MSc International Relations

The MSc (International Relations) programme offers an integrative set of courses that aims to equip students with the ability to understand international relations theories and develop their own concepts to deal with real-world situations. Present-day international relations is no longer the exclusive preserve of war, peace and strategic diplomacy. The high politics of yesteryear have expanded in scope to accommodate an array of concerns, encompassing international trade and investment, ethnic conflict, terrorism and insurgency, and non-traditional security issues relating to the environment, energy, water and health. All of these are inter-related, often in complex and multi-dimensional ways. Against this backdrop, the management of conflict and the search for equity and justice are becoming more challenging by the day. The traditional approach to security is being subsumed by newer concepts such as comprehensive security. At the same time, global and regional multilateral institutions are experimenting with new techniques of dealing with conflict, such as preventive diplomacy and humanitarian intervention, often with mixed results.