History and Politics

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https://sheffield.ac.uk/undergraduate/courses/2027/history-and-politics-ba

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The A Level entry requirements for this course are:

Other requirements

GCSE Maths grade 4/C

English language requirements |

You must demonstrate that your English is good enough for you to successfully complete your course. For this course we require: GCSE English Language at grade 4/C; IELTS grade of 7.0 with a minimum of 6.5 in each component; or an alternative acceptable English language qualification

History and Politics BA | Undergraduate study | The University of Sheffield

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Undergraduate study

2027-28 entry

History and Politics BA

School of History, Philosophy and Digital Humanities

School of Sociological Studies, Politics and International Relations

Develop your expertise in historical events and the political systems that surround them. You’ll build the toolkit needed to critically analyse a range of sources, from the past to modern policy, equipping you to excel as both a historian and a political analyst.

A Levels

UCAS code

Duration

Start date

September

Attendance

Full-time

Course fee

Funding available

Optional placement year

Study abroad option

Dual honours

FY Foundation year entry for mature students

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Course description

Why study this course?

Top 10 in the UK for Politics

The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2026

Top 20 for History and Politics

The Guardian University Guide 2026

History research-led special subject

The research-led special subject enables you to become an expert in your chosen area. You will work directly with a leading subject expert, interrogate original sources, and engage with cutting-edge historical analysis.

Choose a year abroad or work placement

We have strong links with local and national organisations and institutions in Europe and the wider world, and you can easily add a year to your degree to explore history while studying in another country, or gain valuable work experience through a year-long placement.

Explore social and political events of the past in order to understand the world we live in today - and anticipate the issues of tomorrow.

In order to better understand the current social and political climate, we must look back on events and historical actors that have shaped how people and states interact. Historians are skilled in a critical appreciation of how cultures and ideas are constructed and negotiated; an understanding of power, especially who has power, how they got it, and how they use it; and what this means for people's sense of identity.

Study past societies from the ancient world to the 21st century, exploring political, social, economic and cultural themes from around the globe and laying the historical context necessary for you to engage with the politics of the UK, EU and countries across the globe.

Using case studies and exploring political theories, you’ll develop and demonstrate your views and explain what can be done to address some of the big issues affecting society today – from food poverty to climate change to free speech.

Dual and combined honours degrees

We're revising the curriculum of the course for this year of entry. Your first year modules are confirmed. For other years of study, the information here gives you an idea of the areas we expect the course to cover, although there may be changes before you begin. As you progress through your course, we’ll confirm additional details for the core and optional modules available to you.

Title: History and Politics BA course structure

UCAS code: VL12

First year

Second year

Third year

First yearFirst year

Core modules:

History Workshop

What does it take to be a historian? In this module, you will study the process of historical research, learning discipline-specific methods and essential study and writing skills through close engagement with a historical text (usually a work of narrative non-fiction) linked to your tutor's research interests. You will develop skills in critical reading, historiography, essay writing, bibliographic techniques, and reflection.

The assessment for this module is aimed at giving you a strong foundation in the skills you will need throughout your degree and beyond: critical reading and writing, bibliographic techniques, and the ability to reflect on and articulate your skills as a historian.

20 credits

Political Analysis 1: An Introduction to Research and Scholarship

As the first part of three key modules taken throughout your degree, Political Analysis 1 will introduce you to the study of politics as an academic discipline.

You will discover different ways to research the dynamics of different political worlds and acquire the foundational knowledge and skills needed to build, test and evaluate rigorous accounts of political problems.

Throughout the module, you will learn through a combination of lectures and seminars. You will also undertake independent study to delve deeper into the case studies of political scandal and failure discussed each week.

Thinking Politically: Key Concepts

A concept is a general idea about something. We use concepts all the time to make sense of the world. For example, we use the concept of a 'table' to describe a piece of furniture with a flat top and some legs to keep it stable. We also use concepts to make sense of our experiences and not just to describe 'things'. For example, we talk about a painting being 'beautiful' or a tyrant being 'cruel'. In this course, you will be introduced to a range of core concepts that inform the study of politics and international relations in the twenty-first century: politics, the state, authority, power, democracy, rights, justice, freedom, nations, and populism. You will discover how these concepts shape our understanding of the political world around us, and learn how to engage in conceptual analysis (i.e. how to argue about how we should understand each of these concepts). By the end of the module, you will have learnt to problematise and evaluate events, information, and academic literature, enabling you to successfully and critically use key concepts in political debate.

Thinking Historically

Building upon the foundational skills acquired in the introductory 'History Workshop,' this module will cultivate your ability to critically engage with the past, develop disciplinary awareness, and apply historical thinking. To do so it provides an introduction to the breadth of interests in the school and the way historians have made sense of patterns in historical developments. Moving from the Ancient and Medieval past to the contemporary world, the module shows how Sheffield historians approach the periods and places that interest us, whilst provoking you to ponder the issues involved in framing historical questions of your own. In this module, you will explore a recurring set of questions which inform history as a discipline: how and why have historians divided up the past into discrete periods, and with what consequences? How have historians constructed narratives that give shape and meaning to the events of the past? How can we evaluate the truth of historical representations and interpretations? How are they shaped by the availability of sources about past societies, and what determines which sources have survived to the present day? How have relationships of power influenced the sorts of stories that we tell and the voices that we hear from the past, and how do they continue to do so?By the end of the module, you will not only have a strong sense of what it means to see problems through a historical lens, but also a better understanding of the chronological and geographical range of work undertaken by Sheffield historians.

History optional modules:

The 'Disenchantment' of Early Modern Europe, c. 1570-1770

This module explores the fundamental shifts in mental attitudes and public behaviour that occurred in Europe between the age of the Reformation and the age of the Enlightenment. The central focus of the course will be the examination of the supernatural - religious beliefs, but also witchcraft and magic. You will explore the changing ways in which beliefs impinged on people's lives at various social levels. You will also have an opportunity to study the impact on people's world views of such changes as rising literacy, urbanisation, state formation and new discoveries about the natural world. All these will be investigated in the institutional contexts of state and church and the ways in which they sought to channel and mould beliefs and behaviour. This module enables you to understand how the early modern period is distinctive from and links medieval and later modern historical studies.

Beyond Borders? A Deep History of the Connected World

We live in a moment where the world is more interconnected than ever before, where big brands dominate global economies and imaginations, TikTok shapes trends across the planet, political rhetoric reverberates across borders, and pandemics and climate change offer threats on a planetary scale. We cannot avoid global thinking, and the impacts of international networks - from media to economies to culture and consumption - are so engrained that we barely even notice them. But how did we get here? How did the world become so intensely interconnected? And why do those processes of entanglement matter?

At a time when the rise of this increasingly global outlook is facing challenges from ethnonationalism and isolationism - from Brexit to Trump and Modi's India - this module will equip you to understand the processes at work in global integration (and isolation), not as a linear narrative of 'progress', but as historically contingent, complex and messy. In this module, we will trace the ways in which these global interconnections developed, from the earliest tentative colonies and the rise of empires, enslavement and extraction. Through the lens of global history, we will see revolutions, liberation, and worldwide conflicts, the modern international order of nation states, waves of decolonisation, and ecological crises.

Through the study of transnational structures, cultures and systems which reach from Asia to Europe and from Africa to the Americas, alongside an understanding of the many peoples of every status who were agents in these exchanges, this module will challenge you to ask: what drives nations and individuals together, or pulls them apart? What makes and breaks cultures, states, and communities? And how did we end up in a place where environment; food systems; national security; human rights; political, religious and racial ideologies; culture and language; war and peace, are all so globally determined and yet so locally rooted.

The Long View: an introduction to archaeology

This module traces the development of modern humans through to the modern era. It introduces the wide range of materials and methods that archaeologists use to study the past. The practical laboratory-based classes and field classes provide experience in the basic identification, investigation and interpretation of archaeological evidence. They are supported by lectures that introduce archaeological methods, theories and worldwide case studies. From field to laboratory using examples from throughout the world, you will learn about how archaeology shapes knowledge about the deep and recent human past.

Through this module students will be introduced to debates on the formation and development of archaeological thought through a world-wide perspective from the Palaeolithic to the present. They will be presented with techniques and ideas used by archaeologists to explore the human record and understand the past. It offers an opportunity to explore and discover the archaeological record through practical engagement, using field and laboratory methods, while also highlighting the importance of selecting analytical techniques appropriate to the question posed and the data available. The module will enable students to develop core skills in decoding and critically understanding literature, observation, recording, analysis and interpreting archaeological evidence.

Politics optional modules:

World Politics

This module serves as an introduction to International Relations as a discipline.

Throughout this module you will engage in key international relations concepts and discussions, including migration, climate change, poverty and global inequalities, sexual violence and armed conflict.

As an introductory module, you have the opportunity to develop the tools needed to understand, analyse and reflect on in-depth theoretical and empirical international relations which shall continue to support you throughout your degree.

Global Political Economy

Global political economy (GPE) is a field of study that investigates the interaction between political and economic forces in contemporary and historical capitalism. You will consider key mainstream and critical theories.

You will be introduced to major processes of trade, production and exploitation, sketching the power relations of the global economy by using examples of contemporary production in different industries. You will also consider how the political economy of race, class and gender have structured the global economy through histories of colonisation and decolonisation, from the fourteenth to the twenty-first century.

Second yearSecond year

In your second year, you’ll continue to build your foundational knowledge of historical and political concepts, looking in depth at materials and further developing your skills.

Political Analysis 2: How to do empirical research

An important skill for the study of politics and international relations is the ability to effectively collect, analyse and evaluate reliable and robust evidence about real-world political phenomena. A good grounding in methods for collecting qualitative data can allow you to both make more sense of (and critically engage with) the research literature, and to carry out your own independent research, enabling you to address your own questions about the political world. Political Analysis 2 will introduce you to a range of quantitative and qualitative methods for studying political phenomena which will give you the skills you need.

In the course of the module, we will look at:The principles of effective research design in politics and IR - how to set up your research to answer your questions effectively and reliablySources of qualitative and quantitative data for politics and international relation researchMethod for collecting qualitative dataHow to code and analyse qualitative dataAnalysing trends and associations in political data;Using quantitative data and regression analysis to evaluate theories about real-world politics.

Building on the module taking in the first year, you will have the opportunity to learn how to apply the practical tools needed to collect and independently analyse data.

Political Theory in Practice

You will explore key debates in political theory and their implications for current political practice.

You will have the opportunity to engage in: debates surrounding justice and what these mean for welfare and taxation policies; disputes over the meaning of democracy and their implications for how we choose our leaders; discussions about different ideas of freedom of speech, and what 'hate speech' is; and to explore controversies around multiculturalism, in particular its impact upon women.

Overall, this module will help you become well-equipped to identify and evaluate the competing values that lie behind so many of our current political controversies.

History and the Public

This module explores the theory and practice of public history by providing students with the opportunity to communicate their scholarly work to an audience beyond the boundaries of our discipline. Students will work collaboratively in writing a critique of a piece of public history as part of a broader evaluation of the use of history outside academic settings. The course will engage in debate about important questions facing historians in the present, and consider ideas about the role and purposes of History as an academic subject.

Parchment to Pixels: Interrogating Historical Evidence

From Democracy to Dictatorship: the 1973 coup in Chile

This document option explores the coup of 11 September 1973 as a turning point in Chilean, Latin American and global history. It will use primary sources to explore events on both sides of this critical date, casting light on life in Chile under both democracy and dictatorship. This module will also situate the Chilean coup in international and global history, asking why events in a small Latin American country held such global importance. We'll use government documents to explore why the United States found it necessary to intervene against the Allende government and assist the reactionary forces who supported the military coup and transcripts of interviews to grasp how everyday life changed for Chileans in 1973. We'll also explore the significance of events in Chile for the wider global Cold War, using music, art and documents left by activists to ask why everyday people in countries across the world - including the United Kingdom - mobilised in solidarity with the Chilean people and in the name of human rights, and we'll also assess the impact this activism had.

Murder in the cathedral: the Becket Affair

On 29 December 1170, Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, was brutally murdered in his cathedral by four knights of his King and one-time friend, Henry II. In the space of ten years, a close friendship had been ruined, and Thomas' stubbornness, flight to France, and untimely death created additional tensions for the English king. This document option investigates events surrounding Thomas' death and the emergence of his cult. It asks how a minor squabble became a continent-wide cause célèbre, forcing Henry into an act of ritual humiliation to clear his name while ensuring that Thomas' memory lived on.

The Irish Republican Brotherhood, 1858-85

Britain's 'Irish problem' has long roots. This document module examines one of the most important violent Irish organisations that challenged British sovereignty in Ireland. Founded in 1858, the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) (or the Fenian movement, as it was also known) was a transatlantic movement dedicated to the overthrow of the British state in Ireland. Fuelled by hatred for the British after the dreadful Famine in Ireland of the 1840s, the Fenians constructed a sophisticated organisation that was part secret society, terrorist cell structure and propaganda machine. It was the early forerunner of the Irish Republican Army. This document option investigates aspects of Fenianism from a range of angles. Using sources written and produced by contemporaries, we will consider the dynamics of the IRB and its place within nineteenth-century Ireland.

The Putney Debates, October 1647

Following the first English civil war there was political stalemate over the post-war settlement. By late 1647 there were calls for revolutionary political change, not least at the famous Putney debates. They came at a crucial moment in the development of the revolution, and successive editors between 1891 and 2007 presented the records of the debates in varying contexts in order to reveal the fundamental significance of the revolution. This module explores the background to the debates at Putney, what was said, and also considers how different editions of the debates reflect the shifting significance attached to the English revolution.

A Very British Revolution? The 1926 General Strike

Contemporary Crises in Historical Perspective

For many of us, our sense of global emergency rests on a fear that the planet's resources are fatally overstretched, a belief that the relationship between humans and their environment is in crisis. Using examples from a range of different historical periods, this module asks where and when this sense of crisis emerged, how universal it is, and whether historical inquiry can provide any insights for the present? How have societies understood their relationship with the natural world historically? How have past communities responded to moments of upheaval, threat, and catastrophe? In what ways have they adapted, resisted, reinvented, or collapsed? You will consider how key challenges faced by modern society - including earthquakes, famines, epidemics, urbanisation, and conflict over land, energy, and other resources - were understood and experienced by people from Antiquity to the contemporary world.

Autocracies and Democracies

Autocracies and Democracies is motivated by a series of fundamental questions about regimes, their emergence, survival and collapse. How do we define and measure regimes? What explains the emergence of democracies? Are there any conditions that facilitate their consolidation and survival? Is there something that can explain the collapse of democracies? How do autocracies come about? Can autocracies survive in the long run, and if so how?

The module highlights the complexities involved in defining and measuring regimes, helping students think about the trade-offs involved in making different conceptual and empirical assessments. It looks at various theories and modes of transition to democracy, and the challenges of building and trying to sustain democracies. It distinguishes between different types of autocracies, analyses some of the tools autocrats use to stay in power, and examines factors that can destabilize them.

The module evaluates the theories related to autocracies and democracies through the use of empirical evidence, with a key aspect of the module being the use of comparisons as a way to think analytically. Students are encouraged to engage critically with the approaches used and apply real-world cases to the questions under investigation.

Chinese Politics

This module examines the People's Republic of China's political system. The core themes animating this module centre on China's continuous quest for modernity, transformations in its domestic politics, economy and society, and the country's changing position on the international stage. We will cover a range of topics including China's recent political history, political institutions including the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), nationalism, legitimacy, state-society relations and the re-emergence of China as a major player on the world stage. Students will be expected to think critically about China's transformation under the CCP, including the main forces that have shaped it and the domestic and global implications.

Migration and World Politics

Migration has been receiving more attention in international politics. This module analyses migration using a world politics lens. It will provide students with the concepts and theories - as well as the historical, contextual and critical skills - needed to understand international migration from different perspectives. It will discuss migration and problematise migration concepts and categories such as forced migration (asylum and internal people displacement), statelessness and citizenship, border control/security, labour migration, migration diplomacy, family migration and environmental migration. It will also approach case studies including the Migration and Asylum Policy of the European Union, migration politics in Latin America and the USA-Mexico border among others.

Oppression and Resistance

Contemporary politics is shaped by ongoing debates about oppression — what it is, how it operates, and how it can be challenged.

In this module, you will examine different forms of oppression, including racism, sexism, homophobia, class-based inequality, and violence against non-human animals. You will study the strategies, methods, and legacies of key resistance movements such as the Haitian Revolution, Black Lives Matter, Pride, #MeToo, and the 504 Disability Rights Sit-in.

The module explores not only how these movements confronted oppression, but also how their effectiveness can be evaluated and what they reveal about the long-term possibilities for social and political change.

Through this exploration, you will gain historical, theoretical, and empirical tools to critically analyse how oppression functions, and how it can be resisted today.

Tackling the World's Wicked Problems: theoretical tools and applications

The world is faced with many pressing problems, from military conflicts to climate change, terrorism, and humanitarian catastrophes. These problems often seem intractable.

In this module, you will be presented with a variety of theoretical perspectives and tools, such as Postcolonialism and Green Theory, that seek to address these various 'wicked problems'. The module offers an in-depth discussion of some of the most important International Relations theories and applies them to empirical cases.

You address how various theories propose to practically solve the most pressing problems in world politics. You will also gain experience in approaching problems from a diversity of perspectives in order to better understand how problems arise and come to exist in global politics.

Third yearThird year

In your third year, as well as working on a short dissertation and a research project, you’ll continue to advance your knowledge in specific areas of History and Politics.

Short Dissertation

Research Project 1

You will choose to research and explore a topic studied during a semester one module at a deeper level. With an academic supervisor for support, you will conduct and write a 5,000 word research project.

The research project will support the development of your academic scholarship and your critical thinking skills by immersing you in the research process. You will practice identifying credible sources, evaluating information objectively, and drawing and articulating meaningful insights from your findings.

History Special Subject modules:

Permissive Britain? Social and Cultural Change 1956-74

This module explores British society and culture as the nation moved from an era of austerity to one of unprecedented affluence. Key topics include the impact of affluence on class and gender relationships, the emergence of a national youth culture, changes and continuities in sexual behaviour, and debates about immigration and race. The unit encourages students to assess the significance of reforming legislation that relaxed the censorship regime, decriminalised homosexuality, enabled easier access to abortion, liberalised the divorce system and abolished capital punishment, examining the arguments of those who resisted, as well as those who championed the 'permissive society'.

40 credits

The World of Intoxicants in Early Modern England

Intoxicants were a key feature of early modern societies. This is as true for 'old' world alcohols like wine, beer, ale, and other fermented drinks as it is for 'new' intoxicants like opiates, tobacco, sugar, caffeines, chocolate, and distilled liquors that began to enter European diets after 1600 from the Levant, the Americas, and Asia. Focusing on intoxicants in England, this module considers a) the ongoing importance and, indeed, increasing significance of alcohols to culture, society, and economy over the course of the seventeenth century and b) the introduction and popularisation of new intoxicants over the same period.

Cannibals and Christians: Mexico and Spain, c.1492-1600

This module examines the extraordinary clash of cultures which occurred following the 'discovery' of America, and the reciprocal relationship which developed between Europe and the 'New World' in the sixteenth century. Focusing on the sixteenth-century discovery, conquest and settlement of Central and South America, especially Mexico, the module will address such themes as the nature of the encounter, the intellectual and cultural impact, trade and exchange, migration, evangelisation and empire. The module addresses the encounter from a wide range of perspectives, evaluating the encounter from the viewpoint of sailors, conquistadors, priests, historians, explorers, missionaries, administrators and the indigenous people themselves.

The Wars for Vietnam: Empire, Decolonisation and Liberation

In the middle decades of the twentieth century, Vietnam was wrenched by wars: a world war, a war of decolonisation, a civil war, the Cold War, and a war against its erstwhile communist allies. By studying these conflicts, we not only learn about modern Vietnam, but also the French empire, U.S. foreign policy, and communist internationalism in the mid-20th Century. As case studies, these wars shed light on larger global processes of imperial conquest, decolonisation and neo-colonial control, communist revolution and the limits of internationalism. As an archetype of national liberation, events in Vietnam also profoundly shaped anti-colonial struggles around the world and social movements in the United States and Europe, from Black Power to the women's liberation movement. This module explores the wars for Vietnam through the themes of empire, decolonisation, and liberation, paying close attention to Vietnamese perspectives, exploring the role of France, the United States, the Soviet Union, and China, and uncovering the global reverberations of these conflicts. We will investigate the historiography which set the broad parameters of debate, as well as newer scholarship which has challenged these orthodox interpretations, and we will examine a wide range of primary sources, from government documents, memoirs, and oral histories, to images, fiction, and film.

Resistance & Liberation in South Africa: Gandhi to Mandela

This module analyses resistance to segregation, apartheid, and white supremacy in South Africa. Drawing upon memoirs, oral histories, novels, films, speeches, news reporting, online databases, and document collections, we begin with the non-violent campaigns led by Mohandas Gandhi in the 1900s against the segregation of Indians in South Africa, and end with Nelson Mandela's election as president in the country's first non-racial democratic elections in 1994. We will explore the inspirations, nature, and effects of a wide range of forms of political, social, and cultural resistance by opponents of white supremacy - from ordinary people to elite politicians - both inside South Africa and around the world.

Makers of a New World: Merchants, Scholars and Commoners in Late Medieval Europe

Between 1350 and 1450, many of the foundations of the Europe as we know it and the world has experienced it were laid by specific groups of people: merchants who established capitalist market economy and, at the same time, shaped the appearance of their cities through patronage and the promotion of new artistic models; scholars who reconsidered past evidence and the meaning of the past through the 'rediscovery' of the Classics; and commoners that developed individual and collective ways of getting their voices heard in politics and religion.The module builds on new scholarship on the late medieval period and, to an extent, the early modern period and extra-European history to engage critically with developments that have more traditionally been referenced as the Renaissance, Humanism, the Waning of the Middle Ages, and approached as transition, crisis, transformation or, more specifically, through notions including the 'disanchantment', the birth of the 'nation-state' and 'European expansion'.

Merchants, Pirates and Planters: The English Overseas, 1570-1624

The period c.1570-1624 saw a reorientation of England's global position, as increasing numbers of English people began to venture into unfamiliar regions. This course charts the nature and significance of their travels. We will encounter merchants in Europe, the Ottoman Empire and the far east, settlers and conquerors in Ireland and America, explorers in the frozen seas of the far north, and pirates in Spanish America. The latter part of the course focuses on the foundation of England's first 'successful' American colony, Jamestown. Throughout, we consider the motives driving these ventures, and the complex nature of the encounters that ensued.

The National Security State, Treason, and Individual Rights during the Twentieth Century

Italy in the Age of Dante, ca. 1200-1350

In the 13th and 14th centuries, northern-central Italy was one of the most urbanized, economically dynamic and culturally innovative parts of Western Europe, to the point that important scholars of the past have seen the Italian city-states as forerunners of modern concepts of republicanism and individualism. The cultural efflorescence of this period is still visible in the historical city centre of many Italian towns, in the frescoes of Giotto, and in the literary works of authors such as Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), best known for his exploration of the Christian afterlife in the Divine Comedy. And yet, Dante's Italy was also plagued by instability, civil wars and factionalism, as exemplified by the poet's banishment from his city, Florence, on account of political rivalries. How did the Italian city-states manage to flourish economically and culturally in such a fraught political landscape? How could they reconcile intellectual sophistication and religious revival on one side, and significant levels of violence and turmoil on the other? This module will make use of sources such as artwork, chronicles, literature and charters to explore various facets of the political, social and cultural life of the communes with the aim of providing a deeper understanding of this multi-faceted society.

The module will introduce you to the political, religious, social, and cultural landscapes of the Italian city-states between the 13th and the 14th century. It will develop your awareness of the historiographical interpretations of the period and its key features, e.g., the communal movement, merchant capitalism, the 14th century crisis and lay sanctity.

The World Transformed? The League of Nations and the End of Empire, 1919-46

The League of Nations was a major experiment in the organisation of international relations after the First World War. Political theorists and historians have long debated its merits, and references to its failures line the pages of textbooks. But rather than reproduce these arguments about the inability of the League to prevent a second world war, this module takes a different approach. It draws our attention to the surprising role it played in international governance in former imperial territories in Central and Eastern Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. In this module, we see League officials working on programmes directed at disarmament, international crime, trafficking, public health, universal children's rights, slavery, communications, and much more. The module introduces students to the League's work in practice, offering insight into the experiences of millions of ordinary men and women as they sought to rebuild their lives after the collapse of empires.

Politics modules:

The Ethics of Political Leadership

This course examines the ethics of political leadership. To do so, it focuses on broad and timeless questions, such as 'What is the relationship between politics and morality?' as well as more focused questions, including 'May politicians bend moral constraints in the name of political necessity?' and 'Is it always wrong for leaders to lie?'

To answer these questions, you will analyse and evaluate normative arguments on the significance and function of political leaders in contemporary politics. You will also examine competing theories of leadership in their historical and intellectual context. This module will encourage you to take a theoretical approach, using examples of political leaders to highlight strengths and weaknesses of competing theories of leadership, and to emphasise their ideological assumptions and implications.

Global Culture Wars

Cancel culture, identity politics, the war on woke… How should we make sense of the so-called 'culture wars' that are transforming politics?

Throughout this module, you will examine this topic from a global and historical perspective, investigating the contemporary politics of culture wars that are found worldwide, and the tensions that have existed in one form or another since the dawn of modernity. Topics you will study include the rise of the global right, the transnational backlash against LGBT+ rights, and how social media has shaped contemporary politics.

As a group, we will take a step back from the commotion, scandal and outrage to trace the historical lineages of culture wars across global politics.

Understanding Elections

Elections are key moments in democratic politics. They influence the formation of governments and provide a means for citizens to express their political preferences and their judgements on the competence of those who govern them. In doing so, they offer important insights into public opinion, participation, and political behaviour. Elections are also complex events, influenced by political debates, ideas, and campaigns, by different rules under which particular electoral systems operate, and by large social forces beyond the control of governments. Understanding elections requires insights into many aspects of modern political life.

During this module, you will investigate elections from a range of different perspectives, answering questions about what influences voter decisions and how these have changed, the effect of party political campaigns on election outcomes, and the impact of the 'rules of the game' governing the electoral system on the outcome of elections.

Examining elections in the UK and around the world, you will draw on the latest evidence and research to understand academic debates on electoral politics and to develop your ideas and analyses of elections.

The content of our courses is reviewed annually to make sure it's up-to-date and relevant. Individual modules are occasionally updated or withdrawn. This is in response to discoveries through our world-leading research; funding changes; professional accreditation requirements; student or employer feedback; outcomes of reviews; and variations in staff or student numbers. In the event of any change we will inform students and take reasonable steps to minimise disruption.

Learning and assessment

Learning

You'll learn through a mix of interactive lectures and lively discussion-based seminars.

You will learn through a mixture of interactive lectures and workshops where you'll work in teams to analyse key information. Small-group seminars are a place for you to try out ideas, to work with others on solving problems, discussing and exploring issues together. For major research projects, you’ll have one-one-one supervision with a subject expert, who will help you sharpen your ideas and arguments. This is supported by independent study, where you can develop topics that interest you under the guidance of your tutors.

In your final year, you'll have the opportunity to take our History Special Subject module, which allows you to spend a year specialising in a historical topic that really interests you. With a host of extracurricular opportunities including work placements, volunteering, and an active History Society, as well as our established study abroad programme, you’ll also be able to prepare for the future you want.

We invest to create the right environment for you. That means outstanding facilities, study spaces and support, including 24/7 access to our online library service.

Study spaces and computers are available to offer you choice and flexibility for your study. Our five library sites give you access to over one million books and periodicals. You can access your library account and our rich digital collections from anywhere on or off campus. Other library services include study skills training to improve your grades, and tailored advice from experts in your subject.

Learning support facilities and library opening hours

Our politics tutors have great connections with policymakers and practitioners from various sectors. We often invite these external speakers into seminars to share their own experiences or insight on topics that you will be learning about in your modules.

Our political expertise spans many key areas of politics and international relations, such as:

environmentalism

oppression

capitalism

Chinese politics

culture wars

political psychology

Research is central to the student experience here at Sheffield and all our teaching is informed by the latest findings.

Assessment

Entry requirements

With Access Sheffield, you could qualify for additional consideration or a contextual offer - find out if you're eligible.

Standard offer

Access Sheffield offer

A Levels + a fourth Level 3 qualification

ABB + B in a relevant EPQ; ABB + B in Core Maths

International Baccalaureate

34; 33, with B in a history-based extended essay

BTEC Extended Diploma

BTEC Diploma

DD + A at A Level

Scottish Highers

Welsh Baccalaureate + 2 A Levels

Access to HE Diploma

Award of the Access to HE Diploma in a relevant subject, with 45 credits at Level 3, including 36 at Distinction, and 9 at Merit

Routes for mature students

DD + B at A Level

Award of the Access to HE Diploma in a relevant subject, with 45 credits at Level 3, including 30 at Distinction, and 15 at Merit

Equivalent English language qualifications

Visa and immigration requirements

Other qualifications | UK and EU/international

If you have any questions about entry requirements, please contact the school.

Graduate careers

Our history graduates are highly skilled in research, critical reasoning and communication. You'll be able to think and write coherently, to put specific matters in a broader context, and to summarise complex ideas in a discerning and creative way.

Our graduates have gone on to become successful lawyers, marketing executives, civil servants, accountants, teachers, management consultants, university lecturers, archivists, librarians and workers in museums, tourism and the heritage industry.

The combination of academic excellence and personal skills developed and demonstrated in your history degree will make you stand out in an increasingly competitive graduate world.

Companies that have employed our graduates include Accenture, Ernst and Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers and DLA Piper. You'll also find our graduates in organisations ranging from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, to the Imperial War Museum and the National Archives, to BBC Online and The Guardian.

A politics degree from Sheffield can set you apart from everyone else. You'll have many opportunities across all levels of your course to add valuable work experience and transferable skills to your CV.

Our degree programmes are designed so you can tailor your course to your own interests and career aspirations. They also provide a foundation to go on to work in a wide range of professional, political and administrative organisations across the world, in local, national, and international government, the charitable sector, education, the media, public relations, research and the private sector.

Department statistics

In the School of History, Philosophy and Digital Humanities, we interrogate some of the most significant and pressing aspects of human life, offering new perspectives and tackling globally significant issues.

For BA History and Politics, your academic life is split between two locations. Your history classes are based in the heart of the University campus at 9 Mappin Street, which offers dedicated teaching spaces and is ideally situated for easy access to central campus facilities like the Diamond and the Information Commons.

For the politics side of your degree, you'll be taught in our state-of-the-art social science facilities at The Wave, a modern hub designed to foster collaboration and innovative learning.

A Top 10 university for politics

The University of Sheffield is ranked 8th in the UK, The Guardian University Guide 2026.

Top 10 in the UK for international relations

Guardian University Guide 2025

World top 100 for both sociology and politics

QS World University rankings by subject, 2025

90.4% of politics and international relations graduates were in employment or further study 15 months after leaving university

UK undergraduates, Graduate Outcomes Survey 2021-22

We’re proud to be one of the UK’s top providers for research and teaching. Our academics are recognised internationally for their expertise, contributing to national and international policy and working alongside organisations around the world to address society’s major challenges.

Each brings cutting-edge research into your studies and uses their professional expertise to support your learning and development.

During your time with us, you will:

tackle contemporary challenges - all our courses are designed to engage with and discuss the most pressing challenges, with our research-active staff bringing in their expertise to your learning

develop your own expertise - we offer a range of optional modules so you can tailor your degree to your own interests

receive comprehensive support - with a wide range of support available, including academic tutors and dedicated support services, you will be supported throughout your time with us and beyond

engage with diverse and interactive teaching - a mix of teaching formats ensures you will learn in new and innovative ways throughout your course

be career confident - develop key skills for the world of work and gain professional experience with placements, internships and other employability opportunities

Our staff are based in The Wave, the home of the Faculty of Social Sciences, and across the road in Elmfield. The Wave offers the newest lecture theatres on campus, plenty of collaborative and private study spaces, and a cafe.

Elmfield features state-of-the-art seminar rooms and a communal student room to study and socialise. Teaching may take place across both buildings, as well as other buildings on campus which are only a short walk away.

University rankings

A world top-100 university

QS World University Rankings 2027 (82nd)

Number one in the Russell Group for student voice

National Student Survey 2026

92 per cent of our research is rated as world-leading or internationally excellent

Research Excellence Framework 2021

University of the Year for Student Experience

The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2026

Number one Students' Union in the UK

Whatuni Student Choice Awards 2024, 2023, 2022, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017

Number one for Students' Union

StudentCrowd 2025 University Awards

7th best University for Work Experience

Higherin 2026-27

Student profiles

Grace talks about her experience as studying in the School of History, Philosophy and Digital Humanities.

Fees and funding

We have a fixed fee guarantee in place for undergraduate overseas students, meaning that your tuition fee will not increase during your studies. Tuition fees for undergraduate home students may increase during your studies in line with our Terms and Conditions upon Acceptance of an Offer policy.

Tuition fees

Fee status help

Additional costs

The annual fee for your undergraduate course includes a number of items in addition to your tuition. If an item or activity is classed as a compulsory element for your course, it will normally be included in your tuition fee. There are also other costs which you may need to consider. These costs may increase due to price increases outside of the University’s control, if you defer entry or if you choose to change course.

Examples of what’s included and excluded in undergraduate fees

Funding your study

Depending on your circumstances, you may qualify for a bursary, scholarship or loan to help fund your study and enhance your learning experience.

Use our Student Funding Calculator to work out what you’re eligible for.

£2,500 per year scholarships for international students

We're offering automatic scholarships worth up to £10,000 to overseas fee-paying students starting their studies in September 2026 - no additional application required.

Placements and study abroad

Placements

You may have the opportunity to add an optional placement year as part of your course, converting the three-year course to a four-year Degree with Placement Year.

A placement year will help you to:

gain an insight into possible careers

develop a range of transferable skills

build a professional network

get a feel for what you do and don’t like doing

add valuable work experience to your CV

gain experience of applying for jobs and interview practice

apply elements of academic learning in the workplace

There are also other opportunities to get work experience, with hands-on projects integrated into several of our academic modules. Alternatively, you can undertake a placement with a heritage or culture organisation, or join our student-led volunteering organisation History in the City and take part in activities that bring history to new audiences within the local community. All of these experiences will help you build a compelling CV.

Study abroad

Spending time abroad during your degree is a great way to explore different cultures, gain a new perspective and experience a life-changing opportunity that you will never forget.

You can apply to extend this course with a year abroad, usually between the second and third year. We have over 250 University partners worldwide. Popular destinations include Europe, the USA, Canada, Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Find out more on the Global Opportunities website.

University open days

We host five open days each year, usually in June, July, September, October and November. You can talk to staff and students, tour the campus and see inside the accommodation.

Open days: book your place

Online events

Join our online information sessions to find out more about different aspects of University life.

Online information sessions

Subject tasters

If you’re considering your post-16 options, our interactive subject tasters are for you. There are a wide range of subjects to choose from and you can attend sessions online or on campus.

Upcoming taster sessions

Offer holder days

If you've received an offer to study with us, we'll invite you to one of our offer holder days, which take place between February and April. These open days have a strong department focus and give you the chance to really explore student life here, even if you've visited us before.

Campus tours

Our weekly guided tours show you what Sheffield has to offer - both on campus and beyond. You can extend your visit with tours of our city, accommodation or sport facilities.

Campus tour: book your place

Events for mature students

Mature students can apply directly to our courses. We also offer degrees with a foundation year for mature students who are returning to education. We'd love to meet you at one of our events, open days, taster workshops or other events.

Lifelong learning events for mature students

Make sure you've done everything you need to do before you apply.

How to apply When you're ready to apply, see the UCAS website:

www.ucas.com

Not ready to apply yet? You can also register your interest in this course.

Contact us

Start a conversation with us – you can get in touch by email, telephone or online chat.

Contacts for prospective students

The awarding body for this course is the University of Sheffield.

Recognition of professional qualifications: from 1 January 2021, in order to have any UK professional qualifications recognised for work in an EU country across a number of regulated and other professions you need to apply to the host country for recognition. Read information from the UK government and the EU Regulated Professions Database.

Any supervisors and research areas listed are indicative and may change before the start of the course.

Our student protection plan

Terms and Conditions upon Acceptance of an Offer

Department

Extra info box

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UCAS 及院校官網均未列指定科（核對日期 2026-10-29，https://sheffield.ac.uk/undergraduate/courses/2027/history-and-politics-ba）

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競爭較大的課程可能要求更高；請向院校確認。