MLitt International Security Studies

A 2.1 Honours degree. A background in political science and international relations is strongly encouraged. If you studied your first degree outside the UK, see the international entry requirements.

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Students who graduate from the MLitt in International Security Studies frequently find employment in the foreign service, non-governmental agencies and security consulting, or advance to a PhD to pursue an academic career.

The Careers Centre offers one-to-one advice to all students as well as a programme of events to assist students in building their employability skills.

Compulsory

• Critical Security Studies: examines the challenge to traditional conceptions of security presented by the emergence of critical security studies since the end of the Cold War.
• International Security: focuses on important issues and significant debates in security studies. 

Optional

Here is a sample of optional modules that may be offered. 

• Emergent Great Powers: offers a comparative analysis of India and China's emergence as great powers. It examines historical and theoretical perspectives, foreign policies, and future challenges.
• International Law and International Security: analyses how international law shapes decision-making in security matters. It discusses a variety of case studies ranging from the International Criminal Court to the use of force.
• Leaders, Psychology and Foreign Policy: examines the psychology of political leaders, including information processing, personalities, and group dynamics influences on their foreign policy choices.
• Political Economy of Conflict: provides a political economy perspective on conflict in a developing economy.
• Security and Development in East Asia: investigates growth and development in East Asian states, and seeks to understand if there is a uniquely Asian approach to security and development that produces distinctive regional patterns.
• Spaces of Securitization: explores how securitization unfolds in theory and in practice by investigating the ‘spatial turn’ in international relations. 

You may, with permission, take modules from other MLitt programmes in the School.  

Optional modules are subject to change each year and require a minimum number of participants to be offered. Some may only allow limited numbers of students. Read more about curriculum development at the University of St Andrews.

Dissertation

The final element of the MLitt is a 15,000-word dissertation. The dissertation should focus on an area of international security studies in which you are interested. Each student is supported by a relevant supervisor from the School who will advise on the choice of subject and provide guidance throughout the research process. 

If students choose not to complete the dissertation requirement for the MLitt, there is an exit award available that allow suitably qualified candidates to receive a Postgraduate Diploma. By choosing an exit award, you will finish your degree at the end of the second semester of study and receive a PGDip instead of an MLitt.