International Relations

The Master’s in International Relations offers an in-depth understanding of the most pressing issues of world politics in a deeply  relational way. Students will explore how diverse global, regional, and local processes, events, actors and forces interconnect, e.g., how colonial legacies impact the present world order, how wars, ecological crises, and rising inequality feed the polycrises we inhabit. Overall, the Master’s programme is divided into two larger sections: compulsory and elective sections.   

Courses in the programme will enable the students to become prepared to analyse key challenges of world politics from diverse critical vantage points. Courses such as Academic Writing and Research Design and Qualitative Research Methods will provide the skills needed to write a successful master’s thesis and to have the needed writing and analysis skills after graduation. Other courses will provide the conceptual and theoretical foundation, and topic related expertise to thrive in varied IR careers (diplomacy, research, NGO, policymaking, etc). We offer courses as varied as: Climate Politics and Governance, Cyber Security and the Digital World, Foreign Policy and Diplomacy, Politics and Power of Resistance and Small States in the Changing World Order.

Study programme

General requirements

• Bachelor's degree.
• Proof of English Proficiency
• Curriculum Vitae (CV)
• Please see the complete overview of admission and application requirements for Master's level applicants.

Admission exam

1. Exam procedure:

• The admission exam consists entirely of an interview. Maximum points for the interview are 100. The minimum admissions score is 70 points;
• the interview will be 20 minutes long and centres on the CV (incl. educational background, work experience, other relevant experience, i.e. any internships, part-time jobs, volunteering, or leadership roles that relate to the study programme), motivation of the applicant and study programme related articles/topics that serve as an input for the exam;
• the admission committee consists of at least two members;
• the interview begins with the identification. At the beginning of the interview the candidate shows their ID and for the purposes of identity verification, the admission committee has the right to record the online interview;
• there is an expectation that the candidate is able to express themselves at least at English level B2 (language proficiency).

2. Evaluation criteria of the interview:

• The candidate’s interest in the programme and motivation to study in the field applying common study methods in social sciences; 
• capacity to understand the key arguments of the interview input (e.g. article) and provide their viewpoints into the discussion; 
• general background and field-related knowledge, language proficiency and the ability to engage in analytical discussions; 
• capacity to contextualise previous work, study and voluntary activity experience in the frames of the chosen programme.

Preparing for the interview:

For the interview, please choose one article from the two suggestions below. Make sure that you come to the interview ready to discuss your chosen article. You will need to:

• explain the choice of the article
• be able to discuss the key arguments of the article and provide your own viewpoints
• and explain how the article’s key arguments matter in the context of world politics and the discipline of International Relations:

1. Gurminder Bhambra (2015) “Europe won’t resolve the ‘migrant crisis’ until it faces its own past”
2. Jason Hickel (2016) “Time for degrowth: to save the planet, we must shrink the economy”

3. Grading scales

Dr Birgit Poopuu is Associate Professor of International Relations and the Head of the IR Master’s programme at Tallinn University. Birgit’s recent research has been curious about critical-relational perspectives on security, the solidarity between peripheral spaces, e.g., the Global East and South. Her main area of expertise is in critical peace and conflict studies, and her key research interests include knowing IR from revolutionary perspectives, the different types of violence and their role in holding us hostage to a violent world, the purchase of nonviolence in creating change, the politics of knowledge production.

Birgit is an editor at the journals: Journal of International Relations and Development (JIRD) and Ariadne Lõng. She is the Principal Investigator of the Horizon Twinning project “A critical relational perspective on peace & security in CEE”, and the co-director of the Central and Eastern European Security Hub (CEEShub).

Birgit can be found on LinkedIn.

Have a look at Birgit’s contribution on the war in Ukraine (co-authored with Eret Talviste):“Wars do not stand in isolation from each other, they are linked by violent structures”

Read also Birgit’s recent major publication Handbook of Knowledge and Expertise in International Politics (Oxford University Press, 2025) exploring the politics of knowledge production in world politics (co-edited with Berit Bliesemann de Guevara, Katarzyna Kaczmarska, Xymena Kurowska and Andrea Warnecke).

Dr Benjamin Klasche is Associate Professor of International Relations, the Head of the International Relations Department, and Co-Director of the Central and Eastern European Security Hub (CEEShub). Ben’s research focuses on critical-relational theorizing, human security and peace and climate governance and how all these things are deeply intertwined. I am also keenly interested in colonial history, post-colonial and post-socialist theories, and the politics of knowledge production, which lead me to questions about global solidarity between the Global South and the Global East.

You can follow Ben on LinkedIn.

Read Ben’s and Birgit’s contribution to relational theory in International Studies Quarterly where they explore the question “What Relations Matter”?

Also check out Ben’s essay on Estonia’s part in the economy of genocide of the Palestinians of Gaza in one of Estonia’s leading cultural magazine SIRP. The English version can be found here.

Dr Toni Čerkez is an early-career scholar with a track-record of high quality research in critical and relational theories of IR. He obtained his PhD in International Politics from Aberystwyth University (highest grade) and a master’s degree in International Relations from Central European University (with distinction). Toni’s research focuses on critical relational thought in IR, socio-technical imaginaries, and algorithmic governance, as well as de-colonial and cosmological research. However, he does not limit himself to just those areas and is also exploring political ecology, post-humanist and anthropological theory, and the Anthropocene. Currently, Toni is writing a paper on Hannah Arendt and her concept of tradition. The paper will examine her conceptualization of Western political philosophy and how it is reflected today in the workings of Big Tech.

Please find Toni’s ETIS and Linkedin profiles.

Explore Toni’s work on data (co-authored with Wasiq Silan): Čerkez, T. and Silan, W. (forthcoming) “Prolegomena for Technodiversity: On Data and Indigeneity.” Third World Quarterly.

Read Toni’s take on drone violence: Čerkez, T. (2024) ‘Droned Lives, from Gaza to the World’, E-International Relations, 19 October.

Dr Marianna Lovato is a Lecturer in International Relations at Tallinn University. Her research interests revolve around European foreign and security policy, informality in global governance, and relational approaches to international cooperation. Her monograph, Making EU Foreign Policy Go Around: The Significance of Informality for the Survival of Multilateralism, is forthcoming with Bristol University Press.

Marianna is Associate Editor at European Security. 

Read Marianna's piece on the relational effects of Brexit on European foreign policy cooperation.

Check out how Marianna thinks political (in)stability shapes Italy's influence in the European Union. 

Marianna can be found on LinkedIn. 

Dr Timothy Raymond Anderson is a Visiting Research Fellow in International Relations and a critical anthropologist of state power and belonging. His research investigates the procedural and ethical contradictions of state practice, asking how grand geopolitical narratives translate into the lived experience of borders and bureaucracy. He is the originator of the theory of ‘civilizational citizenship’, an award winning concept that explains how liberal states manage belonging in an age of geopolitical anxiety. Timothy’s work bridges critical theory with practical policy engagement, drawing on years of ethnographic fieldwork and prior experience in policy advising and global health data analysis. He is a core member of the Horizon Europe-funded Central and Eastern European Security Hub (CEEShub).

More details can be found on Timothy’s LinkedIn and ETIS profiles.

Walter's piece on targeted killing is a must, see here: Is it Legal? Is it Useful? Some Questions on Targeted Killing

Dr Matthew Crandall is an Associate Professor of International Relations at Tallinn University. He completed his PhD from Tallinn University and his Master’s degree from the University of Tartu. His research interests include small state security and soft security threats. He has published in Contemporary Security Policy, Defence Studies, East European Politics, and Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe.

Read Matthew’s article Small States and Big Ideas: Estonia's Battle for Cybersecurity Norms

Also, read about small state’s strategies in the face of a changing wolrd order: The era of Trump means it is time for small states to start thinking big

Kevin Molloy is a Junior Research Fellow at Tallinn University, where he conducts his PhD research within the Central and Eastern European Security Hub (CEEShub) as part of the European Horizon Twinning Project “A Critical Relational Perspective on Peace & Security in CEE.” He also teaches English at the School of Humanities. With a background in anthropology and filmmaking and current studies in international relations, Kevin’s interdisciplinary work combines visual, spatial, and ethnographic approaches to explore how borders and spaces are lived in everyday life. His films have been screened at over twenty international festivals and conferences, and his research focuses on everyday bordering through a critical-relational lens.

His recent 360-degree audiovisual installation, “Moments in an Ordinary Night,” exhibited at the Estonian National Museum as part of “Kellele kuulub öö?”, explored how people have experienced and imagined the night in Estonian cities.

Explore Kevin’s ethnographic narrative photo essay, “Visual Field Testing,” which highlights how spatial relations shape social experience through everyday movements and encounters.

Victor Jimenez is a junior research fellow in International Relations at Tallinn University. His research focuses on issues of corruption and state capture in Serbia and their relationship with the process of European integration in the Western Balkan region. His theoretical contributions center on radical relationism and green extractivism, investigating the intersection of political, economic, environmental, and institutional relations in the region as exemplary of the double exclusion faced by semiperipheral societies in the Global East. He is a Tallinn University alumnus, having graduated from the Bachelor’s program "Liberal Arts in Social Sciences" and the Master’s program "International Relations"with cum laude honors.

Victor can be found on ORCID and on ResearchGate.

Aires Chung is a junior research fellow in International Relations at Tallinn University. She is a graduate of the University’s Master’s programme ‘Human Rights in the Digital Society’. With a background in international human rights law, her research interests centre on examining how socio-technical aspects, particularly artificial intelligence, are reshaping the relationships between states, tech companies and individuals, and how these dynamics intersect with race and gender. Her work focuses on algorithmic violence and the forms of resistance that emerge in response.

EU/EEA applicants 

Application procedure for the citizens of the member countries of the European Union (EU) or European Economic Area (EEA) can be found here.

Non-EU/EEA applicants

Application procedure for the international applicants from Non-EU/EEA countries can be found here.

Estonian citizens and holders of a long-term residence permit

Application procedure for Estonian citizens or for holders of an Estonian long-term residence permit can be found in Estonian here and in English here.