Department of Politics and International Studies

About

The Department of Politics and International Studies is home to nearly fifty academics and more than 1,000 students across its undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. 

The Department provides expert grounding in the study of Politics and International Relations through deep engagement with the historical legacies, political realities, and international affairs of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. The Department is unique in combining unparalleled regional expertise with an approach to world politics that foregrounds perspectives from the Global South. 

The Department is home to six research Centres, each with a distinctive research agenda and worldwide networks. These Centres regularly host events and external speakers.

If you want to study politics from a non-western angle, this is the place to be. Most of our academics speak one or more of the languages in the regions they study and spend substantial periods of time in their countries of expertise.

 

This enables us to produce world-leading research. It also informs our teaching. Together with our students, we explore politics in the rich and complex worlds of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

— Professor Matthew Nelson, Head of the Department of Politics and International Studies