Online, part-time
Global Political Economy MAAre you looking for a career that takes you across the globe? Use your knowledge and insight to make a real difference to connections and collaborations in finance, industry, and commerce across the world.
Key information
|
Study mode: |
100% online |
|
Duration: |
2 years, part time |
|
Applications open: |
14 March 2024 |
|
Application deadline: |
23 August 2024 |
|
Next start date: |
23 September 2024 |
|
Intakes: |
September |
|
Tuition fees: |
£18,500 * These tuition fees may be subject to increases in subsequent years of study, in line with King's terms and conditions. (funding options and instalments are available) |
Course overview
This Global Political Economy MA is an interdisciplinary online programme that explores the interactions of political, economic, and social forces in a global context, and how they are transforming our world. Such forces include individual states and international organisations like the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.
It also extends to transnational social movements, such as the global climate movement and mass mobilisations against authoritarian rulers.
You’ll consider and come to appreciate the extent to which the global political economy impacts and transforms our everyday world. Its consequences include, for example, economic, financial, and environmental crises, conflict poverty, inequality, and gender relations.
Online Global Political Economy MA Scholarships
Five scholarships, valued at £5000 per student, are available as a partial contribution towards tuition fees for this course. The deadline for submissions is 14 June 2024. Please see the main King’s website for full details of eligibility criteria and the application process.
Ready to join us in September 2024?
Apply nowWhy choose this online MA?
Join a leading university
King’s ranked fifth in Europe for politics and international relations (2023 QS World University Rankings). And placed first for research power (Times Higher Education 2021 Research Excellence Framework).
Develop in-depth knowledge
Acquire advanced understanding of major interests, institutions, and ideas that shape the global political economy and the interaction between politics and economics internationally.
Career development
Develop the global perspective and knowledge of international political economy to work in international development, policy, or research in the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors across the world.
World-leading academics
Our staff produces world-leading research on key aspects of the global political economy that informs public debates through engagements with policymakers and politicians worldwide.
What you'll study
This Global Political Economy MA is designed to convey an in-depth understanding of how transformations in the global political economy affect different states, regions, and sectors.
Using a social science framework and referencing our own world-leading insight, you will learn to analyse key issues and challenges in the global political economy. In doing so, you will develop an awareness of the challenges, trade-offs, and uncertainties concerning decision-making in the global political economy.
Module overview
This online Global Political Economy MA course is comprised of 6 modules: two 30-credit modules in Year 1, two 15-credit modules and one 30-credit module in Year 2, and the 60-credit dissertation to be submitted at the end of Year 2 (180 credits in total). All modules on the programme must be passed to complete the award.
You’re required to take the following 6 modules:
Year one:
Following the long tail of the global financial and economic crisis of 2007-2008, globalisation is increasingly targeted as part of the problem by supposedly anti-established figures of all political stripes. This resulting backlash has, according to many observers, resulted in de-globalisation, not only with respect to patterns in trade and investment, but also in policy terms, with a return to protectionist measures, including in the form of trade wars.
Against this backdrop, this module focuses particularly on different approaches and theories for understanding the global political economy. It will equip you with key analytical tools to make sense of contemporary transformations, which will be explored in the follow-up module connected to this one, Issues in Global Political Economy.
More specifically, the module is organised in three parts. Firstly, it focuses on approaches that precede the emergence of a global political economy, but still provide tools and insights relevant for its functioning today. Secondly, it zooms in on dominant approaches from International Political Economy (IPE), the field most directly concerned with the global political economy.
Finally, the module will also help you assess the value of heterodox and critical approaches to the study of the global political economy, including most notably Marxist, neo-Gramscian, and feminist scholarship.
This module is the follow-up to Global Political Economy: Theories & Approaches. It centres globalisation as a material process that has fundamentally reshaped the international political economy that emerged after World War Two into the global system we live in today.
The module is organised in three main parts. The first focuses on financial globalisation, with a particular emphasis on the consequence of the collapse of the Bretton Woods exchange rate arrangement and on the global financial crisis of 2007-8 and its long aftermath.
The second part instead focuses on the globalisation of production, looking at how transformations in the international trade regime have facilitated the emergence and spread of global value chains.
The final part of the module examines global challenges that might not immediately seem related to the global political economy but are in fact deeply affected by it. They range from the climate crisis to the implications of international migration to the prospects of addressing poverty and inequality.
Year two:
- Research Design and Methods (15 credits)
- Decolonising Global Political Economy (15 credits)
- Political Economy of International Migration (30 credits)
- Dissertation (60 credits)
Meet your Programme Director
Dr. Roberto Roccu
Born and raised in Sardinia, Roberto joined King’s in 2012 after completing his PhD in International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Roberto’s research focuses primarily on the Middle East and North Africa.
Rather than viewing this region exclusively through the lens of oil, his work examines how actors and forces from the region have themselves contributed to globalisation in a number of ways, and how the resulting global economic transformations have impacted on the economic, political, and social prospects of different countries in the region.
How you're assessed
Modules will be assessed through a variety of assessment types. This will predominantly include:
Coursework essays
Coursework essays
Online quizzes and activities
Online quizzes and activities
Individual and group presentations
Individual and group presentations
Written and oral assessments
Written and oral assessments
As already mentioned, some parts of the programme will include group-based assessment (formative and summative), alongside the mainstay of individual assessment.
Entry requirements
A minimum 2:1 honours degree (or above) in a social science or humanities subject.
Please note that if you have a lower degree classification, or a degree in an unrelated subject, your application may still be considered. You’ll need to demonstrate significant relevant work experience or offer a related graduate qualification (such as a master’s or PGDip).
English language band: B
To study at King's, it is essential that you can communicate in English effectively in an academic environment. You’re usually required to provide certification of your competence in English before starting your studies.
Nationals of majority English speaking countries (as defined by the UKVI) who have permanently resided in this country are not usually required to complete an additional English language test. This is also the case for applicants who have successfully completed:
- An undergraduate degree (at least three years duration) within five years of the course start date.
- A postgraduate taught degree (at least one year) within five years of the course start date.
- A PhD in a majority English-speaking country (as defined by the UKVI) within five years of the course start date.
For information on our English language requirements and whether you need to complete an English language test, please see our English Language requirements page.
Depending on your previous qualifications, you may need to submit a personal statement and a reference letter as part of your application.
You’ll need to submit a copy (or copies) of your official academic transcript(s), showing the subjects studied and marks obtained. If you’ve already completed your degree, copies of your official degree certificate will also be required. Applicants with academic documents issued in a language other than English, will need to submit both the original and official translation of their documents.
You’ll need to submit your CV as part of your application to highlight your experience.
Not sure if you meet the requirements, or if the course is right for you? Speak to our team to get tailored support:
Discuss my optionsCareer options in Global Political Economy
On this MA, you will learn various academic and professional analytical, techniques to assess and evaluate different aspects of the global political economy, including but not limited to trade, finance, energy, natural resource availability and extraction, poverty, inequality, migration, and development.
Typical careers you can expect to pursue include economist, financial analyst, trade specialist, lobbyist, political scientist, policy analyst, business analyst, marketing specialist, researcher, charity advisor, and more.
Graduates of the on-campus version of this course enjoy highly successful careers across the public, private, and third sector. They can be found working in the UK and Europe, as well as in Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
Ready to join us in 2024?
Discover more
You have the potential. We’ll help you unleash it. Take charge of your future today.
Questions about our courses, studying online or the application process? Our expert Enrolment Advisors are on-hand to help. Simply fill in the form below, and they’ll get in touch with you shortly.
Fields with a '*' are mandatory.