics program) the university of michigan. </p>
<p>i dont know about yale (i assume its in top 5 or so) but i dont think political science is particularly strong at penn. </p>
<p>georgetown has a strong government program, and its school of foreign service, along with harvard and columbia, probably rounds out the 3 best places to study IR politics/theory (in no particular order).</p>