Politics and International Relations

Politics and international relations at SOAS is a programme with a genuinely distinctive character. Most politics and international relations degrees focus primarily on Western political systems and a Euro-American perspective on global affairs. At the School of Oriental and African Studies, the programme draws on the university's exceptional expertise in the politics, history, and cultures of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, offering a perspective on world politics that is truly international in its reference points.

This three-year full-time programme includes a foundation year, making it accessible to a wide range of students. You will study political theory, comparative politics, international relations theory, and the politics of specific regions and countries, with particular depth in areas of the world that are often marginalised in mainstream political science curricula. You will engage with questions about colonialism and its legacies, postcolonial state formation, authoritarian politics, social movements, and development, as well as the major theories of international relations and the institutions and norms that govern global politics.

The programme develops rigorous analytical and writing skills alongside substantial knowledge of world politics in its full complexity.

Graduates from this programme go on to careers in international organisations, NGOs, diplomacy, journalism, the civil service, think tanks, development agencies, and political research. The combination of political analytical skills and deep knowledge of non-Western regions is particularly valuable in organisations working internationally or on global affairs. Further study at postgraduate level in international relations, politics, development studies, or area studies is a well-established route for those wishing to pursue specialist expertise.