International Relations and Latin

International relations is the study of how states, international organisations, non-governmental actors and individuals interact across national borders, and of the global structures, norms and forces that shape those interactions. It engages with some of the most consequential questions of our time: what causes war and what sustains peace, how foreign policy is made and by whom, how international institutions function and fail, what human rights are worth in a system that lacks a global sovereign to enforce them and how economic development and political stability are related. Adding Latin to this combination brings the depth of the classical tradition to a discipline concerned with power, law, diplomacy and the long history of international order.

At the University of St Andrews this four-year MA (Hons) programme allows you to develop both areas seriously, building competence in Latin while engaging with the full scope of international relations as an academic discipline. You will read Latin texts from Cicero's political writings to Thucydides in translation, exploring the ways in which classical thought about power, war and empire has shaped and continues to shape international relations theory and practice. The year abroad gives you the opportunity to engage with international affairs and academic life in a different national context, one of the most effective ways of developing the comparative perspective that the subject demands.

Graduates of international relations pursue careers in diplomacy, foreign policy and the civil service, international organisations including the UN, EU and NATO, NGOs working in development and human rights, international journalism, political risk consultancy and international law. The classical education that Latin provides is valued in academic research and in careers that call for historical depth and the ability to engage with long traditions of political thought. Many graduates go on to postgraduate study in international relations, law, security studies or area studies, and the combination of analytical rigour and classical grounding is genuinely distinctive.