International Relations Summer School - Detailed Outline (In-Person)

This page provides a detailed outline of the in-person International Relations Summer School, a five-day course for students aged 15–18 who are considering studying International Relations, Politics, or related subjects at university. The programme below explains what students study on each day, moving from core theoretical frameworks through major global case studies to complex contemporary issues such as conflict, cyber warfare, and migration.

The course is designed to reflect an undergraduate approach to International Relations, focusing on discussion, analysis, and interpretation rather than exam technique. Students engage with key theories and concepts, and apply them to real-world scenarios, developing their ability to evaluate competing explanations and construct well-reasoned arguments.

Teaching takes place through small-group seminars, structured debates, and applied simulations, giving students a clear sense of how International Relations is studied at university level.

Prefer to view and download the PDF version of the International Relations Summer School outline? You can do so here.

Jump to a particular section:

Day One – Theories and Power in International Relations
Day Two – Global Systems and Emerging Powers
Day Three – Critical Approaches to International Relations
Day Four – Conflict, Escalation, and Technology
Day Five – The Middle East and Migration

Across the week, students explore a range of topics and approaches, including realism and liberalism, the role of major powers such as the United States and China, critical perspectives such as gender theory and constructivism, and the challenges posed by modern conflict and global displacement. The course emphasises how different frameworks can be used, tested, and reconsidered in light of real-world complexity.

By the end of the course, students will have developed a clearer understanding of how to analyse international events, apply theoretical frameworks, and engage critically with complex global issues in a way that reflects undergraduate-level study.

Please note that for some groups, sessions may run in a different order.

10.30 – 1.00 Theories of International Relations – Realism & Liberalism

How should we make sense of international politics? In this opening session, students are introduced to two of the most influential theories in the discipline – Realism and Liberalism – and asked how each helps us explain war, cooperation, power, and the behaviour of states. Rather than treating world events as a random succession of crises, we will explore how theories offer broader frameworks for understanding what drives conflict and what makes peace possible.

Students will examine key ideas such as anarchy, the balance of power, international institutions, and economic interdependence, and consider how different theories prioritise different features of the international system. Through discussion and applied examples, we will ask not only what these theories explain well, but also where their limits begin. Are states condemned to competition in a world without any higher authority, or can diplomacy, trade, and shared rules produce a more stable international order?

These theories provide powerful starting points for understanding international politics, which we will test and challenge throughout the course.

1.00 – 2.00 Lunch

2.00 – 4.30 The USA in International Relations

What does it mean for a state to be powerful? In this session, students explore how power operates in international politics, using the United States as a central case study. Rather than treating power as a single quantity, we examine its different forms – military, economic, and soft power – and consider how each shapes a state’s ability to influence others.

Through comparative data and discussion, students will assess the scale and limits of American power, including its global military reach, economic influence, and cultural presence. We will also consider how far this dominance is decisive, and how it is shaped by an increasingly complex and contested international environment.

The session then turns to the question of grand strategy: how should a powerful state decide what to do with its influence? Students are introduced to competing strategic approaches – from restraint and selective engagement to collective security and global primacy – and asked to evaluate their strengths and risks.

In a final applied exercise, students take on the role of foreign policy advisors, using these frameworks to respond to a contemporary international crisis. The focus is not on finding a single “correct” answer, but on understanding how different strategic assumptions lead to very different policy choices.

10.30 – 1.00 International Aid: A Tool for Development or Influence?

What is foreign aid for? Is it primarily a tool for reducing poverty and supporting development, or is it a way for powerful states to pursue their own interests?

In this session, students examine the role of international aid in global politics, exploring both its intended goals and its unintended consequences. We consider how aid is distributed, who controls it, and how it shapes relationships between states and societies.

A key focus of the session is the idea that aid can function as an “anti-politics machine” – presenting complex political problems as technical challenges to be managed, while obscuring deeper questions about power, inequality, and responsibility.

We will also examine recent changes to major aid institutions, including developments affecting the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and consider what these shifts reveal about the relationship between aid, geopolitics, and domestic politics.

Through case studies and discussion, students will evaluate both the promise and the limitations of aid, and consider how it might be reimagined in a changing international system.

1.00 – 2.00 Lunch

2.00 – 4.30 China in International Relations – A Rising Power

How does China see the world – and how does that shape its role in international politics?

In this session, students explore the historical experiences, political structures, and strategic priorities that underpin China’s behaviour on the global stage. Beginning with key moments such as the “Century of Humiliation,” the Chinese Civil War, and the economic reforms of the late twentieth century, we examine how China’s modern identity has been formed.

We then consider how China is governed, and how its political system differs from both liberal democracies and more familiar models of authoritarian rule. This provides a foundation for understanding how decisions are made, and how domestic priorities interact with international ambitions.

Finally, students engage with some of the major tensions shaping China’s external relations, including Taiwan, the South China Sea, and regional rivalries in East Asia. Through an interactive, scenario-based exercise, they will explore how different choices and pressures can shape outcomes, and how difficult it can be to navigate competing priorities in a complex international environment.

10.30 – 1.00 Theories of International Relations – Gender Perspectives

How do assumptions about gender shape international politics – and what happens when those assumptions are challenged?

In this session, students are introduced to feminist approaches to international relations, which question not only who participates in global politics, but how the subject itself has been defined. Rather than treating gender as a marginal issue, feminist scholars argue that ideas about masculinity and femininity are deeply embedded in the way power, security, and conflict are understood.

Students will explore the distinction between biological sex and socially constructed gender, and consider how gendered assumptions shape both political behaviour and the way international issues are framed. This includes examining how certain forms of power are privileged over others, why some experiences are treated as central while others are overlooked, and how global problems are often presented in ways that obscure their political and social dimensions.

Through discussion and applied exercises, the session encourages students to question taken-for-granted categories and to reflect on how international relations might look different if these assumptions were reconsidered.

1.00 – 2.00 Lunch

2.00 – 4.30 Theories of International Relations – Constructivism

To what extent is international politics shaped by objective realities – and to what extent by shared ideas and beliefs?

Building on the morning’s exploration of socially constructed concepts, this session introduces constructivism, a theoretical approach which argues that many of the core features of international relations are not fixed, but are created and sustained through human interaction. Concepts such as power, sovereignty, and even the structure of the international system depend on shared understandings, norms, and expectations.

Students will examine how states come to be recognised as legitimate actors, how norms develop and influence behaviour, and how ideas can shape outcomes independently of material power. In doing so, they will revisit familiar concepts such as anarchy and sovereignty, and consider how these might be understood differently if they are seen as contingent rather than inevitable.

Through case studies and structured discussion, the session develops a more reflective approach to international relations, encouraging students to think not only about how the world works, but how the frameworks we use to interpret it are themselves constructed and open to change.

10.30 – 1.00 War, Escalation, and Decision-Making (Russia–Ukraine Case Study)

How do wars begin – and why are they so difficult to control once they start?

In this session, students use the war in Ukraine as a case study to explore how international relations theories help explain the causes and development of conflict. By applying realist, liberal, and constructivist perspectives, they consider competing explanations for why states go to war and how those conflicts evolve.

The session then turns to the problem of escalation. Through scenario analysis, students examine how conflicts can develop in unpredictable ways, shaped by uncertainty, miscalculation, and competing strategic priorities.

In a high-intensity simulation, students take on the role of senior policymakers responding to a major escalation involving nuclear weapons. Faced with incomplete information and severe time pressure, they must weigh the risks of deterrence, retaliation, and further escalation, and decide how best to respond.

The session concludes by extending this analysis to consider how similar actions might be interpreted and responded to by other international actors, highlighting how perspective, context, and strategic priorities shape reactions to crisis situations.

1.00 – 2.00 Lunch

2.00 – 4.30 Technology and Geopolitics – Cyber Warfare and the New Frontlines

What counts as an act of war in the digital age?

In this session, students explore cyber conflict as an increasingly central feature of international relations, examining how states and non-state actors use digital tools to gather intelligence, disrupt infrastructure, and exert pressure without conventional military force.

We begin by considering how cyber operations differ from traditional forms of conflict, and the challenges they pose for international law. Students are introduced to key debates around sovereignty, the use of force, and the threshold at which a cyber attack might justify self-defence.

The core of the session is a high-pressure crisis simulation, in which students take on the role of senior decision-makers responding to a large-scale cyberattack on the UK. Working in specialised teams, they must balance competing priorities – including national security, economic stability, public communication, and international diplomacy – while operating under conditions of uncertainty and incomplete information.

Throughout the exercise, students will confront the difficulty of attributing responsibility, the risks of escalation, and the challenge of coordinating a coherent response across different areas of government.

10.30 – 1.00 The Middle East in International Relations

Why has the Middle East remained one of the most strategically important – and contested – regions in global politics?

This session explores the historical and political forces that have shaped the modern Middle East, from the end of the Ottoman Empire through European imperial involvement and the creation of modern states, to the conflicts and alliances of the present day. Students consider key turning points, including the partition of Palestine, the Suez Crisis, and the development of major external relationships, particularly with the United States.

The focus then shifts to explanation. Students examine competing perspectives on the causes of conflict in the region, including the legacy of colonial borders, the role of great powers, ideological movements, and the persistence of authoritarian political systems.

Through structured debates, they evaluate questions such as whether European colonialism remains the primary driver of instability, and whether external intervention has contributed to or mitigated conflict.

The session emphasises the complexity of the region, highlighting how historical legacies and ongoing developments continue to shape a political landscape that remains fluid and contested.

1.00 – 2.00 Lunch

2.00 – 4.30 Refugees and Migration in International Relations

Who counts as a refugee – and who gets to decide?

This session introduces the legal definition of a refugee through the 1951 Convention, before testing it against a series of complex case studies. Students explore how the framework includes some forms of displacement while excluding others, raising questions about issues such as climate change, gender-based violence, and people fleeing generalised conflict.

The focus then broadens to migration more generally, examining the distinctions between refugees, asylum seekers, and other forms of movement, and how these categories are used in political debate.

Finally, students consider how the international system responds to displacement, including the challenges of burden-sharing and the limits of the three “durable solutions”: repatriation, local integration, and resettlement.

The session emphasises that responses to migration are shaped not only by law, but by political choices about responsibility and protection.

This outline provides a detailed view of the themes, ideas, and case studies explored during the in-person International Relations Summer School. The programme is designed to introduce students to the key concepts, debates, and approaches used to study international relations at university level, combining theoretical frameworks with discussion, analysis, and applied exercises that reflect the complexity of real-world international politics.

You can also return to the main in-person International Relations Summer School page for full details about the course and how to apply.