Politics, Security and Crisis – two-year Master’s programme

Politics, Security and Crisis is a master’s programme in Political Science that will give you a deeper understanding of matters relating to security policy, crises and crisis management and enhance your skills in these fields.

The programme will provide both extensive theoretical knowledge and tools to help you understand how the world functions with regard to security policy and crises.

The programme offers advanced training in critical thinking and independent judgement, and tools to help you analyse complex processes, at the same time providing deeper insight into how war, peace and security policies come to be shaped by different actors. This programme will hone your theoretical knowledge and provide training in both advanced scientific methods and analytical skills.

Master's degree in Political Science

This course leads to a Master’s Degree in Political Science with focus on Crisis Management and Security; a degree course which is the only one of its kind available in Sweden. Students who so choose may complete the programme in one year to receive a one-year master’s degree . All tuition is given in English.

The programme also gives you the opportunity to take part in international student exchanges at highly reputed universities in Europe via the Erasmus programme, and you will also be able to enter the internship programme which provides relevant practical experience at public agencies, international organisations and private sector security companies.

Future career opportunities

Of all the academic institutions in Sweden, the Swedish Defence University (SEDU) is the only one that offers the Master’s Programme Politics, Security and Crisis. Our students move on to careers in relevant fields in public agencies and government departments, such as ministries for foreign affairs, defense research agencies, and agencies and organisations involved in civil contingencies work. Other potential employers are organisations involved in total defence, local crisis and risk organisations, and national and international organisations such as the EU, UN and various international aid organisations. In addition to jobs as analysts there are also opportunities in civil contingency planning and protection at the local, regional and national levels. For graduates who are Swedish citizens there are also openings for a civilian career in the Swedish Armed Forces.

Completion of the programme also makes you eligible for a number of research programmes, for example in the fields of political science, peace and conflict research, war studies and international relations.

About the programme

Thanks to its focus on security policy and crisis management, the Master’s Programme gives you a rare educational grounding. The course will give you deeper knowledge and understanding of how security and insecurity situations arise, and a broader perspective on crisis and crisis management. The emphasis lies on international security issues, but you will also study crises in a societal perspective and learn more about the increasingly transnational character of contemporary security challenges. Thus, this programme gives you a very broad, but also deep, understanding of how society conceives and shapes its security policies and how it is able to handle contemporary and future crises.

The programme will also give you rigorous training in scientific methods designed to promote advanced analytical skills. Scenario based role games, wargaming and a semester devoted to practical training in the form of an internship also form part the of the programme. In other words, the programme will give you not only theoretical and case-based knowledge of security, risk, and crisis management but also the relevant vocational skills.

At the Swedish Defence University students have access to Sweden’s foremost experts on security issues; lecturers and researchers who are not only foremost in their field, but who frequently act as consultants to the media. Research conducted in the field of political science covers a broad spectrum of subjects including crisis management, security and political psychology.

Structure of the programme: overview by semester

The second and fourth semesters also open up opportunities for studies abroad via our exchange agreements with partner universities.

Student exchanges

The Swedish Defence University takes part in the Erasmus exchange programme, which means that our students have the opportunity to spend one semester of their studies at a university abroad. Participation in an exchange programme is an excellent way of broadening one’s perspectives and acquiring new experiences at prestigious universities such as the University of St Andrews (Scotland), Sciences Po (France) and the University of Bologna (Italy). Our partner universities offer a broad selection of relevant courses, which means that your master’s degree may come to include several different specialties. Read more at our study abroad webpage on the Student Web.