The opportunity to study Politics & International Relations at our campus in London offers the city as a classroom, with the seat of the UK government and many of its agencies, prominent international organisations (e.g. UN IMO), world-renowned research institutes (e.g. Chatham House – The Royal Institute of International Affairs), think-tanks (e.g. Adam Smith Institute), policy centres (e.g. Global Policy Institute), and many archives and libraries immediately surrounding our campus, and offering students one of the most current and vibrant environments to pursue the political discourses defining our present and future.
The BSc (Hons) Politics & International Relations degree comprises: (1) political science – analysing the organisation of government and society; (2) political theory – examining normative questions, political ideas, and ideologies; and (3) international relations – the only disciplinary field specifically concerned with the international problems of war, peace, security, economy, globalisation, and the conflicting and cooperative engagement amongst states and between state and non-state actors.
The curriculum appraises the relationship between the individual and the state, the sources of authority, and forms of governance with significant implications for policy-making, policy choices, and policy outcomes. It fosters an understanding of agency through the study of power, justice, anarchy, order, conflict, legitimacy, accountability, obligation, sovereignty, mediation, security, governance, and decision-making at different levels of governance (e.g. local, regional, and global)