MA in Government Admission and Application Requirements

Please identify two individuals, such as professors or supervisors, who can verify your professional and/or academic accomplishments. Submit your recommenders’ contact information within your online application. They will be emailed automatically with instructions to access the system and provide their recommendations.

Please submit a research-focused writing sample of 5 to 10 pages. This writing sample should demonstrate your ability to make and support an argument.

If you do not have an existing research-focused writing sample to submit, you may write a 5-page paper responding to the following:

“If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.” – James Madison, Federalist 51

In this well-known quote, Madison points towards the age-old problem of reconciling democracy and political power. Discuss this problem in reference to some recent policy issues or political events, citing at least three references.