MA International Political Communication

Develop an advanced understanding of the issues and debates surrounding political communication, focusing on areas such as diplomacy, campaigning, reporting and media effects contextualised within the 21st Century communication and media environment.

Delivery:
Full time according to Funding Council definitions, Part-Time

Apply now:
Apply now
Visit us:
Visit us
Call us:
Contact us
Request a prospectus:
Request a prospectus

Why study MA International Political Communication at BU?

Incorporating an international perspective, you’ll be provided with insights into the latest developments in political communication including the evolution of political and social change and technological innovations
Analyse current issues and practice with the aim of tackling difficult questions drawing on theories from social science, sociology, psychology, communication studies, and international/diplomatic relations
Benefit from BU’s extensive connections with a range of political organisations, local, national and international pressure groups, charities and communication consultancies
Learn from academics whose links with research institutions and political organisations span across the globe, from Massachusetts and Prague to Bogota and Auckland
We use a variety of teaching and learning methods including lectures, seminars, tutorials and workshops
Engage in research with the Centre for Comparative Politics & Media Research.

Find out more about the content of this course.

Benefit from industry guest speakers

Students benefit from a long list of guest speakers from the industry; this includes NGOs, opinion poll companies, market research and communication specialists, political communication consultants, public relations professionals, politicians, speechwriters and others.

Image description — Houses of Parliament

Next start date:

January 2023, September 2023, January 2024, September 2024

Location:

Bournemouth University, Talbot Campus

Duration:

1 year full-time or 2 years part-time (September start), 16 months full-time or 27 months part-time (January start)

Entry requirements:

A Bachelors Honours degree with 2:2 or equivalent.

International entry requirements:

If English is not your first language you'll need IELTS (Academic) 6.5 with a minimum of 6.5 in writing and 6.0 in speaking, listening and reading. For more information see our full entry requirements.

Course details

On this course you will be taught by a range of staff with relevant expertise and knowledge appropriate to the content of the unit. This will include senior academic staff, qualified professional practitioners, demonstrators, technicians and research students. You will also benefit from regular guest lectures from industry.

Download the programme specification (pdf 210kb)

Core units

Social Theory & Political Communication: This unit highlights the wider theoretical underpinnings of analysis of political communication and provides an introduction to the broader contextual and conceptual basis in which political communication is conducted.
The Psychodynamics of Emotion & Political Culture: Applying a psychosocial approach that combines theories and methods from psychoanalysis, cultural and media studies and political sociology you will explore the cultural and emotional processes that shape our relationship to politics in the late modern, media age.
Methods of Inquiry in the Social Sciences & Humanities: Drawing on your previous research knowledge and experience, the unit offers you a broad grounding in methods and processes of social science research and prepares you with the understanding and skills needed to rigorously design, conduct, report and evaluate research.
Political Communication & Campaigning: This unit provides an overview and critical appraisal of the academic study of political marketing, campaigning and reporting in the context of a diversified and international media environment. You will explore the historical development of political communication, by political parties, by mainstream media and via social media.
Public Diplomacy & International Relation: This unit offers a multi-disciplinary perspective on public diplomacy as an emerging field of study and practice at the intersection of international relations, communications, history, public relations and media studies. Making sense of contemporary debates and global trends is at the forefront of the unit that also takes a historical approach to support you in developing an in-depth, nuanced understanding of events and crises of the day.
Discourse, Rhetoric & Power: During this unit you will explore the intimate relationship in politics between discourse, rhetoric, and power. Its core aim is to expose the political character of social relations and practices by discovering the centrality of rhetoric and the construction of meaning in their constitution, institutionalisation, and contestation.
Final Project: You will critically apply the principles and techniques of systematic research to produce a piece of scholarly research in order to facilitate academic and professional thinking in the field of political communication. This unit will be underpinned by previous learning in Methods of Inquiry in the Social Sciences and Humanities in which you will have developed advanced knowledge and skills in research design, application and analysis.

Programme specification

Programme specifications provide definitive records of the University's taught degrees in line with Quality Assurance Agency requirements. Every taught course leading to a BU Award has a programme specification which describes its aims, structure, content and learning outcomes, plus the teaching, learning and assessment methods used.

Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the programme specification, the information is liable to change to take advantage of exciting new approaches to teaching and learning as well as developments in industry. If you have been unable to locate the programme specification for the course you are interested in, it will be available as soon as the latest version is ready. Alternatively please contact us for assistance.

What our students say

Steve Cook

Ernest Bachela Mbawini, Faculty Officer at the School of Agriculture and Technology, University of Energy and Natural Resources in Sunyani- Ghana

Evelina Gibson, Prevent Education Officer at Enfield Council

Your application

On MA International Political Communication, we are looking for applicants who:

Are interested in exploring political communication in a global context
Have an intellectual curiosity about the socio-political underpinnings of the contemporary political communication environment, for example: (digital) political campaigning; fake news; propaganda; grass roots activism and social movements; political journalism; the role of gender and race in political communication; populism, the role of emotions in contemporary politics
Wish to develop theoretical grounding, methodological and analytical skills which will be applied in the study of current developments in political communication, public diplomacy and international relations
Wish to develop and apply skills suitable for research roles e.g., in policy-making, industry, or as the grounding for further PhD study

How and when to apply

There is no application deadline for this course. However, if you will need a visa to come to the UK to study, think carefully about the length of time it will take for your visa application to be processed and make sure your visa will be ready in time for the beginning of your course.

Click the green ‘Apply now’ button to submit your application free of charge online through myHub, our application portal. You will create your own myHub account so that you can track the progress of your application. Don’t forget to save your application as you go; you can return to it at as many times as you want before you submit it. For more information visit our How to apply section.

Entry requirements

General entry requirements

International entry requirements

You can find details of the international qualifications we accept, and what level of study they apply to, on our entry requirements for non-UK students' page.

Please see below some examples of the qualifications for entry:

India: Bachelor’s degree (4 years) from a recognised HE institution with a minimum overall result of 55%
Nigeria: Bachelor's degree from a recognised institution with a minimum classification of 2:2
Thailand: Thai Bachelor's (Honours) degree from a recognised higher education institution with a minimum GPA of 2.5/4.0
Turkey: Bachelor’s degree (Lisans Diplomasi - four years) with a minimum overall GPA of 2.3/4.0
Vietnam: Bachelor's degree/Bang tot nghiep dai hoc with an average score of 6.5/10, or a Master’s degree/Thac si.

All applications will be subject to a minimum grade and your degree may need to be in a relevant subject area.

English language requirements

If English is not your first language, you will need to provide evidence that you understand English to a satisfactory level. English language requirements for this course are normally:

IELTS (Academic) 6.5 with a minimum of 6.5 in writing and 6.0 in speaking, listening and reading, or equivalent.

View further information about our English language requirements.

Bournemouth University International College offers a number of pre-sessional English and preparatory programmes to prepare international students for postgraduate study at BU. Admission to the degree is guaranteed on successful completion of your course to the required level.

Careers

Students who graduate from this course will:

Be equipped with the critical and analytical skills to pursue professional and academic research within the field of political communication and related disciplines
Possess appropriate academic and professional transferable skills enabling them to pursue careers across the political and corporate world
Be well-versed in a number of pervasive issues that shape and set the parameters for contemporary international political communications scholarship and practice.

Industries worked in

Further study

Costs and fees

You can find full information about the deposits required and how to pay your fees in our postgraduate fees and funding section, including details of the Postgraduate Loan (subject to fee status).

All fees are quoted in pounds sterling and are per annum. Fees quoted are for tuition only unless stated otherwise. Your tuition fees will be the same for each year of your course.

Find out more about living expenses for postgraduate students

No hidden extras

What’s included in your tuition fee?

Your tuition fee covers expenses associated with your course including tuition materials, access to facilities, mandatory field trips and the following:

Materials for laboratory and field-based teaching activity.
Support for finding placements (UK or abroad) and fieldwork, and non-financial support whilst on placement.
A range of student services – advisors, help desks, counsellors, placement support and careers service.
The Library – access to a wide range of electronic resources (databases, e-journals and e-books), print and multimedia collections, subject librarians and study spaces.
Access to Brightspace, our virtual learning environment, which offers a responsive and personalised learning experience with powerful learning analytics capabilities, integrated social media and advanced video features.
IT labs (some open 24/7), wireless network, AV equipment to borrow.
Disability and additional learning support, according to individual circumstances.
The BU Language Centre to help you develop/improve foreign or English language skills.
24 hours a day, 365 days a year security team.

Costs of living and other expenses you need to consider

Additional costs

We are committed to offering you value for money and ensuring there are no hidden costs while you are studying with us, therefore we have listed below any additional costs you may incur that are not covered by your tuition fee:

Laptops, tablets and mobile devices and any software used on personal devices. Access to a personal computer is strongly recommended for your study. If you are experiencing financial difficulty, visit our website for information regarding hardship funds.
Accommodation and living costs. Please visit our website for more information.
Travel costs for optional field trips, outdoor wear and footwear for mandatory and optional field trips (if applicable).
Travel costs to and from the University campus. An annual bus pass can be purchased alongside your rent if you are living in halls of residence/Unilet accommodation or may be purchased separately.
Travel costs to and from your placement (both in the UK and overseas) if this is part of your course of study. Placement year funding information can be found on our website.
Clothing or equipment costs required for your placement if this is part of your course of study.
SportBU membership.

While all aspects of the programme, including required field trips, are included in the fee, additional, optional or extra curricula activities may be available for which a student contribution is required.

Repeat units

Deposits

International (not Rep. of Ireland) students need to pay a non-refundable £3,000 deposit to secure their place on a postgraduate course. You will need to pay your deposit by the date stated in your offer letter. The remainder of your fee will be payable on registration/enrolment. There are two exceptions to the non-refundable rule on the deposit:

You fail to meet the academic or English requirements of your offer
You are refused a visa to enter the UK, provided the reason for the refusal is not a fraudulent application.

Financial help available from BU

Our staff

On this course you will be taught by staff with relevant expertise and knowledge appropriate to the content of the unit. This could include senior academic staff, qualified professional practitioners and research students, many of whom are actively engaged in research and/or professional practice which is integrated into the teaching of this course. Please note that teaching staff can change.

Dr Anastasia Veneti - Course Leader

Anastasia joined the School of Media at Bournemouth University in September 2014. Prior to this, she was teaching at the University of Leicester and in several educational institutions in Greece. She is an interdisciplinary scholar, educator, and active communication consultant, researching the intersection of media and politics – including visual and political communication, digital political campaigning, and media framing of protest; visual communication, and photojournalism. Her research is published in edited volumes and journals, and presented at numerous academic conferences – gaining Academy of Marketing Best Paper (2019) – and features in national and international print and broadcast media. She is the Deputy Director of the Centre for Comparative Politics and Media Research. Prior to joining academia full time, she worked as a research analyst for renowned Greek market research companies, and as a communication consultant to various political campaigns, NGOs, and the Hellenic Parliament. Her research and professional experiences enhance her teaching and lecturing, providing students with deeper understanding of communication practices through bridging theory with real case studies.

View Dr Anastasia Veneti’s staff profile

Dr Darren Lilleker

Darren is Professor of Political Communication and leads the Centre for Comparative Politics and Media Research. He is also Chair of the Political Communication Research Committee of the International Political Studies Association, a member of the UK Political Studies Association and the European Communication Research and Education Association. Professor Lilleker's research concerns both the professionalization, marketization and strategic development of political communication and the impacts upon citizen engagement. His research has covered local election campaigning and the impact upon voter choices; and party, candidate and MP's usage of the Internet, from websites to social media, and correlations between usage and gaining support.

View Dr Darren Lilleker’s staff profile

Professor Candida Yates

Candida is Professor of Culture and Communication at Bournemouth University. She is an interdisciplinary scholar and group practitioner in Psychosocial Studies and its application to politics, culture and society and has published widely in that field. She works with psychoanalytic practitioners, scholars and cultural organisations to create new understandings of emotion and politics in the public sphere. She sits on the Boards of the Association for Psychosocial Studies and the Association for Psychoanalysis, Culture and Society, is a Founding Scholar of the British Psychoanalytic Council and a Research Associate of the Freud Museum. She is joint-Editor of the Routledge books series: Psychoanalysis and Popular Culture, and Contributing Editor on the journals Psychoanalysis, Culture and Society, Journal of Psychosocial Studies. She is currently researching the psycho-politics of political leadership, and leading a new project on cultural identity and the maritime imagination in a post-brexit, landscape.

View Professor Candida Yates staff profile

Dr Elena Alina Dolea

Alina is Principal Academic in Media, Communication and Politics at Bournemouth University, UK. Her research is situated at the intersection of public diplomacy, migration, media and communication studies, with a focus on discourse. She is particularly interested in the role non-state actors have come to play in public diplomacy, reproducing, but also contesting and disrupting the state’s strategic communication. She is currently focusing on diasporas and emotions, exploring the opportunities as well as the consequences of their transnational existence for public diplomacy.

View Dr Elena Alina Dolea's staff profile

Dr Jenny Alexander

Jenny is a Senior Lecturer in Politics, Media and Communication in the Department of Humanities and Law. Her primary research, teaching and publishing interests are in environmental politics and environmental communication, and in gender, sexuality and politics/ gender, sexuality and communication. Her PhD (University of Sussex) was on nineteenth century anarchist autobiographies. She has published on gender, sexuality, disability and representation (including on fan-fiction, anarchism and sexuality, and the semiotics of the 2012 Paralympics) and on environmental politics and communication (including on "eco-celebrity" and eco-fascism). Her most recent journal article is entitled "Green White Nationalism: Eco-Fascism and the Alt-Right in the Era of Climate Breakdown" (2020). She is currently writing a book for Routledge on Environmental Advertising: New Forms of Transnational Persuasion, about the global politics of promotional communication on the subject of the environment.

View Dr Jenny Alexander's staff profile

Dr David McQueen

David is a lecturer in Media and Politics at Bournemouth University. David's research interests include questions of media, power and the mediation of politics, particularly in broadcasting and film. He has been teaching on media courses at different levels since 1991. He is author of Television: A Media Student's Guide and has edited and co-authored a number of books on the theme of corporate social responsibility (CSR) with a particular focus on energy and sustainability. As a full-time member of staff he has developed and taught on a number of BA and MA units within the Faculty of Media & Communication and is an active researcher with an interest in issues around media and power, conflict coverage, film and television history and public relations. Recent publications include 'Emerging Green Values in the UK Energy Sector: Ecotricity as Deep-Green Exemplar', and A Revaluation of All Values: Nietzschean Populism and Covid-19. In: McQueen, D., Farache, F., Grigore, G. and Stancu, A., eds. Values and Corporate Responsibility CSR and Sustainable Development (2020). Palgrave Macmillan; Frack Off: Climate Change, CSR, Citizen Activism and the Shaping of National Energy Policy. In: Corporate Responsibility and Digital Communities - An International Perspective towards Sustainability (2019). Edited by Georgiana Grigore, Alin Stancu, David McQueen.

View Dr David McQueen's staff profile

Dr Tabitha A. Baker

Tabitha is a lecturer in Politics in the department of Humanities and Law, Faculty of Media and Communication. Her teaching spans across the BA Politics and BA Politics & Economics programmes, and the MA Political Psychology and MA International Political Communication programmes. Her research interests include Political Psychology, National Identity, Defence Mechanisms, Emotion and Rural voters. Her PhD thesis is titled 'The psychosocial relationship between national identity and political sentiment in England: 2016-2020".

View Dr Tabitha A. Baker's staff profile

Course changes

Changes for 2022 entry

Date	Changes to this course
01/06/2022	Where the change was made: Key information, course details, entry requirements Change: January intake added: 1 year full-time or 2 years part-time (September start), 16 months full-time or 27 months part-time (January start). Required subjects removed from entry requirements. Units retitled: Research Imagination retitled Methods of Inquiry in the Social Sciences & Humanities; The Psychodynamics of Political Culture & Society retitled The Psychodynamics of Emotion & Political Culture; Diplomacy & International Relations retitled Public Diplomacy & International Relations. New units: Political Communication & Campaigning; Discourse, Rhetoric & Power Previous text: Units removed: ;Political Journalism; Political Marketing & Campaigning. Required subjects removed: Media and Communication, Politics, Public Relations, Journalism, Sociology or Social Policy.
02/02/21	Where the change was made: Course overview Change: Course review statement updated Previous text: For September 2021 entry: In order to take advantage of new approaches to learning and teaching, as well as developments in industry to benefit our students we regularly review all of our courses. This course is currently going through this process and we will update this page in March 2021 to give you full information about what we will be offering once the review process has concluded.

Date

Changes to this course

01/06/2022

Where the change was made: Key information, course details, entry requirements

Change: January intake added: 1 year full-time or 2 years part-time (September start), 16 months full-time or 27 months part-time (January start).

Required subjects removed from entry requirements.

Units retitled: Research Imagination retitled Methods of Inquiry in the Social Sciences & Humanities; The Psychodynamics of Political Culture & Society retitled The Psychodynamics of Emotion & Political Culture; Diplomacy & International Relations retitled Public Diplomacy & International Relations.

New units: Political Communication & Campaigning; Discourse, Rhetoric & Power

Previous text: Units removed: ;Political Journalism; Political Marketing & Campaigning.

Required subjects removed: Media and Communication, Politics, Public Relations, Journalism, Sociology or Social Policy.

02/02/21

Where the change was made: Course overview
Change: Course review statement updated
Previous text: For September 2021 entry: In order to take advantage of new approaches to learning and teaching, as well as developments in industry to benefit our students we regularly review all of our courses. This course is currently going through this process and we will update this page in March 2021 to give you full information about what we will be offering once the review process has concluded.

What our students say

Mirjam Liefbroer

What I like about this course in particular are the great lecturers who are engaged with their units and approach us as colleagues rather than students – they make theory relevant and interesting.

Hear from our staff

Cliff van Wyk

My career contacts have helped me offer great benefits to students, securing guest lectures and challenging live briefs, as well as associations with top agencies.

Statistics shown throughout this page are taken from Unistats and BU institutional data unless otherwise stated.

MA International Political Communication

Course search

Search form

Confirm application

Why study MA International Political Communication at BU?

Benefit from industry guest speakers

Key information

Next start date:

Location:

Duration:

Entry requirements:

International entry requirements:

Scholarships

Related courses

Course details

Core units

Programme specification

What our students say

Steve Cook

Ernest Bachela Mbawini, Faculty Officer at the School of Agriculture and Technology, University of Energy and Natural Resources in Sunyani- Ghana

Evelina Gibson, Prevent Education Officer at Enfield Council

Your application

How and when to apply

Entry requirements

General entry requirements

International entry requirements

Careers

Industries worked in

Further study

Costs and fees

No hidden extras

Costs of living and other expenses you need to consider

Repeat units

Deposits

Financial help available from BU

Our staff

Dr Anastasia Veneti - Course Leader

Dr Darren Lilleker

Professor Candida Yates

Dr Elena Alina Dolea

Dr Jenny Alexander

Dr David McQueen

Dr Tabitha A. Baker

Course changes

Changes for 2022 entry

What our students say

Mirjam Liefbroer

Hear from our staff

Cliff van Wyk