Politics and International Relations

Politics and international relations together examine how power is organised, exercised, and contested, both within states and between them. Politics investigates the institutions, processes, and ideologies that shape domestic governance, asking how governments are formed and legitimated, how policy is made, and how citizens participate in and respond to political authority. International relations extends that analysis to the international arena, examining how states, international organisations, and non-state actors interact, how cooperation and conflict arise, and how global challenges such as climate change, migration, and nuclear proliferation are governed.

At the University of Chichester, this three-year full-time programme gives you a rich understanding of the workings of modern politics and international relations while also incorporating strands from international law and diplomacy. You will engage with political theory from the classical tradition to contemporary debates, comparative politics across different national systems, and the major approaches to international relations from realism to constructivism. International law adds an important dimension, showing how states create and operate within legal frameworks even in the absence of a global authority.

The combination develops your ability to think analytically about power, institutions, and legitimacy at multiple scales, and to communicate complex ideas clearly in written and spoken form. The typical entry tariff is 88 UCAS points.

Graduates from politics and international relations programmes go on to careers in the civil service, diplomatic service, international organisations, journalism, think tanks, NGOs, political parties, and the private sector. The analytical and communication skills the degree develops are transferable across a wide range of roles. Further study at postgraduate level in political science, international relations, international law, and public policy is a well-established route for those who wish to deepen their expertise or pursue research careers.