Law and Politics

Law and politics are two of the most important disciplines for understanding how modern societies organise and govern themselves. Law provides the framework of rules, rights, and obligations within which political power is exercised and constrained, while politics examines how power is acquired, contested, and deployed through institutions, parties, movements, and ideologies. Studying them together allows you to understand the legal system as a political institution and to understand political life as structured by legal norms and constitutional frameworks, each discipline illuminating the other.

This three-year, full-time programme at Queen Mary University of London places the two disciplines genuinely side by side, taking advantage of the university's strong departments in both law and politics to give you a rigorous grounding in each. You will study the foundations of English law alongside political theory, constitutional and administrative law alongside comparative politics and international relations, and the analysis of legal texts alongside the study of policy-making and political institutions. The joint honours structure means you are not choosing law with a minor in politics or vice versa: both disciplines receive serious academic attention.

Graduates of law and politics programmes have a distinctive and broadly applicable combination of skills. Those who wish to qualify as solicitors or barristers can use the law element of the degree as a qualifying law degree, and will need to complete further professional training after graduation. The politics element opens additional routes in the civil service, public policy, journalism, international organisations, public affairs, and political research.

Many graduates also continue to postgraduate study in law, politics, or related disciplines, and the combination provides a strong foundation for academic careers in either field. The Queen Mary location in London also provides access to the professional legal and political communities of the capital.