Guidelines for 2019-20 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.

2. A one-year Part II student wishing to take any of POL12, POL13 and POL15 must also take or have taken POL4.

3. A one-year Part II student wishing to take POL12 must take or have taken in POL4 the Middle East case study in Michaelmas term.

4. A one-year Part II student wishing to take POL14, POL16 or POL17 must also take or have taken POL3.

5. A one-year Part II student wishing to take POL20 must also take or have taken POL8.

6. 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.

7. 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: Eastern Europe: Poland and Russia 
• POL4 Module D: Southeast Asia: Burma/Myanmar and Siam/Thailand in comparative perspective
• POL4 Module E: The United States and the United Kingdom: Exploring the Diversity of Modern Capitalism
• POL4 Module F: Latin America: Brazil and Bolivia
• POL4 Module G: Western Europe: France and Germany

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

POL 9: 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: Conflict and Peacebuilding

POL17: Law of Peace: The Law of Emerging International Constitutional Order

POL18: Politics and Gender

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

POL20: The Politics of the Future, 1880-2080

POL21: China in the International Order