International Relations

Year 2

Compulsory modules

• Great Debates in International Relations: Inclusion and Exclusion

  Why should we study International Relations? In this module, you’ll get to grips with International Relations (IR). You’ll examine the ‘great debates’ in IR - like who is IR for? What is it meant to do? And how do we know when it is successful? Is IR theory a way of looking at diverse societies across the world? Or has it changed? And how have events like 9/11, decolonisation and the dawn of the Nuclear Age challenged our understanding of IR?

  You’ll examine why IR theory is a key to understanding international relations. You’ll ask whether International Relations is just about explaining facts. And you’ll explore whether our subjective moods and feelings influence IR. You’ll gain valuable critical skills, as you consider the relationship between theory and practice.

• Researching Politics and International Relations

  In this module, you’ll develop the practical research skills you need to design and carry out your first piece of social sciences research. You’ll start with the ‘big questions’ of ‘What exists?’ and ‘How can we know about what exists?’ From here, you’ll move on to consider the different research methods and their implications. You’ll take part in hands-on workshops and practical sessions, preparing you to conduct your research for your final-year dissertation.

Optional modules

• Uncivil Society: Constituting Global Order

  How do we govern the world, when it’s no longer dominated by states and national governments? How do different types of migration shape the movement of people across the world? In this module, you’ll get to grips with a key part of international relations - borders and solidarities (groups with a common identity or interest). You’ll explore the various forms of borders and solidarities, including:

  • migrations across national boundaries
  • regional organisations
  • trade agreements.

  And link them to key forces and events, such as: 

  • NGOs
  • corporations
  • colonisation
  • refugee movements
  • the migrant ‘crisis’.

  You’ll gain valuable practical and professional knowledge, as you explore leading issues today, and how global governance or migration shapes our lives. 

• Contemporary Security Studies

  What is security? How can we achieve it? And who should provide it? In this module, you’ll dive into key debates on security, and its definitions. You’ll join policy makers, academics and civil servants as you discuss fundamental issues of security. You’ll explore the different ways we look at security, and the things it protects, for example:

  • The nation-state
  • The environment
  • The economy
  • A ‘way of life’.

  You’ll also look at the implications of security on peace and current global conflicts, as well as everyday violence and exclusion. 

• Independent Study

  This module gives you the chance to research a topic that fascinates you. With support from a supervisor, you’ll choose, plan and carry out your independent research, gaining in-depth knowledge of your subject. Student projects have included subjects like:

  • Is democracy failing in Eastern Europe?
  • Did Putin solve Russia’s governance problems?
  • Authoritarianism and political stability in North Korea

  You’ll build great project management and research skills, which will help you in your future career.

• The Global Political Economy

  In this module, you’ll get to know the global economy. You’ll investigate how economics and politics shape world affairs in both trivial and profound ways. 

  In part 1, you’ll gain a strong knowledge of the history of the world economy. You’ll develop key analytical skills, as you explore competing explanations of how it functions. You’ll gain the tools you need to understand the economy’s recent changes.

  In part 2, you’ll dig into key debates on how the global economy functions today, including: 

  • Finance
  • Global production
  • Trade and international development
  • The relationship between the global economy and the environment.

• Work-based Learning

  In this module, you’ll have the chance to carry out a work placement closely linked to your International Relations course. You’ll be supported by your module leader to find a placement that meets your needs, and which will support your learning. With a carefully chosen placement, you’ll build on the skills and knowledge you’ve already gained in Year 1, and you’ll also strengthen vital skills for the workplace, like time management, communication and team-working. 

  Students have found placements in organisations like:

  • Asylum Welcome, working with asylum seekers in Oxford
  • Viva, an international children’s charity
  • Depaul, working with homeless people and immigrants in Paris.

  During and after your placement, you’ll:

  • create a placement portfolio, recording what you’ve done and achieved
  • craft a CV showing your experience
  • give a presentation on your placement.

• European Politics

  In this module you'll look at and analyse governmental and political institutions in Europe. You'll cover policy-making, the participatory process and contemporary issues in European politics, with a focus on comparative study as well as the process of regionalisation. You'll examine:

  • The evolution of democracy and citizenship in Europe
  • Parties, party systems and elections in Europe 
  • The EU and theories of European integration
  • Regional nationalism and sub-state governance in Europe
  • The unique challenges facing post-communist Europe
  • The rise of populist nationalism in Europe
  • The politics of migration in Europe
  • The European welfare state
  • The impact of global challenges on European politics.

Optional Year Abroad

Optional modules

• Year Abroad

  This module offers the opportunity to study abroad, experience a new culture, and apply your skills in different contexts to enhance your employability. It will help you develop self-management, cross-cultural communication, and interpersonal skills.
  
  You’ll receive support to secure a place at a partner institution abroad, where you can choose modules related to your degree or explore new areas that complement your studies.
  
  Studying at an international university will help you enhance your interpersonal skills through cross-cultural communication with students and tutors, allowing you to build lasting relationships. You'll also improve your study skills by focusing on your chosen areas of interest, gaining valuable international experience that will strengthen your CV.

  This year abroad module lasts for one academic year and is taken after the conclusion of your second year of study, once you’ve completed all your level 5 studies. Your year abroad is not credit-bearing.
   

Final Year

Compulsory modules

• Double Dissertation in International Relations, or Interdisciplinary Dissertation in International Relations, or Dissertation in Combined Subject

  This module gives you the chance to do independent research on a topic that fascinates you. You’ll have the support of expert tutors in our International Relations team, who will help you choose your dissertation topic. Whether you’re exploring the international effects of climate change denial, or Trump’s effect on Brexit, you’ll use the skills and expertise you’ve developed during your International Relations degree, and gain fantastic research skills for your future career. 

Optional modules

• Human Rights and Global Politics

  What should world leaders do? How much power should countries give each other? And how should states and individuals behave towards each other? In this module, you’ll get to understand the key questions in world politics. You’ll explore:

  • how we determine rights and duties
  • how we both enable and restrict dominance
  • how issues of race, gender and class interact
  • in relation to world politics.

  You’ll choose one of three topics that on international ethics and power - human rights, migration and immigration, or racism and colonialism."

• The Environment, Sustainability and Social Justice

  Chronic and seemingly intractable challenges such as global injustice and the global ecological crisis cannot be dealt with by individual countries or through bilateral relations. A global approach is needed. But how can such global issues be responded to without a world government? 
  
  Studying this module you'll examine competing and contrasting perspectives in understanding global sustainability. This issue has generated significant academic debate for decades, which has in turn informed a range of international policy responses and global governance initiatives such as the UN Earth Summits. You will be encouraged to take a broad, interdisciplinary and historically grounded analysis of the theory and practice of global justice.

• Independent Study

  This module gives you the chance to research a topic that fascinates you. With support from a supervisor, you’ll choose, plan and carry out your independent research, gaining in-depth knowledge of your subject. Student projects have included subjects like:

  • Is Europe’s relationship with Turkey failing?
  • How does globalisation impact the environment - in the US and China?
  • Is democracy failing in Eastern Europe?

  You’ll also build great project management and research skills, which will help you in your future career.

• Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism

  You'll compare and contrast the shifting and different ways in which states respond to terrorism, and you'll critically engage with the idea of counter terrorism; what it is, and its relation to conceptions of the state, security and political violence. 
  
  You'll then examine particular moments of counter terrorism practice, going on to consider the similarities and differences in various countries' responses to terrorism. You'll conclude this module by considering how these various responses impact upon both human rights regimes and norms and citizenship rights, behaviours and practices.

• Conflict and Peacebuilding

  In this module you’ll explore practices of conflict management and peacebuilding in societies which experience violent conflict. You’ll cover three key areas;

  • Conceptualise peace and the causes and dynamics of contemporary conflict
  • Investigate models of peacemaking
  • Understand how building a sustainable peace can be achieved by societies emerging from war.

  You’ll compare a variety of case studies to draw conclusions about these challenges and processes, alongside analysing current cases of violent conflict, critically evaluating peacebuilding processes and asking questions about the quality of peace that often emerges.