On this Masters, you will investigate world affairs from different angles, and develop the skills and vision required to find solutions to complex problems
We’re looking for students with a diverse range of skills and experience who are ready to engage in lively debates and are open to new perspectives. Scientists, artists, accountants, historians, marketers — graduates of any discipline (or non-graduates with valuable experience) are welcome
You will develop strong skills in research, data analysis and communication, and become an adept critical thinker and problem-solver. These skills are essential if you want to progress on to a research degree and they’re also valuable for a range of roles in politics, campaigning, think-tanks, NGOs, civil or diplomatic services
We’ll make sure you have an exceptional student experience, with more contact hours than most universities and staff that go the extra mile to support you
Change is everywhere. Can you help shape it?
The climate crisis, biodiversity and habitat loss, the Covid-19 pandemic, the rise of populism, threats to free speech and democracy around the world, ageing populations: these are just some of the challenges we face in the 2020s.
At the same time there are many areas of opportunity. New and sustainable technologies promise a future with clean energy and zero-emissions vehicles, while social media enables people to work together to challenge prevailing orthodoxies, prejudices and governments. There is youth activism and widespread movements for racial and societal justice.
If you want to really understand what drives global challenges such as these, and play a role in designing solutions to them, this Masters degree is for you. It’s unique because it covers such a wide range of subjects — particularly history and international relations, politics, journalism and communication studies.
Using a range of theories and approaches from all these subjects, we will analyse issues from different perspectives, so you will come to appreciate that there is never just one way to look at a problem. We’ll touch on topics such as:
political activism to contested cultures and norms
modes of governance relating to addressing global grand challenges
diversity, equity and cultural intelligence
power structures and notions of democratic consent
inequities and inequalities of gender, race and resources
decolonisation and ‘global ethnic majorities’
climate crisis and environmental stress
physical and cultural conflict
freedom of speech, of journalism, and of political activism
globalisation, and civil liberty.
We will discuss and debate current affairs — from the latest political developments and technological or scientific breakthroughs, to economic matters and social movements. We will also consider how the news is created and shaped, considering issues such as freedom of the press and 'fake news'.
Develop a powerful set of skills
Throughout the course, you will be expected to read widely, research thoroughly and synthesise and analyse information to form considered opinions and persuasive arguments. As part of this process, you will learn quantitative data analysis techniques and ways to present data, since this has become an important part of today’s communications.
Your assessments — which include writing policy proposals, reports, essays and conference papers, as well as delivering presentations — will enable you to practise and perfect these skills; none more so than the independent study. This research-based dissertation will enable you to explore in-depth, an area you are particularly passionate about, and consider the issue from all standpoints.
By the time you graduate, you will be a skilled thinker, researcher, communicator and influencer — abilities that could lead you into research, politics, journalism, the civil service, charities and many other fields.
Postgraduate Open Event
Join us at an upcoming Postgraduate Open Event, where you will get the opportunity to meet our expert academics and find out more about your course.
The MA Global Affairs and Politics course is made up of three stages – Postgraduate Certificate, Postgraduate Diploma and MA. You will study modules such as:
On this module you will explore what an awareness of historical trends and developments can bring to the study of global affairs. You will be introduced to historical methodologies and evaluate how these relate to the methodologies adopted by scholars of global affairs and international relations and by policy-makers around the world. This will form the basis for a discussion of the contribution historical research has made to our understanding of contemporary events, from social movements to environmental issues and armed conflict, and how a transdisciplinary approach can provide a contribution to our understanding of global affairs. Based on this understanding, the module will also encourage you to apply your own historical research to specific policy issues.
Investigating Journalism and Politics
This module will enable you to examine the relationship between journalism and politics and critically explore notions of power and influence in the reporting of politics, nationally and internationally. The module draws extensively on key theoretical debates within contemporary political communication but also signals approaches within history, cultural studies, sociology as well as journalism and communication studies, in order to allow you to critically examine current controversies in politics and public affairs. The module enables you to examine the constantly shifting socio-political environment and the range of factors impacting on political communicators and their audiences and place these within broad historical trends within the field.
'The Shape of Things': Culture, Identity, and Representation
Since the invention and increasingly widespread adoption of technologies of mass media and communication – from the telegraph and radio to cinema, television, and internet – content creators have shaped the very image and understanding of the world. Accordingly, this module explores some of the twentieth- and twenty-first centuries key ‘moments’, ideas, and issues via a range of cultural texts – fiction and non-fiction, art and music, film and television, the built environment and design, and digital content – to encourage critical and creative thinking about the forces that shape ways of seeing and being in the modern world. Globally focused and built around indicative ‘case studies’, it will therefore consider the varied ways in which power and belief have been conceived and received, what kind of selves and societies have been created, what was ‘new’ and what might constitute new versions of ‘old’ ideas, practices and behaviours.
Economy and Environment
This module explores contemporary issues of economic and environmental relevance to societies and economies, such as population growth, ageing and migrations, biodiversity and habitat loss, and conservation campaigns, the climate crisis, resource conflicts over materials, water and marine resource. By engaging critically via a range of qualitative, historical and quantitative approaches, you will evaluate and contextualise historical trends and patterns since the early eighteenth century, in particular tracing trends in economies and societies that provide context for contemporary debates around politics and attitudes around sustainability, social and economic equity, and the future. You will analyse trendlines in subjects such as the development of mass production and consumption, factory farming and growing opposition toward it, the advent of computerisation, and mass communications and media. You will be encouraged to engage with contemporary debates such as sustainability, AI, the green economy, multinationalism, and globalisation.
During the early decades of the twenty-first century, democratic systems and institutions around the world have come under increasing pressure from authoritarian movements and autocratic regimes. Taking a comparative approach through the study of a range of national political contexts (for example, indicatively, three case studies from the United States, India, Russia, Brazil, Hungary) this module examines some of the main characteristics, consequences, and historical drivers of the authoritarian turn, addressing issues such as: the sources of authoritarianism; the securitization of politics in autocratic regimes; relationships between political economy and authoritarianism; nationalist and populist movements, and the intellectual histories informing them; the roles played by culture and media in the challenging of democratic institutions and process; the interplay of domestic and international contexts in the construction of authoritarian agendas. You will engage with a range of disciplinary materials, illustrating the multiple and diverse sources through which political conflict and power are channelled, and out of which authoritarian and autocratic political cultures are built.
Data Journalism and Data Science
This module will enable you to understand and apply approaches to the interpretation and representation of key sources of quantitative data used in journalistic investigation. You will critically examine the methods and approaches journalists use to re-interpret and mediate this information to a wider audience. The data domains include those relating to economics and climate, household and longitudinal surveys, health, social and demographic data. You will be introduced to techniques in data handling, reliability and validity, sampling, correlation and causality, multiple, multivariate regression, and spatial analysis. You will also consider contemporary developments in data visualisation and communication.
Globalisation and the Legacy of Imperialism
In the past few decades, more and more historians have become interested in the connections between different parts of the world and in the mobility of people, goods, and ideas across the globe. This module will therefore introduce you to the history, politics, and economics of globalisation. The module will examine past discourses of globalisation, before focusing on the results of globalisation in the second half of the twentieth and early twenty-first century. In particular, you will examine to what extent a number of worldwide developments in this period have been determined by the history of European imperialism and decolonization. You will survey the continuation of socio-economic inequalities in former colonies, the emergence of both authoritarian and democratic regimes in these territories, as well as instances of post-colonial conflict.
This module enables you to develop advanced academic and transferable skills by providing you with an opportunity to undertake a substantial research project. You will need to show an advanced, critical engagement with debates within academic literature, undertake critical analysis of relevant sources, and acquire advanced project management skills. The writing of the dissertation will enable you to develop your ability to construct sustained and coherent arguments, and to show a systematic and up-to-date understanding of relevant theoretical and methodological issues, whether this involves scholarly debates and/or matters pertaining to how the humanities is presented to public audiences. The skills developed in this module are essential to your future employability and personal development, as well as providing a basis for doctoral study.
Researching Global Affairs and Politics
This module provides a detailed and thorough foundation in research skills to enable Master’s study in a number of different disciplinary approaches. As such, it aims to provide an advanced understanding of research methodologies relevant both to the course of study and future career. Importantly, it also allows for the application of this methodological knowledge through the production of a policy paper. Eschewing constrained interpretations of disciplinary research methods, and by means of a series of focused but discursive seminars, you will learn a range of analytical approaches, including models of interdisciplinary study and learning, and their application to topics in contemporary global affairs and politics. Qualitative, and some quantitative, methods of research analysis and critical enquiry will provide the central core of student learning via seminars, group work and debate. This module also blends independent research with learning the art and techniques of persuasive writing and presentation, with the final summative student assessment taking the form of a conference paper delivered to an audience of peers.
Please note that our modules are subject to change - we review the content of our courses regularly, making changes where necessary to improve your experience and graduate prospects.
How you will learn
We use a range of approaches to enable your learning. These include lectures, seminars, tutorials and debate, but because this is a masters, there is an emphasis on self-directed study. We have a blended learning strategy, which means that, in addition to face-to-face teaching, you can also find materials for all modules on the virtual learning environment and take part in online discussions here.
How you are assessed
There are a variety of ‘summative assessments’ towards the end of each module, such as writing policy proposals, reports, research symposiums, conference papers and essays, as well as conducting data analysis and and delivering presentations. The final Independent study, a traditional research dissertation, carries the most weight so we help you prepare for this task early on in the programme by providing specific research training.
As well as the summative assessments, we will be assessing you regularly during teaching sessions and one-to-one tutorials, checking that you understand theories and concepts and providing feedback. This will also help you evaluate your own strengths, weaknesses, abilities and talents: a critical part of masters-level study.
Who you will meet
This course is taught by an enthusiastic teaching and research team. They are approachable and committed to giving you regular one-to-one tutorial support. The team includes:
Dr Simon Philo, who teaches on the politics of culture, identity and representation and specialises on American popular culture, with particular reference to its transatlantic "flow."
Dr Alen Toplišek, who teaches research methods in political and social sciences and specialises in comparative politics and political economy of Central and Eastern Europe, industrial policy and upgrading alliances, and has also published on populist parties in government and social movements.
Dr Francesco Belcastro, who specialises in sport and politics, international relations of the Middle East and conflict and security. He has published widely on the role of sport in international relations, on regional security (focusing specifically on civil wars and their regional dimension) and foreign policy of the MENA region, in particular Syria and Palestine/Israel.
Dr Oliver Godsmark, who specialises in the history of late colonial and early postcolonial India. His research focuses on citizenship and democracy, caste and tribe, and borders, land, property and territory, principally in the context of India’s independence and partition.
Dr David Holloway, who specialises in the American (U.S.) cultural, intellectual and political history.
Dr Tom Neuhaus, who teaches international history, focusing on relations between Europe and Asia in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He has published a book on Tibet in the Western imagination and has worked with the German Alpine Museum on an exhibition about expeditions to the Himalayas.
Professor John Steel, who specialises in political communication, media history and journalism studies. He is particularly interested in exploring historical and contemporary debates concerning democratic rights and their praxis, specifically those contestations around media freedom, freedom of expression and censorship.
Dr Maria Urbina Montana, who specialises in news media and Latin American politics, particularly social media, nationalism, and neoliberal change in Chile and the Southern cone. She has published articles that discuss the impact of media and memory as well as the neoliberal restructuring in Chile and the UK from a comparative perspective.
Who will teach you
Simon Philo
Programme Leader
Simon Philo
Simon is Programme Leader for BA Liberal Arts; and Subject Leader for American Studies and Popular Music in Society.
You will need a good honours degree (1st or 2:1) in any subject, or its international equivalent. Applications may be considered if you have a 2:2 honours degree and/or significant relevant professional experience.
It is important that we get to know you, your aspirations and your expectations. Therefore, before being accepted onto the programme applicants may be invited to an informal interview to discuss the course, the nature of the programme, and what will be expected of you during it.
The University welcomes applications from every sector of society and welcomes International applicants.
If English is not your first language you will need to demonstrate English language capability in line with the prevailing University of Derby requirements for admission to study.
Fees and funding
2024/25 (August 2024 - July 2025)
Type
Full-time
Part-time
UK
£9,450 for the full course*
£1,050 per 20 credits
International
£14,900 for the full course
N/A
Please note fees normally increase in line with inflation and the University's strategic approach to fees, which is reviewed on an annual basis. The total fee you pay may therefore increase after one year of study.
* UK full-time fees paid within one academic year are rounded down to the nearest £50 if applicable
Please note fees normally increase in line with inflation and the University's strategic approach to fees, which is reviewed on an annual basis. The total fee you pay may therefore increase after one year of study.
* UK full-time fees paid within one academic year are rounded down to the nearest £50 if applicable
Please note at postgraduate level, you’ll need to gain the following number of credits in total to obtain the respective awards. If you have any questions please contact us.
Award
Credits
Postgraduate Certificate
60 Credits
Postgraduate Diploma
120 Credits
MA or MSc
180 Credits
This means you will gain 180 credits in total to complete the full MA or MSc. If you are studying part time you will normally complete your studies over two or three years, depending on the course structure.
Funding your studies
Find out more about fees, postgraduate loans and support you may be entitled to.
We're committed to providing you with an outstanding learning experience. Our expert teaching, excellent facilities and great employability prepare you for your future career. As part of our commitment to you we aim to keep any additional study costs to a minimum. However, there are occasions where students may incur some additional costs.
Included in your fees
Your fee includes any mandatory study visits and some social events
Optional costs not included in your fees
Purchase of reading materials - approx. £30 per text but cost varies depending on source
There may be costs associated with non-compulsory field trips
Printing and binding of one copy of dissertation, cost approx. £6
International student scholarships
We have a range of scholarships and discounts available to international students which can be used together to offer a reduction in your tuition fees.
Our undergraduate and postgraduate course pages will show the intakes that are available and open to applications. It's best to apply early so you can secure your place and beat the rush.
Once we have received your application and supporting documents (such as qualifications or references), we will review it and contact you within 4 weeks to let you know if you have been successful or not.
Our aim is to support all students to have the best possible opportunities to succeed and so our application and enrolment deadlines are in place to ensure you stand the best chance of doing so.
Joining the programme later may harm your chances of success on your course. It is therefore vital that you take note of the dates and ensure you submit your completed application and subsequent enrolment in time.
Undergraduate and postgraduate taught deadlines
Please note some courses may have an earlier induction, teaching and enrolment deadline date.
If your course operates a gathered field or pooled admissions process there may be an earlier application date. Please check your individual course page for further details.
You will develop advanced skills that are highly desirable in the graduate careers market, including in independent research, critical evaluation, problem-solving, written and verbal communication and negotiation. You will also emerge from the programme with greater cultural awareness and understanding, and a respect for differing viewpoints.
These skills and abilities could lead you into a broad range of careers, such as in policy analysis and development, communications and journalism, or information and archival research. You may want to enrol on civil service graduate training schemes or postgraduate training and education. The programme would also enable you to continue your own research through doctoral study.
Contact us
If you need any more information from us, eg on courses, accommodation, applying, car parking, fees or funding, please contact us and we will do everything we can to help you.
Like most universities, we operate extended teaching hours at the University of Derby, so contact time with your lecturers and tutors could be anytime between 9am and 9pm. Your timetable will usually be available on the website 24 hours after enrolment on to your course.
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