History and Politics

History and politics at the University of Sheffield is a combination that develops both the deep engagement with the past that historical inquiry requires and the analytical frameworks for understanding how political systems, institutions and decisions operate in the present. History teaches you to read evidence critically, to construct arguments from partial and sometimes contradictory sources and to understand how events unfold in complex social and material contexts. Politics gives you the conceptual vocabulary to understand power, legitimacy, institutional design and political change.

Together they equip you to be both a rigorous historian and a perceptive political analyst.

This three-year programme develops your expertise across the full range of historical scholarship alongside the core of political science, including political theory, comparative politics, international relations and public policy. You will engage with historical sources and historiographical debates alongside political science frameworks, developing the integrating perspective that allows you to see how historical processes and political structures are always intertwined. A sandwich year and work placements provide professional experience in relevant contexts, and a year abroad allows you to engage with different historical and political traditions from the inside.

Graduates pursue careers in the civil service, government departments, Parliament, political parties, think tanks, public affairs consultancies and international organisations. Journalism, law, teaching, heritage and publishing are further destinations. The combination of historical depth and political analytical skill makes graduates valuable in any professional context that involves understanding how institutions behave over time, how decisions are made under constraints and how political and social change happens.

Many graduates go on to postgraduate study in history, politics, international relations, law or security studies.