One-year Part II

Guidelines for 2025-26 for students wishing to take a one-year Part II in Politics and International Relations

Students who have not taken Part IIA in HSPS can be considered on a request to the department for a one-year Part II in Politics and International Relations. Generally students will only be considered for a one-year Part II if they have obtained marks in the upper-2.1 range or better in their prior exam results. Students who have not achieved highly in their earlier exams are likely to struggle academically on a one-year Part II, and for that reason the request to transfer is usually declined. 

If you want to apply for a one-year Part II, you should contact the department on ugradadmin@polis.cam.ac.uk, with a specification of the papers you wish to take. Please be aware that your college's endorsement of your request to transfer is insufficient - you also need official permission from the department as well. 

The broad guidelines that you should bear in mind for paper selection are as follows:

1. A one-year Part II student can take any of POL3, POL4, POL5, POL6, POL7, POL8, POL9, POL11, POL12, POL13, POL14, POL15, POL16, POL17, POL18, POL20, POL21 subject to the regulations below.
2. A one-year Part II student can only take POL11 if they also take POL7 or POL8 or has taken comparable papers in either the Philosophy Tripos, the Historical Tripos or the joint History & Politics Tripos.
3. A one-year Part II student wishing to take any of POL13, POL15 and POL16 must also take or have taken POL4
4. A one-year Part II student wishing to take POL14 or POL18 must also take POL3.
5. A student who has completed Part IB of the History & Politics Tripos would be expected to take POL9 as one of their four papers. Other students taking the one-year Part II are not expected to take POL9.
6. A one-year Part II student is usually not permitted to substitute one paper for a dissertation, unless they have completed Part IB of the History & Politics Tripos, for whom this restriction may be relaxed.

List of papers 

POL3: International Organisation

POL4: Comparative Politics (modules TBC)

POL5: Long Essay Questions: Themes and Issues in Politics and International Relations

POL6: Statistics and Methods in Politics and International Relations

POL7: The History of Political Thought to c.1700

POL8: The History of Political Thought from c.1700 to c.1890

POL9: Conceptual Issues in Politics and International Relations

POL10: The History of Political Thought from c.1700 to c.1890

POL11: Political Philosophy and the History of Political Thought since c.1890 

POL12: The Politics of Conflict and Peace

POL13: British Politics

POL14: International Security

POL15: The Politics of Africa 

POL16: The Politics of the Middle East

POL17: Politics and Religion

POL18: Politics of the World Economy

POL19: Long Essay Questions: Themes and Issues in Politics and International Relations 

POL20: The Politics of Latin America

POL21: Politics and Gender