School of Government & International Affairs | PhD Government and International Affairs

PhD Government & International Affairs at Durham University

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Research within the School is structured around the four sub-disciplines of Political Science: Political Theory, Comparative Politics, International Relations and Security, and International Political Economy (IPE).

• Equality, justice and liberty are benchmarks for Political Theory.
• Methodological innovation characterises Comparative Politics
• Conflict and post-conflict dynamics, international political theory and critical approaches to the study of world politics characterise International Politics
• IPE is concerned with the impacts of capitalist dynamics on contemporary national and global-level governance.
• Connecting area-specific knowledge, including extensive field-based research, to core disciplinary theoretical and methodological approaches is a hallmark of our research strategy.

Our research emphasises methodological diversity, with work contributing to innovation in quantitative, qualitative, philosophical and historiographical methods.

The School hosts the Durham Global Security Institute, the Global Policy Institute, and the Institute for Middle Eastern & Islamic Studies. We also host the journals Global Policy & East Asia: an International Quarterly, and the administrative centre for the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies.

Research students working towards MRes, MPhil and PhD's will have dedicated research support workshops available throughout your time with us. You will be part of a significant student body with a thriving cosmopolitan student community. Currently, there are students from over 50 countries studying with us.

Our research students have access to:  

• A personal workspace in the School  
• A postgraduate only IT space  
• Photocopying and printing facilities  
• Financial support for conferences, research training and fieldwork  
• A wide range of research training and personal development opportunities  
• An inclusive and empowering research environment within the School and across the University.

Postgraduates from the School of Government & International Affairs pursue successful careers in a wide range of fields including local and national government, newspaper and broadcast journalism, the charity sector, business and finance, publishing, law, manufacturing, teaching and academia, and the armed forces.

The School draws on its networks to help students develop the skills they need to succeed in a highly competitive job market. We hold a regular Civil Service Fast Stream event, in which Durham alumni give first-hand advice about how to excel in the recruitment process. The university’s Careers & Enterprise Centre holds an annual careers forum for government and international affairs students, bringing Durham alumni back to the University to talk about their different career paths. The School also invites individual speakers to talk to our students about career choices and to recommend strategies for success.

Durham students have gone on to have great success in the political arena, with alumni job titles including Chief Operating Officer for the GB Equality and Human Rights Commission, Head of Defence Inquests and Disclosure in the Ministry of Defence and Political Officer in the British Embassy Mogadishu, while others hold senior academic and government positions around the world.

Other recruiters include leading employers like the House of Commons, Clifford Chance, Accenture, British Airways, Ernst and Young, British Telecom, Goldman Sachs, PwC, the Royal Navy, House of Fraser, Aldi, Channel 4, HSBC, Teach First, Durham University, Black Rock, Parliament and the Audit Commission.

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A globally outstanding centre of teaching and research excellence, a collegiate community of extraordinary people, a unique and historic setting - Durham is a university like no other!