Open International Scholarships

Since the end of the Cold War, International Relations (IR) has blossomed as a field of enquiry. Debates about the range, scale and scope of American power, the emergence of al-Qaida and other terrorist networks, new security threats ranging from global warming to HIV/AIDS, the impact of globalisation, and interventions in Iraq, Bosnia, Somalia and elsewhere have produced a surge of interest in the discipline. Yet IR has been somewhat slow at engaging with many of these processes, preferring to rely on outmoded toolkits rather than seeking novel means of understanding a world which is as bewildering as it is complex.

LSE’s new programme in IR theory, being offered for the first time in 2008-9, is designed to meet these multiple challenges. It will be asking – and seeking answers to – some of the core questions facing students, academics and policy makers in the contemporaryworld: How should we understand ‘new’ security threats? How can we conceptualise the scale of American power? How do debates about ‘humanitarianism’ feed into broader understandings of individual, state and international responsibility? This programme offers the opportunity to address some of the world’s most pressing problems alongside some of the world’s most prominent IR theorists in one of the world’s leading universities.

Programme Structure

• Paper 1. The core course takes a novel approach to IR theory by taking as its starting point an apparently simple question: what is ‘the international’? For much of the history of IR, the discipline has been curiously silent on this issue, appearing more as a branch of political theory, international history and law rather than as a clearly defined area of study in its own right. This course takes as its central engagement ways in which IR may build a new identity as a branch of philosophy, as a social science and via its unique relationship with world history and world politics. The course explores this identity via seminar-based conversations about a number of IR’s most contested concepts including sovereignty, security, anarchy and power.
• Depending on availability, students will get the chance in their second paper to draw from a range of courses taught by IR specialists. These include: ‘Sovereignty, Rights and Justice’ (Chris Brown); ‘Gender, Justice and War’ (Kim Hutchings); ‘Strategic Aspects of International Relations’ (Christopher Coker); ‘International Security’ (Barry Buzan); ‘International Organizations and Regimes’ (Uli Sedelmeier); ‘The Politics of International Law’ (Kirsten Ainley); ‘Concepts and Methods in International Relations’ (Mark Hoffman); and ‘Culture and Religion in International Relations’ (Katerina Dalacoura).
• Paper 3 offers students the opportunity to take a course either within the IR department or elsewhere in the School (subject to approval). Within the IR department, students may choose to take an option on a particular area of the world (East Asia, Africa, the Middle East or Europe), or another issue altogether such as ‘Economic Diplomacy’ or ‘Foreign Policy Analysis’. Further afield, the IR department has established reciprocal arrangements with a number of departments around the School, thereby allowing access – subject to certain restrictions – to a wide range of theoretical and empirical courses.
• Paper 4 – the dissertation – is a 10,000 word thesis designed to allow students the opportunity to tackle an independent research project. Students may seek to carve out a niche in IR theory or approach an empirical subject via a theoretical lens. Either way, students will be working closely with a supervisor in generating – and completing – their own research project.

Assessment
Apart from the dissertation, courses are assessed by examination and/or coursework. Formative assessment includes student presentation, essays and other activities as determined by class tutors.
General funding sources

For general sources of funding that may apply to this study opportunity, visit the page(s) below.
* General funding

Study information

• Qualification: MSc
• Study duration: 12 months
• Study mode:FT/PT
• Start month: September

Entry requirements:
Normally, a good upper second class honours degree or equivalent in a relevant discipline. Students may have a background in IR, politics or a related social science and have some experience of doing theoretical and conceptual work. Some knowledge of political theory, social theory, sociology, ethics, political philosophy or the philosophy of social science would be an advantage. Regardless of initial background, the key to admission will be demonstrating keenness in engaging thoroughly with both the theory and practice of world politics.

Contacts and how to apply
Administrative contact and how to apply:
For further information on the course and the IR Department see http://www.lse.ac.uk/Depts/intrel/InfoProspective.htm
To apply see http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/graduateAdmissions/

Category: Graduate-Master, United Kingdom