GSI at a Glance

Welcome to the Geschwister Scholl Institute of Political Science

Building on its unique legacy, the Geschwister-Scholl Institute of Political Science (GSI) is currently one of the most renowned political science institutes across Europe. The GSI is home to around 60 faculty, whose scholarship and teaching span across the main subfields of political science: political theory, comparative political systems, international relations, and research methods. As a beneficiary of the Federal Government’s Excellence Initiative, the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, and thus the Geschwister Scholl Institute offer a stimulating environment for research and study. Its administration and staff maintains close relations with many leading academic institutions worldwide.

Research at the GSI is generally committed to the formulation and, respectively, testing of hypotheses. Institutions figure prominently in this regard as they are analyzed with respect to their origins, development, functions, stability, self-reinforcing tendencies, and effects at national, regional as well as international levels. While specializing in their respective fields of interest, the ten professors and their staff carefully observe each others work so as to generate coherent findings.

Teaching takes place predominantly in small seminar courses with 10-15 participants. Teachers at the GSI teach political science as an empirical social science. They thus require students to reflect abstract theoretical propositions in light of empirical facts, and to devise research designs by which phenomena can be explained causally and in a methodical fashion.

The Geschwister-Scholl Insitute of Political Science is member of the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR). The ECPR representative of the GSI is Prof. Goetz.