Department of Politics and International Studies (POLIS)

Welcome to POLIS

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

2019 Alcuin Lecture

This year’s lecture, titled “Economic Adjustment and Political Transformation in Europe and the United States” was given by Professor Erik Jones, Professor of European Studies and International Political Economy and Director of European and Eurasian Studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

2018 Antcliffe Lecture

This year's lecture, titled "A Certain Idea of Britain: Writing the political history of one's own country in one's own times" was given by Lord Peter Hennessy, the Attlee Professor of Contemporary British History at Queen Mary, University of London.

Outreach

The Department of Politics and International Studies is committed to widening participation in higher education, and involving students (both current and prospective), staff and members of the public in the events and activities that we run.

Postgraduate Certificate in Public Policy

This part-time, one-year course will accelerate and deepen your grasp of the processes and dynamics affecting policy-making, the challenges of implementation facing all policymakers, and the questions of evidence and expertise that have become increasingly salient in politics and policy discourse.

Talking Politics

TALKING POLITICS is the podcast that will try to make sense of it all. Each Thursday, in Cambridge, David Runciman will talk to his regular panel along with novelists, comedians, historians, philosophers, and even a few politicians to ask them what they think is going on. It’s the political conversation everyone is having: please join us.