Politics

Politics as a discipline asks how power is organised, exercised and contested, and why that matters for the people who live within political systems. It examines the institutions of government, the behaviour of political actors, the forces that shape policy, the theories that have been used to justify or critique political arrangements, and the international relations between states and other actors in the global order. It is a subject that requires both rigorous analytical thinking and genuine curiosity about the world, and it trains you to read complex situations carefully and to argue with precision.

This four-year full-time degree at the University of Stirling includes a year abroad, giving you the opportunity to study politics in a different national context and to develop comparative perspectives on political systems and processes. Over four years you will build a thorough grounding in political theory and philosophy, comparative politics, international relations and research methods, with the depth of engagement that the four-year structure allows. The year abroad adds an important international dimension to a degree that is fundamentally concerned with how different societies organise their political lives.

Politics graduates are among the most employable of social science graduates, because the skills the degree develops translate directly into professional contexts. Journalism, public policy, the civil service, political consultancy, international development, diplomacy, law, think tanks, campaign organisations and NGOs all regularly recruit from politics programmes. The ability to research, analyse, argue and communicate clearly and persuasively is an asset in almost every professional environment, and the substantive political knowledge the degree provides is directly applicable wherever public affairs, governance and policy intersect.

Many graduates go on to postgraduate study in politics, international relations, public policy or law.