UCL is recognised as having one of the leading departments of Political Science, not just in the UK, but globally. Politics has been regularly rated in the top 10 of both The Times and The Guardian newspapers Good University Guides. It offers a uniquely stimulating environment for the study of all fields of politics, including international relations, political theory and public policy-making and administration.

As well as its programme in Political Studies, the department coordinates an affiliate programme in International Relations for undergraduate students from North America and Japan as well as a number of other countries.

Although the study of international relations is traditionally  associated with political science and history, the impact of  globalisation has brought to the fore the importance not just of  inter-state relations but also of transnational and global social and  economic as well as political processes and organisations. As a result, the normative and empirical study of international phenomena and institutional arrangements has come to figure increasingly in a broad  range of disciplines in the humanities and the social sciences. This programme brings together UCL’s expertise in this area from across its world leading departments. Students acquire a grounding in the central concepts and issues of international relations within the cores and can  then choose from a wide variety of options taught by different departments.

Admission is handled by the Political Science department and students must take at least 50% of their course options from a list of approved courses within the Political Science programme and no more than 25% from any other department.

Core

• POLS6005A/B International Security
• POLS6007A/B International Development and Public Policy
• POLS6010 International Relations Theories
• POLS6014 International Organisations (full year students only)
• POLS6015A/B International Political Economy

Recommended Courses Within the Department

• POLS6009 Global Environmental Politics

• POLS6008 Gender and Politics

Recommended Courses Outside the Department

SSEES

• SESS3103 European Security
• SESS3102 Soviet and Russian Foreign Policy
• SESS3002 International Trade and Finance in Russia and Eastern Europe
• SEHI2007 The Rise and Fall of Yugoslavia

European Social and Political Studies

• ESPS2107 Food: Consumerism and Globalisation from Free to Fair Trade
• ESPS2301 EU Law
• ESPS2103 Political Violence and Intrastate Conflicts

Economics

• ECON1005A/B The World Economy

Geography

• GEOG1004 Human Ecology: Geographical Perspectives
• GEOG1007 Global Geographies
• GEOG2009 Environmental Governance
• GEOG2014 Development Geography
• GEOG2019 Political Geography and Geopolitics
• GEOG3018 Africa: Post-colonial Perspectives
• GEOG3038 Water and Development in Africa
• GEOG3048 Migration and Transnationalism
• GEOG3053 Asian Cities in a Globalising South

Hebrew and Jewish Studies

• HEBR7766 Israel and the Occupied Territories
• HEBR7750 The Arab Israeli Conflict

History

• HIST6101 The Near East to 1200 BC: The Earliest States
• HIST6106 The Hellenistic World from Alexander to the End of the Attalid Kingdom 
• HIST6206 Europe in the Late Middle Ages 1000-1500
• HIST6207 Marriage and Monarchy: the Middle Ages from a World Historical Perspective
• HIST6307 Enlightenment and Revolution: Europe 1715-1805 
• HIST6309 Early Modern Europe 
• HIST6302 European History since 1945 
• HIST6306 Britain and the Wider World, 1878-1982 
• HIST7335 State, Sovereignty & Liberty: European Political Thought in the C18th 
• HIST7309 Inter-American Relations in the Twentieth Century 
• HIST7329 The United States and International Human Rights since 1941 
• HIST3104 and HIST 9104 Mechanisms of Power: Running the Roman Empire 
• HIST3106 and HIST 9106 The Assyrian Empire
• HIST3301 and HIST 9301 Great Britain and the American Colonies
• HIST3309 and HIST 9309 Living the Empire: Metropole and Colony in the 1830s
• HIST3307 and HIST 9307 Colombia: From the Revolution for Independence to the Drugs Terrorists

Laws

• LAWS7002 Public International Law
• LAWS3036 Roman Law
• LAWS2009 European Union and Human Rights Law

Philosophy

• PHIL3031 Global Justice and Health

How to apply

How to apply for this programme