Political Sciences

Joint doctoral studies with Vytautas Magnus University, Klaipėda University, General Jonas Žemaitis Military Academy of Lithuania (coordinating institution: Vytautas Magnus University)

Doctoral studies in Political Sciences is carried out at Kaunas University of Technology in the field of Public Policy and Administration. The programme is implemented with the General Jonas Žemaitis Military Academy of Lithuania, Klaipėda University and Vytautas Magnus University. Therefore, research topics can also fall into the fields proposed by the partner institutions, for example, political theory, political communication, comparative politics, and international relations.

Candidates to the doctoral studies in Political Sciences are admitted under procedure of open competition with a prerequisite of a master’s degree or equivalent qualification.

Doctoral studies develop individual research skills, creativity, widen the scope of theoretical knowledge and practical experience while solving the chosen research problems.

Topic title	Possible scientific supervisors	Source of funding
Justice and Democracy in the Age of Digital Capitalism	prof. dr. Andrius Bielskis	state-funded
Parliamentarism and studies of parliamentary behavior	prof. dr. Vaidas Morkevičius	state-funded	Research Topic Summary. Parliament in democratic systems is the central institution of representative government where representatives of different political ideologies express their ideas. Since majority of other representative institutions are dominated by political actors representing limited number of ideologies, the parliament remains the only political forum where politicians representing largest ideological spectrum meet. Parliament, its institutions and the activities of its members can therefore become a source of data for researching a wide variety of issues relevant to political studies. Dissertation projects could include studies that examine the principles of democratic governance, issues of separation of powers, issues of horizontal and vertical accountability, political parties and political elites, attitudes, values and behavior of politicians, forms and models of political communication, political representation and polarization. They could be based on theoretical, institutional analysis and empirical research. The latter provides largest opportunities for comparative analysis both over time and between countries, so the analysis of their results would allow for a more comprehensive understanding of the trends of the studied phenomena. At least one defended dissertation is expected.
Climate Change Governance	prof. dr. Aistė Balžekienė prof. dr. Audronė Telešienė vyr.m.d. dr. Florian Caspar Rabitz	state-funded