History and Politics

History and politics is one of the most naturally complementary pairings available in the humanities and social sciences. History provides the evidence and the long perspective needed to understand how political systems develop, how power has been organised and contested across different times and places, and how the present political moment has been shaped by decisions and forces that sometimes stretch back centuries. Politics provides the theoretical frameworks and comparative methods needed to analyse those systems rigorously, examining institutions, ideologies, and the distribution of power in the present day.

Together, the two disciplines produce graduates who can think both historically and analytically about the most important questions of public life.

Studied part-time at Manchester Metropolitan University, this degree develops specialist training in both subjects across a wide range of time periods and regions. History content spans ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome through the medieval world, the Tudors, the Americas, China, India, and modern global conflicts and revolutions, giving you a genuinely broad chronological and geographical grounding. The politics component examines contemporary political systems, international relations, political theory, and the major ideological traditions that shape how societies organise themselves.

A sandwich year with work placement gives you direct professional experience connected to the degree, building the applied skills and workplace awareness that employers value alongside academic competence.

The skills this degree produces are valued across a wide range of professional contexts. Graduates enter careers in the civil service, local government, journalism, public policy, think tanks, international organisations, the legal professions, education, charities, and the media. The capacity to read complex information critically, to think historically about the present, and to construct clear, evidence-based arguments transfers readily to almost any professional setting.

Postgraduate study in history, political science, international relations, public policy, or public administration is a natural continuation for those who wish to specialise or pursue academic careers.