Politics, International Relations & Philosophy

This course offers an exciting opportunity to study human rights in the interdisciplinary context of law, politics and philosophy. The course content reflects that human rights is one of the key discourses of our times. The course is aimed both at people working in related fields (for example, professionals working in the fields of law, government and public sector, social services, human resource management, or human rights advocacy), and anyone else interested in further study in this area.

• The course is taught on a semesterised basis. Course content combines analysis of current human rights law and practices with a critical exploration of the structures, potential, and limits of law and legal reform, at the domestic, European, and international levels.

• The focus on ‘Globalisation and Justice’ emphasises the contemporary and interdisciplinary nature of the course. We do not aim at a simple endorsement of the discourse, but at a set of critical reflections that draw upon varied global and local human rights philosophies, policies and practice.

• Postgraduate students will find a range of support structures, including: research training; accessible staff supervisors; good library resources; access to postgraduate study rooms; and access to IT and legal research tools.

• This course builds on existing strengths of the Law School and SPIRE in research and teaching. Both Schools are committed to maintaining our teaching at the highest standard. Law and SPIRE are both highly regarded in their subject areas with international reputations for teaching and research. Keele hosts a wide range of seminars, workshops, lectures and visiting fellowships. Many of these activities are available without charge to Keele students. Both Schools are characterised by their energy and enthusiasm, as well as their friendliness and collegiality.

Internship Programme

As part of our concern to develop our students' experience in the field of human rights, one of our founding course team members and longstanding members of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), Professor Patrick Thornberry will host students at the Committee's sessions in Geneva.  

See here for more details about Professor Thornberry's work on racial discrimination and minority rights. Please see here for further information about CERD.

• This Masters programme aims to enable students to develop strong practical and theoretical understandings of human rights law, politics and philosophy at domestic, regional and international levels.

• The course also aims to provide students with a set of critical reflections that draw upon the varied global and local social and political contexts in which human rights operates.

• The course aims to develop not only subject-specific knowledge and skills, but also transferable skills. In terms of the latter, particular attention is paid to research and analytical skills. The course also aims to provide a foundation for pursuing further study at doctoral level.

• Course content combines analysis of current human rights law and practices with a critical exploration of the structures, potential, and limits of law and legal reform at the domestic, European, and international levels.

The course is open to all graduates with a first or second-class honours degree. International students whose first language is not English must have IELTS 6.5 or equivalent.

The MA requires 180 credits, made up of four 30-credit modules (120 credits) and a 60-credit dissertation. The award may be achieved either full-time or through a more flexible part-time programme. If taken full-time, the course can be completed within one year, with submission of the Masters dissertation by the end of September. Students taking the course part-time may complete the 120 credits in year one, with submission of the dissertation by September a year later, completing the whole programme in 2 years. Some students may not wish to complete the whole course but may be interested in taking just one or two 30 credit modules. If this is the case, you should contact the Course Director.

The four modules are outlined below, with illustrations of course content:

• Foundations of Human Rights – This broad foundation module provides a background in which to situate our study and critique of human rights theory and practice. This module explores historical, philosophical, structural aspects of human rights, including institutions involved in human rights and contemporary issues of human rights. It also aims to introduce students to differing understandings of legal, political and philosophical inquiry, and initiates them into the skills required for postgraduate research.

• Equality, Discrimination, Minorities – This module provides an outline of conceptual and institutional efforts regarding ethics of equality, non-discrimination and vulnerable communities. Exploring the themes of sexuality, gender, race, ethnicity, ‘indigeneity and caste/descent, the module examines and critiques particular inequalities in international human rights policy and practice such as geographical and governance inequalities. It examines these issues through particular case studies. The module draws upon a strong research tradition in these subjects within the university.

• Human Rights in a Global Market – This module explores how economic globalisation affects the nature of human rights policy and practice. The module considers the position of human rights in the global market and the impact on social, cultural and gender relations. The module also addresses roles of different actors in the global and local human rights fields, (e.g. NGOs/social movements, multinational and local business corporations, international financial institutions, etc.) and their impacts and opportunities for interaction in international structures concerned with the promotion and protection of human rights.

• Human Rights and Global Politics – This module further develops the connections between global and local causes and responses to contemporary human rights issues. The overall focus of the module is on exploring evolving political and legal strategies to advance human rights in a global political framework. The module has a particular focus on developing an understanding of political violence and terror to assess and address causes of human rights violations. This will include comparative analysis of the use of terror by states against their own citizens and how this can be understood and explained.

Assessment of the 30 credit modules is by means of coursework. This requires a written assignment of 5,000 words for each module. The pass mark is 50% and students must pass each of the modules in order to progress to the dissertation.

SPIRE is a thoroughly international school, and is particularly welcoming to international students, as well as providing plenty of opportunities for home students to broaden their horizons.

We have staff with educational backgrounds in a wide variety of countries, such as Columbia, Canada, Bulgaria, Italy, Austria, Romania, and Turkey, who present their research all around the world. Students have the opportunity to hear visiting lecturers from various different countries, arranged through our ERASMUS partnerships.

International students will join established international communities at Keele, and will find plenty of support mechanisms in place to help them make the transition to study in the UK (see the ‘International Applicants’ button above).

TISS Exchange

Each year students taking the MA in Human Rights, Globalisation and Justice have the opportunity to study one module in Mumbai, India, as part of Keele's exciting and innovative exchange scheme with the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. Students lucky enough to take part in the exchange found it added to their educational experience enormously, giving this feedback:

"This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and you get out of it what you put in, and I think it has been a life changing experience and I can't put a price upon how much it has impacted my studies with regards to human rights".

"Overall I had the absolute time of my life in India and it is an experience I will truly value for a very long time. I learnt so much out there, both about India and the wider world and perhaps more importantly about myself. I had to sacrifice my part time job which led to fund my MA course to go there but this is not a decision which I regret and I feel humbled to have been chosen to go on such a wonderful exchange programme.

"The trip was absolutely wonderful. I would tell anyone who has the chance to go that it is absolutely worth it and more".

"The exchange is a possibility to open your horizon regarding central human rights issues and especially in the way you value those respectively in the way you evaluate those. It is a chance to get a more practical view on human rights." 

Lauren Fuzi

I chose to study for my Masters at Keele University because it was the only university that offered a degree in human rights from an interdisciplinary perspective.  In addition, I was already familiar with the law department and so I knew that I would receive a high standard of support and guidance.‌

I found the course really interesting and found that it challenged the way that I thought about human rights and their role in our globalised world.  The workload and expectations of the masters were a lot higher than at undergraduate level, but because I was so interested in what I was studying I actually enjoyed having more work to do!

Kaushalya Ariyarathna

The HRGJ course in Keele university (2007/2008) was my first experience in an academic environment outside of my own country. So, first.....the life in Keele was exciting. However, what I mention here first should be interdisciplinary course modules. Also...my fellow students; even though it was a small group, we often had interesting classroom discussions.

Now I am back in Sri Lanka, working in an NGO related to peace works. I am based in Colombo, the capital, but I often travel in areas that recently occurred the civil war. Of course, I enjoy my work in the grass root level.