Global Social and Political Thought (MLitt) 2025 entry

Why study this course?

Global intellectual history – the transnational and comparative approach to the history of ideas – is a developing field of academic study. Studying for the MLitt in Global Social and Political Thought, you will explore social and political ideas from around the world, the connections that link global thought traditions, and the ways in which those traditions continue to influence our world.

Highlights

• Introduces key topics in global thought, providing a broad overview of the field.
• Transnational and comparative approach gives this programme a remarkable richness and depth compared with conventional intellectual history degrees.
• Interdisciplinary character helps you to develop a more rounded understanding of the questions and concepts of global thought.
• Prepares students for further academic study and research.

The MLitt in Global Social and Political Thought is an interdisciplinary degree with a global approach: it gives you an opportunity to study social and political thought, not just from Europe as is common in other universities, but also from societies across Asia, Africa and the Americas.

You will discover the key concepts in social and political thought from different regions of the world and learn to discuss how these regions have imagined and re-imagined themselves throughout history. This MLitt compares social and political thought that originated in different regions at various points in history, but you will also consider what connects these traditions and how different intellectual lineages form a shared commons for all of us.

You will develop your understanding of global intellectual history while being encouraged to question its sometimes arbitrary categories. You will also learn to look at theory beyond Eurocentric lenses. In doing so you will think critically about how an awareness of multiple theoretical traditions can help us to respond to global issues such as social injustice, economic exploitation, ideological conflicts, and environmental degradation.

Your learning will include key debates in contemporary global politics – from issues of democracy and rights within states to questions of international law and global justice between states. You will be trained to critically interpret political discussions through the optics of race, ethnicity, class, and gender. The MLitt asks how we can think in common with diverse societies and cultures to create a more democratic and equal world. You will be encouraged to consider the perspectives of the marginalised – the impoverished, the minority, or the refugee – and to think, in terms of practical solutions on the level of policy and research, about ways to democratise and subalternise global politics.

The MLitt is distinctively interdisciplinary. On this MLitt subject, experts from across the University provide their own disciplinary perspectives on key topics. Through research-led teaching from scholars working in subjects including history, international relations, classics, literary-cultural studies, and biology you will learn to analyse contemporary debates and compare how these are approached from anthropological, historical, environmental, and philosophical perspectives.

You will be encouraged to develop a more rounded, interdisciplinary understanding of global thought traditions and learn how to critically discuss these traditions from multiple disciplinary perspectives. You will also demonstrate your ability to solve complex problems by critical understanding, analysis, and synthesis.

The MLitt will be of particular interest if you intend to continue to doctoral research as it provides a broad-based programme of study culminating in a supervised research project.