MSc History of International Relations

About the MSc programme

This is the Department's most popular master's programme and is intended for those seeking a taught postgraduate programme in history at its most international. It also caters for a wide variety of students, including those who have studied history at an undergraduate level and those who are making the transition from related subjects such as political science, modern languages, economics, law or journalism.

Students take at least two specialised history options, choosing from options that span the globe geographically and range chronologically from the Renaissance to the end of the Cold War. Students also have the opportunity of doing a relevant course offered by another LSE department, and to prepare a detailed, research-based 10,000 word dissertation.

All of the teaching is done either by the Department's full-time academic staff or specially engaged post-doctoral teaching staff. The teaching is therefore very much in line with the LSE's emphasis on research-led teaching - in other words, instruction by those who are at the cutting edge of their disciplines.

Note that not all the courses listed will necessarily be available in any one year. For more information, see lse.ac.uk/internationalHistory| 

Courses

Students take courses to the value of three full units, only one of which can be an outside option (ie a course not listed below) and a dissertation

(* half unit)

Choose one from the following list:

• Crisis Decision-Making in War and Peace, 1914-1991
• European Integration in the Twentieth Century
• Presidents, Public Opinion and Foreign Policy: From Roosevelt to Reagan, 1933-89
• The Napoleonic Empire: the Making of Modern Europe?
• The European Enlightenment, 1680-1799
• Anglo-American Relations from World War to Cold War, 1939-91
• From Cold Warriors to Peacemakers: the End of the Cold War Era, 1979-1999
• Cultural Encounters from the Renaissance to the Modern World
• The Rise and Fall of Communism in Europe, 1917-1990
• Political Islam: From Ibn Taymiyya to Osama Bin Laden
• Race, Violence and Colonial Rule in Africa
• Western Intellectuals and the Challenge of Totalitarianism
• War Cultures, 1890-1945
• The Emergence of Modern Iran: State, Society and Diplomacy
• Nusantara: State and Rebellion in the Indonesian Archipelago from the Colonial Period to Reformasi
• Persecution in Europe: From Witch-hunts to Ethnic Cleansing 
• East Asia in the Age of Imperialism, 1839-1945
• The Origins of the Cold War, 1917-1962
• Crises and Détente in the Cold War, 1962-1979
• The International History of the Balkans Since 1939: State Projects, Wars and Social Conflict
• Media and Politics, 1890-c.1970/80 (UK, Germany and the US)
• Latin American Development: political economy of growth*
• Latin American Development: case-studies in growth, poverty and social change*
• The West: Identity and Interests*

or  a course from another MSc programme run by the Department of International History (subject to approval by the programme director)

or a related course from another department (subject to approval by the programme director)

• Dissertation of no more than 10,000 words on an international history topic