Politics and International Relations

Politics and international relations is a degree that equips you to engage with some of the most pressing challenges of our time. How can world leaders cooperate on climate change when national interests diverge? What conditions make peace more likely than war?

How are power and authority distributed in a world of rising and declining powers, international institutions, and non-state actors? These are not merely academic questions: they shape the lives of billions of people and require both rigorous analysis and genuine engagement with the values at stake.

At the University of Sheffield, this three-year, full-time programme offers a flexible and intellectually rich education in both disciplines. You will study political theory, comparative government, and the domestic politics of different states alongside international relations theory, foreign policy analysis, global governance, and the political economy of the international system. A sandwich year is built into the programme, giving you professional experience in a relevant organisation, alongside a year abroad option and work placement opportunities that connect you with the real world of politics and international affairs before you graduate.

Sheffield's research strengths in politics and international relations mean you will engage with cutting-edge scholarship on the questions the programme addresses. Graduates develop the analytical rigour, research skills, and communication ability to work effectively in a wide range of careers. The civil service, diplomacy, international organisations, journalism, think tanks, policy research, law, finance, and the voluntary sector are all common destinations.

Many graduates also continue to postgraduate study in political science, international relations, or public policy, building on the rigorous foundation the undergraduate degree provides.