MA International Relations (Standard)

For entry in the academic year beginning September 2027, the tuition fees are as follows:

• MA (full-time)
  UK students (per annum): £18,200
  International, including EU, students (per annum): £30,900
• MA (part-time)
  UK students (per annum): £9,100
  International, including EU, students (per annum): £15,400

The fees quoted above are fully inclusive of tuition, administration and computational costs.

Fees for entry are subject to yearly review. The University reserves the right to increase your tuition fee by up to 7% each year for courses lasting more than one year, including to reflect rising costs associated with delivering our educational and wider student experience. Postgraduate fees information .

Always contact the admissions team if you are unsure which fee applies to your qualification award and method of attendance.

All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).

We know that student finance can be complicated. The links below provide further information to help guide you.

• Learn more about - student finance options for UK students .
• Learn more about - fees and finance for international students .
• Graduates of The University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University can receive a 10% discount on their master's degree tuition fees as part of our Manchester Alumni Loyalty Discount scheme.

This course develops students' abilities to think critically about key themes in international 
politics. It builds on the introduction to the discipline of International Relations provided by 
The Graduate Seminar in International Relations Theory. The aim is to introduce students 
to what it means to think critically about international politics and who are the key thinkers that influence the work in international politics. 
This course is not simply a survey of critical thinkers, but rather a bridge between the Graduate Seminar in International Politics and the MA Dissertation, examining the way in which key thinkers have thought critically about topics in international 
politics and encouraging students to translate these insights and provocations into their 
own research on international politics. 

The course combines three aims:1. To foster the ability to think critically about international politics 2. To understand key concepts in international politics and key intellectual figures behind them (such as Foucault, Butler, Derrida, Fanon, Lacan, Ranciere) 3. To apply critical thinking to empirical issues in international politics. This course will be a core course for the MA in International Politics (both research and taught routes). 

Weekly contact hours will consist of one two-hour seminar each week.

Advanced level of understanding and knowledge of the key debates and theoretical positions within international politics, and how theories relate to the analytical approaches selected.

Display an ability to engage in thinking and reasoning; an ability to analyse and critically engage with other people’s position; and to work independently to identify appropriate further reading.

Literature searches, critical engagement with archival material or news items, and critical reading.

Advanced cognitive and communicative skills; the ability to present reasoned and effective arguments in written and oral form; the ability to pursue an advanced level of independent learning and to show critical judgement.

Short Essay 900 Words (30%)

Long essay. 2100 words (70%) 

• Aradau, C, Huysmans, J Neal, A and Voelkner, N eds., Critical Security Methods: New Frameworks for Analysis (London: Routledge, 2015)
• Edkins, Jenny and Nick Vaughan-Williams (eds.) Critical Theorists and International Relations (London: Routledge 2009)
• Shapiro, J. Michael, Studies in Trans-disciplinary Method: After the Aesthetic Turn (London: Routledge, 2012)
• Salter, Mark and Mutlu, Can E, eds., Research Methods in Critical Security Studies (London: Routledge, 2013)

Information

This course will be a core course for the MA in International Politics (both research and taught routes).