Politics

Politics as an academic discipline examines power: who holds it, how it is exercised, how it is contested and how political institutions, movements and ideas shape the conditions in which people live. It draws on political theory, comparative politics, international relations and the study of specific political systems to develop a rigorous and critical understanding of political life at every scale, from local governance to global order. Politics is always contested, and the discipline trains you to engage with that contestation analytically and without illusion.

At the School of Oriental and African Studies, this three-year full-time programme, which includes a foundation year, gives you an excellent grounding in the discipline with a particular focus on Asia, Africa and the Middle East. SOAS's distinctive orientation means that you will study political theory and comparative politics through a lens that takes non-Western political traditions, postcolonial legacies and the perspectives of the global South seriously, rather than treating Western liberal democracy as the implicit norm against which all other political arrangements are measured. This gives you a genuinely global perspective on political questions, and it makes your understanding of power, legitimacy and governance more robust and more honest than a narrower curriculum would allow.

The foundation year ensures that all students have the academic preparation needed to succeed in the main degree, and the SOAS context means your political education is inseparable from engagement with area studies, cultural knowledge and the histories of the regions you study.

Graduates pursue careers in government and the civil service, international organisations, NGOs, journalism, broadcasting, public affairs, think tanks, the diplomatic service, development agencies, education and law. The analytical skills, writing ability and critical understanding of power that politics develops are valued across virtually every sector that engages with public life. Postgraduate study in politics, international relations, development or law is a well-established route for those who wish to specialise or pursue research.