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Department of Political Science and Management

The Department of Political Science and Management is an academic community that consists of approximately 400 students, 15 employees, and two research groups.

Three students sitting in a sofa, working with text books and computer, cup of coffee

About the department

The central research topics are politics, organisational theory and management, and the department has particular expertise in multi-level governance and European integration.

We have a wide range of study programmes, including bachelor's, master's, and PhD programmes, a collaboration with the University of Konstanz for an interdisciplinary double master's degree, continuing education and an international summer school. Our programs provide a broad introduction to social science thinking and provide the necessary skills to understand and analyse political and organisational processes both in Norway and internationally.

Contact

Stefan Gänzle

Head of Department

Email: stefan.ganzle@uia.no
Phone: +47 38 14 15 11

All employees at the department

Research projects

Advancing Research and Innovation in Europe (IANUS)

Rethinking Co-Creation of Digital and Environmental Policy in Systems of Multilevel Governance (RECODE-MLG)

KODEM (Coordinated Online Panels for Democracy and Governance (KODEM)

See all research projects

Rizzo, Ugo; Rentocchini, Francesco; Seeber, Marco & Ramaciotti, Laura (2026). Beyond the badge of honour: the effect of the academic excellence initiative on staff recruitment in Italy. Oxford Economic Papers. ISSN 0030-7653. 78(2), p. 309–334. doi: 10.1093/oep/gpaf032. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Understanding how excellence-based funding affects academic recruitment is central to evaluating the broader implications of performance-oriented research policies. We study the Department of Excellence Initiative (“Dipartimenti di Eccellenza”) in the Italian higher education system. Unlike other excellence initiatives in Europe, this programme was directed at departments rather than universities. We investigate the effect of the initiative on new faculty positions, distinguishing between external recruitment and internal promotion, as well as different career stages. We also analyse heterogeneity across departmental categories, differentiating between first-tier (top-rated) and second-tier (near-elite) departments. Our findings indicate a positive effect on the creation of new faculty positions within funded departments, particularly through external recruitment and across various career stages. Notably, we provide evidence of greater benefits accruing to second-tier departments relative to their first-tier counterparts, particularly with respect to entry-level tenure-track positions.
Seeber, Marco; Cattaneo, Mattia; Birolini, Sebastian & Seeber, Michele (2026). Academic publishing business models: Self-citations and the selectivity–reputation trade-off. Quantitative Science Studies (QSS). 7, p. 877–906. doi: 10.1162/QSS.a.481. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
The growth of scientific journals is constrained by a trade-off between selectivity and reputation. A strong reputation attracts submissions but enhancing reputation requires selectivity, meaning many submissions must be rejected. Conversely, lowering selectivity allows journals to publish more papers but also lowers the average quality of published work, undermining reputation and eventually attracting fewer submissions. Because of this trade-off, scientific journals display moderate growth rates. In recent years, however, some publishers whose revenues depend largely on gold open access (OA) article processing charges (APC) have displayed staggering growth rates. One strategy to circumvent the selectivity–reputation trade-off is to inflate self-citations contributing to the journal impact factor (JIF). We investigate the citation flows of 8,360 journals from the 20 largest for-profit publishers included in the Journal Citation Report by Clarivate, over a period of 25 years (1997–2021). Using a gravity model of journal citation flows, we find that Gold OA journals display high self-citation rates, particularly to articles contributing to the JIF. This pattern is much more pronounced among journals owned by two large Gold OA publishers. Moreover, the intensity of self-citations for these two publishers’ journals increased with growth rate, suggesting that self-citations contributed to counteracting a decline in citations resulting from rapid expansion.

Gänzle, Stefan; Wunderlich, Jens-Uwe & Hofelich, Tobias Christian (2026). Exiting Regional Organisations. Differentiated Disintegration in Comparative Perspective. De Gruyter Brill. ISBN 9783111399072. doi: 10.1515/9783111398761. Full text in Research Archive

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News from the Faculty

The US has halted the project – UiA researcher concerned about research and aid work Oct. 20, 2026 12:16 PM
An international project involving researchers from the University of Agder (UiA) was halted in 2025, before the work had been completed. Hanne Haaland sees parallels with Norwegian People’s Aid, which has rejected new US conditions and warned of major consequences for its work.
Graduation Ceremony for Global Development Students June 29, 2026 11:02 AM
Completing a bachelor's or master's degree is a big milestone. That's why the Department of Global Development and Planning invited students from both its international programmes to a joint ceremony at the end of the semester, to celebrate this year's graduates.
UiA research community ranked among the best in Europe June 10, 2026 12:30 PM
The information systems research community at the University of Agder is the best in Norway and ranks fifth in Europe. "This is the result of long-term efforts spanning several decades", according to the head of department.

More news from the faculty