Overview

The MA by course work and research report students is designed to further hone students research skills culminating in their design and execution of a large research project in the form of the research report. The programme further focuses students IR expertise according to the 3 elective courses that they choose.  Less frequently students are allowed to enrol in an MA comprised solely of the production of a dissertation which of 50 000 words. Only students who graduate with distinction in their Honours with distinctions for both their Honours long essay and research methods course and whose chosen topic we are able to provide supervision for will be allowed to enrol for an MA by dissertation.

MA by coursework and research report curriculum

Students are required to register for 4 courses in total –

• 2 courses in the first semester = INTR7068A compulsory course + 1 course that you choose and

• 1 course of your own choice in the 2^nd semester plus

• Your research report – INTR7032A (due mid-February of the following year).

If you are a part-time student, these 4 courses will be spread over 2 years – 1 course per semester and the long essay will be due in the February that follows your second year.

Please remember:

All students must enrol in the Advanced Methods Course – INTR7068 in the first semester as well as the MA research report – INTR7032A – unless you are doing a joint MA and doing these components in your other subject.

Curriculum

INTR7068A – Advanced IR Academic Literacy and Research Methods (Semester One)

This course is designed for MA students with the aim to prepare them with the necessary research skills for writing their research report or dissertation. The course primarily addresses questions of qualitative research design and political science methodology. Emphasis will be given to theory testing and development, conducting case study analysis, classical and advanced comparative research methods, process tracing, content and discourse analysis, ethnography, survey and interview techniques, as well as an examination of mixed method research.

or

SOSS7091A- Statistical Computing & Inference for the Social Sciences and Humanities (Semester One)

This course introduces statistical social research, with applications in the social sciences and humanities. It emphasises the development of practical skills for conducting quantitative research using statistical software.

For further information about the MA in E-Science that the above course is a part see the URL below

https://www.wits.ac.za/course-finder/postgraduate/humanities/ma-e-science/

plus

INTR7032A – MA research report in IR

As the 4th component of this degree students are required to submit a research report.  The research report is a large independent research project, where students are expected to apply the skills provided in Theory and Research Methods Course as well draw on the knowledge that they have accumulated in their study of IR to date.

MA students only elective Courses

The following courses are offered exclusively to MA students. Students doing joint MAs or MA students in other degrees will also be allowed to register for these courses.

INTR7003A - Advance Security Studies (semester one)

The study of Security in International Relations (IR) is a highly contested and constantly evolving field. Traditionally the study of security has focused on armed conflict and the security of states in the international system. While this has expanded to consider the security of individuals (human security), the agency of other actors (such as Private Military and Security Contractors, International and Subregional Organisations), and the role of non-traditional security threats (migration, resources, climate, pandemics, terrorism), (in)security continues to morph, multiply, merge, and mature at a rapid speed. Ascendant strategic competition, the realignment of power between the Global North and the Global South, emergent hybrid ‘polycrises’, and networked (in)security, are just some areas in which the frontiers and parameters in the study of security are enlarging. This advanced MA course takes a Global IR approach to studying these manifold security issues in IR. The course considers a range of ontological, epistemological, methodological, theoretical, and empirical approaches in the study of security, with an emphasis on pluriversal security studies. The course aims to equip MA students with a solid knowledge base and the analytical tools and skills to (i) assess (in)security at the global, international, regional, and national level, (ii) analyse the genesis, linkages, and trajectories of and between security issue areas, (iii) evaluate the role and agency of state and non-state actors in the security field, and, (iv) formulate policy relevant positions, recommendations, and solutions to security threats and challenges. This is a reading intensive course and case study analysis, student presentations, and essay writing are used as ongoing forms of assessment.

INTR7038A – Advanced Issues in Diplomatic Engagement (semester one)

The advent of the digital age has impacted almost every facet of society and international relations has been no exception. The emergence digital initiatives as part of states’ international relations have started to revolutionise diplomatic practice. Like business, civil society both domestic and international as well as international organizations, states have begun to realize its potential utility for the sphere of diplomacy. For instance, use of social media for diplomatic purposes, has necessitated that diplomats engage gain proficiency in information management, public diplomacy, strategy planning, international negotiations or even crisis management. Despite these significant changes and the promise that digital diplomacy offers, there are few courses that provide an analytical perspective, about how digital diplomacy works.  This course will examine what digital diplomacy is, assess its relationship to traditional forms of diplomacy. Further it seeks to investigate power dynamics inherent in digital diplomacy, and assess the conditions under which digital diplomacy informs, regulates, or constrains foreign policy with a particular focus on its potential and current use by South Africa.

INTR7067A - Advanced International Relations Theory

Being situated in Africa and in the Global South demands a deeper engagement with International Relations Theory and what it can offer us as scholars and analysts in our own contexts. For this reason, this course will examine the mainstream IR theories but also take a critical look at them from the perspective of the Global South. We will also be interrogating recent contributions to IR theory that seek to engage the perspective of the Global South such decolonial approaches, 'worlding IR' and Global IR, amongst others. 

INTR 7002A – Advanced Studies in IPE

The international political economy (IPE) of regionalism focuses on the interactions of political actors in negotiating and coordinating economic policy outcomes through regionally based international institutions. This course will examine the evolution of preferential trade agreements as mechanisms the deepen forms of regionalism such as custom unions and currency unions as well as coordinating domestic trade regulatory states. Although modern forms initiatives were features of the international relations among Western states, South-South forms of cooperation that have emerged in the last 30 years pose a fundamental challenge to Western domination of IPE. In particular these initiatives differ in the importance that the attribute to regionalism as well as the design and functions of these. This is a key area of focus for this course as identifying and explaining these variations as well as the consequences thereof as South-South cooperation has become a significant feature of the international system.

General Postgraduate Elective Courses

INTR7006A - Conflict Prevention and Resolution in Africa

This series of seminars examines conflict and conflict resolutions strategies in Africa since 1990. It aims to expose students to causes, courses and consequences of African conflicts and efforts to resolve them. Situating these conflicts within the internal, regional and external contexts furnishes a broader perspective on how the have evolved and been solved. Areas of focus include West Africa, the Great Lakes region, the Horn of Africa and North Africa.

INTR7012A – Gender and Race in IR

This course aims primarily to introduce students to the study of gender in International Relations. This course adopts an inclusive definition of the term ‘gender’ and endeavours to embrace the entire spectrum of gender identities. The course has been designed to facilitate a critical, counter-hegemonic engagement with the dominant or mainstream ontologies and epistemologies prevalent both in the study and practice of International Relations. From the outset students will explore the intersectionality of gender, race, and class in multiple facets of the discipline. Thus, the course allows students to explore IR in new and different ways, revealing hidden inequalities and challenges while opening new avenues for imagining, thinking as well as creating just equitable and sustainable societies and global practices.

INTR7042A – Development Issues

This course focuses on ideas and debates about development.  It examines how the notion of development has been reflected in the international system, as well as how the international actors and institutions have grappled with development challenges.  The first part of the course will examine conceptions of development and international through the prisms of key thinkers such as Sir Arthur Lewis, Gunnar Mrydal, P.T. Bauer, Hans Singer, Raul Prebisch, Amartya Sen, Adebayo Adedeji, and Douglas North.  In the latter part of the course, attention will focus on some contemporary concerns such as the origins of the developmental state, the role of the World Bank, corruption, and the G20 in global governance.  These questions will be examined through scholarly and policy debates.  The course seeks to expose students to the historical and contemporary discussions on various facets of development to broaden their horizons and generate serious research interests. 

INTR7063A - International Organizations

This is an advanced course investigating the functioning and impact of a variety of international organizations on altering or moderating the behaviour of international relations actors. Consequently, a key focus will be on the creation of international norms and the factors that lead to the effective localisation of these at regional, state and intrastate levels. This course is essential for any student wishing to undertake research on international law, and issues related to human rights or any issue the includes international instruments that have implications for the behaviour of other international relations actors. This course is a good pairing as well for students who are interested in examining transnational, gender or race issues in international relations as part of their long research project.

INTR7070A – Empire and the Crisis of Civilization

This course will explore the historical and contemporary understandings of ‘Empire’ in the social sciences. Drawing on critical theory this course will assess how Empire relates to territoriality, power, culture and economic accumulation. These dimensions of Empire will be located within a historicised perspective to provide a critical understanding of the relationship between Empire and contemporary capitalism. At the same time, the making of Empire will be related to the engendering of ‘civilisation’. The genealogy of the category civilisation and its discursive (ab)uses will be critically explored. The course will also investigate how contemporary capitalism defines the meaning of civilisation and constitutes civilisation.

INTR7071 – Africa Elections

The International Politics of Elections in Sub-Saharan Africa will address a fundamental issue that could reshape Africa’s international relations in the 21st century: Can Africa’s diverse community of 54 sovereign states develop the norms, institutional capacity, and political resolve, to prevent, mitigate, and resolve risks of deadly conflict within member states of the African Union without undermining peace, stability, and the prospects for cooperation and increasing integration among them? The course thus seeks to unpack the changing ‘logic’ and ‘grammar’ of elections in Africa, and in Africa’s international relations, and in exploring why elections matter? The course examines the role elections play in mitigating and preventing deadly conflict, and in creating the institutional adaptative framework and capacity to manage multisectoral and multidimensional challenges such as anthropogenic change. The course traces what some of the international and domestic dynamics are in driving and constraining elections on the continent and considers the role(s) that international electoral assistance and observation bodies (EOBs), alongside regional, continental and global governance institutions play in elections management and electoral integrity on the continent. The course equips students with the means to better analyse, understand, and assess Africa’s ongoing experiment with elections, in the wider context of Africa’s international relations. This is a reading intensive course and case study analysis, student presentations, and essay writing are used as ongoing forms of assessment. In addition to the required weekly readings, students are expected to keep abreast of ongoing and unfolding developments relating to elections on the continent.

MA Second Semester Electives

INTR7017A - The International Relations of the Asia Pacific Region

The course builds on the undergraduate East Asia course advancing deeper knowledge and understanding of the East Asia region. Students will investigate the importance of East Asia in terms of economic growth and the shifting balance of power. Key regional issue in East Asia and their potential as destabilisers – peace and the productive evolution of region, together with its importance of its growing engagement with Africa. Please note as this is an advanced course it assumes that students have studied the region at an ungraduated level and have a good grounding in issues related to it.

INTR7036A - The Role of the Media in IR

Understanding the role that the media plays in international relations is a complex undertaking and the degree to which its narratives sway public opinion and influences the actions of states and other international actors is contested. Moreover, there are many instances where the media has been co-opted and controlled by states and other influential actors to produce narratives that champion foreign policy actions, particularly military interventions. Indeed, Noam Chomsky’s book Manufacturing Consent presents a strong case for the way the Western media, are as controlled by the agenda of liberal political and economic interests that whether they constitute the “free press” they claim to be is debatable. Moreover, the emergence of social media, streaming platforms and the ability to leak classified information poses further challenges to state sovereignty and the ability to control information to which citizens have access. These are some of the issues which this course will engage with over the course of the semester.

INTR7046A – Transnational Issues

This course asks the question of what it is to think with the globe and its exigent problems rather than from a disciplinary point of view of states in their relation to each other and to the presumed world order. It raises questions about war, peace and migration that act beyond national border and takes into account the fact that the contemporary world is characterised by movement across borders rather than only within and in-between them. How do we move beyond a liberal understanding of the relations between states while at the same time reflecting on the cliches and axiomatic assumptions that undergird our understanding of International Relations.

INTR7049A - Diplomacy & Negotiation

Diplomacy is the art of creating and managing relationships among nations and the art of negotiation is that of forging relationships through agreements. This course investigates how foreign policy objectives are practically realised through the strategies of diplomats and the different ways they engage with counterparts from different countries. The process involves the interaction between having clear policy understanding between policymakers, diplomats, and negotiators, establishing working relationships with key parties, being able to accurately target the right people to engage with, understanding and accounting for cultural, governance and other differences. Moreover, through syndicate work students will also experiment with using the various negotiation strategies and tactics that they have studies in course, in a stimulated diplomatic context. As a postgraduate course, students are assumed to understand what constitutes foreign policy, particular related theories and the variables that determine what and who policy objective are identified, prioritised and executed.

INTR7069 - Africa & IR: Critical Perspectives

What is Africa’s place in International Relations (IR)? On one hand, a raft of scholars claim that Africa must be “recentred” in the study of International Politics. On the other, some reject “bringing Africa back in” to the discipline. In this course, we traverse key debates surrounding Africa’s place in IR theory. We begin by surveying the role of race in the creation of international order. We then examine different perspectives on Africa’s contribution to IR theory, before exploring case studies and counterarguments. Throughout, we also reinforce our knowledge of African geography. We also cover various practical skills concerning academic reading, essay writing, and examination technique. 

SOSS7097/7099 – Modelling/Data Science

This course focuses on statistical modelling methods applied in the social sciences and humanities. These include multiple regression models, generalised linear models, multilevel models and structural equation models. It emphasises the identification of appropriate models based on the type of data and research objective, as well as the replication and critical analysis of applications in the students’ substantive areas of expertise.

Entry Requirements

• Degree Criteria
• Students must have an Honours degree in either IR or Political Studies. Students who have an Honours in another social science or a LLB would be considered for admission if they have majored in either International Relations or Political Studies in their undergraduate degree i.e., taken the subjects throughout this degree, until their final year of study.
• All foreign qualifications must be assessed by SAQA as having the equivalent of NQF level 8.

• Mark Criteria
• For automatic admission, an average of above 70% for their Honours year (or the equivalent thereof), with an average of at least 65% for any research component is required. The programme does not cap the number of students who qualify for automatic admission.
• Students who achieve between 65% to 69% as an average for either their IR or Political Studies Honours will be offered a place in the MA programme as determined by the capacity of the enrol further students after the number of students who qualify for automatic admission has been ascertain and the degree still has capacity to enrol more students. Offers will then be made in rank order according to average. In other words, we will first offer places to those with 69% averages and then if there is still capacity, we will next make offers to those who have 68% and so forth until enrolment capacity is met.
• All applications that have an average of less than 65% will be rejected. As this is a Faculty criteria, we are unable to assist students who wish to appeal this decision. However, students can choose to repeat Honours IR of Pols subjects to improve their marks and then re-apply.

Additional entry requirements may apply.

University Application Process

University Fees and Funding

Click here to see the current average tuition fees. The Fees site also provides information about the payment of fees and closing dates for fees payments. Once you have applied you will be able to access the fees estimator on the student self-service portal.

For information about postgraduate funding opportunities, including the postgraduate merit award, click here. Please also check your School website for bursary opportunities. NRF bursaries: The National Research Foundation (NRF) offers a wide range of opportunities in terms of bursaries and fellowships to students pursuing postgraduate studies. External bursaries portal: The Bursaries South Africa website provides a comprehensive list of bursaries in South Africa.