England

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Accessibility statement
An image to illustrate the Politics and International Studies research area
Politics and International Studies (POLIS) at The Open University has an international reputation for research in International Relations, Comparative Politics, and Political Theory. POLIS scholars have regional expertise in Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia and Latin America and welcome applications for research supervision across a wide range of topics, including security, foreign policy, development, democratization, identity and political thought. Research within POLIS is organised around two broad research areas: 1) International Relations; and 2) Democratic Politics: Performance and Participation. With more than 400 publications included in the Open University’s Online Repository, POLIS academics are prolific and making a significant contribution to academic thought, publishing cutting edge research in highly ranked journals. They also play a leading part in national and international conversations about politics; regularly giving evidence to parliamentary committees, advising government, linking up with civil society actors and informing major television and radio programmes on political themes.
Most of our research students are based away from our Milton Keynes campus, and can live anywhere in the world; for details of residence requirements for different modes of study see Full-time study and Part-time study.
Many of our PhD students are already working as teachers, journalists, and diplomats and combine their professional role with part time study; however, we also supervise students looking to pursue academic careers.
Students have the opportunity to gain teaching experience.
Explore specific areas of research, current and prospective projects, entry requirements, fees and funding, available supervisors, how to apply and contact details for advice.
British comparative and EU politics
Citizenship, democracy and social movements
Foreign policy, defence and security studies
International relations and global politics
Political ideas
Regional studies
Consider linked topics from other research areas.
British and Irish history since the 18th century
Conflict, security and development
Creative geographies: engaging, knowing, experimenting
Ethics
History of philosophy
Migrations, diasporas, transnational communities
Multicultural life, citizenship, difference, political conflict and social divisions
Political economy and environmental politics
States, political systems and development
The state, citizenships and identities
War and peace in the 20th century