POLS 3505: Making Democracy Work

Academic Commons is Columbia University's digital repository where faculty, students, and staff of Columbia and its affiliate institutions can deposit the results of their scholarly work and research. Content in Academic Commons is freely available to the public. To deposit your research, please use the self-deposit form.

The Helvidius Group is a student organization at Columbia University, established in 1989 by Peter Tomassi, CC ’91, to provide a forum for undergraduate discourse on issues concerning law and public policy. The Journal of Politics & Society is the realization of that mission. Originally an annual magazine distributed to Ivy League universities and to members of Congress, it has adopted a more scholarly focus and has grown to encompass all of the social sciences. The Journal is not affiliated with or sponsored by any political organization, and it remains staunchly nonpartisan.

The Cornell International Affairs Review (CIAR) is a bi-annual, student-run journal that publishes academic papers from undergraduate students, post-graduate students, experts, and professors in a wide range of fields with a focus on contemporary issues in the international arena.

CTSJ is dedicated to providing a forum for undergraduate students to develop and share critical research and writing on the intersections of "race", "sexuality", and "nationality" as they relate to problems of social justice. The journal seeks to foster exchange of ideas across disciplines and deepen understandings of systems of injustice, and in this way advances the mission of Occidental College: to develop critical, thoughtful, and active participation in an increasingly pluralistic and conflict ridden global culture.

Critique is a peer-reviewed journal that publishes scholarship by students of political science. The journal, which is recognized by American Political Science Association (APSA), accepts submissions from all the subfields of political science. The articles submitted to Critique undergo a rigorous peer-review process. The journal provides a forum for graduate and undergraduate students of political science to express and exchange diverse ideas and to imagine new possibilities for democracy and justice. They welcome the work of emerging scholars on cutting-edge topics. The editors firmly believe that budding scholars introduce valuable ideas that must be heard in order to understand the nature of political institutions, behavior, and the global community. Thus, they encourage articles about politics that take seriously the growing opportunities for social change and new possibilities for enacting policy locally, nationally, and internationally.​

The Dialectics: Journal of Law, Leadership, and Society is a refereed, multidisciplinary electronic publication. The Journal’s aim is to promote undergraduate scholarship and to encourage students to pursue and engage in thoughtful discourses on topics of societal importance. To date, The Dialectics has published the works of 63 authors, representing 30 universities in the United States and abroad.

Eleven: The Undergraduate Journal of Sociology publishes excellent sociological papers written by current and recent UC Berkeley undergraduates, as well as undergraduates from across the nation and countries such as Canada and Norway. A student-run publication, the journal provides an academic forum that highlights outstanding scholarship in the social sciences. In the spirit of Marx’s Eleventh Thesis on Feuerbach that mandates one to engender constructive change, the journal offers opportunities for an intellectual space that encourages critical engagement with the world.

Feminist Spaces is an online, interdisciplinary student journal that invites undergraduate and graduate students from institutions worldwide to submit formal essays as well as multimodal/artistic pieces per our biannual Call for Papers/Works. Established in March 2014 by Becca Namniek, Rachael Johnson, and Taylor Willibanks, Feminist Spaces is sponsored by members from The University of West Florida’s Women’s Studies Collective, a student-run organization invested in the vitality of Women’s Studies at UWF and the larger academic community.

Inquiries Journal, formerly Student Pulse, is an open-access academic journal that highlights the work of students at the undergraduate level and above. The journal publishes work across a range of academic disciplines with a particular focus on the social sciences, arts, and humanities.

International Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities is a peer-reviewed, open access journal dedicated to the publication of outstanding scholarship by undergraduates and their mentors from academic institutions of higher learning. The Journal accepts submissions of research articles, fiction, poetry, photography, videos, and other creative works from undergraduate students in all academic disciplines. Submissions are accepted on a rolling basis and will be published on the Journal website after successful review.

Journal of Integrated Social Sciences is a web-based, peer-reviewed journal committed to the scholarly investigation of social phenomena. We especially encourage students and their faculty advisors to submit the results of their investigations.

JUR publishes extraordinary undergraduate work in an easily accessible and professional peer-reviewed journal. Our mission is to print outstanding undergraduate research, scholarly articles, and creative works in order to make them available to the public and connect the worldwide community of college undergraduates.

The Pi Sigma Alpha Undergraduate Journal of Politics was founded in the spring of 2001 by the Delta Omega Chapter of Pi Sigma Alpha at Purdue University, under the name The American Undergraduate Journal of Politics and Government. With the sponsorship of Pi Sigma Alpha, the National Political Science Honor Society, the name of the Journal was changed to The Pi Sigma Alpha Undergraduate Journal of Politics beginning with the Fall 2004 issue. From July 2007 until July 2010 the Journal was based at the Zeta Upsilon Chapter at Union College, and in August 2010 moved to the Eta Rho Chapter at the College of William & Mary. In August 2013, the Nu Omega Chapter at Oakland University began hosting the Journal for a three year term.

The purpose of the Pittsburgh Undergraduate Review is to advance independent undergraduate scholarship. The PUR aims to bring research to the forefront of undergraduate awareness. By presenting provocative ideas, the PUR catalyzes further intellectual innovations and pursuits, thereby energizing the academic community.

The Stanford Undergraduate Research Journal (SURJ) is an annual peer-reviewed publication of research articles written primarily by Stanford undergraduates, but also by well-qualified students at other institutions, from all academic fields.

The URC Undergraduate Research Journal is an annual online national, reviewed journal dedicated to the publication of undergraduate student research. The twofold purpose of the journal is to foster and reward the scholarly efforts of undergraduate human sciences students as well as to provide a valuable learning experience. The articles represent primarily the work of the undergraduate student(s). Faculty members who deserve recognition are identified by an asterisk next to their names. [NOTE: Please note that the Undergraduate Research Journal is on temporary hiatus while we seek editorial assistance. All submissions received will be held pending processing.]