International Relations and American Studies

Discover the world through two powerful lenses: global politics and American influence. Our combined degree in International Relations and American Studies offers you the chance to explore how nations interact, why power matters, and how U.S. culture and policy have shaped and continue to shape the international stage. From diplomacy and security to literature, film, and identity, you will gain critical insights into today’s most pressing global challenges, while developing the analytical and communication skills that employers value.

Our Joint Honours BA degree covers International Relations with its focus on global politics, security, human rights, and international cooperation as well as American Studies exploring U.S. history, culture, politics, and its role as a global power. You will have the chance to study American history, literature, politics and culture, from colonisation to the present, and a range of international relations topics from globalisation, international security, to peace and conflict management, or human rights and political economy. Together, they provide a holistic view of how the U.S. shapes, and is shaped by, the international system, which is highly relevant in today’s interconnected world.

You can shape the degree to your own interests, whether in US popular culture and political protest or political theory and international peace and conflict. You also have the chance to study for a year or a semester in the United States, discovering the subject first-hand.

We offer varied and flexible course content, so you can shape your American Studies and International Relations degree to your own interests.

Topics include American film, music, race, gender, migration and urbanization, social, economic and military history, intelligence studies, or civil rights and political protest, globalisation and human rights, political economy, peace and conflict, and security studies.

Teaching is informed by our world-leading interdisciplinary research in a wide range of subject areas, from civil rights, US foreign policy, and the Cold War to the American Civil War, contemporary US fiction, and the Harlem Renaissance.

During your time at Swansea University, you will have the opportunity to get involved in a wide range of clubs and societies. The American Studies Student Society organises a range of social and cultural events. The Politics and International Relations Student Society (PAIR) provides another network to get involved with for social and career related events, including talks by guest speakers from practice.

In Year 1, you will typically study areas including: Locating American Studies; International Relations in a Changing World; Forging a Nation: US History and Politics; War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; Making Modern Europe, 1789 to the Present; Who Sings America? Literature and Culture of the United States; Politics and the People; Disinformation, Ideology, and Bias: Researching and examining political data; The Colour Line: Race and Racism in World Politics; Critical Reasoning.

In Year 2, you will typically study areas including: Anarchy and Order: Theories in International Relations; Global Justice and Human Rights in the Age of Globalisation; Disunited Kingdom? Class, Race, Gender and Social Division in Twentieth-Century Britain; Philosophy of the Enlightenment; The State and Political Institutions; Investigating Gender; Devolution, Policy Making and Social Change; The Global First World War; The History of Political Thought; International Security; The Making of Transatlantic America; American Word / American Image; The Story of America on Film and Television, 1607-1867.

In Year 3, you will typically study areas including: Researching Politics 1; American Studies Dissertation; Dissertation; The Russian Civil War; Philosophy, Mental Health and Illness; Parliamentary Studies; Capitalism and Justice; Genocide; The Rise and Fall of Wales? Politics, Culture and Society, 1847-1939; Digital Futures; Shadow Wars: US Presidents and covert action from the Cold War to Trump; African American Literature 1910-1940: The Harlem Renaissance; Clear and Present Danger: America and Terrorism; The American Civil War in History and Memory.

Throughout your undergraduate International Relations and American Studies BA (Hons) degree, you will develop excellent research and analytical skills and learn to present your ideas effectively both verbally and in writing.

We offer a variety of assessment methods within our programmes. In addition to traditional examinations and essays, examples of alternative assessment include:

• Reading diary
• Literature/ article review
• Case study
• Critical review

For a full breakdown of course structure and assessment please visit our course page https://www.swansea.ac.uk/undergraduate/courses/social-sciences/politics-philosophy-international-relations/ba-international-relations-american-studies-year-abroad/ or get in touch with us at study@swansea.ac.uk "