Philosophy and Politics with a Placement Year

Philosophy and politics have always been intertwined. Political philosophy asks the foundational questions about how societies should be organised, what justifies authority, what we owe each other and what justice requires. Political science investigates how power actually works, how institutions function, how people make political decisions and how states relate to one another.

Together they offer a training in both normative reasoning, thinking carefully about how things ought to be, and empirical and analytical reasoning about how they are. The combination produces graduates who can both argue about values and analyse institutions with discipline.

At the University of East Anglia this four-year programme includes a placement year, giving you the opportunity to work in a political, policy, civil society or other relevant organisation and to test the ideas you develop in the classroom against the reality of how those organisations function. Across the degree you will engage with the major traditions in political philosophy, from Plato and Aristotle through Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau to Rawls and contemporary debates about equality, liberty and democracy. In politics you will study comparative government, international relations, public policy and political behaviour, developing the analytical toolkit of contemporary political science.

The placement year is a significant asset in a field where practical experience alongside academic achievement is valued by employers.

Graduates from philosophy and politics programmes go on to work in the civil service, public policy, think tanks, journalism, law, international organisations, NGOs, political parties and management consultancy. The combination of rigorous analytical reasoning and political knowledge is valued in any career that involves understanding and influencing how decisions are made. Many graduates continue to postgraduate study in political theory, philosophy, international relations, public policy or law.

The placement year strengthens your professional credentials and helps you identify which of these pathways suits you best.