International Relations MSc

University of Aberdeen

The MSc in International Relations offers you the opportunity to study the full range of complex contemporary challenges facing states and the international community. Explore the world’s most pressing political problems including war, peace and security, human rights, foreign policy, development, and globalisation. The disciplinary landscape of International Relations (IR) has expanded considerably in the early twenty-first century, with a number of new challenges confronting a now outmoded global architecture of power. International Relations' traditional concern with war, security and diplomacy have been called into question by the end of the Cold War and the War On Terror and have been further complicated by far-reaching epistemological and methodological shifts in social theory. Debates about the nature of globalisation, international institutions, development/post-development, global political economy, culture and identity, citizenship and rights bear prominently on efforts to understand the ebb and flow of contemporary IR. In theory and practice, understanding the modalities of power in constituting the ‘international,’ as well as challenges to hegemonic stabilisations of it, has gained a particular urgency, making the study of IR central to apprehending the complexity of global social life. The MSc in International Relations provides you with a sustained engagement with key issues in contemporary international relations including development & political economy, critical & human security, globalisation, gender, identity, human rights and governance. Along with building a foundation on the conceptual/theoretical underpinnings of international relations, you have the opportunity to choose from a range of courses, allowing for specialised study on a particular theme or region. You will develop the in-depth analytical and research skills to enable consultancy on behalf of a range of international organisations. We also offer a distinct and interdisciplinary pathway in International Relations and International Law that combines the study of global politics, diplomacy, security, and conflict with training in international law and human rights and prepares you for careers in areas such as international organisations, human rights, and transitional justice and security.