Cambridge launches new Department of Politics and International Studies

The new Department brings together the closely-related subjects of politics and international relations, and complementary strengths in teaching and research. This is the first time Cambridge has had a unified Department in this important academic area, and provides the opportunity for further growth. As well as building on existing strengths in political thought, international security, political economy, European studies and comparative politics, the Department will also develop new research areas, and will expand its teaching.

Cambridge has a long and distinctive tradition in politics and international relations with particular emphasis, going back over a century, on historical, legal, economic and philosophical approaches to their study.

The Centre of International Studies will remain an important focal point of research on the international dimension of politics. New Centres will also be developed. A generous donation from The David and Elaine Potter Foundation has endowed the post of a lecturer in Governance and Human Rights, with special reference to Africa.

The University will create a new Centre of Governance and Human Rights under the direction of the David and Elaine Potter lecturer. Plans are also well advanced for a Cambridge Centre of Political Thought, run jointly with the Faculty of History.

The Department will move into a prestigious new building, to be constructed on the Sidgwick site, in 2011.

The Department currently has 22 full-time staff, more than 130 PhD students, and more than 100 Masters students. At undergraduate level, the PPS Tripos (Politics, Psychology and Sociology) receives 120 entrants every year. From autumn 2010, new papers in international relations will be available for the first time to undergraduates.

“POLIS is an exciting and timely development, with enormous potential for the future. Our aim is to be recognised in the next ten years as one of the leading centres for the study of politics and international relations.” Professor Andrew Gamble, Head of Department, said.

The launch will be marked by an inaugural lecture by Christopher Hill, the Sir Patrick Sheehy Professor of International Relations at the University of Cambridge and Director of the Centre of International Studies. The lecture will be entitled: “Changing the world? The problem of action in international politics”.

For more information, please visit the POLIS website, which is linked to the right of this page.