MA in Comparative Politics
Course Overview
The MA in Comparative Politics at LSLPE is a research-informed Master's programme running one year full-time or two years part-time on-campus, online or by distance learning. The syllabus is a serious training in comparative method, covering democratisation, authoritarian resilience, party systems, electoral rules and comparative political economy, aligned with Political Studies Association and British International Studies Association working conventions.
By graduation you will have designed a comparative case-study project, produced a most-similar-systems and most-different-systems paper, run process tracing on a live democratisation case, and completed a supervised dissertation with primary comparative data.
Key Features
- Weekly seminars aligned with Political Studies Association (PSA) and British International Studies Association (BISA) reading conventions.
- Case sessions drawn from the Varieties of Democracy dataset and Freedom House indices.
- Guest sessions from academic comparativists and think-tank fellows.
- Supervised dissertation with primary comparative data collection.
- Three parallel study modes so serving analysts and progressor graduates share the same cohort.
- Careers-day access to think tanks and international bodies each academic year.
What You Will Learn
- Applying most-similar and most-different-systems research designs.
- Running process tracing on a democratisation or party-system case.
- Analysing electoral rules, coalition formation and party discipline.
- Reading Varieties of Democracy, Freedom House and Polity IV data.
- Handling authoritarian-resilience, populism and backsliding files.
- Producing a comparative political-economy paper.
- Running structured qualitative-comparative analysis.
- Defending a dissertation in an oral viva in front of a mixed academic and practitioner panel.
Who This Course Is For
- Graduates aiming for think-tank, foreign-policy or academic careers in comparative politics.
- Serving analysts in Whitehall, embassies or NGOs working across country portfolios.
- Journalists moving into cross-country political analysis.
- International applicants preparing for foreign-service or international-organisation entry.
- Portfolio-route applicants with five or more years of relevant senior experience.
Career Pathways
- Political Analyst on cross-country portfolios
- Election Analyst
- Think Tank Researcher
- International Relations Analyst
- Foreign Policy Adviser
- Public Affairs Consultant
- Parliamentary Researcher on comparative committees
- Global Affairs Analyst
The LSLPE careers service curates introductions across think tanks, embassies, international NGOs and Whitehall analyst teams, and refreshes curriculum alignment annually against Bar Standards Board, Political Studies Association and Royal Economic Society guidance.
Entry Requirements
- A UK Bachelor's degree (2:2 or above) or equivalent international qualification in politics, international relations, sociology or a related discipline.
- IELTS 6.5 overall (no band below 6.0) for non-native English speakers.
- Applicants without a Bachelor's degree but with 5+ years of senior professional experience in political analysis or foreign affairs are considered on portfolio.
- One academic and one professional reference.
- A 500-word research proposal or professional practice statement identifying your comparative-politics interest area.
Why Study at LSLPE
LSLPE is a specialist division of Harold International College of London teaching in small, tutor-visible cohorts. Central London places embassies, Chatham House, the IISS and the LSE-adjacent think-tank ecosystem within a short tube ride of every seminar room, which matters when the case material you will compare is being briefed nearby.
Every intake, on-campus or remote, joins the same weekly seminar structure with named programme-tutor support. Seminars are run in the case-room tradition, evidence-led and argued in public, and the careers service connects students with employers across think tanks, embassies and Whitehall analyst teams.
Apply for MA in Comparative Politics
Applications for the MA in Comparative Politics are open now, with intakes calibrated to the UK academic year and rolling admissions for online and distance cohorts. Enrol on an LSLPE Master's programme and complete a supervised dissertation with primary comparative data. Enrol Now
