Ask a Politics and/or International Relations student!

Hello! This is a thread for any questions you might have about studying Politics, International Relations or Politics and International Relations in university. You will get a response from a current or former student whenever possible!

I am going into my second year of International Relations at the University of Essex and I am currently on track to get a First. Feel free to ask anything about the course.

What’s has your favourite module been?

My course is very flexible (literally half my first year modules were from departments other than mine), so I have taken four politics and international relations modules so far. Out of them, my favourite was Co-operation and Conflict because conflict prevention and resolution is one of my main areas of interest. I particularly liked how it introduced different types of cooperation and dealing with conflict before proceeding to analyse them in detail, which heightened my understanding of how international relations work and can be improved.

However, I believe that by the end of my degree, my favourite modules will be International Security Studies (third year), Strategic Nonviolent Action (second year), and Political Behaviour (second year).

That sounds interesting, I’m thinking of studying IR.

Do you know what the career prospects are like? I can’t seem to find a lot about it

What kind of things do you guys study ?
Do you think Trump has been a stabilising or destabilising influence on the world ?

It is indeed a very interesting course! One of the reasons why I chose it is exactly because I knew I would not get bored if I study it

Glad you asked! Here is a list of typical employers and jobs for politics and international relations graduates

- Diplomacy
- Foreign affairs
- Wildlife organisations
- Humanitarian organisations
- Charities
- Civil Service Fast Stream
- Diplomatic Service Fast Stream
- MP's Caseworker
- MP jobs in general (see w4mp, a site with MP jobs)
- DFID Grad Scheme
- PA Consulting Government and Public Sector Grad Scheme
- National Graduate Development Programme (working for a local council)
- MI5/MI6 Intelligence Analyst or Intelligence Officer
- Research
- Political journalism
- Political analyst
- EU
- UN
- WTO
- NATO
- Interpol
- Any business job (e.g. marketing, communications, human resources, public relations)



We study a variety of things, but in general, everything is about the political world and research Examples of topics we can study are politics and international relations theory, strategy, political psychology, cooperation and conflict studies, war studies, regional politics (e.g. German politics, British politics, Middle Eastern politics), institutions of politics (e.g. the Parliament, EU, UN, etc), democracy (Parliaments, pressure groups, electoral systems, etc), political analysis in light of recent events, policy, power, parties, game theory, international development, social justice, political economy, (international) security studies, state building, environmental politics, global justice, violent and nonviolent action, world order, the balance of power, social research methods, and human rights.

Trump has DEFINITELY been a destabilising influence so far.

I've added this thread to my HUGE list of similar threads where you can find help and advice from current and former students of loads of universities and courses.

What’s your favourite topic ?
What are the biggest threats to world security right now ?

Are there any current affairs modules as part of your course (core or optional)?

Do you find it difficult to keep up with current affairs (especially across the pond) whilst completing work, socialising etc?

I ask as a student heading into their first year of History and Politics

Hi! I am going to be picking my A-levels soon, and am considering History, Politics or Law at Uni! Sorry if this is too many questions...

1. What A-levels did you take/recommend to take for politics?

2. What does studying a politics degree involve, in terms of the course, work and so on?

3. What is your favourite part of politics?

4. How would you recommend preparing for a Uni politics degree, in terms of personal statements etc.?

what are your views on feminism? do you think males and females are equal?

Hello! This is a thread for any questions you might have about studying Politics, International Relations or Politics and International Relations in university. You will get a response from a current or former student whenever possible!

I am going into my second year of International Relations at the University of Essex and I am currently on track to get a First. Feel free to ask anything about the course.

Glad to hear you're on track to get a First. What modules can you do in Politics and IR at Essex specifically and I know this is slightly off topic but how is the course assessed?

Hi!

Great choices! I took a history module in university too

Do not worry, there is no such thing as too many questions (unless it is on a test or quiz you are marked on)! I am here to help, after all

1. I took Government and Politics, Psychology, English Literature, and Sociology. While that was a decent mix, the A-levels I would recommend are Government and Politics, History, foreign languages, Philosophy, Economics, Sociology, and Mathematics. Other subjects like Geography, Psychology, Law or English Literature are viable options too, though they are not as helpful in the degree itself (you will get in with those A-levels, though). Just pick any three out of all these and you will be more than fine.

2. I study International Relations, but I can answer this anyway since International Relations is just an area of Politics. Typical topics that a Politics or International Relations student studies include, but are not limited to democracy, political parties, institutions of democracy, regional politics, political theory, political philosophy, international organisations, political research, power politics, policy, conflict and war studies, human rights, environmental politics, and security studies. This is more or less the same as International Relations, just on a less global scale. What your course contains depends on the modules you have at your university. To exemplify, I am not going to take a single power politics or policy module during my degree, but that is only because I chose my modules to avoid those topics as they do not interest me personally.

The workload consists of reading, mostly. Reading around the topic, both for assignments and for the exams, is important. Keeping up with the news helps too.

As for the assignments, most of my assignments are essays. Some were presentations and a few were tests. In one module, 5% of my grade was participation.

In most seminars/classes, we go over the lecture material and discuss a topic the teacher chose. In lectures, we spend most of the time listening to the lecturer and making notes, but there have been instances when we were prompted to give examples or discuss.

Is that everything you wanted to know about what studying Politics is like? If not, feel free to ask for information on anything I did not touch upon

3. My favourite parts of politics are democracy, conflict resolution, and security studies. My interest in those is a main reason why I chose to study my degree.

4. For your personal statement and preparation for the course, I suggest reading a few books about politics and international relations (3-5 should be more than fine), doing work experience with your MP (if you would be interested in this, email your MP straight away, since it will probably take them a while to respond; mine took six months before I could do the day of work experience I did), joining a society or club (the debating society would be good, though any other society/club works; I was in the writing club and it did not prevent me from getting an offer), participating in a Model United Nations (I took part in UWE's MUN in November of my AS year), joining a political party if you want to, any school extracurriculars (like being a class rep, student ambassador for your school or part of the school newspaper if you have one), volunteering (bonus points if it is for charity), fundraising if possible, being part of the UK Youth Parliament, and doing the NCS. There are a lot of other things you can do (e.g. extracurricular courses, learning a language, debating and writing competitions, etc) and politics is not particularly picky, so feel free to engage in whatever activity you like and which you could use on your personal statement. However, do not think of this as a checklist; you do not have to do all or most of these things. I did not do all of them either. In fact, I did most of them and had to leave out some of them because I did too much to list everything on my personal statement. This is just a list of things you could do, not a list of things you should or need to do.



I view feminism as a misunderstood theory which is not being applied in the right places. Feminism actually advises for equality between men and women, but some modern radical 'feminists' are basically female supremacists who want everything to be better for women than for men (a.k.a. unequal and unfair to men), which is not what feminism was meant to be. It does not help that most feminists are from and in countries where feminism is not exactly necessary anymore while places which truly need women's rights and feminism are lacking in terms of feminism. Yes, there are some feminist issues even in modern day UK and US (e.g. higher salary average for men than women), but they are nowhere near as glaring as those in other countries.

I think men and women are equal in front of the law. That being said, I believe true equality does not exist. If it existed, I believe it would be completely unjust and unfair. Some people are smarter, some are prettier, some are stronger, some are richer, and so on, and none of these differences can be ameliorated easily and perfectly, so I accept that inequality is a natural and unavoidable state. To exemplify, in the case of men and women, men tend to be physically stronger than women on average (there are women who are physically stronger than most men, but that is because of years of working out, not biology), so I do not see men and women as equal in biological terms, though they seem to be equal in most other aspects.

We tend to think that inequality is bad, but when you think about it, equality can be even less fair than inequality at times. True equality would imply everyone having the same salary, for example, but that would be completely unfair to people who worked hard to get a job that requires better qualifications. A doctor should not be paid the same as a cleaner, after all, and I am sure everyone can agree on that. However, that very thought, that some people should have better salaries, implies that equality would not be fair and is therefore not the recommended course of action.

In fact, most 'equality' things are actually equity things. A lot of projects meant to equalise life opportunities for young people regardless of their background are branded as 'equality', but in reality, what they promote is equity, not equality.

Thus, I believe in equity over equality. Fairness should be the focus, not equality. Equality is impossible, but equity is not.

To summarise: I think feminism is now used in a context far from its original meaning and that it is not in the right places and that men and women are equal in front of the law.

Thank you i think this was a really good response