Modern History and Politics

Modern History and Politics is a combination degree that examines how the world has come to be as it is, and how it is organised and contested in the present. Modern History provides the tools to understand the forces, events and ideas that have shaped the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, developing the critical and analytical skills needed to evaluate evidence, construct arguments and interpret complex causation. Politics, meanwhile, examines how power is organised and exercised in contemporary societies, how institutions function, and how individuals and groups compete to influence collective decisions.

Together, they produce graduates who are exceptionally well-equipped to make sense of current affairs and the longer-term patterns that underlie them.

At the University of Southampton, this full-time three-year programme covers both historical analysis and contemporary political science, addressing issues such as international security, migration and globalisation through both a historical and a political lens. You will develop the research skills, analytical capabilities and written communication strengths that are central to both disciplines, learning to work with primary and secondary sources in history while also engaging with political theory, comparative politics and empirical research methods.

Modern History and Politics graduates go on to careers in the civil service, politics, journalism, international relations, law, diplomacy, the charitable sector, think tanks and policy research. The combination of historical depth and contemporary political analysis is particularly valued in government, foreign affairs and public service, and the degree provides a strong foundation for further study in history, political science, international relations or law. Teaching at secondary level is another common destination, given the breadth and depth of knowledge the degree develops.