War, Peace and International Relations

Learn about the role of military force and defence policy, study war in a historical context and consider challenging questions such as whether the use of military force can ever be justified or whether peace should be maintained at all costs. As a student at the University of Reading’s Department of Politics and International Relations you will benefit from a learning environment driven by high-quality research. Our Department of Politics and International Relations is ranked 6th in the UK for research outputs and 97% of our research outputs are rated ‘world leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’ (Times Higher Education analysis of the latest REF 2021 – Politics and International Studies, when scoring by GPA Output). Learn more about our research impact. Bring your studies to life and relate to what is happening outside the classroom, with compulsory modules such as:

Contemporary Strategy – Explore the theoretical foundation of strategy and examine real-world examples of military strategy and its relationship with war and politics.

Modern International Relations – Analyse the main theoretical approaches to international politics, and cover a selection of major issues on the international stage, including globalisation, conflict, nuclear weapons and terrorism.

Intelligence, War and International Relations – Examine the relevance and diversity of the intelligence function within war, strategy and international politics.