Arabic and International Relations

Arabic and international relations is a combination that develops both practical linguistic competence in one of the world's most geopolitically significant languages and a rigorous analytical framework for understanding global politics and international affairs. Arabic is by far the most commonly used language of the Middle East and North Africa, a region of enormous strategic importance, and the ability to engage with Arabic-language sources, media, and interlocutors is a genuine differentiator in many careers involving the region. International relations develops your understanding of how the global system is organised, how states and institutions interact, and how conflict, cooperation, and international law shape the world we live in.

St Andrews offers Arabic in combination with international relations as a four-year full-time MA (Hons) programme that includes a year abroad, giving you extended immersion in an Arabic-speaking country and deepening both your language proficiency and your understanding of the region. As St Andrews itself notes, Arabic offers the opportunity for comparative analyses between different languages, literatures, cultures, histories, politics, and economics, enriching the international relations content with a specifically regional and linguistic dimension. You will develop Arabic alongside the study of international relations theory, security studies, global governance, and foreign policy, building the bilingual and analytical skills that careers at the intersection of language and global affairs demand.

Graduates work in diplomacy, the foreign office, intelligence agencies, international organisations, journalism, NGOs, defence and security, academic research, and the private sector, particularly in organisations operating in the Middle East and North Africa. The combination of Arabic language competence and international relations training is particularly valued in contexts where regional expertise and analytical rigour are both needed. Postgraduate study in international relations, Middle Eastern studies, security, or Arabic is a natural further direction.