About the Institute
The Institute of Governmental Studies (IGS) is an interdisciplinary organized research unit (ORU) at UC Berkeley. Founded in 1919, IGS and its affiliated centers spearhead and promote research, programs, seminars and colloquia, training, educational activities, and public service in the fields of politics and public policy, with a strong focus on national and California politics. Current IGS research focuses include institutional policy and design, political reform, term limits, campaign finance, redistricting, direct democracy, presidential and gubernatorial politics, representative government, the politics of race and ethnicity, immigration, and globalization.
IGS Mission Statement
Through an active program of research, teaching, and public service, IGS expands understanding of governmental institutions and the political process, builds the intellectual capital and practical skills of the next generation of political teachers and leaders, and informs and invigorates public debate on important issues.
The IGS mission is to conduct and disseminate research on topics related to state and national politics and public policy, with a particular focus on institutional design and reform. IGS serves as the University's primary center for advancing research and public service on applied political science and public policy. IGS serves students, faculty, researchers, and the general public.
IGS Director's Introduction
Jack Citrin, IGS Director
Welcome to the IGS website.
The Institute of Governmental Studies (IGS) is an interdisciplinary organized research unit (ORU) on the UC Berkeley campus. (See here for more information on organized research units and procedures.) IGS promotes research, training, educational activities, and public service in the areas of American and California politics and public policy. In recent years, we have focused more specifically on research related to institutional design and political reform, including such topics as term limits, campaign finance, redistricting, direct democracy, immigration, and the role of the courts in regulating politics. We blend our academic mission of producing cutting-edge research about government with a strong public service role as an informal bridge between academia, public officials, and the media in California and Washington, D.C.
Faculty
IGS has a strong and active interdisciplinary core faculty that draws from several schools and departments. In addition to political science, those disciplines include sociology, public policy, law, business, and history. The core faculty have published widely on many topics within the areas of institutional design, policy, and politics. In addition, several of them have extensive experience working with governments, the media, and public commissions, adding a valuable practical perspective to their work on institutional design and reform issues.
Graduate and Undergraduate Education
IGS serves the needs of its students in several ways:
- We employ both undergraduate and graduate students in faculty-led collaborative projects on such topics as Constitutional Revision, the California Political Reform Act study, and the Blanket Primary.
- We give graduate students research apprenticeship appointments and small direct grants to support their own studies and to foster their independent creativity based on need and merit.
- We use students for as many administrative support functions as possible, providing a valuable form of financial aid for undergraduates, and we place the most capable undergraduates into faculty-led research teams.
Extramural Funds
IGS has raised over $4 million in recent years in extramural funding from such diverse sources as the California state legislature, the Public Policy Institute of California, Ford Foundation, National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Education. On an annual basis, the IGS Library generates about $120,000 in research service contracts and enterprises; the IGS Press generates $110,000 in book sales; and the Statewide Database generates $540,000. In addition, IGS receives about $40,000 to $50,000 annually from private donations and has a current endowment worth almost $5.8 million.
Research
IGS has demonstrated in recent years an ability to organize and fund path-breaking research in the areas of institutional design and reform. The Constitutional Revision and Blanket Primary projects drew together scholars from across the UC system and in several disciplines to analyze important contemporary institutional issues — for instance, how should the California Constitution be reformed? What impact has the change in primary rules had on the political system? In addition, IGS sponsors an extensive array of seminars on topics from game theory to political history, creating an intellectually stimulating environment that facilitates new advances in the social sciences.
Resources and Facilities
Part of the IGS mission is facilitating and disseminating research. IGS has several resources that cannot be found anywhere else in the state that allow it to play this role. The IGS Library is a valuable and unique national collection of fugitive research materials. The Statewide Database provides merged census and political data in a GIS format that will be used by the state of California and many localities for redistricting purposes in 2001. IGS Press is a model of success in small press social science publishing and has entered into more formal collaborations with the University of California Press and other campus social science units.
Public Service
In addition to our conferences and seminars, IGS provides valuable public service to the campus and state of California in various ways. The Institute regularly hosts visits by public officials to the campus and is charged by the chancellor's office to improve campuswide contacts with state government leaders. The Institute is the key campus resource for information about politics and public policy for members of the press and general public. The IGS Library and Statewide Database answer thousands of public queries every year. IGS serves a very critical role as the point for entry into the university for congressional, state legislative and executive officials and local government leaders.
We encourage you to visit and survey our website and become more acquainted with our resources and activities. We welcome your interest and your support.
