International Relations in Historical Perspective

The international political stage is much like a game of chess between multiple players. During the course of this Master's programme, you will gain a greater understanding of the parties involved and of their political agendas and also prepare yourself for a future as a participant in the game of global politics.

Bridging history and political science

Political theory is an important tool in the analysis of international questions. In order to fully understand those issues, however, we strongly believe in the importance of adopting a broader historical perspective - and while history never repeats itself (or at least not exactly), one can learn a great deal from it. By bridging the fields of history and international relations, the MA in International Relations in Historical Perspective offers an in-depth insight into both worlds.

Tracks

Practice track: internship

As part of the MA programme, you can choose to participate in an internship of at least three months (Practice track). With an internship, you will put your knowledge and skills into practice, and this experience will form an important part of your resume. Recent studies show that 80% of students who took part in an internship found employment within a year of graduating.

Research track: expanding your research skills

The Research Seminar (Research track) offers a deeper exploration of international historical methods and is particularly suitable for an academic career. 

Build a strong foundation for understanding modern politics

Three core research themes

The programme revolves around three core research themes that shed light on contemporary international politics, providing the students with analytical tools to engage with a wide range of topics:

• The history of security and conflict, including wars, terrorism, humanitarian interventions, and the role of the intelligence services in international politics.
• The history of European international relations, including the European integration process.
• The history of global processes including colonialism, decolonization, North-South relations, and  global health concerns and environmental issues.

Research-led teaching

These thematic pillars reflect the three research clusters on which lecturers and researchers focus at the history of international relations section within the department of history at the University of Utrecht. Within these clusters, researchers and teachers share the key findings of their ongoing research projects and translate these to the classroom.

This notion of ‘research-led teaching’ connects the research done within our department directly to the students of our MA programme, not only guaranteeing a constant flow of new ideas and innovations into the classroom, but also giving students the possibility to actively contribute to these academic clusters with their own ideas.

Understanding international relations is more than just absorbing information – actively getting hands-on experience, connecting to experts and stepping outside of the classroom is key to grasp our global challenges in contemporary and historical perspective

After graduation

Professionals with an International Relations in Historical Perspective degree can easily find their way in the world of international politics, and their career options extend beyond Foreign Affairs, the EU, and the UN. Graduates will have the skills to create effective policy, and such expertise can be employed in other areas as well such as NGO’s and lobbying agencies.

Teaching and studying history, for example the history of security measures, terrorism and counterterrorism helps us to put current-day fears and anxieties in perspective.