International Security and Global Governance

Our MSc International Security and Global Governance explores urgent contemporary debates about violence, conflict, security and governance from a global perspective.

As the distinctions between civil wars, terrorism, warlord conflict and conventional war have blurred, the corresponding interventions - humanitarian, regional, international and imperial - have been the subject of considerable academic debate and political controversy. Simultaneously, geopolitical rivalries among global powers and the threat of violence and war between states continue to shape international security. Our approach works across disciplines, incorporating political, theoretical, historical, sociological and public policy approaches to produce comprehensive, balanced analyses of contemporary political controversies.

Core modules will examine the changing nature of war, violence and security, and their relationship with state and society. They provide a historical understanding of the evolution of global military, humanitarian and governance institutions and the ideas that shaped them.

You then choose option modules from a wide variety of topics including international security, American foreign policy, globalisation, political theory and sociology, war and conflict, nationalism and religion, and international political economy. The culmination of the course is applying the concepts and methods you have learnt to write a dissertation on the subject that interests you most.

This course is part of our new Birkbeck Flexible Master’s UK, which gives you the choice of how you want to study - on campus, online or via flexible learning, which combines both.

Highlights

We organise a lively programme of seminars and conferences and are home to affiliated research centres, such as the Birkbeck Centre for British Political Life, which run seminars, conferences and other events where some of the world's best scholars present their latest research.

Our academic staff are international authorities in their respective fields, publishing and delivering stimulating teaching in a wide range of political topics including civil society and the state, public policy, development, gender, international security and terrorism, and social and political theory, among others.

Our location in central London puts us at the heart of the UK’s political life and at the centre of academic London. You can walk down to Parliament and Whitehall, while Bloomsbury contains some of the world’s most famous libraries and centres of research. Our departmental building was once a key location for members of the Bloomsbury Group, so you could be studying in rooms that have hosted distinguished visitors, including T. S. Eliot, George Bernard Shaw and Maynard Keynes.

You can take advantage of the rich research collections nearby, including Senate House Library, which is right next door to Birkbeck, the British Library, which is five minutes’ walk away, and the British Library of Political and Economic Science at the London School of Economics, which is walkable from Birkbeck.

Careers and employability

Graduates can pursue career paths in international organisations, policy research, journalism, economic and political forecasting, campaigning organisations, local and national government, the diplomatic services and private sector management. Possible professions include:

journalist

Civil Service fast-streamer

politician’s assistant

diplomatic services operational officer

social researcher

human resources officer.

We offer a comprehensive careers service - Careers and Enterprise - your career partner during your time at Birkbeck and beyond. At every stage of your career journey, we empower you to take ownership of your future, helping you to make the connection between your experience, education and future ambitions.