Aristotle commented that 'man is by nature a political animal'.  Whether we like it or not, politics plays a crucial part in all our lives – even if we don't personally regard ourselves as 'political animals'. 

Ultimately, politics is about power and the ways in which we use it to achieve what we want.  Power can, of course, be construed as quite a harsh word and its use may give a distorted impression. 

But the nature of power is not only about such things as coercion – forcing people to do what they do not want to do or preventing them from doing what they do.  It is also about persuading members of society – individuals within states and states themselves within the international system – to accept workable solutions through convincing argument and debate.  The 'softer' power of persuasion has always been as vital (and many would say more so) in the modern world as the 'harder' elements of power represented domestically and internationally by, for example, such forces as the police and the military.

The study of Politics and International Relations is about the processes by which power is deployed and the outcomes that its application achieves.  At Royal Holloway we are hoping to reveal the strengths and weaknesses of political processes and, importantly, the limitations, as well as the positive potential, of legitimate political activity.  Churchill famously remarked that 'democracy is the worst possible form of government – apart from all the others'.  Margaret Thatcher responded to the suggestion that democracy was about achieving consensus with the infamous retort that 'it is nothing of the sort; it is about institutionalising conflict'.  By studying the subject, our students will be able to reach their own well informed conclusions about such things – and challenge the conclusions reached by others.

The Department of Politics & International Relations (PIR) offers single and joint honours degrees in Politics and joint honours degrees in International Relations (IR).  Our degree programmes are flexible and combine theoretical study with that of contemporary events and issues.  The main focus is on the comparison of political systems – comparing different democracies and how they function, for example, and contrasting those with other forms of government in the modern world – and the ways states, however governed domestically, relate to one another and other institutions within the international system.

All of our programmes reflect the research strengths of our academic staff.  These include research into: transatlantic relations and security, international diplomacy, international law, the use of military force, the European Union and other European institutions, globalisation, comparative politics, public administration, the nature and processes of democracy, political theory, the ideas associated with rights and justice, the impact of e-technology on politics at both the domestic and international levels, migration and the issues relating to asylum and refugees.  Much of our research has an international dimension reflecting our links with other universities in the USA, France, the Far East and Scandinavia.