 The MA in International Relations is designed to introduce students to the theory and the practice of international relations, to explore the different ideas that inform how we think about international politics in the contemporary world, and to explore the ideas that shape policymakers' ideas and analysts' ideas as well. The War Shades of Permanent Kings is incredibly diverse. Students are from all over the world and it provides me particularly as an American with an international perspective that I wouldn't necessarily have had if I had stayed in the United States to do my postgraduate studies. What drew me the most to the program was the fact that I'd be around international students and international professors. So I got to meet very diverse cultures and that didn't also help me get an enriching educational experience but also a cultural one and this was mainly what I was looking for coming from Lebanon. The IR program is taught with a series of lectures in the first term on international relations theories in the second term on the concepts and methods that IR theorists use to think about the international. So in the first term after having heard the lectures from some of the leading lecturers in department in IR we run through some of the key issues that students are likely to engage with. So questions about sovereignty, about rising powers, about the role of democracy in international relations. The aim is to give students a broad introduction to the ideas that shape how we understand the contemporary world, how we shape our understanding of conflict and politics in the past and the ideas that inform decision makers and analysts who work in the field of international relations. In the classroom seminars there are 10 or 11 of us and more or less likely we're all from a different country. This helps you understand not only different perspectives but also different ways of how we see the world. The War Shades Department is unique because there's an incredible interdisciplinary mix of professors and lecturers here. Not only does it include political scientists and international relations theorists but it also includes sociologists, anthropologists, historians. Professors in KINGS they have very different backgrounds as well as their own expertise in the field that international relations major in KINGS is not only for international relations theory but also you can learn more deeply in each section such as the media or security. What I enjoyed most about the program was choosing my optional modules. I really got to get a closer look at the things and topics I was interested more in such as responding to terrorism, reporting wars and gender and international politics and security. So the topics were really interesting and compelling. I took a lot of sessions in related to media also security and I think it was a good combination of learning in different fields actually and it up in my final dissertation. For my dissertation topic I will be working with Professor Theo Farrell and I will be analyzing the pivot towards Asia and its implications for China and India. It's a much doubted topic and it's a much talked about topic in foreign affairs about how the US is going to control and contain the rising power of China. London's a fantastic place to be a student though it may seem a little expensive there's so many opportunities for students to do things either for free or for reduced price whether it's theater, museums, other sort of arts and cultural events and London is a place of thinkers and policy makers so it's a really exciting place to be as a student and a learner. We have students, former students who are now in various foreign ministries and other areas of government both in Britain and around the world. Students working in journalism, in law, in the city, in firms like PricewaterhouseCoopers. There's an incredible richness and diversity within the department that you can't really find anywhere else.