Are you interested in making a difference to the world around you? Human rights? The future of New Zealand or other communities? International affairs? Critical policy issues such as health, the environment, or peace? How social change happens and how power and resources are allocated in society? Do you want to think about these questions and pursue a career based on your interest? If so, you should study Political Science and International Relations. Political Science is often called the study of who gets what, where, how and why. It is the independent and informed study of our communities and how we make decisions collectively as governments, why we behave as we do as citizens, and how we make public policy choices for the future. Political scientists use a variety of ideas and tools to examine local, national, regional, and global processes, institutions and relationships and to consider how we ought to live as political communities and how we can create change.

Political Science and International Relations students gain a versatile set of skills that can be applied in a wide range of exciting careers both within politics (international, national and local political institutions eg, the UN, humanitarian inter-governmental organisations, parliaments, city councils) and in more diverse areas such as law, business, education and journalism. Recent graduates have been employed in the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Defence, and Justice as well as the Treasury, Te Puni Kōkiri, Parliament and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Government Communications Security Bureau, Security Intelligence Service, Te Runanga o Ngāi Tahu, and the Red Cross.