Programme Specification: MSc Global Politics
1. Awarding Body
2. Details of accreditation by a
professional/statutory body, e.g. ESRC;
BPS etc
3. Name of final award
4. Programme Title
5. Duration of the course
6. Based in the Department/Institute:
7. Relevant QAA subject benchmark
statements
8. Application Code
9. First written/last amended
LSE
N/A
MSc
Global Politics
12 months full-time, 24 months part-time
Government Department (managing the
programme), International Relations
Department, Department of Development,
European Institute
N/A
M1UM
August 2004 / November 2012
10. The programme aims to:
 Provide a world-class postgraduate education in a research-active environment to
carefully selected students from a wide range of countries;
 Introduce students to a novel and stimulating field of political studies where the
interests of leading departments/institutes combine;
 Provide access to the broad range of topics studied in the four participating
departments/institutes and to the wider context of the social sciences;
 Enable students to develop a high level of analytical and theoretical sophistication,
breadth and depth of understanding, and solid factual knowledge in core areas of
globalization, global politics and global governance.
 Provide access to a wide range of area-specific and thematic options and enable
students to analyse the links between processes at the global, national and local
levels.
 Provide the conceptual, theoretical and empirical tools necessary to understand the
changing forms of global politics in the modern era and the dynamics of globalization
in a broad range of social domains.
 Foster the ability to apply those intellectual tools to new problems and contexts
 Enable students who go directly into non-academic careers (e.g. government, the
voluntary sector, international organisations, business and media) to become
articulate, clear-thinking individuals, who are able to analyse complex bodies of
evidence and think creatively about global problems and solutions;
 Provide the groundwork for further research on global politics at the Ph.D. level.
11. Programme outcomes: knowledge and understanding; skills and other attributes
Students completing the MSc Global Politics should possess:
 A general knowledge of the main features and political implications of globalization in a
number of domains – military, economic, migratory, and environmental.
 An advanced critical understanding of the main theoretical debates about globalization
and global governance;
 The ability to link the theoretical issues with policy problems raised by processes of
globalization and regionalization.
 The capacity to analyse global problems and think about global solutions with regard to
economic, social, political and environmental processes.
 The ability to work independently, employing an empirical and analytical knowledge of
their field in the planning and presentation of succinct, precise arguments, written and
oral;
 The ability to design and independently execute a ‘long essay’/’dissertation’ on an
approved subject of their own choice within the topics included in the programme.
Information relating to careers can be accessed here
12. Teaching, learning and assessment strategies to enable outcomes to be achieved
and demonstrated
From Empire to Globalization is the core course for the MSc Global Politics. The course
comprises 20 lectures and 22 seminars (including two revision seminars). Attendance to the
seminars is compulsory and students will be expected to offer at least one presentation per
term and contribute actively to class discussions. All students are required to produce three
essays, which should not be on the same topics as their class presentations. The course is
assessed through a three-hour unseen written examination in the Summer Term.
In addition to the core course, students choose from a wide range of options activated in the
Department of Government, Department of International Relations, Development Studies
Institute and European Institute. Other options can be taken with the permission of the Global
Politics MSc convenor and the teacher of the option. The optional courses require students to
make presentations and write essays. Comments on presentations and essays are offered to
students and recorded on end-of-term report forms. Examinations in those courses may be in
May or June, and some courses have assessed essays.
All students write a 10,000 word dissertation designed to test their ability to do a high-quality
piece of independent research and analysis over the summer.
All students have personal tutors whose main role is: to guide students' choice of suitable
options: to help where requested with advice on essays for the core course; to act as advisor
and watchdog on the student's overall academic performance, as well as first port of call when
the student has academic or personal problems to discuss; most significantly, to help the
student to choose a suitable topic for the dissertation, and to ensure that the student by the
end of the summer term has a topic which fits the Global Politics MSc's remit and can be
completed with the resources and within the time available.
13. Programme structures and requirements, levels, modules and awards
See MSc Global Politics programme regulations.
Additional information
14. Criteria for admission to the programme
A first degree in Politics of a 2.1 standard or higher awarded by a UK university or equivalent.
Other degrees may also be considered if they are relevant to the study of global politics and
show that the applicant has prior knowledge of the field.
Students who are taking or have taken a recognised degree programme outside the UK will
need to have obtained, or expect to obtain, at least 70 per cent of the available marks in their
final year examinations. If their country uses the cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA)
system they should have normally obtained, or expect to obtain, a GPA of at least 3.5 (out of
4) or above.
15. Indicators of quality
1. High demand for the programme and high qualifications required for admission.
2. The high fees paid by students taking the programme.
3. Consistently good examination results and favourable remarks by external
examiners.
4. Student questionnaires run by the School and feedback via student liaison
committees.
5. Quality of relevant research and authorship of key texts in the field.
6. The LSE Careers Centre website provides data on career destinations of LSE
16. Methods for evaluating and improving the quality and standard of teaching and
learning
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MSc Convenors’ Meeting which raises teaching issues and reviews regulations and
assessment methods. Annual;
4-yearly programme reviews as part of the Government Department’s teaching
quality practices;
MSc Student Representatives Meetings. 2 per year;
MSc Student Meetings. 1 per year per programme;
Postgraduate Teaching Review. 5-yearly cycle per programme;
TQARO Student Surveys. 1 per module;
The Teaching and Learning Centre is available to monitor and observe teaching and
offers constructive advice on how to improve the standard of teaching and quality;
Departmental TLAC review once every five years;
The Teaching Learning and Assessment Committee which regulates all aspects of
teaching quality;
The Graduate Studies Sub-Committee which oversees all graduate programmes and
ensures that significant changes to programmes and courses pass through a
sequence of formal stages, so that curricular changes are appropriate and compatible
with other developments.