Politics and International Relations and Social Policy

As a politics student, you'll look at the work of governments and their policies and study the behaviour of those who govern - and who they are governing - both at home and abroad. You'll also gain knowledge of domestic and international institutions and issues relating to conflict and cooperation. We cover diverse and relevant issues, such as international terrorism to the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum.

Politics graduates can go on to work in a number of areas, with many pursuing academic research careers in the UK, Europe and North America.

Social Policy examines the ways in which societies distribute resources and develop services to meet individual and social needs. Key social policy issues examined include poverty; economic, race, age and gender inequality; social justice health; education; criminal justice and housing.

It utilises a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods to improve our understanding of how societies organise their resources to meet individual and social needs and how they measure progress in these areas.

This programme gives you the opportunity to learn more about the social and economic challenges facing Scottish society and place these in a broader international perspective. It draws on disciplines such as history, sociology, anthropology, economics, law, psychology, social anthropology and politics.

Ranked Top 10 in the UK for Politics (The Times/Sunday Times University Ranking 2025); Ranked 3rd in the UK for Social Policy (The Times/Sunday Times University Ranking 2025).

This course is part of our flexible BA Humanities and Social Science Degree programme. With our BA (Honours) degree you can choose from subjects in Humanities, Social Sciences and Business, with two of your three subject choices taught by the Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences.

The BA degree is a three year course and the Honours degree is normally a four year course. This allows you to try new subjects, develop your own ideas, develop a broad range of knowledge and enhance your employability.

You should only enter one of the UCAS codes on your application form. Acceptance on one of these subject codes will enable you to study any combination of subjects. Only one application will be considered. This is lifted from page 50 of the prospectus.

https://www.strath.ac.uk/humanities/undergraduate/flexiblebadegree/

Every one of our flexible BA options gives students the chance to gain valuable professional experience as part of a credit-bearing work placement class in their third or fourth year. Learn more about placements- https://www.strath.ac.uk/humanities/undergraduate/placements/

To work as a teacher at a state school in England or Wales, you will need to achieve qualified teacher status (QTS). This is offered on this course for the following level:

• Course does not award QTS