Halcyon Global Politics

Halcyon is very excited to offer Global Politics in the Diploma Programme from August 2025 and see this programme challenge and grow the students to be better prepared, knowledgeable and equipped to understand how and why the world functions, especially at a time when geopolitics is changing so rapidly. 

The two year programme will see the students engage in a core topic on understanding power and global politics, the role and challenges to sovereignty and legitimacy, and interdependence between states, focussing on building knowledge on different theories and models through case studies from the students lifetime. We will then go into depth on three thematic studies. The first on Peace and Conflict will ask students to grapple with different forms of violence in conflict, the responsibility of the international community in both peace and conflict, and post conflict peace building processes. Secondly we study Development and Sustainability - considering different political stakeholders and their efforts to alleviate poverty and provide sustainable development within globalisation. The final unit asks students to deeply engage with Rights and Justice at all levels of society - how these are monitored, protected and codified. All four topics will be taught through case studies showing the practical application, challenges, failures and successes that have shaped the modern world. 

There is significant scope for students to choose and examine case studies that have personal resonance, which means the programme can be very broad and cater for student interest. Ultimately our class will walk away able to debate ideas and theories, to empathise with very different perspectives and ways of doing life. Grounded in theories and models, they will be able to see patterns, know the context and critique their own understanding and communicate this. Using London as a classroom, we will spend time attending lectures, chatting to diplomats and hopefully some politicians and people in industry and lecturers, and building a real world application for learning. We will also be reading and engaging with the news, listening to podcasts, watching documentaries and keep up to date with the ever changing political scene across the world. This year already we have connected with US and UK diplomats working across the world, visited embassies and heard from experts looking at Indigenous rights in Colombia, the need for advocacy for women in developing nations and the importance of self-determination for communities - it’s so exciting to see students understand the value of their learning as it take shapes in reality. 

Most crucially our students are about to enter a very different world to the one they were born into - cultural, politically, economically and socially, the world is vastly different. Between pandemics, elections, polarisation, climate change, the way that conflict looks, the shifting sands of powerful states, the role of tech, the internet and social media, and role of the media, we have to equip our students to engage meaningfully in this world, giving them the tools and knowledge to be curious, to adapt and be flexible in their thinking as to become more empathetic, responsible global citizens. For Halcyon students who have such incredible access to this megacity, to individuals in the community who work in the sphere of global political and international relations, and who are already considering their role in the world, Global Politics is a natural subject to push them even further!