Politics and International Relations

DPhil in International Relations

Course Code | 002950 

DPhil in Politics

Course Code | 003120 

The 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), and associated research power ranking, confirmed that the department produces more world-leading and internationally excellent research than any other UK department in the same subject.

The department houses several centres and programmes concerned with particular areas of research in Politics and International Relations, including:

• Centre for International Studies
  
• Centre for Political Ideologies
  
• Centre for the Study of Social Justice
• Centre for the Study of Inequality and Democracy
• Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict
• Oxford-Sciences Po Research Group in the Social Sciences
• Oxford Spring School in Quantitative Methods for Social Research
• Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism

Successful applicants are admitted to the DPhil with Probationer Research Student (PRS) status and will follow, in their first year, a specially designed research training programme appropriate to their research area and their previous experience.

Supervision is arranged by the Department at the point of admission and applicants do not need to contact potential supervisors before an offer of admission is made.

MPhil programmes

Most graduate students in Politics and International Relations at Oxford begin their studies with the MPhil, which is a professional qualification in its own right but may also be regarded as preparation for the DPhil.

Applicants who intend to write a doctorate but do not already have adequate graduate-level training in the academic study of Politics and International Relations, including appropriate research training, are generally advised to apply for an MPhil degree.

Students who complete the MPhil successfully may then apply to proceed to DPhil status. For students seeking a DPhil in International Relations in particular, the MPhil will normally be the best route to approach the doctorate. Supervision is arranged by the Department at the beginning of the MPhil programme and applicants do not need to contact potential supervisors before then.

MPhil in International Relations

Course Code | 002970 

The highly competitive MPhil programme provides an intellectually rigorous training in the recent history of world politics, in the theoretical or conceptual study of International Relations, and in appropriate research methods.

In the first year, the basic aim of the course is to give students a thorough mastery of the major facts, methodologies and perspectives in the field, as well as to develop students’ research skills.

This training is supplemented in the second year by specialised work on two optional subjects and a 30,000-word thesis.

• Length of programme: Twenty-one months
• Core courses: The Development of the International System since 1900, Contemporary Debates in International Relations Theory, Research Design and Methods in International Relations
• Optional courses: Popular options in recent years have included The International Relations of the Developing and Post-Colonial World, International Normative Theory, The United States in International Relations since 1945 and International Political Economy*
• Programme specification  

MPhil in Politics (Comparative Government)

Course Code | 003150 

This programme is centred on the advanced study of comparative government and political institutions.

In the first year, the core course in Comparative Government introduces students to the full range of approaches to the study of comparative politics and provides them with the knowledge, analytical skills and conceptual tools necessary to undertake research at the cutting edge of the discipline.

The emphasis throughout is on the research-based study of government and political institutions, and students are taught the range of research design and data analysis skills that they require to become competent research practitioners in the field.

In the second year, students undertake specialised work on two optional subjects, which may be country-specific or comparative in focus, and complete a 30,000-word thesis.

• Length of programme: Twenty-one months
• Core courses: Comparative Government, Research Methods in Political Science
  
• Optional courses: Popular options in recent years have included The Politics and Government of China, Comparative Political Economy, Theory of Voting and The Politics and Government of the USA*
  
• Programme specification

MPhil in Politics (European Politics and Society)

Course Code | 003160 

This degree is intended to promote social scientific research on Europe.

In the first year, the core course in European Governance introduces students to the principal theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of Europe and to the comparative study of European states in both Western and Eastern Europe.

In addition, they are taught the full range of research design and data analysis skills that they require to become competent research practitioners in the field.

In the second year, students undertake specialised work on two optional subjects in the government and politics of Europe and of particular European states and complete a 30,000 word thesis.

• Length of programme: Twenty-one months
• Core courses: European Governance, Research Methods in Political Science
• Optional courses: Popular options in recent years have included The Politics and Government of France, Comparative Political Economy, European International History since 1945 and Comparative Presidentialism*
  
• Programme specification

MPhil in Politics (Political Theory)

Course Code | 003170 

This degree prepares students to conduct high-level research in political theory, interpreted broadly to include political philosophy, ideologies and the history of political thought.

In the first year, the core course in the Theory of Politics is concerned to equip students with the knowledge, analytical skills and conceptual tools required for the advanced study of political theory.

Students are introduced to textual and interpretative considerations and to questions of reasoning, and are required to examine a range of different methods and approaches within political theory.

In the second year, students take two optional subjects in specialised areas of contemporary and/or historical political thought and complete a 30,000-word thesis.

• Length of programme: Twenty-one months
• Core courses: Theory of Politics, Research Methods in Political Theory
• Optional courses: Popular options in recent years have included Political Theories from Machiavelli to Burke, Kant’s Political Philosophy, Political Theories of Hegel and Marx and The Political and Ethical Thought of Plato and Aristotle*
  
• Programme specification

* Applicants should note that the schedule is refreshed every year and that not all subjects will be available in each year

MSc Programmes

MScs are intensive one-year taught programmes designed to provide training in research methods together with substantive subject training in Politics. They are not intended as free-standing, one-year degrees for those who wish to spend only one year at Oxford. All MSc applicants must have a strong thesis proposal and a clear intention to undertake an advanced doctoral research project in Oxford, normally over three years.

MSc supervision is arranged by the Department at the point of admission and applicants do not need to contact potential supervisors before an offer of admission is made. 

MSc in Political Theory Research

Course Code | 003110 

This degree offers specialist and general training in philosophy, analysis and methods as they relate to the discipline of political theory.

The MSc consists of three elements: a programme of research methods training, including a submission of a Research Design Essay which brings together the candidate’s research proposal for their DPhil with discussion and analysis of relevant methodological issues and problems; a core course in the Theory of Politics; and a 15,000 word thesis that will normally bear some relation to the proposed doctorate, for example a draft chapter.

• Length of programme: Twelve months
• Core courses: Theory of Politics, Research Methods in Political Theory
• Programme specification

MSc in Politics Research

Course Code | 003145

This degree offers specialist and general training in social scientific methods and techniques as they relate to the discipline of Politics.

The MSc consists of three elements: a programme of research methods training, including a submission of a Research Design Essay which brings together the candidate’s research proposal for their DPhil with discussion and analysis of relevant methodological issues and problems; a core course in Comparative Government or in European Governance; and a 15,000-word thesis that will normally bear some relation to the proposed doctorate, for example a draft chapter or a preparatory pilot study.

• Length of programme: Twelve months
• Core courses: Comparative Government or European Governance, Research Methods in Political Science
• Programme specification

The principal library resource for students, the Bodleian Social Science Library, is located within the Manor Road Building and holds some 200,000 books and 1,000 current serials to support teaching and research in Politics and International Relations, Sociology, Economics and Development Studies. It also contains selected research collections from the Bodleian Library.

The recently-refurbished workspace for graduate students is situated within the main area of the department, comprising a combination of permanently-allocated workspaces and ‘hot desks’ that can be used on a casual basis, alongside other extensive computing facilities in the Manor Road building.

The University of Oxford has the largest Politics and International Relations departments in the UK with more than 100 active research staff, of whom 70 are full-time members of staff who teach graduates and supervise research, offering unrivalled coverage of the fields of political and international studies.

Information on academic staff profiles

A large proportion of graduates from programmes in Politics and International Relations proceed to further research and to careers in academia.

Graduates have also gone on to successful careers in many different countries in such diverse areas of employment as international organisations, the media, government, business and finance.