Harvard Department of Government

What Harvard Department of Government does

The Harvard Department of Government is an academic department within Harvard University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, located at the Center for Government and International Studies (CGIS) Knafel Building at 1737 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is one of the world's leading political science departments, offering an undergraduate concentration (the third-largest at Harvard College with nearly 600 concentrators) and a Ph.D. program across six subfields: American Politics, Comparative Politics, International Relations, Political Thought and Its History, Quantitative Methodology, and Formal Theory. The undergraduate program includes five optional curricular tracks (Data Science, Tech Science, Political Economy, Public Policy, and Law and Justice), a Senior Capstone Project (GOV 98), and an optional Honors Thesis. The department also participates in joint doctoral programs with Harvard Kennedy School (Government and Social Policy) and Harvard Law School (Coordinated J.D./Ph.D.).

The department is led by Chair Daniel Carpenter (Allie S. Freed Professor of Government), with Nara Dillon as Director of Undergraduate Studies and Alisha C. Holland as Director of Graduate Studies. The community includes faculty, approximately 129 Ph.D. students, roughly 600 undergraduate concentrators, postdoctoral fellows, and visiting scholars. Revenue is not disclosed at the departmental level; the department operates as a non-profit academic unit funded through Harvard's central university model, including tuition, endowments, and research grants, with no commercial products, pricing structure, or external customer base.

There is no commercial technology product, software platform, or proprietary AI/ML system. The department's distribution is entirely in-person instruction on the Cambridge campus, with marketing conducted through Harvard's institutional channels (the university website, the departmental site at gov.harvard.edu, events, an email newsletter, and centralized GSAS admissions). Ownership rests with The President and Fellows of Harvard College, the university's governing body, established in 1636; there is no external investment, venture capital involvement, or M&A activity. The department's strategic posture is one of programmatic expansion (new tracks, new capstone) within a stable, established institutional framework.

Name

Harvard Department of Government

Legal name

The President and Fellows of Harvard College

Website

https://gov.harvard.edu

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Harvard Department of Government is an academic department within Harvard University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences that offers an undergraduate concentration in political science (the third-largest at Harvard College, ~600 concentrators) and a Ph.D. program across six subfields, serving Harvard College students and doctoral candidates in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Higher Education - Political Science

NAICS

Administration of Education Programs (923110)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Academic Affairs Administration (Curriculum, Scheduling, Academic Policy) (EDADAKAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Academic Catalog, Curriculum & Policy Administration (EDALAAAL)

Keywords

• Political science education
• Undergraduate concentration
• Doctoral training
• Academic research
• Public policy programs

Headquarters

HQ city

Cambridge

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Educational Services: The department operates as part of Harvard University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, providing undergraduate and graduate education in political science. Revenue flows through Harvard's central university funding model, which includes tuition, endowments, and research grants.

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

The Harvard Department of Government is an academic department within Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences that provides undergraduate and graduate education in political science. The undergraduate offering centers on the Government concentration (the third-largest at Harvard College) with five optional curricular tracks, a senior capstone project (GOV 98), and an honors thesis program. The graduate offering is a Ph.D. program spanning six fields (American Politics, Comparative Politics, International Relations, Political Thought and its History, Quantitative Methodology, and Formal Theory), along with joint doctoral degrees with Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Law School.

Product overview

Harvard Department of Government is an academic department offering undergraduate and graduate educational programs in political science. The undergraduate program includes a Government concentration with five optional curricular tracks: Data Science, Tech Science, Political Economy, Public Policy, and Law and Justice. The department also offers a Senior Capstone Project (GOV 98) and honors thesis programs for undergraduates. The graduate program offers Ph.D. training across six fields: American Politics, Comparative Politics, International Relations, Political Thought and its History, Quantitative Methodology, and Formal Theory. The department is not a commercial product or software company.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Undergraduate Government Concentration The primary undergraduate concentration in political science at Harvard College, offering a flexible program of study with courses spanning American politics, comparative politics, international relations, political theory, and methods.
• Senior Capstone Project (GOV 98) A policy-oriented capstone course (GOV 98) guiding undergraduate students through proposal writing, stakeholder analysis, and research methods, culminating in actionable real-world policy analysis.
• Senior Honors Thesis Program An optional honors program allowing undergraduate students to conduct original in-depth research and produce a senior thesis under faculty guidance.
• Ph.D. in Government Doctoral program training students for careers in advanced research and education in political science across six fields: American Politics, Comparative Politics, International Relations, Political Thought and its History, Quantitative Methodology, and Formal Theory.
• Ph.D. in Government and Social Policy (Joint Program) A joint doctoral program with Harvard Kennedy School designed for students with wide-ranging interests in social policy.
• Coordinated J.D./Ph.D. Program A joint program with Harvard Law School enabling students to earn both a J.D. and Ph.D. through carefully sequenced study.

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Columbia Department of Political Science: Columbia Political Science is a direct peer and fellow Ivy League program, with overlapping subfields and similar recruitment of graduate students interested in political theory, comparative politics, and American politics.
• University of Chicago Department of Political Science: Chicago's political science department is a long-standing direct peer with strong subfields in American Politics, Comparative Politics, and Political Theory, and is a top competitor for academic placement at leading research universities.
• MIT Department of Political Science: MIT Political Science is a direct peer, particularly in quantitative and formal political science methodology, and competes with Harvard for technically oriented graduate students interested in political methodology and data-driven policy research.
• UC Berkeley Department of Political Science: Berkeley Political Science is a leading public-university peer with broad subfield coverage and a large graduate program, competing with Harvard for top applicants interested in American politics, comparative politics, and political theory.
• Georgetown Department of Government: Georgetown's Government department is a direct peer with strong emphasis on American politics and political theory, sharing the same 'Government' framing and competing for graduate students interested in policy-relevant political science.
• University of Michigan Department of Political Science: Michigan Political Science is a top public-university direct peer with a large graduate program, particularly strong in American politics, comparative politics, and political methodology, competing with Harvard for elite graduate applicants.
• Yale Department of Political Science: Yale Political Science is a closely comparable Ivy League peer offering undergraduate and Ph.D. programs in political science with strong methodological training and elite placement, directly competing with Harvard for graduate admissions.
• Stanford Department of Political Science: Stanford's political science Ph.D. program is a leading direct peer, with similar subfield coverage (American, Comparative, IR, Political Theory, Quantitative/Formal methods) and elite placement outcomes that compete head-to-head with Harvard Government for faculty and students.
• Princeton Department of Politics: Princeton's politics department is the most direct academic peer: a top-tier Ivy League program offering undergraduate concentration and Ph.D. training across the same political science subfields, competing for the same faculty and graduate applicant pool as Harvard Government.

Broad incumbents

• Harvard Kennedy School: HKS is a broad incumbent within the same Harvard ecosystem that overlaps with the Department of Government on public policy training, MPP/MPA degrees, and the joint Ph.D. in Government and Social Policy; it operates as a larger adjacent institution rather than a direct political science competitor.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/harvard-department-of-government

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Harvard Department of Government