Skip to content

Subjects

Breadcrumbs navigation

Master of Arts (Honours) International Relations and Social Anthropology

The University strives for excellence in all its professional services to students and staff. As part of our digital transformation programme we have automated some of the key processes supporting the provision of curricular information on our website. If you have suggestions about how we might make the information or functionality offered on this page more user-friendly please email ser-capp@st-andrews.ac.uk

MA International Relations (Joint Honours): First Year
Code Module name Credits
IR1005 Introduction to International Relations 20 AND
IR1006 Foreign Policy Analysis and International Security 20 AND
Remaining credits from Level 1000 options

Further requirements

Choose 120 credits in the academic year
Social Anthropology joint: First year
Code Module name Credits
SA1002 Ways of Thinking 20 AND
Remaining credits from Level 1000 options

Further requirements

Choose 120 credits in the academic year

It is recommended to select SA1001 in addition to SA1002.
MA International Relations (Joint Honours): Second Year
Code Module name Credits
* IR2005 Theoretical Approaches to International Relations 20 AND
* IR2006 Issues in International Relations 20 AND
Remaining credits from Levels 1000 and 2000 options

Further requirements

Choose 120 credits in the academic year
Choose a minimum of 80 Level 2000 credits

Automatic entry to Honours requires

  • pass at grade 11 or better required in modules marked *
Social Anthropology joint: Second year
Code Module name Credits
* SA2001 The Foundations of Social Anthropology 20 AND
* SA2002 Ethnographic Encounters 20 AND
Remaining credits from Levels 1000 and 2000 options

Further requirements

Choose 120 credits in the academic year
Choose a minimum of 80 Level 2000 credits

Automatic entry to Honours requires

  • pass at grade 11 or better required in modules marked *

Entry to Honours

Students who attain grades 11.0 or above at the first sitting in the requisite 2000-level modules and who meet all other programme requirements will be given automatic offers of entry into Honours programmes. Students permitted automatic entry to Honours will only be permitted to trail one module to a maximum of 30 sub-honours credits into Honours.

Some Schools permit qualified entry to Honours (see www.st-andrews.ac.uk/media/teaching-and-learning/policies/honsentry.pdf )

MA Honours

The general requirements are 480 credits over a period of normally four years (and not more than five years) or part-time equivalent, of which the final two years form an approved Honours programme of 240 credits, of which 90 credits are at 4000 level and at least a further 120 credits at 3000 and/or 4000 levels.

MA International Relations (Joint Honours): Third Year
Code Module name Credits
View list Between 30 and 60 credits from Module List : IR3000 - IR3999 AND
IR3004 International Political Economy 30
IR3006 International Regimes and Organisations 30
IR3007 Democracy and Democratisation 30
IR3008 International Terrorism 30
IR3011 Ethics and World Politics 30
IR3013 Modern Ideologies 30
IR3021 Case Studies in Conflict Analysis 30
IR3022 International Relations and International Law 30
IR3023 US Foreign Policy: The Dilemmas of Empire 30
IR3024 The Politics of Africa 30
IR3025 International Security 30
IR3026 Diplomacy and Conflict Intervention 30
IR3027 American New World Orders of the Twentieth Century 30
IR3028 Politics of China 30
IR3029 The Logic of Irregular Warfare 30
IR3030 Human Rights in Theory and Practice 30
IR3031 Globalisation and the War on Terrorism 30
IR3032 Globalisation and its Disjunctures 30
IR3033 Post-Conflict Transition in Sub-Saharan Africa 30
IR3034 The Political Theory of War and Peace 30
IR3035 Peace Processes and Violence 30
IR3036 Public International Law and International Legal Theory 30
IR3037 Central Asian Studies 30
IR3038 Conflict Management, Settlement and Resolution 30
IR3039 International Relations of the European Union 30
IR3041 International Political Theory 30
IR3042 Representations of Violent Conflict: Research Seminar 30
IR3043 Approaches to Counter-Terrorism 30
IR3044 Pathways of European State Formation 30
IR3045 Violence in Deeply-Divided Societies 30
IR3046 Foreign Policy of Modern China 30
IR3047 Arrested Development? The Politics of Postcolonialism 30
IR3048 Peacekeeping and Humanitarian Intervention 30
IR3049 International History and International Relations 30
IR3050 State, Power, Crime 30
IR3051 International Relations Theory 30
IR3052 The Politics of Violence and Resistance in Latin America 30
IR3053 Peacebuilding and Post-Conflict Transition in Latin America 30
IR3054 Mapping the Boundaries of Emerging and Evolving Securities 30
IR3055 International Relations and the Internet 30
IR3056 Political Leadership: Theories and History 30
IR3057 Armaments and International Relations 30
IR3058 Armed Forces, Societies and Governments: An International Perspective on Civil-Military Relations 30
IR3059 Anglo-American Relations Since 1939: The Special Relationship? 30
IR3060 Rebellion and Revolution 30
IR3061 International Political Theology: Christian Realism and Beyond 30
IR3062 The United Nations since 1945 30
IR3063 Organised Crime and Corruption 30
IR3064 Critical Terrorism Studies 30
IR3065 Refugees and International Relations 30
IR3066 Emotional Encounters: Diplomacy, Power and Persuasion in World Politics 30
IR3067 The International Criminal Court in World Politics 30
IR3068 Christianity and World Politics 30
IR3070 Armed Conflict in Postcolonial Africa 30
IR3071 Realism in International Relations 30
IR3072 New and emerging security threats in the Caucasus and Central Asia 30
IR3073 Dilemmas of International Order: Governing Conflict and Human Rights 30
IR3101 Russian Politics and Foreign Policy after Communism 30
IR3104 The International Relations of Post-Communist Central and Eastern Europe 30
IR3111 Asian Security 30
IR3113 Gender and Generation 30
IR3300 Conflict in the Middle East 30
IR3301 Politics and State Formation in the Middle East 30
IR3302 Democracy and Revolution in North Africa 30
IR3303 The Arab - Israeli Conflict 30
Note:
- Not all modules are available in every academic year and/or semester
- Individual modules may have requisites to satisfy to be eligible to select them

For further details, see the module catalogue entry for each individual module above
View list Between 0 and 30 credits from Module List: IR4100 - IR4999 (excluding IR4794 - IR4795)
IR4401 Communication in International Relations 15
IR4501 International Politics of Nuclear Weapons 30
IR4502 Conflict Management, Settlement and Resolution 30
IR4504 The Language of Politics 30
IR4506 Political Economy of the Modern Middle East 30
IR4508 Religion and World Politics 30
IR4509 World Order in the History of Political Thought 30
IR4512 Britain and the World 30
IR4514 Global Public Policy 30
IR4516 The International Relations of Sub-Saharan Africa 30
IR4518 Ethics and the Use of Force 30
IR4519 Politics and Development in Southeast Asia 30
IR4521 Representations of International Relations 30
IR4522 Critical Approaches to International Security 30
IR4523 The Aftermath of the Wars: Liberal Dilemmas 30
IR4525 Ethno-National Conflict in the Post-Communist Space 30
IR4526 Terrorism, Radicalism and Extremism 30
IR4527 International Relations of the European Union 30
IR4528 Foreign Policy of Modern China 30
IR4529 Force in the Modern World 30
IR4530 Genocide 30
IR4531 The Return of Great Power Politics 30
IR4532 The Cultural Politics of Human Rights 30
IR4534 Terrorist Finance 30
IR4535 Theories of Friendship, Solidarity and Peace 30
IR4536 Warmongers and Peacemakers: Religious Actors and Conflict 30
IR4538 Identities, Belonging and Others 30
IR4539 International Law and International Legal Theory 30
IR4540 The Changing Character of War 30
IR4541 Dealing in Darkness: An Anatomy of Realism in International Relations 30
IR4542 Gender and Terrorism 30
IR4543 Activism and Resistance 30
IR4544 Wars and Peace in the Caucasus 30
IR4545 Indian Foreign Policy 30
IR4546 The Psychology of International Security 30
IR4547 Shadows in the Global Political Economy 30
IR4548 Force and Statecraft 30
IR4549 Theory, Critique and Ideology in International Relations 30
IR4550 Art and War 30
IR4551 Cosmopolitanism and Global Politics 30
IR4552 The Politics of the Environment 30
IR4553 Europe, America and the Transatlantic 30
IR4554 Global Aesthetics and Politics 30
IR4555 Music, Politics and International Relations 30
IR4556 Politics and Time: Memory, Narrative and Mourning in Group Identity and Conflict 30
IR4558 Non-Western International Relations 30
IR4559 Dilemmas of International Governance: Conflict and Human Rights 30
IR4560 Faith, Politics, and War: The Augustinian Tradition in IR 30
IR4561 Security as Ethics: Rethinking the Global Polity 30
IR4562 The Political Lives of Objects 30
IR4563 Rebels, Terrorists, Militias: The Comparative Analysis of Armed Groups 30
IR4564 Strategic Studies 30
IR4565 Contemporary Political Theory: from revolution to recognition 30
IR4566 Comparative regionalism 30
IR4567 The International Criminal Court in World Politics 30
IR4568 International Relations of Energy and the Environment 30
IR4569 Geopolitics of Energy in the Caspian Region 30
IR4570 Everyday Life and Global Politics 30
IR4600 Ideologies and Social Movements in the Middle East 30
IR4601 Political Order and Violence in the Middle East 30
IR4602 International Relations of the Middle East 30
IR4603 Central Asia in International Politics 30
IR4604 Political Islam and International Relations 30
IR4605 The Arab - Israeli Conflict 30
IR4606 Propaganda, Persuasion and Information War in the Middle East 30
Note:
- Not all modules are available in every academic year and/or semester
- Individual modules may have requisites to satisfy to be eligible to select them

For further details, see the module catalogue entry for each individual module above

Further requirements

Choose 120 credits in academic year

Access to up to thirty 4000-level credits requires the permission of the Adviser of Studies.
Social Anthropology joint element: Third year
Code Module name Credits
View list 30 credits from Module List: SA3000 - SA3999 AND
SA3030 Critical Thinkers and Formative Texts 30
SA3031 Anthropological Study of Language and Culture 30
SA3032 Regional Ethnography 1 30
SA3033 Regional Ethnography 2 30
SA3049 Perception, Imagination and Communication 30
SA3050 Interpreting Social and Cultural Phenomena 30
SA3053 Individuality, Community and Morality 30
SA3055 Anthropology and History 30
SA3056 Melanesian Anthropology 30
SA3057 Sex and Gender 30
SA3059 Colonial and Post-Colonial Representations 30
SA3060 Contemporary Issues in Social Anthropology 30
SA3061 Reading Ethnography 30
SA3062 Anthropology, Indigenous Peoples and Resource Extraction 30
SA3063 Anthropology of Religion 30
SA3064 The Anthropology of Migration 30
SA3065 Anthropology of Economic Life 30
SA3506 Methods in Social Anthropology 30
SA3901 Ethnographic Project: Putting Anthropology to Practice in the 'Real' World 30
SA3902 An Anthropology of Global Social Issues 30
Note:
- Not all modules are available in every academic year and/or semester
- Individual modules may have requisites to satisfy to be eligible to select them

For further details, see the module catalogue entry for each individual module above
View list 30 credits from Module List: SA3000 - SA4089, SA4400 - SA4899 (except SA4794 - SA4797)
SA3030 Critical Thinkers and Formative Texts 30
SA3031 Anthropological Study of Language and Culture 30
SA3032 Regional Ethnography 1 30
SA3033 Regional Ethnography 2 30
SA3049 Perception, Imagination and Communication 30
SA3050 Interpreting Social and Cultural Phenomena 30
SA3053 Individuality, Community and Morality 30
SA3055 Anthropology and History 30
SA3056 Melanesian Anthropology 30
SA3057 Sex and Gender 30
SA3059 Colonial and Post-Colonial Representations 30
SA3060 Contemporary Issues in Social Anthropology 30
SA3061 Reading Ethnography 30
SA3062 Anthropology, Indigenous Peoples and Resource Extraction 30
SA3063 Anthropology of Religion 30
SA3064 The Anthropology of Migration 30
SA3065 Anthropology of Economic Life 30
SA3506 Methods in Social Anthropology 30
SA3901 Ethnographic Project: Putting Anthropology to Practice in the 'Real' World 30
SA3902 An Anthropology of Global Social Issues 30
SA4005 The West Indies and the Black Atlantic 30
SA4058 Visual Anthropology 30
SA4059 Living with Material Culture 30
SA4060 Anthropology of Religion and Politics 30
SA4500 Independent Project 1 30
SA4501 Independent Project 2 30
SA4821 Amerindian Language and Culture 30
SA4850 Andes 30
SA4855 Anthropology, Literature and Writing 30
SA4856 Anthropology, Christianity and Modernity 30
SA4857 West Africa 30
SA4860 Anthropology of Amazonia 30
SA4861 Ethnography of Fieldwork 30
SA4862 Imagining the World: The Anthropology of Consciousness 30
SA4863 Youth in Africa 30
SA4864 Melanesian Anthropology 30
SA4865 Ethnohistories of the Americas 30
SA4866 Anthropology and Eurasia 30
Note:
- Not all modules are available in every academic year and/or semester
- Individual modules may have requisites to satisfy to be eligible to select them

For further details, see the module catalogue entry for each individual module above

Further requirements

Choose 120 credits in academic year

SA3506 must be taken if the student wishes to take SA4099, SA4794 or SA4796 in Fourth Year.
MA International Relations (Joint Honours): Fourth Year
Code Module name Credits
View list Between 30 and 60 credits from Module List: IR4000 - IR4999 AND
IR4098 Honours Dissertation in International Relations (One Semester) 30
IR4099 Honours Dissertation in International Relations 60
IR4401 Communication in International Relations 15
IR4501 International Politics of Nuclear Weapons 30
IR4502 Conflict Management, Settlement and Resolution 30
IR4504 The Language of Politics 30
IR4506 Political Economy of the Modern Middle East 30
IR4508 Religion and World Politics 30
IR4509 World Order in the History of Political Thought 30
IR4512 Britain and the World 30
IR4514 Global Public Policy 30
IR4516 The International Relations of Sub-Saharan Africa 30
IR4518 Ethics and the Use of Force 30
IR4519 Politics and Development in Southeast Asia 30
IR4521 Representations of International Relations 30
IR4522 Critical Approaches to International Security 30
IR4523 The Aftermath of the Wars: Liberal Dilemmas 30
IR4525 Ethno-National Conflict in the Post-Communist Space 30
IR4526 Terrorism, Radicalism and Extremism 30
IR4527 International Relations of the European Union 30
IR4528 Foreign Policy of Modern China 30
IR4529 Force in the Modern World 30
IR4530 Genocide 30
IR4531 The Return of Great Power Politics 30
IR4532 The Cultural Politics of Human Rights 30
IR4534 Terrorist Finance 30
IR4535 Theories of Friendship, Solidarity and Peace 30
IR4536 Warmongers and Peacemakers: Religious Actors and Conflict 30
IR4538 Identities, Belonging and Others 30
IR4539 International Law and International Legal Theory 30
IR4540 The Changing Character of War 30
IR4541 Dealing in Darkness: An Anatomy of Realism in International Relations 30
IR4542 Gender and Terrorism 30
IR4543 Activism and Resistance 30
IR4544 Wars and Peace in the Caucasus 30
IR4545 Indian Foreign Policy 30
IR4546 The Psychology of International Security 30
IR4547 Shadows in the Global Political Economy 30
IR4548 Force and Statecraft 30
IR4549 Theory, Critique and Ideology in International Relations 30
IR4550 Art and War 30
IR4551 Cosmopolitanism and Global Politics 30
IR4552 The Politics of the Environment 30
IR4553 Europe, America and the Transatlantic 30
IR4554 Global Aesthetics and Politics 30
IR4555 Music, Politics and International Relations 30
IR4556 Politics and Time: Memory, Narrative and Mourning in Group Identity and Conflict 30
IR4558 Non-Western International Relations 30
IR4559 Dilemmas of International Governance: Conflict and Human Rights 30
IR4560 Faith, Politics, and War: The Augustinian Tradition in IR 30
IR4561 Security as Ethics: Rethinking the Global Polity 30
IR4562 The Political Lives of Objects 30
IR4563 Rebels, Terrorists, Militias: The Comparative Analysis of Armed Groups 30
IR4564 Strategic Studies 30
IR4565 Contemporary Political Theory: from revolution to recognition 30
IR4566 Comparative regionalism 30
IR4567 The International Criminal Court in World Politics 30
IR4568 International Relations of Energy and the Environment 30
IR4569 Geopolitics of Energy in the Caspian Region 30
IR4570 Everyday Life and Global Politics 30
IR4600 Ideologies and Social Movements in the Middle East 30
IR4601 Political Order and Violence in the Middle East 30
IR4602 International Relations of the Middle East 30
IR4603 Central Asia in International Politics 30
IR4604 Political Islam and International Relations 30
IR4605 The Arab - Israeli Conflict 30
IR4606 Propaganda, Persuasion and Information War in the Middle East 30
IR4794 Joint Dissertation (30cr) 30
IR4795 Joint Dissertation (60cr) 60
Note:
- Not all modules are available in every academic year and/or semester
- Individual modules may have requisites to satisfy to be eligible to select them

For further details, see the module catalogue entry for each individual module above
View list Between 0 and 30 credits from Module List : IR3000 - IR3999
IR3004 International Political Economy 30
IR3006 International Regimes and Organisations 30
IR3007 Democracy and Democratisation 30
IR3008 International Terrorism 30
IR3011 Ethics and World Politics 30
IR3013 Modern Ideologies 30
IR3021 Case Studies in Conflict Analysis 30
IR3022 International Relations and International Law 30
IR3023 US Foreign Policy: The Dilemmas of Empire 30
IR3024 The Politics of Africa 30
IR3025 International Security 30
IR3026 Diplomacy and Conflict Intervention 30
IR3027 American New World Orders of the Twentieth Century 30
IR3028 Politics of China 30
IR3029 The Logic of Irregular Warfare 30
IR3030 Human Rights in Theory and Practice 30
IR3031 Globalisation and the War on Terrorism 30
IR3032 Globalisation and its Disjunctures 30
IR3033 Post-Conflict Transition in Sub-Saharan Africa 30
IR3034 The Political Theory of War and Peace 30
IR3035 Peace Processes and Violence 30
IR3036 Public International Law and International Legal Theory 30
IR3037 Central Asian Studies 30
IR3038 Conflict Management, Settlement and Resolution 30
IR3039 International Relations of the European Union 30
IR3041 International Political Theory 30
IR3042 Representations of Violent Conflict: Research Seminar 30
IR3043 Approaches to Counter-Terrorism 30
IR3044 Pathways of European State Formation 30
IR3045 Violence in Deeply-Divided Societies 30
IR3046 Foreign Policy of Modern China 30
IR3047 Arrested Development? The Politics of Postcolonialism 30
IR3048 Peacekeeping and Humanitarian Intervention 30
IR3049 International History and International Relations 30
IR3050 State, Power, Crime 30
IR3051 International Relations Theory 30
IR3052 The Politics of Violence and Resistance in Latin America 30
IR3053 Peacebuilding and Post-Conflict Transition in Latin America 30
IR3054 Mapping the Boundaries of Emerging and Evolving Securities 30
IR3055 International Relations and the Internet 30
IR3056 Political Leadership: Theories and History 30
IR3057 Armaments and International Relations 30
IR3058 Armed Forces, Societies and Governments: An International Perspective on Civil-Military Relations 30
IR3059 Anglo-American Relations Since 1939: The Special Relationship? 30
IR3060 Rebellion and Revolution 30
IR3061 International Political Theology: Christian Realism and Beyond 30
IR3062 The United Nations since 1945 30
IR3063 Organised Crime and Corruption 30
IR3064 Critical Terrorism Studies 30
IR3065 Refugees and International Relations 30
IR3066 Emotional Encounters: Diplomacy, Power and Persuasion in World Politics 30
IR3067 The International Criminal Court in World Politics 30
IR3068 Christianity and World Politics 30
IR3070 Armed Conflict in Postcolonial Africa 30
IR3071 Realism in International Relations 30
IR3072 New and emerging security threats in the Caucasus and Central Asia 30
IR3073 Dilemmas of International Order: Governing Conflict and Human Rights 30
IR3101 Russian Politics and Foreign Policy after Communism 30
IR3104 The International Relations of Post-Communist Central and Eastern Europe 30
IR3111 Asian Security 30
IR3113 Gender and Generation 30
IR3300 Conflict in the Middle East 30
IR3301 Politics and State Formation in the Middle East 30
IR3302 Democracy and Revolution in North Africa 30
IR3303 The Arab - Israeli Conflict 30
Note:
- Not all modules are available in every academic year and/or semester
- Individual modules may have requisites to satisfy to be eligible to select them

For further details, see the module catalogue entry for each individual module above

Further requirements

Choose 120 credits in academic year
At least 90 Level4000 credits must be obtained

Access to up to thirty 3000-level credits requires the permission of the Adviser of Studies.
Social Anthropology joint element: Fourth year
Code Module name Credits
View list 60 credits from Module List: SA4000 - SA4299, SA4400 - SA4899, (SA4301 and ID4002)
SA4005 The West Indies and the Black Atlantic 30
SA4058 Visual Anthropology 30
SA4059 Living with Material Culture 30
SA4060 Anthropology of Religion and Politics 30
SA4098 Library-based Dissertation 30
SA4099 Primary Research-based Dissertation 30
SA4500 Independent Project 1 30
SA4501 Independent Project 2 30
SA4794 Joint Dissertation (30cr) 30
SA4795 Joint Dissertation (60cr) 60
SA4796 Joint Project (30cr) 30
SA4797 Joint Project (60cr) 60
SA4821 Amerindian Language and Culture 30
SA4850 Andes 30
SA4855 Anthropology, Literature and Writing 30
SA4856 Anthropology, Christianity and Modernity 30
SA4857 West Africa 30
SA4860 Anthropology of Amazonia 30
SA4861 Ethnography of Fieldwork 30
SA4862 Imagining the World: The Anthropology of Consciousness 30
SA4863 Youth in Africa 30
SA4864 Melanesian Anthropology 30
SA4865 Ethnohistories of the Americas 30
SA4866 Anthropology and Eurasia 30
SA4301 Anthropology in the Community 15
ID4002 Communication and Teaching in Arts and Humanities 15
Note:
- Not all modules are available in every academic year and/or semester
- Individual modules may have requisites to satisfy to be eligible to select them

For further details, see the module catalogue entry for each individual module above

Further requirements

Choose 120 credits in academic year
At least 90 Level4000 credits must be obtained

If selected SA4301 must be taken with ID4002.

Study abroad

In the case of students who spend part of the Honours programme on a recognised Study Abroad scheme, the Programme Requirements will be amended to take into account overseas courses which are approved by the relevant St Andrews School in the Learning Agreement (see www.st-andrews.ac.uk/studyabroad/outgoingstudents/AcademicInformation ).