Politics and History

Politics and history are disciplines that illuminate each other: politics cannot be fully understood without knowing how current institutions, conflicts and power arrangements came to be, and history without attention to political structures and ideologies risks becoming a sequence of disconnected events. Together, they develop the analytical rigour to understand how decisions are made and power exercised in the present, alongside the historical depth to trace how those patterns have emerged over time. The combination is particularly powerful for understanding political change, the formation of states, the dynamics of empire and decolonisation, and the ways in which historical memory shapes contemporary politics.

At the School of Oriental and African Studies, this three-year full-time programme, which includes a foundation year, offers a combination shaped by SOAS's distinctive focus on the politics and histories of Asia, Africa and the Middle East. You will engage with political science and historical scholarship oriented towards these regions, developing a genuinely comparative and non-Eurocentric perspective on political systems, historical processes and the legacies of colonialism. The foundation year provides a thorough grounding in both disciplines before you move into the main programme, building the analytical, research and writing skills each subject demands.

Graduates from Politics and History programmes at SOAS go on to careers in international development, diplomacy, journalism, policy research, the civil service, international organisations, NGOs, teaching, heritage and the charitable sector. The contextual knowledge of non-Western political systems and histories is particularly valued in careers with an international or development dimension. Further study in politics, history, international relations, area studies or international development is a common next step for those who want to specialise further.