Cambridge M.Phil - Research Proposal

Sorry to jump in here, but I'm looking to apply for Political Theory MAs/PhDs at other institutions (MPhil Political Theory at Oxford) and stumbled upon the MPhil Political Thought and Intellectual History. Seeing as it's offered by the History department, do you think a non-historical background/focus is problematic? I'm interested in 20th century continental political theory and socialist political thought, but not from a historical perspective per se - more so with a view to a contemporary application. It seems like a fair share of the faculty specialises in political theory. Will I fit in?

My understanding of PTIH in Cambridge is that it is historically-grounded. They are still very much in the Skinnerian model of historical context informing political thought, rather than its uses in the contemporary world per se. The political thought historians I know definitely see themselves as historians, rather than political theorists, and this includes someone who works on 1950s/60s political thought. As regards your background, I wouldn't necessarily say it's problematic not to have a history BA, but how you are constructing your project could be problematic for them. That said, I'm not in PTIH, so I guess if you like the look of the course you could apply & see what happens, especially if they have people you'd be interested in working with.

Thank you! Would you say that all, or most, of the research by MPhil students in PTIH deals with historical primary source material rather than theoretical monographs? Also, do you know whether it's commong for PTIH graduates to go on to do PhDs/DPhils in other fields (political theory, philosophy, etc.)?