History and International Relations

History and international relations together offer one of the most powerful frameworks for understanding how the world came to be as it is and how it might develop. History trains you to think with depth and complexity about cause, consequence, and human agency over time. International relations applies that thinking to the present, examining how states, institutions, and other actors interact, compete, and cooperate on a global stage.

The combination produces graduates who can analyse both the long view and the immediate moment with equal confidence.

This four-year full-time programme at Aston University includes a year abroad, placing you in a different country and academic culture for a full year of your studies. That experience does more than add an item to your CV: it develops the intercultural awareness and adaptability that are increasingly essential for careers in diplomacy, global business, journalism, and public policy. You will study major periods and themes in modern history alongside the theoretical frameworks of international relations, including realism, liberalism, constructivism, and critical approaches.

Research skills, source analysis, essay writing, and the ability to construct and defend a complex argument are developed systematically throughout the programme.

Graduates from this programme enter careers in government and the civil service, international organisations, diplomacy and foreign affairs, journalism, think tanks, the charitable sector, and the law. The analytical and communication skills developed here are highly regarded by employers across the professional world, making history and international relations graduates adaptable and competitive in a wide range of fields. Many go on to postgraduate study in international relations, security studies, law, or history, and the programme provides a strong academic foundation for those who want to pursue research.