Overview
Top reasons to study with us
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World Top 50 Arts & Humanities THE World University Rankings 2024
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Engage with leading, socially-engaged academics
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Internship and placement opportunities
Why Lancaster?
- Learn through real-life case studies, work online with policy experts, and confront problems surrounding public policymaking
- Look at the world of policy through a critical lens and apply your skills to complete a tailored portfolio project where you’ll create policy recommendations
- Choose online learning and organise your study to fit your commitments and interests
- Have access to experts who work with UK parliament, make regular media appearances and want to shape the future of policymaking
- Be part of a community that cares about ethical policymaking, focusing on an applied approach that drives change
How is public policy made? What challenges do policymakers face? And how do we construct policy solutions to policy problems? Study with us to explore these vital questions and confront the puzzles of public policymaking.
Fresh ideas to meet big challenges
Conflict, climate change, cost of living. Global crises cannot be solved by one individual. To make a change, we need to take collective action – and without policy that wouldn’t be possible. The world needs good policymakers with new ideas and a fresh approach to tackle the stalemate that policy has reached. If you want to work in the world of international, national or local policy, you need to know how it’s made. This distance learning programme unpacks policymaking and gives you the skills to research, evaluate and create policy.
Learn from policy experts
You'll hear from our leading academics on different domains, from local government to national defence. Our aim is to present perspectives from policy practitioners in different roles. You might recognise some of our teaching team from their media appearances, perhaps talking about maritime security or the Middle East. You might have picked up their books in a shop – one academic has recently published on Labour's immigration policy. Have confidence that our well-established distance learning programmes have been running for over a decade.
Online learning that suits your life
Our Public Policy MSc by distance learning offers you the opportunity to fit your studies around other commitments. You will learn though a variety of mediums such as:
- video lectures
- an online message board that will mirror seminar discussions
- podcasts
- recorded presentations
- one-to-one online tutorials
Your academic tutor will provide personalised support throughout the programme.
Tailor your study to your Public Policy interests
In addition to core modules in Public Policy and Research Methods, you will have a choice of optional modules. Finally, you will complete a portfolio where you will explore a topic of your choice, use policy analysis tools and create policy recommendations. You may choose a topic of particular personal interest or that will inform your current professional role. Whether you’re interested in environmental, immigration, defence, foreign, or EU public policy, or the broader politics of policymaking, we’ll help you hone your specialism and sharpen the skills employers are looking for.
Join our live events
Throughout the programme you will have the opportunity to participate in live events connected to Public Policy. These are completely optional and are offered as both online or in person events. They may include a conference and skills training, as well as networking and career events.
Careers
We’ve designed this course to help you develop knowledge and transferable skills relevant to a range of different future careers. Armed with this Master’s degree, you’ll be the perfect fit for roles in:
- NGOs
- Civil service
- Political parties
- Local government
- International charities
- International business
Another option following your Master's is to continue your studies and further your research interests via a PhD programme.
Not sure what’s next? We’ll help you determine your direction and support you in getting there with support both from academics who work in the world of policy and specialist careers advisers.
Entry requirements
Academic Requirements
2:1 degree in a related subject is normally required. We will also consider applications where you have a degree in other subjects, have a 2:2 or equivalent result and/or extensive relevant experience. In these cases, you should clearly demonstrate how your experience and skills have prepared you for postgraduate study.
If you have studied outside of the UK, we would advise you to check our list of international qualifications before submitting your application.
English Language Requirements
We may ask you to provide a recognised English language qualification, dependent upon your nationality and where you have studied previously.
We normally require an IELTS (Academic) Test with an overall score of at least 6.5, and a minimum of 5.5 in each element of the test. We also consider other English language qualifications.
If your score is below our requirements, you may be eligible for one of our pre-sessional English language programmes.
Contact: Admissions Team +44 (0) 1524 592032 or email pgadmissions@lancaster.ac.uk
Pre-master’s programmes
Delivered in partnership with INTO Lancaster University, our one-year tailored pre-master’s pathways are designed to improve your subject knowledge and English language skills to the level required by a range of Lancaster University master’s degrees. Visit the INTO Lancaster University website for more details and a list of eligible degrees you can progress onto.
Course structure
You will study a range of modules as part of your course, some examples of which are listed below.
Information contained on the website with respect to modules is correct at the time of publication, but changes may be necessary, for example as a result of student feedback, Professional Statutory and Regulatory Bodies' (PSRB) requirements, staff changes, and new research. Not all optional modules are available every year.
Core
core modules accordion
Throughout the module we aim to examine theories, methods and skills relating to postgraduate study and research. Further to this you will also have subject specific input, related to your degree programme. The content of those sessions will be determined relative to the specific needs of your discipline at the time. The module concludes with workshop discussions and presentations of student projects.
We use a range of teaching methods which may include a mix of podcast lectures, web-seminars, online presentations from fellow classmates, and discussions. We also offer opportunities for you to engage with online "office hours" for additional learning support. You can choose different online presentation methods, choosing to present either through real time video conferencing or by posting recorded presentations in the discussion forum. The general themes of the weekly discussion are provided in the introduction to each weekly subject.
Optional
optional modules accordion
Diplomacy and Foreign Policy are central to the understanding of international politics. The structure of the international system induces a constant need for political dialogue and negotiations. Besides war, diplomacy is the common language states are using to interact on the world stage.
Complementing the first core module (Theory and Concepts in Diplomacy and Foreign Policy), this module aims to apply your theoretical understanding of diplomacy and foreign policy to contemporary diplomatic and negotiation issues and great power politics. Our teaching and learning strategy seeks to give you both theoretical and practical understanding of contemporary issues in diplomacy and foreign policy. Where possible, academic teaching will be complemented by guest lectures (e.g. by a practitioner) and in-class activities such as mock negotiation exercises.
Topics covered vary each year but we often explore issues relating to the following areas: Nuclear weapons and foreign policy, Arms control and diplomacy, International climate negotiations, South-North relations and development, Diplomacy and terrorism, and Citizen protection.
This module aims to provide you with a broad understanding of the main areas of study within the field of international relations (IR). The introductory session seeks to address the general question as to what constitutes the study of IR. Subsequent sessions aim to examine the major approaches to the discipline (both mainstream and critical), focusing upon the distinctive insights and analyses that they have brought to bear.
You will have the opportunity to gain an understanding of the nature of the wide-ranging theoretical debates that have shaped the discipline and will also be encouraged to take a critical approach to these debates to consider the ways in which we study IR.
More particularly, you have the opportunity to:
- understand and critically assess the interpretation of the world and of IR put forward by each theory
- evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each theory
- apply the theoretical tools to the “facts out there” (linking theory with practice)
Whether global, national, ethnic or ethical, conflicts frequently involve religion. Between themselves, in their relations with secular states and ideologies, and even at the level of sects or denominations, religions engage in conflict arising from deeply held beliefs and values, as well as in struggles for power, status and legitimacy. Understanding how and why religious groups contribute to global and regional conflicts and civil wars – from terrorist attacks, through historically embedded disputes in Israel/Gaza and Northern Ireland, to Christian/Muslim violence in Nigeria, Uganda and India – is vital for development, humanitarian intervention, international relations, diplomacy and conflict resolution.
This module provides the knowledge and skills to help students understand and analyse why conflict happens within and between religious groups, and to assess the positive and negative contributions that religions make to wider struggles – from local disputes through to global terrorism.
Week 1: An Historical Introduction to 'Religion and Conflict' Week 2: Religion and Secularism in the West
Week 3: Religion and Secularism in India Week 4: Religion and Ethnic Conflict
Week 5: Conflict, Religion, and International Relations Week 6: Religion and Violence
Week 7: Religion and Protest: Mohandas Gandhi Week 8: Religion and Protest: Martin Luther King Week 9: Religion and Society: Islam in Britain Week 10: Consolidation Lecture
The module is designed to introduce students to key concepts and issues in scholarship on religion and conflict: e.g. on the relationship between conflict and violence, religion and ethnicity, the ‘clash of civilizations’, intra-religious as well as inter-religious conflict, jihad and martyrdom. Equal attention will be given to the importance of context – historical, social, geographical and political. Analysis and debate about religion and conflict will be situated in particular cases, from the UK and Europe, the US, the Indian sub-continent and sub-Saharan Africa. Lecture podcasts and online discussion activities will be complemented by online talks by experts and short films. There will be plenty of opportunities for online interaction with peers and tutors.
Assessment is by 5,000 word essay.
- Do we still know what security and war are?
- Why are some forms of violence classified as war while others are classified as criminality or terror?
- Now that security is everybody's business, how much safer are we?
- what kind of science is the science of security?
- And who in addition to states is in the business of making us secure?
Theorizing helps us to pose and answer these questions. This module introduces students to ways of conceptualizing power, security and war. Since forms of security and war are intimately correlated with forms of cultural political and economic life, theories in this module address: geopolitics, biopolitics, techno-science, digitalization, molecularization, network war, image war and virtual war. The teaching and learning strategy of Theorising Security and War is designed to make students theoretically and philosophically literate in conceptual and analytical schemes comprising the biopolitics as well as the geopolitics of security and war. Students should be able to:
- demonstrate a broad theoretical competence in relation to classical and contemporary texts dealing with the analysis of power relations, problematisations of security, sources of violence, and definitions and practices of war
- work critically with theoretical accounts of: contingency, uncertainty and risk radical relationality (complexity and networks); and changing problematisations of security
- Specifically they should be able to distinguish the salient features of geopolitical and biopolitical problematisations of security and war and the different calculative rationalities and governmental technologies employed by them
- locate a specific theoretical tradition within its wider theoretical and philosophical assumptions and be capable also of critical comparing different traditions in relation both to these assumptions and their different logical and practical entailments
In the process students should be able to demonstrate in written work, presentation and online discussion more refined analytical skills in the interrogation and critical engagement of empirical material and case studies drawn from a wide variety of multi-media sources.
Suggested Reading:Foucault, Michel, Society Must be Defended (Allen Lane, 2003)
Castells, Manuel, The Rise of the Network Society (Blackwell's, 2000)
Messner, Dirk, The Network Society (Frank Cass, 1997)
Creveld, Martin van, The Transformation of War (Free Press, 1991)
Suganami, H, On the Causes of War (Clarendon Press, 1996)
Giddens, Anthony, A Contemporary Critique of Historical Materialism, Volume 2. Nation and Violence (Polity Press, 1987)
Diplomacy and Foreign Policy are central to the understanding of international politics. The structure of the international system induces a constant need for political dialogue and negotiations. Besides war, diplomacy is the common language states are using to interact on the world stage.
This module introduces students to ways of conceptualizing diplomacy and foreign policy in the 21st century:
- Why do states rely on diplomacy?
- What are the current forms and features of diplomacy and foreign policy?
- Is diplomacy the only form of international dialogue besides war?
- How do states (and statesmen) negotiate?
- How has diplomacy evolved throughout history?
- Does 'global governance' exist?
The teaching and learning strategy of this distance learning Diplomacy and Foreign Policy module is designed to give students both theoretical and practical understanding of contemporary issues in diplomacy and foreign policy. Lectures podcasting and online discussion activities will be complemented by live online talks offered by practitioners through video conferencing facility. Distance learning students will have a lot of opportunities of online interaction with peers and tutors.
Suggested Key Readings:R. Barston, Modern Diplomacy, Longman, 2006.
G. R. Berridge, Diplomacy: Theory and Practice, Palgrave, 2002.
S. Smith et al., Foreign Policy: Theories, Actors, Cases, OUP, 2012.
J. P. Muldoon et al., The New Dynamics of Multilateralism Diplomacy, International Organizations, and Global Governance, Westview Press, 2005.
A. Heywood, Global Politics, Palgrave, 2011.
Fees and funding
We set our fees on an annual basis and the 2025/26 entry fees have not yet been set.
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There may be extra costs related to your course for items such as books, stationery, printing, photocopying, binding and general subsistence on trips and visits. Following graduation, you may need to pay a subscription to a professional body for some chosen careers.
Specific additional costs for studying at Lancaster are listed below.
College fees
Lancaster is proud to be one of only a handful of UK universities to have a collegiate system. Every student belongs to a college, and all students pay a small College Membership Fee which supports the running of college events and activities. Students on some distance-learning courses are not liable to pay a college fee.
For students starting in 2024, the fee is £40 for undergraduates and research students and £15 for students on one-year courses. Fees for students starting in 2025 have not yet been set.
Computer equipment and internet access
To support your studies, you will also require access to a computer, along with reliable internet access. You will be able to access a range of software and services from a Windows, Mac, Chromebook or Linux device. For certain degree programmes, you may need a specific device, or we may provide you with a laptop and appropriate software - details of which will be available on relevant programme pages. A dedicated IT support helpdesk is available in the event of any problems.
The University provides limited financial support to assist students who do not have the required IT equipment or broadband support in place.
For most taught postgraduate applications there is a non-refundable application fee of £40. We cannot consider applications until this fee has been paid, as advised on our online secure payment system. There is no application fee for postgraduate research applications.
For some of our courses you will need to pay a deposit to accept your offer and secure your place. We will let you know in your offer letter if a deposit is required and you will be given a deadline date when this is due to be paid.
The fee that you pay will depend on whether you are considered to be a home or international student. Read more about how we assign your fee status.
If you are studying on a programme of more than one year’s duration, tuition fees are reviewed annually and are not fixed for the duration of your studies. Read more about fees in subsequent years.
Scholarships and bursaries
Details of our scholarships and bursaries for 2025-entry study are not yet available, but you can use our opportunities for 2024-entry applicants as guidance.
Check our current list of scholarships and bursaries.
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Politics and International Relations
- Conflict Resolution and Peace Studies MA
- Diplomacy and Foreign Policy MA
- Diplomacy and International Law LLM
- Diplomacy and International Law MA
- Diplomacy and International Law (Distance Learning) LLM
- Diplomacy and International Law (Distance Learning) MA
- Diplomacy and International Relations (by Distance Learning) MA
- Diplomacy and Religion MA
- International Law and International Relations LLM
- International Law and International Relations MA
- International Relations MA
- International Relations PhD
- International Security MA
- Philosophy and Religion MA
- Politics MA
- Politics PhD
- Politics and International Relations PgCert
- Politics and Philosophy MA
- Politics, Philosophy and Management MSc
- Public Policy MSc
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Sociology
Important Information
The information on this site relates primarily to 2025/2026 entry to the University and every effort has been taken to ensure the information is correct at the time of publication.
The University will use all reasonable effort to deliver the courses as described, but the University reserves the right to make changes to advertised courses. In exceptional circumstances that are beyond the University’s reasonable control (Force Majeure Events), we may need to amend the programmes and provision advertised. In this event, the University will take reasonable steps to minimise the disruption to your studies. If a course is withdrawn or if there are any fundamental changes to your course, we will give you reasonable notice and you will be entitled to request that you are considered for an alternative course or withdraw your application. You are advised to revisit our website for up-to-date course information before you submit your application.
More information on limits to the University’s liability can be found in our legal information.
Our Students’ Charter
We believe in the importance of a strong and productive partnership between our students and staff. In order to ensure your time at Lancaster is a positive experience we have worked with the Students’ Union to articulate this relationship and the standards to which the University and its students aspire. View our Charter and other policies.