Overview

Our joint honours course allows students to pursue their own areas of interest within International Relations and Philosophy whilst also providing them with a solid foundation in both disciplines and a range of personal and professional skills which will serve as a springboard for their future career development. The programme is carefully designed to enable students to gradually develop their knowledge and skills and become autonomous, effective and independent learners.

International Relations provides students with the opportunity to develop their understanding and knowledge of world politics, focusing on issues such as nationalism, global justice, security, migration and climate change. In Philosophy, our modules explore how the work of historical philosophers impacts upon debates that are central to contemporary philosophy.

Links between research and undergraduate teaching are an important and distinctive feature of the programme, and the combined research experience and competencies of staff have shaped its design, content and delivery.

Learning and assessment

In your first year, you’ll get to explore a broad range of ideologies and modern political systems, gaining skills to help you succeed in securing a career after graduation. You’ll be introduced to Reason and what makes an action ‘good’ or ‘bad'. You’ll ask how humans are different from animals. And you’ll learn how to evaluate arguments and use logic.

In your second year, you’ll explore the great issues of international relations. The optional work placement can give you experience in the working world and enhance your job prospects. You’ll start to focus on your philosophical interests. This might be religion and the concept of gods, or evolution, gender, identity or art.

In your final year, you’ll have the freedom to focus on what you care about most, including your dissertation subject. You’ll look more deeply at the concepts of freedom, morality and judgment. You might question whether we have free will. Or you might test the idea of evil. There are optional modules that include topics such as human rights, global ethics, global environmental politics and terrorism.