Department of Politics and International Relations
The Department of Politics and International Relations (DPIR) is an internationally renowned centre of excellence for teaching and research and is the UK’s leading intellectual centre for political research.
View over Oxford featuring the Sheldonian Theatre, Clarendon Building and Radcliffe Camera. Credit: Oxford University Images / John Cairns Photography
Overview
DPIR is currently ranked first in the 2026 Guardian University Guide for politics, first in the Complete University Guide for 2027, and second in the 2026 QS World University rankings.
Oxford University is ranked second in the world for social sciences by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings by Subject 2026 and first in the UK.
Politics shapes the world we live in. It influences how societies are governed, how rights are protected, how conflicts are resolved, and how communities respond to the challenges of an increasingly interconnected world.
At the Department of Politics and International Relations (DPIR), graduate students join one of the world's leading centres for political research and teaching. DPIR's vision is a world with a wider understanding of political power, political processes, and their impact. Through rigorous scholarship and intellectual exchange, the department seeks to deepen understanding of the forces that shape political life at local, national, and global levels.
As a graduate student at DPIR, you will learn alongside internationally recognised scholars whose research is advancing debates on democracy, conflict, international relations, political economy, political behaviour, technology, inequality, and climate governance. Their work informs public policy, shapes institutional practice, and contributes to global understanding of some of the most pressing issues of our time.
DPIR's academic community brings together exceptional scholars and researchers from around the world in an environment defined by intellectual curiosity, critical debate, and interdisciplinary collaboration. Whether your ambition is to pursue academic research, influence public policy, contribute to international organisations, or lead change in the public, private, or third sectors, Oxford offers the expertise, resources, and networks to help you achieve it.
Oxford's graduates join an influential global network of leaders, policymakers, academics, teachers, and researchers whose ideas and actions continue to shape public life around the world.
The DPIR community currently numbers over 300 graduate students, with students split relatively equally between those studying taught courses and those undertaking doctoral research.
Courses offered
The courses shown below are offered at postgraduate-level.
- MPhil in International Relations (full time)
- DPhil in International Relations (full time and part time)
- MSc in Law, Governance and Artificial Intelligence (full time)
- DPhil in Politics (full time and part time)
- MPhil in Politics (Comparative Government) (full time)
- MPhil in Politics (European Politics and Society) (full time)
- MPhil in Politics (Political Theory) (full time)
- MSc in Politics of Global Challenges (full time)
Social Sciences Division
The Social Sciences Division comprises the largest grouping of social sciences in the UK, home to 14 outstanding departments, tackling some of the major challenges facing humanity in the 21st century.
Oxford's Social Sciences departments are committed to research that develops a greater understanding of all aspects of our complex society, including cybercrime, economic and political turmoil, environmental change, inequality, legal systems, movement of people and social development.
This research is disseminated through a wide range of innovative graduate courses, many of which are recognised by the UK Research Councils and provide preparation for doctoral work, as well as being discrete programmes of advanced study in their own right; others provide a professional qualification.
The purpose-built Centre for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences, adjacent to the Faculty of Law houses the Department of Economics, the Department of Politics and International Relations and the Bodleian Social Science Library, providing exceptional facilities for master's and research students. All are rooted in research of international standing and students have access to a well-resourced, active research environment. The division also includes the Saïd Business School and the Blavatnik School of Government.
As one of the major providers of social science research in the UK, the University, in collaboration with Brunel University of London and The Open University, hosts the Grand Union Doctoral Training Partnership, one of fifteen Doctoral Training Partnerships accredited by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) as part of a Doctoral Training Network. ESRC DTP studentships are available in a wide variety of training pathways in the social sciences, for both DPhil and master's-to-DPhil programmes.