BA Politics
About this course
Politics is the study of power, and because power permeates every aspect of social life, the discipline is correspondingly wide in its scope. It asks how decisions are made and by whom, how governments are formed and held to account, how citizens and communities relate to the state, what ideas have driven political movements and revolutions, and how political systems compare across countries and historical periods. It is a subject that is both timeless in its fundamental questions and urgently contemporary in its applications, and it trains a way of thinking that is analytical, sceptical, and attentive to the gap between what political actors say and what they do. At the University of East Anglia, this three-year full-time programme provides a broad and rigorous education in political science across its main sub-fields: political theory and philosophy, comparative politics, international relations, and British and European politics. You will read canonical texts in the history of political thought alongside contemporary policy debates, developing the ability to situate current events in longer intellectual and historical contexts. Research methods are taught as a core component of the degree, giving you the tools to engage critically with political evidence, including statistical data, survey research, historical documents, and qualitative case studies. The analytical and communication skills that politics develops are among the most transferable available in the humanities and social sciences. You learn to construct complex arguments clearly and persuasively, to evaluate competing interpretations of evidence, and to write with precision about contested and uncertain matters. These are skills that employers across almost every sector recognise. Graduates in politics enter an exceptionally wide range of careers. The civil service, political research and policy roles, journalism, law, management consultancy, international organisations, NGOs, and the charitable sector are all common destinations. Many graduates also pursue postgraduate study in politics, international relations, public policy, or law, including professional qualifications for legal practice. The analytical literacy the degree develops is relevant to any career where decisions must be made in complex and contested environments, which is to say, virtually all of them.
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