Programme duration: 1 year (full-time) or 2 years (part-time)

The MSc in International Business and Politics is a taught postgraduate programme that is delivered jointly by the School of Business and Management and School of Politics and International Relations.

Programme description

In recent years interest in the relationship between international business and (especially international) politics has increased. This new programme sets out to explore concepts, approaches and methods from a truly inter-disciplinary perspective and offers a rich and stimulating basis for postgraduate study. The degree offers a framework for exploring the changing relationship between states and markets, international institutions of global political-economic governance, transnational companies, work, geo-politics, industrialisation and development.

On this programme you will:

• develop advanced and critical understandings of the politics of international business from various intellectual perspectives, from neo-liberal and mainstream business studies approaches, through to more critical approaches which engage with questions of power and resistance;
• provide an advanced theoretical grounding in the core aspects, and history and politics of, business and its growing internationalisation;
• equip students with the skills to conduct empirical analysis and enquiry, and to present this work in both verbal and written formats, which can be used in the wider professional world.

Programme outline

You will take the following core/compulsory modules:

• Political Economy: Theory and History

The module will provide an advanced historical grounding in the development of international business in the context of the rise of global capitalism, and then uses this grounding to explore the work of key thinkers who focus on the politics of capitalism and specifically international business, focusing on the social, the political and the economic. It will look at writers such as Smith, Ricardo, Marx, Weber, Durkheim, Spencer, Keynes, Schumpeter, Polanyi, Hayek and Minsky, and the approaches these writers take to understanding international business, and how this fits into their wider understanding of capitalism and modernity, and also how these debates influence current debates on international business and politics.

• The Politics of International Business

This module offers a broad overview of the process of economic ‘globalisation’ and changes in international business over time. The focus is on the multinational firm – set in the context of trends in the world economy, with particular emphasis on the period since the 1970s. It provides a critical and comparative perspective on the nature and scope of international business, its origins and development, theories of international trade and its regulation, conceptualisations of international supply chains, and attempts to reform and resist multinationals.

• Dissertation

plus choose some options* from the range of modules available:

• Finance for Development
• Globalisation and the International Political Economy of Development
• Innovation and Global Competition
• International Security: War and Peace in a Global Context
• Knowledge and Innovation Management
• Multinationals and Global Business
• Organisational Theory
• Sovereignty and Intervention in International Politics
• Themes and Cases in US Foreign Policy

* The range of optional modules may vary from year to year. The Schools reserve the right to withdraw one or more of the optional modules if there is insufficient student interest.

Assessment

Assessment takes a number of different forms including coursework essays, assignments and presentations, and examinations that take place in May or early June. Students must achieve an overall pass in the taught element in order to progress to their dissertation which must also be passed for a degree to be awarded.

Further information

You can apply online using the Queen Mary's online application system, full guidance notes are provided. If you require a paper-based application, please contact the Admissions Office who will send the form to you, please specify which programme you are applying for.

Please refer to the Queen Mary website for information about admissions, accommodation, entry requirements, English language requirements (see Arts General) and fees.

When applying it is essential you provide two recent academic references that comment on your suitability for the programme applied for, and degree transcript(s), which should list your marks for each module you have taken.

International students should check the the suitability of their qualifications at the country specific information available on the Queen Mary website or contact the International Office.

For informal queries about the programme, please contact our Postgraduate Administrator; Tel: +44 (0)20 7882 8587.