Politics and Portuguese

Politics and Portuguese is a combination that equips you to engage with some of the most important questions in contemporary global affairs from the inside, combining the analytical frameworks for understanding political systems, international relations, and governance with direct linguistic access to the Portuguese-speaking world. Portuguese is spoken by over 260 million people across Brazil, Portugal, Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, and other countries, and this Lusophone world encompasses some of the most significant emerging economies, geopolitical actors, and cultural forces in the world today. The language gives you more than words: it gives you access to political debates, media, literature, and professional environments that would otherwise remain opaque.

At the University of Manchester this four-year full-time programme develops your political analysis alongside high-level Portuguese language proficiency. You will study political theory, comparative politics, international relations, and global governance, building the analytical tools to understand how power operates within and between states. Alongside this, you will develop your Portuguese through sustained language teaching and engagement with the cultures, histories, and contemporary politics of the Portuguese-speaking world.

The programme includes a sandwich year and work placement opportunities, giving you professional experience that connects your academic development to real political and professional contexts.

Graduates from politics and Portuguese programmes are well placed for careers in diplomacy and international organisations, journalism and media focused on Portuguese-speaking regions, development and humanitarian work in Lusophone Africa and Brazil, the civil service with an international remit, and business development in Portuguese-speaking markets. The combination of political analysis and Portuguese language proficiency is particularly valued by employers who operate across Latin America, Africa, and the European Union, where Portuguese is an important working language. Many graduates also continue to postgraduate study in international relations, area studies, or Portuguese and Lusophone world studies.