History and International Relations

Course detail Description

Our History & International Relations degree combines teaching from our History and International Relations courses, to create an integrated multidisciplinary programme. The research and communication skills of historical study combined with the intellectual and analytical demands of International Relations, create a challenging education pathway to provide an ideal foundation for a wide range of careers.

The first year provides a grounding in historical methods and in the theoretical and historical foundations of international studies. The second year focusses on the use of history for international analysis, with a wide range of specialist options. In the final year, students take a special subject and write an associated dissertation in the Department of History, and choose from a wide range of option modules in International Relations.

You will have the opportunity to study abroad as part of your degree at King’s.

Because King’s is part of the University of London, second and final-year students also have the option of taking history courses at other institutions such as UCL and Royal Holloway.

Teaching

You will have regular and varied contact with staff and other students in lectures, seminars and supervisions. You will also spend an extensive amount on written work and independent study. Most teaching takes place in seminars, which usually have between 15 and 25 participants and are a forum for discussion in which students have the opportunity to refine their discussion and presentation skills.

From the beginning of the degree, you will analyse primary sources as well as the writings of historians and international relations experts. We ensure you are exposed to many different approaches to these subjects, and encourage a comparative approach, looking at the connections and contrasts between various times and places throughout the degree. In your final year, you will conduct supervised historical research resulting in a 10,000 word dissertation in History.

Typically, one credit equates to 10 hours of work.

Assessment

Your performance will be assessed through a combination of coursework and written/practical examinations. Forms of assessment may typically include coursework, presentations and examinations. You may also benefit from some informal assessment during individual modules to help steer your studies and enhance your learning.

Location

This course is primarily taught at the King’s College London Strand Campus. Please note that locations are determined by where each module is taught and may vary depending on the optional modules you select.

Special notes

All students are offered the opportunity to study abroad as part of their History degree at King's and recent popular destinations include The University of North Carolina Chapel, The University of Auckland and The University of Hong Kong.

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Structure

• Year 1
• Year 2
• Year 3

Year 1

Courses are divided into modules. Each year you will normally take modules totalling 120 credits.

In your first year you will take two required International Relations modules, equalling 60 credits; and one required History- based module, in addition to a further 30-credit module in Medieval, Early Modern, or Modern history of Britain, Europe or the World. We review required and optional modules on a regular basis. Please check for updates, or contact the Department of History and/or the Department of War Studies for further advice.

Required Modules

History:

• Historical Sources, Skills and Approaches (30 credits)

International Relations:

• International Relations Theory (30 credits)
• International History (30 credits)

Optional Modules

History

You are also required to take one 30 credit module from a range of options which may typically include:

• The Making of Britain 400-1400 (30 credits)
• Medieval Europe 400-1500 (30 credits)
• Early Modern Britain 1500-1750 (30 credits)
• Power, Belief & Culture in Europe 1500-1800 (30 credits)
• Europe from 1793 to 1991 (30 credits)
• Politics & Society in Britain, 1780-1945 (30 credits)
• The Worlds of the British Empire, c1730- 1960 (30 credits)
• World History, 1870s-2000s (30 credits)

International relations

There are no optional modules for International Relations in Year 1.

Year 2

In your second year of study, you are required to take a 30-credit module on International History, taught by the International Relations staff. You are then required to choose a further 30-credit optional module from the International Relations area of the course as well as modules totalling 60 credits from the History section.

Required Modules

History

There are no required modules for History in Year 2.

International Relations

• The Long View: Understanding International Relations through History (30 credits)

Optional Modules

History

You are also required to take one 30-credit module from a wide range of optional modules, which may typically include:

• The Northern Ireland Troubles (30 credits)

• History of Feminism ( 30 credits)

• The Black Death in England (30 credits)

• Faraway so Close: The Middle East since 1800 (30 credits)

• China: From Imperial State to People’s Republic (30 credits)

• The Civilising Mission: French Imperialism since 1750 (30 credits)

• War in the Pacific, 1898 to 1975 & beyond: Strategy & Diplomacy (30 credits)

• An additional range of intercollegiate ‘Group II’ 30 credit modules offered by our partner colleges in the University of London
  
  

In addition, you are required to take 30 credits (2 modules) from a range of optional 15-credit modules, which may typically include:

• Atlantic Slavery: West Africa & the Caribbean, 1492-1807 (15 credits)

• Europe in the Second World War (15 credits)

• The Hundred Years War (15 credits)

• Electric Cities : The Experience of Modernity in London, Melbourne, New York & Paris, 1870 – 1929 (15 credits)

Orientalism, Race, Islam (15 credits)

Students may also take one optional 15 credit module offered elsewhere in the Faculty, including the Modern Language Centre.

International Relations

You are required to take 30 credits from a range of optional modules, which may typically include:

• History of The European Cold War (30 Credits)
• Grand Strategy & The Foundations Of Anglo- American Statecraft (30 Credits)
• History of Political Thought (30 Credits)
• Empires and Imperialism (30 Credits)
• War in International Order (30 Credits)
• Intelligence in War Studies (30 Credits)
• War in the 20th Century (30 credits)
• World War Il in Europe (30 Credits)
• Military Strategy (30 Credits)
• Global Politics (30 Credits)
• Contemporary International Relations Theory (30 credits)
• Statecraft and Diplomacy (30 credits)
• International Law, Human Rights and Intervention (30 credits)

Second year students also have the opportunity to study abroad for the second semester of the second year. Current partner institutions are:

• Ashoka University, India
• University of Auckland, New Zealand
• Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany (German language required)
• University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
• University of Melbourne, Australia
• Monash University, Australia
• National University of Singapore, Singapore
• University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, USA
• University of Sydney, Australia
• University of Oslo, Norway
• University of British Columbia, Canada
• University of Washington (Seattle), USA
• George Washington University, USA
• University of Salamanca, Spain (Spanish language required)
• University of Bologna, Italy (Italian language required)
• Universidad del Pacifico, Peru (Spanish language required)
• Universiteit Leiden Netherlands
• Western University, Canada
• Universite Sorbonne IV Paris (Teaching in French)
• University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil
• Peking University, China

Year 3 Required Modules

History

Final year students are required to take a 30-credit ‘special subject’ module from a wide range of options, which may typically include:

• The Global Cold War (30 Credits)
• Romans and Barbarians: The Transformation of the Roman West 350-700 (30 credits)
• The Enlightenment (30 credits)
• The Experience of Power in Nigeria since 1900 (30 credits)
• Red, White and Blues: Jazz and the United States in the 20th Century (30 credits)
• Women & Gender in Early Modern England (30 credits)
• Additional University of London Intercollegiate ‘special subject’ 30 credit modules

In addition, you are required to take either a dissertation associated with the history special subject (30 credits) or (subject to meeting set criteria) a Free Long Standing Essay (30 credits), which is a dissertation on a historical topic of your choice.

International Relations

There are no required modules in Year 3.

Optional Modules History

There are no optional modules in Year 3.

International Relations

You are required to take 60 credits from a range of optional modules, which may typically include:

• Diplomacy (30 credits)
• Power, Politics and Ethics in International Relations (30 credits)
• The UN and Global Governance (30 credits)
• The 9/11 Era Anglo American Foreign Policy since the end of the Cold War (30 credits)
• A History of Nations, Nationalism & Theories of the State (30 credits)
• Worlds of Security (30 credits)
• Contemporary Debates in The English School of International Relations (30 credits)
• Leadership in a Time of War & Revolution (1960-69) (30 credits)
• War & International Politics in Africa (30 credits)
• Nature of Riots (30 credits)
• Contemporary Military Strategy (30 credits)
• War & Strategy in East Asia (30 credits)
• Critical Security Studies (30 credits)
• Cyber Security: Politics, Policy and Practice (30 credits)
• The UN & Global Governance (30 credits)
• Gendering Global Politics (30 credits)
• Weapons of Mass Destruction in International Politics (30 credits)
• Religion & Politics of the Middle East (30 credits)
• Political Economy of the Middle East (30 credits)

King’s College London reviews the modules offered on a regular basis to provide up-to- date, innovative and relevant programmes of study. Therefore, modules offered may change.