PhD in Political Science

The page header has a fragment from the collection of Estonica dissertatsions: Johannes Erici Stregnensis, Disputatio Politica Prima, De Natura Et Constitutione Politices In Genere, Dorpati Livonorum:Typis Acad, 1640

The PhD programme in Political Science is offered entirely in English, and the Institute welcomes applications from both Estonian and international students. The Political Science PhD programme has full accreditation and has received a positive external review in 2011 and 2019. The nominal study time is four years. From the academic year of 2022/2023, PhD students are admitted to the Social Sciences Doctoral Programme of the Faculty of Social Sciences, with a specialization in Political Science.

Currently, around thirty doctoral researchers are enrolled in the Political Science specialization, about fifteen of whom are resident PhD researchers. An increasing number of them are international students, coming from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Canada, China, Finland, Germany, Georgia, Indonesia, Ireland, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Russia, Serbia, Sweden, the UK, the USA, and Turkey.

For general information about doctoral studies at the University of Tartu, guidelines and regulations, as well as funding, please visit the University of Tartu’s website on doctoral studies.
For detailed information about the curriculum and organisation of studies, please see the Faculty of Social Science’s webpage.

For more information about the research areas, publications and current research projects of the faculty, please visit the institute's employee webpage for an overview of their supervision competencies. You are also encouraged to consult for our academic employees’ individual profiles in the Estonian Research Information System. Additionally, please familiarize yourself with the main research directions of the institute. Acceptance into the PhD programme is conditional upon the institute having the necessary expertise to supervise the proposed project.

Finding a supervisor

Before submitting documents, applicants should consult the list of available supervisors and their supervision competencies, renewed before each admission cycle. The list shows all faculty members eligible for PhD supervision who are ready to take on new supervisees and whether they are open to candidates applying under specific thematic calls or for candidates applying with their own proposed topics.

If a candidate applies with their own topic, they should indicate in their proposal one or two potential supervisors, based on the institute’s list of supervisors and their research areas. It is essential for prospective PhD students to submit a well-developed research project, and to clearly articulate the fit between their research interests and the research conducted at the Skytte institute.

If there are no supervisors on the list whose research directions match your interests, applications on that topic cannot be accepted during that application cycle. If the proposed supervisor is unable to supervise the topic, the admissions committee may offer supervision by another suitable supervisor from the approved list. If no suitable supervisor is available, the candidate cannot be accepted.

Applicants for doctoral studies are not required to have a prior agreement with a potential supervisor in order to apply.

For further information and advice on our admission process or PhD studies, please contact the PhD programme coordinator Ms Kristel Vits ([email protected]).

Admission

Next admission will be in Spring 2026. We will publish this year’s admission topics and the list of currently available supervisors by mid-March.

Timeline

By end of March 2026: publication of this year’s admission topics and the list of available PhD supervisors
Information sessions on PhD studies in Political Science: TBA
May 1-15: application period for international candidates via DreamApply (see details here)
June 1-15: application period for Estonian candidates via SAIS (see details here)

NB! International candidates who have obtained an MA degree in Estonia can apply via SAIS or DreamApply, Please note that you can access SAIS only with a valid Estonian ID.
Admission interviews: July 3rd. Applicants invited to the admission interview will be notified 3-4 days in advance.
Start of PhD studies: September 2026

Who can apply?

Persons holding a Master's degree or a corresponding level of education may apply for PhD studies.

Applicants with Estonian citizenship should follow the instructions given here.
International applicants, including applicants with a previous degree from an Estonian institution of higher education, should follow the instructions given here.

Applicants seeking admission to the PhD programme in Political Science are evaluated based on a PhD research proposal (50%) and an admission interview (50%).

The PhD research proposal (at a minimum of 5 pages, including a list of sources) must be added to the application documents. It should include the following:

the topic of the proposed PhD thesis (presentation of the research problem, positioning it in the context of the existing literature);
objectives of the thesis;
description of data and research methods;
expected results, their novelty and importance;
a brief timeline of the proposed research;
list of sources;
brief summary of previous academic or practical experience relevant to the proposed PhD research;
when applying with one’s own topic, information about the planned supervisor(s) with a brief explanation on how the topic relates to the research profile of the selected supervisor(s).

Applicants whose research proposals are evaluated positively (see details below) are invited to an admission interview to determine their motivation and academic potential. Topics discussed during the interview can include the following:

the applicant’s prior academic and work experience (based on the applicant’s CV);
choice of topic and the research proposal -- in particular, its relevance and feasibility;
motivation to receive a PhD in Political Science and future career plans;
readiness to adapt to new institutional and cultural settings.

The interview lasts around 20 minutes. Invitations to the interviews are sent 3-4 days before the interview. Applicants who reside abroad can participate in the interview online. Assessment criteria for the research proposal:

Appropriateness and justification of the chosen theoretical and methodological approach (40%; 20 points);
Novelty and relevance of the proposed research (30%; 15 points);
Feasibility of the proposed project (30%; 15 points). Under feasibility, availability of a suitable supervisor at the institute is also considered.

Assessment criteria for the interview:

Motivation to pursue a PhD in Political Science and readiness to commit to the programme, including the candidate’s readiness for full-time studies, their opportunities to participate in studies in Tartu, and the candidate’s future career plans (30%; 15 points);
Relevance of previous academic and work experience to the programme and the proposed PhD research (30%; 15 points);
Ability to justify the research proposal, including in the context of major debates in the field (30%; 15 points);
Presentation and interpersonal skills (10%; 5 points).

Both the research proposal and admission interview are assessed on a scale of 0 to 50 points. To be invited to an interview, the applicant must earn at least 35 points for the research proposal. To be considered for the position, the result of the admission interview must be at least 35 points.

The interview time will be agreed with each interviewee individually after submission and evaluation of the research proposals.

Art Alishani, MA (TalTech)

Topic: "Harnessing the potential of algorithms and intelligent technologies to build robust and human-centric public administrations: Cross-border digital public services"
Supervisors: Vincent Homburg and Mihkel Solvak

Logan Carmichael, MA (Auckland)

Topic: "Cybersecurity Uplift in the Estonian Digital Governance Model, 2007-2021"
Supervisor: Mihkel Solvak

Kocha Changelia, MA (CEU)

Topic: Does Migration Matter? Ownership, Salience, and the Far-Right: How Issue Competition Drives Electoral Success in Western Europe
Supervisor: Piret Ehin

Stefan Dedovic, MA (TalTech)

Topic: "Interoperability governance of the cross-border mobile electronic identification"
Supervisors: Vincent Homburg, Mihkel Solvak and Joep Crompvoets,

Radityo Dharmaputra, MA (Glasgow/ Tartu)

Topic: "Contemporary Russian Foreign Policy Discourse towards Asia: Assessing the Logic of Causality in the Discursive Structure of Identity"
Supervisor: Eiki Berg

Harry John Fennell, MA (Glasgow/Tartu/KIMEP)

Topic: Orthodoxy Beyond Autocracy: Religion, Solidarity, and Civil Society in the Romanov Empire, 1836–1917
Supervisor: Catherine Gibson

Ville Tapani Haapanen, MA (Tartu)

Topic: "Green parties in the globalization divide"
Supervisors: Liisa Talving and Zack Grant

Sandra Hagelin, MA (Amsterdam)

Topic: "Understanding the role of borders and boundaries in European Integration following the Covid-19 crisis"
Supervisors: Stefano Braghiroli and Thomas Diez

Biao He, MA (OsloMet)

Topic: "E-governance for all: How does the Chinese local government bridge the digital divide that persons with disabilities experience in the use of e-governance services?"
Supervisors: Vincent Homburg and Mihkel Solvak

Urmas Hõbepappel, MA (Lund)

Topic: "Changing History – Changing the Present? Postmodernist Historiography and Political Change in China"
Supervisor: Andrey Makarychev

Ronek Jäär, MSc (Stockholm)

Topic: “The Impact on Policy Outcomes: A Study of Leadership Dynamics in the European Parliament between 2004 to 2024”
Supervisor: Stefano Braghiroli

Simon Sebastian Manfred Kiecker, MA (Bari/Gent/Tartu)

Topic: “Transforming Growth Models: The Political Economy of Growth Model Restructuring Amid the Energy Crisis and Energy Transition in the Baltics and East Central Europe”
Supervisor: Edgars Eihmanis

Ibrahim Mammadli, MA (Tartu)

Topic: From Ballots to Bullets and Back: Explaining Strategic Shifts in Secessionist Movements
Supervisor: Shpend Kursani

Natalia Kovyliaeva, MA (CEU)

Topic: "Gaining Voice: Digital Feminist and Women's Movements in Post-Soviet Countries"
Supervisor: Katrin Uba and Andrey Makarychev

Karl Lembit Laane, MA (Tartu)

Topic: "The Crisis and Renewal of Procedural Democracy"
Supervisor: Eva Piirimäe

Thomas Michael Linsenmaier, MA (FU Berlin)

Topic: "The interplay between regional international societies – towards a European security architecture?”
Supervisor:

Tatiana Lupacheva, MA (Tartu)

Topic: "The electoral consequences of personalised parliamentary behaviour: A comparative textual analysis of legislative speeches"
Supervisor: Martin Mölder

Akbar Mammadov, MA (Tartu)
Topic: "The Impact of Russia's War on Ukraine on the Quality of Democracy in Europe: A Study of Changes in Voter Behavior and Party Competition"
Supervisor: Piret Ehin

Aigerim Nurseitova, MA (Tartu)

Topic: “Navigating Imperial Shadows and Nationalist Waves: A Comparative Analysis of Ethnic Minority Identity Construction in Estonia and Kazakhstan”
Supervisor: Catherine Gibson

Bogdan Romanov, MA (Tartu)

Topic: "Electronic voting in Russia: the scrutiny of 'i-voting' in an authoritarian context"
Supervisor: Mihkel Solvak and Margarita Zavadskaya

Oliver Rowe, MA (Geneva)

Topic: "Self-determination in Theory and Practice: The Reconfiguration of the 'Russian' Empire, 1914-1924"
Supervisor: Eva Piirimäe

Azniv Tadevosyan, MA (Tartu)

Topic: "Dissensus in Music and Cinema in Post-2012 Russia"
Supervisor: Catherine Gibson

Pirjo Turk, MA (Tartu)

Topic: "Applying Behavioral Insights to Decrease Carbon Footprint of Digitalization"
Supervisor: Leonore Riitsalu

Kristiina Vain, MA (Tartu)

Topic: The relationship between well-being and financial well-being in Central and Eastern Europe and Estonia
Supervisor: Leonore Riitsalu

Maili Vilson, MA (Tartu)

Topic: "The Europeanization of national foreign policy during the crisis in Ukraine"
Supervisor: Piret Ehin

Kristel Vits, MA (Tartu)

Topic: "De facto states and dependences: disentangling the interrelationship between de facto statehood and patronage"
Supervisor: Eiki Berg

Louis Wierenga, MA (Toronto)

Topic: "Ready for Battle: Threat narratives in the social media discourse of the radical right in Estonia and Latvia”
Supervisors: Vello Pettai and Andres Kasekamp

Izzet Yalin Youksel, MA (Tartu)

Topic: "Understanding De Facto, Small and Microstates: Elite Navigations at the Crossroads of International Patron-Client Relationships and Ontological Insecurity"
Supervisor: Eiki Berg

Dissertations defended at the Institute since 2006

Click on the link to access the full dissertation online.

Michael Cole, "The influence of Russian discourse on right-wing populist discourses in Ukraine and Georgia"
Supervisor: Andrey Makarychev

George Spencer Terry, "Demanding subjectivity: the radical right’s use of discursively empty referent objects within a post-foundational logics framework"
Supervisor: Andrey Makarychev

Butrint Berisha, "Exploring the role of civil society organisations in the foreign policy of contested states: An analysis of Kosovo, Palestine and Taiwan since 2010"
Supervisor: Eiki Berg

Eoin Micheál McNamara, "The risk society’s stabilisation failure? an analysis of NATO and the international security assistance force in Afghanistan", 2025
Supervisors: Eiki Berg and Andres Kasekamp

Sanshiro Hosaka, "Nothing but Politics? Explaining the reproduction of Russian narratives about the events in Ukraine among Japanese scholars and intellectuals 2014–2019", 2025
Supervisor: Andrey Makarychev

Ionut-Valentin Chiruta, "Triadic nexus relationships in an age of populism: interactions between Hungary, Romania and the Hungarian minority in Szeklerland“, 2023
Supervisor: Vello Pettai

Lelde Luik, “Re-evaluating the Role of Representative Institutions in Radical Democratic Theory: Lessons from Democratic Identity Construction in Latvia”, 2023
Supervisor: Viacheslav Morozov

Ivan Ulises Kentros Klyszcz, "How does violent conflict affect paradiplomacy? An exploratory research with cases from the North Caucasus.", 2022
Supervisor: Eiki Berg

Andrii Nekoliak, "'Memory laws' and the patterns of collective memory regulation in Poland and Ukraine in 1989–2020: a comparative analysis", 2022.
Supervisor: Vello Pettai

Maksim Kulaev, "Trade unions, transformism and the survival of Russian authoritarianism", 2021.
Supervisor: Viatcheslav Morozov

Juhan Saharov, "From economic independence to political sovereignty: inventing “self-management” in the Estonian SSR", 2021.
Supervisor: Eva Piirimäe

Shota Kakabadze, "'The Caucasian chalk circle': Georgia’s self at the East/West nexus", 2020.
Supervisors: Andrey Makarychev and Maria Mälksoo

Lukas Pukelis, "Informal mutual oversight mechanisms in coalition governments: Insights from the Baltic states for theory building", 2018.
Supervisor: Vello Pettai

Ryhor Nizhnikau, "Externally induced institutional change in the EU’s Eastern neighbourhood: migration and environment reforms in Ukraine and Moldova in 2010–2015", 2017.
Supervisor: Viatcheslav Morozov

Kats Kivistik, "Relevance, content and effects of left-right identification in countries with different regime trajectories", 2017.
Supervisors: Piret Ehin and André Freire

Kristian Lau Nielsen, "Soft Power Europe: The Lesser Contradiction in Terms and Practices", 2016.
Supervisor: Eiki Berg

Birgit Poopuu, "Acting is everything: the European unioon and the process of becoming a peacebuilder", 2016.
Supervisor: Maria Mälksoo

Kristina Kallas, "Revisiting the triadic nexus: An analysis of the ethnopolitical interplay between Estonia, Russia and Estonian Russians", 2016.
Supervisor: Vello Pettai

Liisa Talving, "Economic conditions and incumbent support: when and how does the economy matter?", 2016.
Supervisors: Piret Ehin and Kristjan Vassil

Raul Toomla, "De facto states in the international system: Conditions for (in)formal engagement", 2014.
Supervisor: Eiki Berg

Andro Kitus, "A Post-Structuralist “Concept” of Legitimacy", 2014.
Supervisors: Vello Pettai and Lasse Thomassen

Mari-Liis Sööt, "Explaining corruption: Opportunities for corruption and institutional trust", 2013.
Supervisor: Tiina Randma-Liiv

Kadri Lühiste, "Regime Support in European Democracies", 2013.
Supervisor: Piret Ehin

Viljar Veebel, "The role and impact of positive conditionality in the EU pre-acession policy", 2012.
Supervisor: Eiki Berg

Alar Kilp, "Church authority in society, culture and politics after Communism", 2012.
Supervisor: Rein Taagepera

Maria Groeneveld, "The role of the state and society relationship in the foreign policy making process", 2012.
Supervisors: Andres Kasekamp and Alexander Astrov

Heiko Pääbo, "Potential of Collective Memory Based International Identity Conflicts in Post-Imperial Space: Comparison of Russian Master Narrative with Estonian, Ukrainian and Georgian Master Narratives", 2011.
Supervisor: Andres Kasekamp

Mihkel Solvak, "Private members’ bills in parliament - a comparative study of Finland and Estonia", 2011.
Supervisor: Vello Pettai

Holger Mölder, "Cooperative security dilemma – practicing the Hobbesian security culture in the Kantian security environment", 2010.
Supervisor: Eiki Berg

Allan Sikk, "Highways to power: New party success in three young democracies", 2006.
Supervisors: Rein Taagepera and Mogens N. Pedersen