The Great Recession, the Chinese economic boom, the Syrian Civil War, the annexation of the Crimea by Russia, Brexit, the election of Donald Trump. What ties all of these events together? This kind of question is at the heart of our BA Global Politics and International Relations with Foundation Year, a degree that provides you with the knowledge and skills to answer such questions.

BA Global Politics and International Relations with Foundation Year is concerned with both the political changes that are sweeping across the globe, transforming politics across countries and regions, as well as relations between states in the international system. Yet this is not the first time in human history that global political relations have undergone such extensive change, and an important aspect of the degree is the goal of understanding this history, and particularly the history of the modern world. Without this political-historical understanding, we cannot make sense of the momentous developments we see around us.  

Our academics from the Department of Politics are outstanding researchers in the fields of international relations, international political economy, political and historical sociology, political theory, public policy, and the study of countries and regions such as Britain, the USA, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and East Asia. They publish their research in major academic journals and widely read books and teach you on the basis of new knowledge they have generated. They engage not only with the wider public by publishing articles in newspapers, contributing to TV and radio programmes, and writing blogs on political analysis websites, but they also engage with politicians and others who play a key role in today’s political landscape.  

Upon successful completion of the Foundation Year, you can automatically progress on to our three-year, full-time, evening study BA Global Politics and International Relations.

• Our Foundation Year programmes will fully prepare you for undergraduate study and are ideal if you returning to study after a gap, or if you have not previously studied the relevant subjects, or if you didn't achieve the grades you need for a place on your chosen undergraduate degree.
• Birkbeck is a distinguished centre of research and teaching excellence in politics. Our central London location puts us at the heart of the UK's political life and at the centre of academic London.
• Our Department of Politics is over 40 years old and has a reputation for the excellence of its teaching and its internationally significant research.
• Some of the world’s most famous libraries are on our doorstep in Bloomsbury, central London, and you can walk down to Whitehall, where Parliament and the UK’s most influential and important think-tanks and centres of political research and analysis are located.
• Our departmental building was once a key location for members of the Bloomsbury Group, so you could be studying in rooms that have hosted distinguished visitors, including T. S. Eliot, George Bernard Shaw and Maynard Keynes.
• In the most recent Research Excellence Framework (REF), Politics at Birkbeck was ranked 17th in the UK.