Unit of Assessment 19
Politics and International Studies

The research of our Department of Politics and International Relations sits at the intersection of political theory, international relations and comparative politics. It is concerned with the problems of ‘justice’ in relation to violence, civil disobedience and climate change, the operation and defence of international institutions, and the operation of electoral democracy in the face of practical challenges including economic adversity.

• Ranked #6 in the UK for research outputs.
• 97% of our research outputs rated 4* (world-leading) and 3* (internationally excellent).

Our work is organised in three broad streams:

• Applied political theory: Our research integrates political theory, philosophical arguments, and empirical data to examine questions related to legitimacy, justice, political protest and inequality, including work on climate justice, violent protest, and the pre-conditions for democracy.
• International organisations, conflict and cooperation: We have created a distinct identity as the leading research group on the UN in the UK, supporting both policy-responsive work as well as academic research, and bringing together strong networks of academics and practitioners, including continued engagement with peacekeepers and members of the armed forces.
• Democracy and participation: Our research on voting behaviour, party politics and comparative political economy aims to understand contemporary challenges to electoral democracy. Topics include the entrenchment of far-right groups into national political systems, the links between public opinion, voting and the welfare state, and the ways in which informal relationships lead to policy change.

We host three research centres within the Department: Reading Ethics and Political Philosophy, United Nations and Global Order Programme and Ways of War.

Staff and doctoral students

We submitted 17 staff in UOA19: 3 Professors, 9 Associate Professors, 4 Lecturers and 1 Research Fellow, including 3 Early Career Researchers.

Over the assessment period for REF2021, 40 students were awarded their doctorate. In 2019/20 our 21 doctoral students came from 14 different countries, including the UK.

Reading is a partner in the ESRC’s South-East Network for Social Sciences Doctoral Training Programme (SENSS), and hosted the Leverhulme Trust Doctoral Programme in Climate Justice (2014-19).

Research centres and partnerships

Given the broad public concern of our three areas of interest, we work in close partnership with external organisations (e.g. parts of the UN and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) and actively support engagement with policy and practice, for example through secondments.

Sector recognition

Selected examples of national and international recognition between 2014 and 2020:

• DFID Senior Research Fellowship (Secondment) (Professor Dominik Zaum, 2014)
• ESRC Future Research Leaders Award (Sarah von Billerbeck, 2016-19)
• Member of FCDO Science Advisory Group (Professor Dominik Zaum, 2020 to present)
• ESRC Future Research Leaders (Velomahanina Razakamaharavo, 2021-23)

Examples of the impact our research has had at local, national and global levels.