Modern History and Politics with Year Abroad

Modern history and politics is a combination that recognises the inseparability of the past and the present in understanding how the world works. History provides the long view, tracing how the events, ideas, and structures of the modern period, broadly the last two or three centuries, have shaped the societies and international system we inhabit today. Politics provides the analytical frameworks to understand how power is organised, exercised, and contested within and between states, and how policy choices shape social outcomes.

Together the two disciplines equip you to understand both where the world comes from and how it currently functions.

At Southampton this four-year full-time BA structures the combination across a degree that includes a year at a partner university abroad. You will study how societies organise themselves and make decisions, examining political institutions, ideologies, and processes alongside the historical events that shaped them. Issues such as international security, migration, and globalisation run through both the historical and the political parts of the curriculum, giving you a coherent thread connecting past and present.

The year abroad adds an international dimension that enriches both your academic perspective and your professional profile.

The programme develops research skills, analytical rigour, and clear written and oral communication, skills that are transferable across a wide range of professional contexts.

Graduates pursue careers in the civil service, politics and political research, journalism, international organisations, think tanks, law, education, and the third sector. The combination of historical understanding and political analysis is particularly valued by employers who need graduates that can contextualise current events and think carefully about institutional and policy questions. Many graduates also go on to postgraduate study in history, political science, international relations, or law.