Politics and History with Placement Year

Politics and history are disciplines that illuminate each other continuously. Modern politics is shaped by historical decisions, precedents and conflicts, and historical events can only be fully understood in the light of the political forces and systems that drove them. Studying the two together means you can read the past with political intelligence and engage with the present with historical depth, producing a more sophisticated understanding of both than either subject alone can provide.

The combination is especially suited to those who want to understand how power works, how political systems develop, and how the decisions of the past continue to shape the present.

At Brunel University London, this four-year full-time degree with a placement year develops your knowledge of political theory, comparative politics, international relations and contemporary political issues alongside the study of history across a range of periods, themes and methodological approaches. The placement year gives you a full year of professional experience in a relevant organisation, which is one of the most effective ways to develop the practical skills and professional networks that political and historical education opens up. You will engage with primary sources and secondary scholarship in history, with political theory and empirical analysis in politics, and you will be expected to move fluently between both disciplines, bringing their different methods and insights to bear on shared questions.

Writing clearly, constructing sustained arguments, evaluating evidence critically and engaging with complexity are all central to both disciplines and are developed throughout.

Graduates from politics and history degrees move into the civil service, public policy, journalism, law, international organisations, education, heritage, the third sector, business and political life. The combination of rigorous historical thinking and contemporary political analysis prepares you for careers where understanding context, power and change matters. Postgraduate study in politics, history, law or international relations is a common pathway.