MSc International Relations

We live in an increasingly interconnected and globalised world where events that unfold on other continents can affect our lives very quickly. Sometimes politicians can work together in a search for solutions but disagreement, and even the possibility of conflict, never seems far away.

Our most popular course, MSc International Relations, attracts students from all over the world. You focus on general theoretical perspectives of the discipline, providing the tools for you to understand historical and contemporary events. The emphasis is on explaining and understanding international events, rather than simply the intellectual history of international relations as a field.

Your future

All Essex politics graduates have the distinction of a qualification from one of the world’s leading politics departments.

Our MA International Relations will help you develop key employability skills which will make you attractive to both the public and private sector, including analytical reasoning, research design, communication and report writing.

Recent graduates have gone on to work for the following high-profile organisations:

• The Civil Service
• Local government
• The World Bank
• The United Nations
• NATO
• YouGov and YouGov America

We also offer supervision for PhD and MPhil in the following fields: government; ideology and discourse analysis; international relations; political behaviour; and politics.

Our academic reputation is illustrated by the fact that many of our graduates now teach or research at universities, colleges of higher education and schools. For example, recent graduates are now research fellows and academic staff at: Mannheim, Germany; ETH Zurich, Switzerland; Duke University, USA; NATO/SHAPE, Belgium; and University of Amsterdam, Netherlands.

A 2.2 degree in American Studies, Economics, Finance, International Relations, International Studies, Political Science, Political Studies, Statistics, or United States Politics or a 2.2 degree in any subject which includes study in two relevant modules. Relevant modules include, but are not limited to: Comparative Political Systems, Constitutional Democracy, Contemporary World Affairs, Current Affairs, Democratic Theory, Econometrics, European Integration/Dynamics of Integration, Foreign Policy/Comparative Foreign Policy, Game Theory, Governmental Processes/Systems, Human Rights, Ideology and Political Analysis, International Economic Law, International Economic Relations.