International Political Theory (MLitt) 2026 entry

Course information may change. Module information and course content, teaching and assessment may change each year and after you have accepted your offer to study at the University of St Andrews. We display the most up-to-date information possible, but this could be from a previous academic year. For the latest module information, see the module catalogue.

• Compulsory

  • Concepts in International Political Theory: explores the work of important political theorists with particular attention to the ways in which their thought is relevant for international and global affairs.
  • Analysis and Interpretation in International Political Theory: introduces methods and interpretive approaches that can be taken in the study of international political theory.
  • Dissertation for MLitt Programmes

• Optional

  International Political Theory modules may include:

  • Erasing the Global Colour Line: Decolonisation and the Making and Unmaking of the Third World: drawing upon international history, international relations and postcolonial theory, this module examines the processes of decolonisation that remade the world after WWII, the subsequent emergence of the 'Third World project', and its decline and demise.
  • Global Constitutionalism: explores the role of constitutional thinking and draws upon legal theory and international law as well as broader themes.
  • Human Rights, Politics and Power: explores what is described as the politics of human rights and its mobilisation in struggles that take place at the individual, local, national and international levels.
  • Migration and Political Theory: explores the relationship between political thought and the complex phenomenon of migration, including how migration influences understandings of citizenship, rights, borders, justice and security.
  • Political Theory of Race and Caste: gives students an opportunity to study forms of social hierarchy and injustice based on race, caste and descent, through reading key texts in political theory that grapple with conditions of racial and caste subordination and that gesture at the possibilities for emancipation from them.
  • 'Reason of State': Origin, Nature and Career of a Concept: studies the meaning, origins, development and significance of the notion of 'reason of state' in Western political thought.
  • Theories of Friendship and Enmity: addresses a number of classical texts in Western political thought on the themes of friendship and enmity.
  • Topics in International Political Thought: introduces students to key themes in the international realm through a close engagement with the ideas of a single theorist.

  Examples of modules from other MLitt programmes in the School of International Relations:

  • Carl von Clausewitz: Life, Work and Reception: examines how relevant Clausewitz and his writings are in the context of Strategic Studies today.
  • Political Economy of Conflict: provides a political economy perspective on conflict in a developing economy.
  • Political Order and Violence in the Middle East: examines the causes and consequences of political order and violence in the Middle East.
  • Prisons: Spaces of Power, Resistance and Peacebuilding: examines prisons as state responses to poverty, drugs and political dissent, and analyses differential impacts of incarceration, alongside modes of resistance to it.
  • Terrorism and Liberal Democracy: addresses conceptual and definitional issues concerning terrorism and the dilemmas and challenges of liberal democratic state responses to terrorism.

  Optional modules are subject to change each year and require a minimum number of participants to be offered. They allow only limited numbers of students to ensure relatively small class sizes.

• Dissertation

  The final element of the MLitt is a 15,000-word dissertation. The dissertation should focus on an area of international political theory in which you are interested. Each student is supported by a relevant supervisor from the School who will advise on the choice of subject and provide guidance throughout the research process. The completed dissertation must usually be submitted by mid-August.

  If students choose not to complete the dissertation requirement for the MLitt, there are exit awards available that allow suitably qualified candidates to receive a postgraduate diploma (PGDip). By choosing an exit award, you will finish your degree at the end of the second semester of study and receive a PGDip instead of an MLitt.