Politics & International Relations

The Department of Politics and International Relations (DPIR) hosts a large MPhil/PhD Programme, with over 30 high quality and motivated doctoral research students from around the world, with a broad spectrum of research interests. Reflecting the high standard of research at DPIR, several of our students have received scholarships from both British and overseas funding bodies, and some have been awarded prizes for their research work presented at international conferences.

The MPhil/PhD programme enjoys dedicated student facilities and a vibrant research culture. The Department’s research environment includes a range of academic seminars, international conferences and public lectures. Regular seminars are organised for our PhD students on research methodology and we hold an annual PhD conference, along with various social events.

Centre for the Study of Democracy

• Political theory, including agonism, deliberative democracy and radical politics
• Citizenship and political agency
• Democratic theory and the dynamics of democratization in different regions of the world, such as Asia, Africa, the Middle East, the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
• Policy analysis: power, complexity and democratic legitimacy

A prominent strand within the Centre is Islam and Democracy, including specialisations in:

• Multiculturalism
• Terrorism and international politics
• Islam and religious reform in the Muslim world, including the role of western Muslims in religious reform
• Gender politics in the Arab world

• Visit the Centre for the Study of Democracy
  

Governance and Sustainability

• Inter-relationships between governance systems, institutions and the environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainable development
• Policy analysis and evaluation
• Politics and markets (regulation; the roles of public and private sector in governance)
• Democratic accountability and legitimacy
• Sustainable communities, social sustainability; civil society
• Spatial and temporal variations in theory and practice of ‘sustainability’
• Metropolitan and regional governance (including inequality; core-periphery etc)

Governance and policy areas of specialisation include:

• Climate change mitigation and adaptation
• Planning and the built environment, including Eco-Cities
• Metropolitan and regional development and strategy
• Natural resource management
• Immigration policy

• Visit the Governance and Sustainability pages
  

Security and International Relations

• Just war and security theory
• Intervention and State Building, including humanitarian intervention, failed states, and Responsibility to Protect
• Security and Resilience, especially regarding the global energy system
• Borders and Identities, with special focus on immigration and Europe, China-India border dispute, Muslim identities in Russia, majority-minority relations in India and China including the issue of Tibet

• Visit the Security and International Relations pages
  

In the 2008 UK Research Assessment Exercise 60% of the Department’s submissions in Politics and International Relations were ‘recognized internationally in terms of originality, significance and rigour’.

For queries or informal discussions about research degrees, and to find out about potential supervisors, please contact the following person:

Dr Maria Holt
E: M.C.Holt01@westminster.ac.uk 

What next?

• Find out when and how to apply