Guidelines for 2021-22 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 ugadmin@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. One-year Part II students take four papers out of those available to HSPS Part II students.
2. A one-year Part II student can only take POL11 if s/he also takes 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 POL12, POL13 and POL15 must also take or have taken POL4.
4. A one-year Part II student wishing to take POL14 or POL18 must also take or have taken 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
- POL4 Module A: The Middle East: Saudi Arabia and Iran compared
- POL4 Module B: Africa: Burundi and Rwanda
- POL4 Module C: Southeast Asia: Burma/Myanmar and Siam/Thailand in comparative perspective
- POL4 Module D: The United States and the United Kingdom: Exploring the Diversity of Modern Capitalism
- POL4 Module E: Latin America: Brazil and Bolivia
- POL4 Module F: Western Europe: France and Germany
- POL4 Module G: Eastern Europe: Poland and Russia
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 and texts 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 the Middle East
POL13: British and European Politics
POL14: US Foreign Policy
POL15: The Politics of Africa
POL16: The Politics of Conflict and Peace
POL17: Politics and Gender
POL18: The Politics of the International Economy
POL19: Long Essay Questions - Themes and Issues in Politics and International Relations
POL20: Politics and Religion
POL21: The Idea of a European Union