This degree will help you gain knowledge of the exciting world of modern politics while examining the societies, life and significant events of the past. You will get an understanding of contemporary political issues by studying key institutions and players and will also explore the 17^th to the 20^th centuries’ world history.

A major attraction of our courses is the wide variety of career opportunities to which they can lead. Some go into Politics and the civil service and have worked for Members of the Parliament such as John McDonnell MP, or former Labour party general secretary Baroness McDonagh. Other graduates have joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Home Office, GCHQ and military intelligence.

Many have gone on to work in public and private sector organisations, such as Chase Manhattan, Marks and Spencer, British Airways, Coca Cola Schweppes, HSBC, and the NHS Confederation.

Significant numbers have taken further training to pursue careers in broadcasting, journalism, law, and teaching at every level.

A degree in history equips you for work as a researcher, teacher or librarian, as well as for careers in the museum and heritage sectors, in NGOs and government agencies, the civil service etc. Past students have also gained employment in company management, business, consultancy and law practice.

This degree draws on the skills and expertise of all the disciplines that make up the Department of Politics, History and the Brunel Law School.

In addition to the Politics half of the course, and the writing of a dissertation at Level 3, you will take modules in historiography and historical skills, covering a wide variety of historical periods and substantive themes.

The BSc consists of both compulsory and optional modules, a typical selection can be found below. Modules can vary from year to year, but these offer a good idea of what we teach.

Level 1

Compulsory

• Research Design and Qualitative Methods
• Modern Political Thought
• Modern British Politics
• What is History?

Optional

Choose 2 from the following:

• Revolution, Liberty and the Origins of American Democracy
• Capital, Labour and Power: Britain, 1707-1939
• History, Memory and Culture in Europe since 1789
• The Making of the Modern World
• Migration and the Settler World, 1600-1914

Level 2

Compulsory

• Comparative Political Institutions
• Historians and their Craft
• Explaining Politics: Quantitative Political Science in Practice

Optional

Choose 3 from the following:

• US Foreign Policy from World War 2 to the End of the Cold War
• Issues in American Politics
• Political Geography
• Theories of International Relations
• Slavery and Abolition in the Atlantic World
• The First World War - Causes, Course, Consequences
• Australia and The Modern World
• Themes in the History of Modern Africa
• The State and Revolution
• History of the Women’s Movement in the West, c. 1790-1930
• National Security Intelligence
• Ancient Greek Political Thought
• Unity and Cultural Diversity

Level 3

Compulsory

• Dissertation (This may be taken in Politics, or jointly between Politics and History)
• European Union Politics: Problems and Prospects

Optional

Choose 3 from the following:

• Psychogeography
• History of Political Thought
• Globalisation and Governance
• Empire, Imperialism and Hegemony
• Media, Politics and Power in America
• Marx and Marxism
• Parties and Voters in the UK
• Public Policy Analysis
• Parliamentary Studies
• Fascism
• The Second World War
• The British Maritime World, 1660-1815
• Crisis and Critique

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• GPA 5.0 or 80%

  75% is required in any specific subjects that are stated in GCE A-level entry requirements above.

  • IELTS: 6.5 (min 5.5 in all areas)
  • Pearson: 58 (51 in all subscores)
  • BrunELT: 65% (min 55% in all areas)