Philosophy, politics and economics, or politics, philosophy and economics (PPE), is an
interdisciplinary
Interdisciplinarity or interdisciplinary studies involves the combination of multiple academic disciplines into one activity (e.g., a research project). It draws knowledge from several fields such as sociology, anthropology, psychology, economi ...
undergraduate
Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education, usually in a college or university. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, ...
or
postgraduate degree which combines study from three disciplines. The first institution to offer degrees in PPE was the
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...
in the 1920s. This particular course has produced a
significant number of notable graduates such as
Aung San Suu Kyi
Aung San Suu Kyi (born 19 June 1945) is a Burmese politician, diplomat, author, and political activist. She was awarded the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize. She served as State Counsellor of Myanmar and Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Myanmar), Ministe ...
, Burmese politician and former
State Counsellor of Myanmar, Nobel Peace Prize winner; Princess
Haya bint Hussein, daughter of the late
King Hussein of Jordan;
Christopher Hitchens
Christopher Eric Hitchens (13 April 1949 – 15 December 2011) was a British and American author and journalist. He was the author of Christopher Hitchens bibliography, 18 books on faith, religion, culture, politics, and literature. He was born ...
, the British–American author and journalist;
['Hitchens, Christopher Eric', ''Who's Who''; 2012, A & C Black, 2012; online edn, Oxford University Press, December 2012; online edn, January 201]
accessed 5 December 2014
/ref> Will Self
William Woodard Self (born 26 September 1961) is an English writer, journalist, political commentator and broadcaster. He has written 11 novels, five collections of shorter fiction, three novellas and nine collections of non-fiction writing. Se ...
, British author and journalist; Oscar-winning writer and director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck; Michael Dummett, Gareth Evans, Philippa Foot, Christopher Peacocke, Gilbert Ryle, and Peter Strawson, philosophers; Harold Wilson
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx (11 March 1916 – 23 May 1995) was a British statesman and Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, from 1964 to 1970 and again from 197 ...
, Edward Heath, David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron, Baron Cameron of Chipping Norton (born 9 October 1966) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016. Until 2015, he led the first coalition government in the UK s ...
, Liz Truss
Mary Elizabeth Truss (born 26 July 1975) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from September to October 2022. On her fiftieth da ...
and Rishi Sunak
Rishi Sunak (born 12 May 1980) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2022 to 2024. Following his defeat to Keir Starmer's La ...
, Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom; Hugh Gaitskell
Hugh Todd Naylor Gaitskell (9 April 1906 – 18 January 1963) was a British politician who was Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom), Leader of the Opposition from 1955 until ...
, Michael Foot, William Hague and Ed Miliband, former Leaders of the Opposition; former Prime Ministers of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto (21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was a Pakistani politician who served as the 11th prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990, and again from 1993 to 1996. She was also the first woman elected to head a democratic governmen ...
and Imran Khan; and Malcolm Fraser
John Malcolm Fraser (; 21 May 1930 – 20 March 2015) was an Australian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Australia from 1975 to 1983. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia, and is the fourth List of ...
, Bob Hawke and Tony Abbott
Anthony John Abbott (; born 4 November 1957) is an Australian former politician who served as the 28th prime minister of Australia from 2013 to 2015. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia and was the member of parli ...
, former Prime Ministers of Australia; and Malala Yousafzai, Nobel Peace Prize winner.
In the 1980s, the University of York
The University of York (abbreviated as or ''York'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public Collegiate university, collegiate research university in York, England. Established in 1963, the university has expanded to more than thir ...
went on to establish its own PPE degree based upon the Oxford model; King's College London
King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...
, the University of Warwick
The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded in 1965 as part of ...
, the University of Manchester
The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...
, and other British universities later followed. According to the BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
, the Oxford PPE "dominate public life" in the UK. It is now offered at several other leading colleges and universities around the world. More recently Warwick University and King's College added a new degree under the name of PPL (Politics, Philosophy and Law) with the aim to bring an alternative to the more classical PPE degrees.
In the United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, it is offered by over 50 colleges and universities, including three Ivy League
The Ivy League is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of eight Private university, private Research university, research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegia ...
schools and a large number of public universities. Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
began offering a similar degree in Social Studies in 1960, combining history, political science, economics, sociology, and anthropology. In 2020, in addition to its undergraduate degree programs in PPE, Virginia Tech
The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...
joined the Chapman University's Smith Institute as among the first research centers in the world dedicated to interdisciplinary research in PPE. Several PPE programs exist in Canada, including the Frank McKenna School of Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Mount Allison University
Mount Allison University (also Mount A or MtA) is a Canadian primarily undergraduate liberal arts university located in Sackville, New Brunswick, founded in 1839.
Mount Allison was the first university in the British Empire to award a baccal ...
. In Asia, Peking University
Peking University (PKU) is a Public university, public Types of universities and colleges in China#By designated academic emphasis, university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of the Peop ...
, Tsinghua University, Waseda University, NUS, Tel-Aviv University and Ashoka University are among those that have PPE or similar programs.
In recent years, notably in civil law countries, Politics, Philosophy, Law and Economics (PPLE) has been on the rise as a broader version of PPE.
History
Philosophy, politics and economics was established as a degree course at the University of Oxford in the 1920s, as a modern alternative to classics
Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...
(known as " literae humaniores" or "greats" at Oxford) for those entering the civil service
The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...
. It was thus initially known as "modern greats". The first PPE students commenced their course in the autumn of 1921. The regulation by which it was established is Statt. Tit. VI. Sect. 1 C; "the subject of the Honour School of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics shall be the study of the structure, and the philosophical and economic principles, of Modern Society." Initially it was compulsory to study all three subjects for all three years of the course, but in 1970 this requirement was relaxed, and since then students have been able to drop one subject after the first year – most do this, but a minority continue with all three.
The philosopher Roy Bhaskar, who studied PPE at Oxford in the 1960s, subsequently described the course content at that time as follows:
During the 1960s some students started to critique the course from a left-wing perspective, culminating in the publication of a pamphlet, ''The Poverty of PPE'', in 1968, written by Trevor Pateman, who argued that it "gives no training in scholarship, only refining to a high degree of perfection the ability to write short dilettantish essays on the basis of very little knowledge: ideal training for the social engineer". The pamphlet advocated incorporating the study of sociology, anthropology and art, and to take on the aim of "assist(ing) the radicalisation and mobilisation of political opinion outside the university". According to Andy Beckett, in response, some minor changes were made, with influential leftist writers such as Frantz Fanon and Régis Debray being added to politics reading lists, but the core of the programme remained the same. However, Bhaskar, another leader of the movement to reform PPE, argued that within a couple of years of the publication of the critique, "...the structure of PPE had been transformed. You could now do sociology, you could do Hegel, you could do Marx, continental philosophy, and these were permanent effects at the Oxford undergraduate level".
Christopher Stray has pointed to the course as one reason for the gradual decline of the study of classics, as classicists in political life began to be edged out by those who had studied the modern greats.
Political theorists Dario Castiglione and Iain Hampsher-Monk have described the course as being fundamental to the development of political thought in the UK since it established a connection between politics and philosophy. Previously at Oxford, and for some time subsequently at Cambridge, politics had been taught only as a branch of modern history.
Course material
The programme is rooted in the view that to understand social phenomena one must approach them from several complementary disciplinary directions and analytical frameworks. In this regard, the study of philosophy
Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
is considered important because it both equips students with meta-tools such as the ability to reason
Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing valid conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, religion, scien ...
rigorously and logic
Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the study of deductively valid inferences or logical truths. It examines how conclusions follow from premises based on the structure o ...
ally, and facilitates ethical
Ethics is the philosophical study of moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches include normative ethics, applied e ...
reflection. The study of politics
Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...
is considered necessary because it acquaints students with the institutions that govern society and help solve collective action
Collective action refers to action taken together Advocacy group, by a group of people whose goal is to enhance their condition and achieve a common objective. It is a term that has formulations and theories in many areas of the social sciences ...
problems. Finally, studying economics
Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services.
Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...
is seen as vital in the modern world because political decisions often concern economic matters, and government decisions are often influenced by economic events. The vast majority of students at Oxford drop one of the three subjects for the second and third years of their course. Oxford now has more than 600 undergraduates studying the subject, admitting over 200 each year.
Academic opinions
Oxford PPE graduate Nick Cohen and former tutor Iain McLean consider the course's breadth important to its appeal, especially "because British society values generalists over specialists". Academic and Labour peer Maurice Glasman noted that "PPE combines the status of an elite university degree – PPE is the ultimate form of being good at school – with the stamp of a vocational course. It is perfect training for cabinet membership, and it gives you a view of life". However, he also noted that it had an orientation towards consensus politics and technocracy
Technocracy is a form of government in which decision-makers appoint knowledge experts in specific domains to provide them with advice and guidance in various areas of their policy-making responsibilities. Technocracy follows largely in the tra ...
. According to Bhaskar, the course "was designed to turn you into a top-class civil servant, able to turn your hand to any brief or service the empire in a variety of roles".
Geoffrey Evans, an Oxford fellow in politics and a senior tutor, critiques that the Oxford course's success and consequent over-demand is a self-perpetuating feature of those in front of and behind the scenes in national administration, in stating "all in all, it's how the class system works". In the current economic system, he bemoans the unavoidable inequalities besetting admissions and thereby enviable recruitment prospects of successful graduates. The argument itself intended as a paternalistic ethical reflection on how governments and peoples can perpetuate social stratification
Social stratification refers to a society's categorization of its people into groups based on socioeconomic factors like wealth, income, race, education, ethnicity, gender, occupation, social status, or derived power (social and political ...
.
Stewart Wood, a former adviser to Ed Miliband who studied PPE at Oxford in the 1980s and taught politics there in the 1990s and 2000s, acknowledged that the programme has been slow to catch up with contemporary political developments, saying that "it does still feel like a course for people who are going to run the Raj in 1936... In the politics part of PPE, you can go three years without discussing a single contemporary public policy issue". He also stated that the structure of the course gave it a centrist bias, due to the range of material covered: "...most students think, mistakenly, that the only way to do it justice is to take a centre position".
List of offering universities
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
*Birkbeck, University of London
Birkbeck, University of London (formally Birkbeck College, University of London), is a Public university, public research university located in London, England, and a constituent college, member institution of the University of London. Establ ...
*Durham University
Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...
* Goldsmiths, University of London
*Keele University
Keele University is a Public university#United Kingdom, public research university in Keele, approximately from Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England. Founded in 1949 as the University College of North Staffordshire, it was granted uni ...
*King's College London
King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...
* Kingston University
*Lancaster University
Lancaster University (officially The University of Lancaster) is a collegiate public university, public research university in Lancaster, Lancashire, England. The university was established in 1964 by royal charter, as one of several new univer ...
*London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...
* The Open University
*Royal Holloway, University of London
Royal Holloway, University of London (RH), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public university, public research university and a constituent college, member institution of the federal University of London. It ...
*SOAS University of London
The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS University of London; ) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury area ...
*University College London
University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...
* University of Buckingham
* New College of the Humanities at Northeastern
*University of East Anglia
The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a Public university, public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus university, campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and twenty-six schools of ...
*University of Essex
The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, it is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. The university comprises three camp ...
*University of Exeter
The University of Exeter is a research university in the West Country of England, with its main campus in Exeter, Devon. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of ...
*University of Hull
The University of Hull is a public research university in Kingston upon Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1927 as University College Hull. The main university campus is located in Hull and is home to the Hu ...
*University of Leeds
The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...
*University of Liverpool
The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a Public university, public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University (United Kingdom), Victoria University, it received Ro ...
* University of Loughborough
*University of Manchester
The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...
*University of Nottingham
The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948.
Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...
*University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...
*University of Reading
The University of Reading is a public research university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as the University Extension College, Reading, an extension college of Christchurch College, Oxford, and became University College, ...
*University of Sheffield
The University of Sheffield (informally Sheffield University or TUOS) is a public university, public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its history traces back to the foundation of Sheffield Medical School in 1828, Fir ...
*University of Southampton
The University of Southampton (abbreviated as ''Soton'' in post-nominal letters) is a public university, public research university in Southampton, England. Southampton is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universit ...
*University of Sussex
The University of Sussex is a public university, public research university, research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the ...
*University of Warwick
The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded in 1965 as part of ...
*University of Winchester
The University of Winchester is a public research university based in the city of Winchester, Hampshire, England. The university has origins tracing back to 1840 as a teacher training college, but was established in 2005.
Winchester University ...
*University of York
The University of York (abbreviated as or ''York'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public Collegiate university, collegiate research university in York, England. Established in 1963, the university has expanded to more than thir ...
Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
*University of Aberdeen
The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; ) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bis ...
*University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...
* University of the Highlands and Islands
* University of Stirling
Wales
Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
* Swansea University
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
*Queen's University Belfast
The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast (; abbreviated Queen's or QUB), is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as part of ...
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
*Mount Allison University
Mount Allison University (also Mount A or MtA) is a Canadian primarily undergraduate liberal arts university located in Sackville, New Brunswick, founded in 1839.
Mount Allison was the first university in the British Empire to award a baccal ...
(within the Frank McKenna School of Philosophy, Politics, & Economics)
* Queen's University
* The King's University
* University of British Columbia (Okanagan Campus)
*University of Regina
The University of Regina is a public university located in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Founded in 1911 as a private denominational high school of the Methodist Church of Canada, it began an association with the University of Saskatchewan as a j ...
*University of Western Ontario
The University of Western Ontario (UWO; branded as Western University) is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thame ...
* Wilfrid Laurier University
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
*Arizona State University
Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...
(certificate)
* Austin College
* Belmont Abbey College
*Binghamton University
The State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University or SUNY Binghamton) is a public university, public research university in Binghamton metropolitan area, Greater Binghamton, New York, United States. It is one of the four uni ...
(under the designation of "PPL" – replacing economics with law)
* Bowie State University
*Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green State University (BGSU) is a Public university, public research university in Bowling Green, Ohio, United States. The main academic and residential campus is south of Toledo, Ohio. The university has nationally recognized progr ...
(under the designation of "PPEL" – with law)
* Boyce College
*Bridgewater State University
Bridgewater State University is a public university with its main campus in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest of nine state universities in Massachusetts. Including its off-campus sites in New Bedford, Massachusetts, N ...
(minor)
* Calvin University
*Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institu ...
(under the designation "Ethics, History, and Public Policy", abbreviated "EHPP")
* Carroll University
* Claremont McKenna College
*Cornell University
Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...
(offers academic year abroad at Oxford University to study PPE)
* Criswell College
* Dallas Baptist University
*Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...
(under the modified major of "Politics, Philosophy, and the Economy")
* Denison University
*Drexel University
Drexel University is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Drexel's undergraduate school was founded in 1891 by Anthony Joseph Drexel, Anthony J. Drexel, a financier ...
*Duke University
Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...
(certificate)
* Eastern Oregon University
*Elon University
Elon University is a private university in Elon, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1889 as Elon College, the university is organized into six schools, most of which offer bachelor's degrees and several of which offer master's degrees or ...
(minor)
* Emory & Henry College
*Florida State University
Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...
(minor)
*George Mason University
George Mason University (GMU) is a Public university, public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Located in Northern Virginia near Washington, D.C., the university is named in honor of George Mason, a Founding Father ...
*Georgia State University
Georgia State University (Georgia State, State, or GSU) is a Public university, public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1913, it is one of the University System of Georgia's four research universities. It is al ...
*Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) is a Public university, public research university in Indiana, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education and Carnegie Classification o ...
* Juniata College
* The King's College
* La Salle University
* Liberty University (online)
* Mercer University
*Minnesota State University, Mankato
Minnesota State University, Mankato (MNSU, MSU, or Minnesota State) is a public university in Mankato, Minnesota, United States. It is Minnesota's second-largest university and has over 145,000 living alumni worldwide. Founded in 1868, it is t ...
* Mount St. Mary's University
* Murphy Institute (Tulane University, under the designation "Political Economy")
*Northeastern University
Northeastern University (NU or NEU) is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was founded by the Boston Young Men's Christian Association in 1898 as an all-male instit ...
* Northwest Nazarene University
* Ohio Northern University
*Ohio State University
The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...
* Ottawa University
* Palm Beach Atlantic University
*Pomona College
Pomona College ( ) is a private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalism in the United States, Congregationalists ...
* Rhodes College
* Rutgers University–New Brunswick (certificate)
* Seattle Pacific University
* Siena Heights University (certificate)
* Spring Hill College
* St. John's University (master's degree)
* State University of New York at Oswego
*Suffolk University
Suffolk University is a private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. With 7,560 students on all campuses, it is the List of colleges and universities in metropolitan Boston, tenth-largest university ...
*Swarthmore College
Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the e ...
* Taylor University
* Texas Tech University (as a concentration of an Honor Sciences and the Humanities degree)
* Transylvania University
*University of Akron
The University of Akron is a public university, public research university in Akron, Ohio, United States. It is part of the University System of Ohio. As a STEM fields, STEM-focused institution, it focuses on industries such as polymers, advance ...
* University of Alabama at Birmingham (as a concentration of an Economics degree)
*University of Arizona
The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...
(under the designation "PPEL" – with law)
*University at Buffalo
The State University of New York at Buffalo (commonly referred to as UB, University at Buffalo, and sometimes SUNY Buffalo) is a public university, public research university in Buffalo, New York, Buffalo and Amherst, New York, United States. ...
*University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...
(minor, under the designation "PPL" – replacing economics with law)
*University of California, Irvine
The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Irvine, California, United States. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, U ...
*The University of Idaho
The University of Idaho (U of I, or UIdaho) is a public land-grant research university in Moscow, Idaho, United States. Established in 1889 and opened three years later, it was the state's sole university for 71 years, until 1963.
The un ...
(minor)
*University of Iowa
The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...
(under the designation "Ethics & Public Policy")
*The University of Louisville
The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public university, public research university in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. Chartered in 1798 as the Jefferson Seminary, it became in the 19t ...
(minor)
*University of Maryland
The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the Univ ...
*University of Michigan
The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...
(honors program)
* University of Minnesota Morris (as a concentration of a Philosophy degree)
*University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...
(minor)
*University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...
(minor)
*University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...
*University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...
*University of Richmond
The University of Richmond (UR or U of R) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Richmond, Virginia, United States. It is a primarily undergraduate, residential institution with approxim ...
(under the designation "PPEL" – with law)
*University of Rochester
The University of Rochester is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York, United States. It was founded in 1850 and moved into its current campus, next to the Genesee River in 1930. With approximately 30,000 full ...
*University of San Diego
The University of San Diego (USD) is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in San Diego, California, United States. Chartered in 1949 as the independent San Diego College for Women and San Diego University ...
(minor)
* University of Sioux Falls (as "Philosophy, Economics, and Political Theory")
*University of Southern California
The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...
*University of Virginia
The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...
(under the designation "PPL" – replacing economics with law)
* University of Washington Bothell (under the designation "Law, Economics & Public Policy", abbreviated "LEPP")
* University of Washington Tacoma
*University of Wisconsin
A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...
Political Economy, Politics and Philosophy (certificate program)
*Utah State University
Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public university, public land grant colleges, land-grant research university with its main campus in Logan, Utah, United States. Founded in 1888 under the Morrill Land-Grant Acts as Utah's federal ...
(certificate)
*Villanova University
Villanova University is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in Villanova, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded by the Order of Saint Augustine in 1842 and named after Thomas of Villanova, Saint Thom ...
(honors program and honors minor)
*Virginia Tech
The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...
(offers both a major and a minor in PPE)
* Wabash College
*Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...
(under the designation "College of Social Studies")
*Western Washington University
Western Washington University (WWU or Western) is a public university in Bellingham, Washington, United States. The northernmost university in the contiguous United States, WWU was founded in 1893 as the state-funded New Whatcom Normal School, s ...
* Wheaton College (certificate)
* Wheeling University (under the designation "political and economic philosophy")
*Xavier University
Xavier University ( ) is a private Jesuit university in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It is the sixth-oldest Catholic and fourth-oldest Jesuit university in the United States. Xavier had an enrollment of approximately 5,600 undergraduate an ...
(under the designation "Philosophy, Politics, and the Public", abbreviated "PPP")
*Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
(under the designation "ethics, politics and economics", abbreviated "EP&E")
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
*Stellenbosch University
*University of Cape Town
*University of KwaZulu-Natal
*University of South Africa
*University of Johannesburg
*University of Witwatersrand
*University of Pretoria
Nigeria
*Obafemi Awolowo University
*Afe Babalola University
Australia
*Australian National University
*Deakin University
*La Trobe University
*University of Adelaide
*University of New South Wales
*University of Sydney
*University of Queensland
*University of Technology, Sydney
*University of Western Australia
*University of Wollongong
*Murdoch University (appears as a unit in Philosophy (BA) or Ethics minor)
*Monash University
New Zealand
*University of Canterbury
*University of Otago
*Victoria University of Wellington
Iceland
*Bifröst University, Iceland
Sweden
*Lund University, Sweden
*Stockholm University, Sweden
*Södertörn University, Sweden
Italy
*Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Italy (under the designation of "Philosophy, International Studies and Economics" abbreviated "PISE", more recently "Philosophy, International and Economic Studies")
*Free University of Bolzano, Italy
*Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali Guido Carli, Rome (Italy)
*University of Milan, Italy (BA International Politics, Law, and Economics, MA Politics, Philosophy, and Public Affairs )
* University of Bari, Italy (University Master Programme, 'Philosophy, Politics and Economics in Med')
Spain
*Charles III University of Madrid, Autonomous University of Madrid, Autonomous University of Barcelona and Pompeu Fabra University (alliance of four universities), Spain
*Ramon Llull University, Barcelona, Spain
*Comillas Pontifical University, Madrid (joint degree), Spain
*Francisco de Vitoria University, Spain
*University of Navarra, Spain
*University of Deusto, Basque Country, Spain
*IE University, Madrid, Spain (offered together with Law)
Portugal
*ISCTE – University Institute of Lisbon (Politics, Economy and Society)
*Catholic University of Lisbon – Human Sciences university
Turkey
*Ankara University, Turkey(Politics and Economics, still abbreviated as PPE)
Austria
*Central European University, Vienna, Austria
*University of Vienna, Austria (MA Philosophy and economics, Philosophy and Economics, P&E)
*University of Salzburg, Austria
*University of Graz, Austria (under the designation of MA "political, economic and legal philosophy" abbreviated "PELP")
Belgium
*UCLouvain, Belgium
France
*American University of Paris, France
*Sciences Po, France
*European School of Political and Social Sciences, France
Germany
*Karlshochschule International University, Germany, offers both a BA in Politics, Philosophy & Economics "PPE" as well as a MA in "Social Transformation: PPE".
*Bard College Berlin, Germany (under the designation of BA "Economics, Politics and Social Thought" abbreviated "EPST")
*Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, Germany (under the designation of B.Sc. "Management, Philosophy & Economics" abbreviated "MPE")
*University of Bayreuth, Germany (Philosophy and Economics, P&E)
*University of Hamburg, Germany (under the designation of M.Sc. "politics, economics and philosophy" abbreviated "PEP")
*Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, Germany (Bachelor since 2018/ Master starting in 2023)
*Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany
*Witten/Herdecke University (bachelor and master), Germany
Republic of Ireland, Ireland
*National University of Ireland, Maynooth
*University College Dublin, UCD, National University of Ireland
*Trinity College Dublin, Trinity College, The University of Dublin
Netherlands
*Utrecht University(Honours College)
*Leiden University, Netherlands
*University of Amsterdam, Netherlands under the designation: PPLE, Politics, Psychology, Law and Economics
*VU Amsterdam, Netherlands, Bachelor's Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the John Stuart Mill College
*Erasmus University College, Netherlands, under the designation, Bachelor of Liberal Arts and Science – Major in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) – and a Research Master in Philosophy and Economics.
*University of Groningen, Netherlands, Master's Philosophy, Politics and Economics
Switzerland
*University of Zurich, Switzerland (under the designation of MA "economic and political philosophy")
*University of Bern, Switzerland (under the designation of MA "political, legal and economic philosophy" abbreviated "PLEP")
*University of Lucerne, Switzerland
Czech Republic
*CEVRO Institute, Prague, Czech Republic
*Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
BA
MA
programs
Hungary
*Corvinus University of Budapest, Budapest, Hungary
*University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary
Romania
*University of Bucharest, Romania (Master's degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics)
Russia
*National Research University – Higher School of Economics, (Masters in Politics, Economics, Philosophy), Moscow, Russia
Ukraine
*Ukrainian Catholic University, Lviv, Ukraine (under the designation "Ethics. Politics. Economics", abbreviated "EPE")
China
Mainland China
* Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
*Peking University
Peking University (PKU) is a Public university, public Types of universities and colleges in China#By designated academic emphasis, university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of the Peop ...
, Beijing, China
*Renmin University of China, Beijing, China
*Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
*Fudan University, Shanghai, China
*Nankai University, Tianjin, China
*Wuhan University, Wuhan, China
*Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan, China
*Shandong University, Jinan, China
*Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, China
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Hong Kong
*Hang Seng University of Hong Kong
South Korea, Korea
*Seoul National University, South Korea
*Korea University, South Korea
*Kyungpook National University, South Korea
*Sungkyunkwan University, South Korea
*Sogang University, South Korea
*Hanyang University (under the designation "PPEL" – with law), South Korea
*Yonsei University, South Korea
Japan
*Keio University, Japan
*University of Kyoto, Japan
*University of Tokyo, Japan
* Waseda University, Japan
Singapore
* Yale-NUS, Yale-NUS, Singapore
*National University of Singapore, Singapore
*Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Thailand
*Rangsit University, Thailand
*Thammasat University, Thailand
India
*Lucknow University, Lucknow, India
*O.P. Jindal Global University, India
*Amity University, Noida, India
*Bangalore University, Bangalore, India
*Birla Institute of Technology and Science, India
*Azim Premji University, Bangalore, India
* Ashoka University, India
Pakistan
*Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan
Bangladesh
*Asian University for Women, Bangladesh
Armenia
*American University of Armenia, (Minor in Philosophy, Politics, & Economics, abbreviated as PPE), Yerevan, Armenia
Israel
*Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
*Tel Aviv University (under the designation "PPEL" – with law), Israel
*Open University of Israel, Israel
Argentina
* Universidad Torcuato Di Tella (under the designation "Ciencia Sociales, Orientación en Política y Economía"), Argentina
Venezuela
* Universidad Metropolitana (under the designation "Estudios Liberales"), Venezuela
Ecuador
* Universidad de las Americas (under the designation "Filosofia, Politica, y Economia"), Ecuador
Chile
* Universidad del Desarrollo (under the Master Program "Filosofia, Politica, y Economia PPE"), Chile
Peru
* Universidad del Pacífico (Peru), Universidad del Pacífico (under the designation "Política, Filosofía y Economia"), Peru
See also
*''Literae Humaniores''
*Philosophy and economics
*List of University of Oxford people with PPE degrees
References
Further reading
*
*
*
* {{Cite book, last=Hayek , first=F.A., date=1967, title=Studies in Philosophy, Politics and Economics , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=06y5O2w73UwC&q=Philosophy,%20Politics,%20and%20Economics%20google%20books, publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul, pages=, isbn=978-0-7100-2987-4
External links
PPE, Oxford University – Official Website
100 years of PPE at Oxford University
International PPE Conference
* Anomaly, Jonny (29 January 2016)
"Why PPE?"
''American Philosophical Association''.
* Beckett, Andy (23 February 2017)
"PPE: the Oxford degree that runs Britain"
''The Guardian''.
Academic courses at the University of Oxford
Political economy
Economics education
Philosophy education
Political science education
Subfields of political science