International Security Studies MLitt

Program Overview

International Security Studies (MLitt) 2025 entry

Overview

Explore international security through traditional and critical approaches and cultivate your own voice by engaging with different theoretical approaches and empirical case studies.

Key Details

• Starts: September 2025
• Duration: One year full time
• School: School of International Relations
• Fees:
  • UK: £14,850
  • Rest of the world: £29,990

Why Study This Course?

• Allows students to study critical and traditional security approaches.
• Ensures that students grasp the cutting-edge debates taking place in security studies.
• Invites students to think originally and ask alternative questions.
• Provides opportunities for students to apply a wide array of theoretical lenses.
• Encourages students to focus on empirical case studies and global security issues.

Teaching

• Delivered through lectures, tutorials, and seminars.
• Class sizes: Groups range from 1 to 30 students.
• Dissertation: A 15,000-word project with regular support.
• Assessment: A mix of coursework and exams.

Modules

• Compulsory:
  • Critical Security Studies: examines the challenge to traditional conceptions of security presented by the emergence of critical security studies since the end of the Cold War.
  • International Security: focuses on important issues and significant debates in security studies.
• Optional:
  • Emergent Great Powers: offers a comparative analysis of India and China's emergence as great powers.
  • International Law and International Security: analyses how international law shapes decision-making in security matters.
  • Leaders, Psychology and Foreign Policy: examines the psychology of political leaders, including information processing, personalities, and group dynamics influences on their foreign policy choices.
  • Political Economy of Conflict: provides a political economy perspective on conflict in a developing economy.
  • Security and Development in East Asia: investigates growth and development in East Asian states, and seeks to understand if there is a uniquely Asian approach to security and development that produces distinctive regional patterns.
  • Spaces of Securitization: explores how securitization unfolds in theory and in practice by investigating the ‘spatial turn’ in international relations.

Dissertation

• The final element of the MLitt is a 15,000-word dissertation.
• The dissertation should focus on an area of international security studies in which you are interested.
• Each student is supported by a relevant supervisor from the School who will advise on the choice of subject and provide guidance throughout the research process.

What It Will Lead To

• Careers: Students who graduate from the MLitt in International Security Studies frequently find employment in the foreign service, non-governmental agencies and security consulting, or advance to a PhD to pursue an academic career.
• Further Study: Many graduates continue their education by enrolling in a PhD programme at St Andrews.

Why St Andrews?

• Alumni: When you graduate you become a member of the University's worldwide alumni community.
• Student Testimonial: “If you are interested in international security, this programme is an outstanding choice regardless of your intended specialisation or career path.”

Entry Requirements

• Academic Background: A 2.1 Honours degree. A background in political science and international relations is strongly encouraged.
• English Language Proficiency: See English language tests and qualifications.
• Application Requirements:
  • CV
  • Personal statement indicating your knowledge of the programme and how it will benefit you (500 words)
  • Sample of your own, single-authored academic written work (2,000 words maximum)
  • Two original signed academic references
  • Academic transcripts and degree certificates

Fees and Funding

• Tuition Fees:
  • UK: £14,850
  • Rest of the world: £29,990
• Scholarships and Funding: We are committed to supporting you through your studies, regardless of your financial circumstances. You may be eligible for scholarships, discounts or other support.

Marc L Carter International Security Studies Essay Prize

• The Marc L Carter International Security Studies Essay Prize is awarded annually for the best ISS essay or equivalent assessed work.
• The prize is named after Marc Carter, a passionate educator who believed in multi-disciplinary teaching, student-centred learning, and the transformative power of education.
• Nominations will be made by staff members only, and recipients will be determined by a review panel in the ISS programme.
• The prize carries with it a £200 monetary award.