School of Government Postgraduate Study (Department of Political Science and International Studies)

The Department of Political Science and International Studies (POLSIS) is one of the largest departments of its kind in the UK, offering you an intellectually rich and rewarding experience at a leading research university in a dynamic and ambitious city. Birmingham is a vibrant city offering a rich social and cultural centre for you to enjoy. Just a short walk or train ride from the centre of the city, the University provides a welcoming and leafy campus with great living, learning and social facilities.

Once in the department, you will find expert and enthusiastic staff working at the forefront of their respective fields, and committed to inspiring and enhancing intellectual development and critical thinking among their students. The department includes expertise across a range of fields, from generating insights into theoretical debates in Politics, International Relations, British politics and Gender, to empirical analyses of parts of the world such as Europe, Russia and Eurasia, and the Middle East to the US and East Asia.

Outside the classroom, we encourage you to engage in a range of events to build your CV, listen to high-level speakers, and to join in current debates relevant to all POLSIS students. In the past couple of years, for example, many students have benefited from the Model UN, Model NATO and the Brussels study trip.

School Key Contacts

Student Experience Officers

Kerrie Myers: gov-studentexperience@contacts.bham.ac.uk

Contact Kerrie about any aspect of your student experience.

Education Support Officers

Email: polsis.pgt@contacts.bham.ac.uk

Here are the contact details for your Education Support Team. You can contact your administrator when you need support for issues related to the organisation of your course such as timetabling, assessments, lectures and Canvas.

This is also the email address for you to write to if you are unsure where to direct your query.

Wellbeing Team

Email: Gov.wellbeing@contacts.bham.ac.uk

Contact the wellbeing team for pastoral support and any queries about disability support and reasonable adjustments.

Academic leads

POLSIS Postgraduate Director for Politics, International Relations & International Political Economy MA)

Dr Tsering Topgyal: t.topgyal@bham.ac.uk

POLSIS Senior Tutor

Dr Mattias Hjort: m.hjort@bham.ac.uk

Contact Mattias with any concerns about your academic progress or tutoring.

Head of Department

Professor Stefan Wolff: s.wolff@bham.ac.uk

Spotlight on Teaching

In addition to taking two core modules and the dissertation, you will be able to pick from the following optional modules here.

Brussels Trip – In January, POLSIS Postgrads have the opportunity to join our annual trip to Brussels. The trip includes visits to political institutions across the city, including the European Parliament and NATO HQ, as well as exclusive seminars and Q&As with lobbyists and politicians. The Brussels trip is your chance make connections and networks with the people and places at the heart of European politics.

Spotlight on Research

There is lots going on around the department in terms of research. Recent publications by staff include Dr Huw Macartney’s (with Johnna Montgomerie and Daniela Tepe) book: The Fault Lines of Inequality: Covid 19 and the Politics of Financialization, Dr Nicola Smith’s 2020 Capitalism’s Sexual History OUP, May Darwich’s 2019 Threats and Alliances in the Middle East: Saudi and Syrian Policies in a Turbulent Region (CUP) and Dr Richard Shorten’s (2022) The Ideology of Political Reactionaries (Routledge).

There are weekly talks and seminars offered across the semesters from experts within and beyond the university so there is always something new to learn about!

Please also see the blogposts mentioned in the reading pages.

Our lecturers are also often interviewed as experts by news programmes across the world. You can see a short clip of an interview with Professor Kataryna Wolczuk on the war in Ukraine here.

Any Recommended Reading

There aren’t any specific texts you should read before starting your studies with us.

Below are some texts suggested by some staff members which you may like to use as a stepping-off point for your own thinking. However, as the teaching staff at the University of Birmingham bring a rich diversity of approach, it’s not possible to suggest a single textbook or text that will be used.

You could choose to follow our POLSIS Birmingham Twitter account @BhamPolsis.

Blogposts by academic staff:

Our very own Head of Department Professor Stefan Wolff writes on contemporary security challenges, particularly G7, NATO, Ukraine, Sudan, etc:

https://theconversation.com/profiles/stefan-wolff-95635/articles

Charlotte Galpin and Ash Stokoe, POLSIS, (with Gina Gwenffrewi), wrote a blog post recognising Trans Day of Visibility on Mar 31: 'Visibility with a Price’

Richard Shorten on reactionaries and progressives distinct ‘voice’: https://www.ideology-theory-practice.org/blog/reactionaries-progressives-and-voice

Professor Mark Webber’s recent blogs on Ukraine war and NATO https://theconversation.com/profiles/mark-webber-278212/articles

Tim Haughton, POLSIS, on the Bulgarian election: an article for Foreign Policy: 'When Voters Chase Novelty' an analysis for the Monkey Cage blog in the Washington Post

Robert Ralston, POLSIS, (with Ronald Krebs) published a commentary piece on War on the Rocks: 'More Deferential but also More Political: How Americans' Views of the Military Have Changed Over 20 Years.' & (with Jen Spindel) published a piece on the Washington Post's Monkey Cage blog: 'Congress might require women to register for the draft. Where do Republicans and Democrats stand?'

Politics

Arendt Lijphart, Patterns of Democracy (2nd edition) Yale University Press (2012).
Sandra Halperin and Oliver Heath, Political Research: Methods and Practical Skills (3rd edition) Oxford University Press (2020).

International Relations

Jennifer Sterling-Folkner, Making Sense of International Relations Theory (Iraq). (2nd edition) Lynne Reinner Press (2013).
Stephen M. Walt, "International Relations: One World, Many Theories." Foreign Policy, 1998, no. 110: 29-46. 
G. John Ikenberry. “The end of liberal international order?”, International Affairs, Volume 94, no. 1, (2018): 7–23.
Paul D Williams and Matt McDonald, Security Studies: An Introduction, (3rd Edition) Routledge, 2008.
Columba Peoples and Nick Vaughan-Williams, Critical Security Studies: An Introduction, (3rd Edition), Routledge, (2020).
Cooper, A., Heine, J. and Thakur, R. Oxford Handbook of Modern Diplomacy. Oxford: Oxford University Press (2015).

International Political Economy

Thomas Oatley, International Political Economy: Interest and Institutions in the Global Economy, (5th edition) Pearson/Longman, (2016).
Jeffry Frieden, David Lake, and J. Lawrence Broz (eds.), International Political Economy: Perspectives on Global Power and Wealth (W.W. Norton, 6th edition, 2017).