Politics and International Relations and Economics

Politics, international relations and economics form a natural intellectual trinity. Politics examines how power is organised and exercised, how governments make decisions, and how political systems and ideologies shape society. International relations extends this outward, asking how states, international organisations and non-state actors interact in a world of competing interests, norms and institutions.

Economics provides the analytical tools to understand the material foundations of political life: how resources are allocated, how markets and governments interact, and how economic forces shape both domestic politics and international order. Together, the three disciplines give you a comprehensive framework for understanding the major forces that shape the contemporary world.

At the University of Strathclyde, this four-year full-time programme allows you to develop genuine depth across all three areas. You will study political institutions and political thought, the major debates in international relations theory, and the core concepts and methods of economic analysis, including both microeconomic reasoning and macroeconomic policy. The programme develops your capacity to move between these disciplines and to apply insights from each to questions that none of them can fully answer alone.

A year abroad is available, giving you the opportunity to study in an international academic environment and to deepen your understanding of how political and economic systems operate in different cultural and institutional contexts.

Analytical rigour, clear written argument, and the ability to engage with complex evidence and competing interpretations are developed throughout. Research skills, including quantitative and qualitative methods, are an important part of the curriculum.

Graduates move into careers in public policy, the civil service and diplomatic service, international organisations, journalism, political research, finance, consultancy, law and the third sector. Postgraduate study in politics, international relations, economics, law or public policy is a common and well-supported pathway.