Politics & International Relations  (PTJ1)

Students of politics will learn about elections, constitutions and government, but also about sovereignty, conflict, political economy, human rights and public policy.  In studying politics and international relations, we try to understand what happens, to figure out what should happen, and to determine how this might be realised. Much of political study involves seeking to understand national and international political institutions, systems and forces – parliaments, presidents and power, votes, vetoes and violence – but it also seeks to explain the changes that occur in these and to articulate what further possibilities for change exist.Politics equally involves what is called political theory, examining what institutions, options and lives we ought to have: what justice demands, what freedom requires, what democracy could be. This is equally true on the international scale – we can explain war, trade and global poverty, discuss the existing mechanisms for coping with these issues and examine what moral demands these facts place on individual nations and individual human beings.  Politics students will leave the program with a solid substantive understanding of politics as well as being equipped with the tools to analyse and critically write about contemporary political topics that they gain through lectures and tutorials, and the completion of continuing assessment and exams.​ The School offers a broad and diverse range of modules across the three levels.  Joint honors politics will typically explore modules across the five core areas of the school: international relations, comparative politics, Irish politics and elections, political theory, and political methodology, while developing expertise in a subset of their choosing.

1 - • Understand the structure and actors of national and international politics.
2 - • Engage with contemporary political debates.
3 - • Analyse political topics with both quantitative and qualitative research methods.
4 - • Identify political rationale for social, political and economic outcomes.
5 - • Think critically and analyse political issues drawing on perspectives from contemporary political theory and the history of political thought.
6 - • Prepare clear and concise written work across a range of political subject areas.

The school currently has Erasmus exchange agreements with the following European universities:

Institut d'Etudes Politiques, Paris, France

University of Bergen, Norway

Université Libre de Bruxelles/University of Liège, Belgium

University of Lund/University of Stockholm, Sweden

Universität zu Köln, Germany
International exchanges in North America, Asia and Australia are also available in third year.

There is a wide range of national and international employment opportunities in the public and private sector, including:

The Irish Civil Service

The European Commision

International agencies such as the UN, IMF and World Bank

NGOs

Print and broadcasting media

The diplomatic service

Business

Administration and research
Graduates are also well qualified to pursue further study at master’s and PhD level. MA and MSc programmes at UCD include:

Politics

Political Theory

International Relations

Development Studies

Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict

Human Rights

European Public Affairs and Law

Development Practice

Stage 2

Students are required to take 4 core modules and 1 option. Students attempting POL20050 Research Methods in Pol Sci without completing POL10170 Foundations in Pol Research must contact the school office at spire@ucd.ie.

Stage 3

Students must take 25 option credits in stage 3. 20 credits should be taken from Level 3 modules and 5 credits from a Level 2 module.

Stage 4

Students must take 25 option credits in stage 4. 20 credits should be taken from Level 3 modules and 5 credits from a Level 2 module.

See the UCD Assessment website for further details

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