Since the turn of the millennium religious ideas and identities have increasingly shaped national and international politics, especially in the Middle East. This online MA program – led by Prof. Jonathan Fox, one of the world’s foremost experts in the field – provides a unique platform for understanding the role of religion in contemporary politics. We explore the potential of religions to unite and divide societies, to exacerbate conflict, or provide frameworks for peace. Whether you are planning a career in academia, policy research, diplomacy, conflict resolution, or the clergy, or whether you simply have a passion to understand the social forces that shape our world, this program is for you. This two-year, online MA program will provide you with a deep academic grounding in religious and Middle Eastern politics as well as in general political science. The program is taught entirely in English by leading experts. There are approximately six hours of online teaching each week, and the program is open to students anywhere in the world. We consider both religious politics and Middle Eastern politics important topics of study within political science. This program uniquely combines these topics, which include a broad survey of Middle Eastern politics as well as religious politics both in the Middle East and outside of the Middle East. At the same time, we provide courses that cover basic political science theory and methodology. Thus, while this course of study has a unique focus, it will also provide a broad foundation in the general discipline of political science. Bar-Ilan University’s Political Science Department is uniquely situated to provide this course of study. Its faculty is part of a 40+ year tradition of expertise and excellence in religious and Middle Eastern politics and includes world-class researchers and instructors on these topics. The department is also home to premier research centers and projects, which focus on these issues. These include the Religion and State Project, the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, the Middle East’s premier national security think tank, and the Argov Center for the Study of Israel and the Jewish People. Read more about this degree in this article.

In MA Religion, Politics and Society religion remains a force to be reckoned with in the contemporary global geopolitical landscape. As a result, there is a pressing need to reassess predominant understandings of secularisation, as well as the meanings of, and tensions inherent within, secular assumptions and secularist positions.

The MA Politics joins some of the most reputable contemporary thinkers in psychoanalysis, to introduce different positions in the psychoanalytic landscape. It aims to create a dialogue between different understandings of psychoanalysis, apply psychoanalysis to problems beyond the individual subject and develop models of understanding the human mind in its interaction with the world beyond single psychoanalytic positions.

The Master of Applied Politics (MAP), in cooperation with the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics and The University of Akron Political Science Department, is one of only a handful of graduate programs in the United States focusing on practical politics and experiential learning. It is designed for students interested in election campaigns, digital strategy and messaging, fundraising, managing organizations, and other political activities.

This degree will provide you with the skills and resources necessary to ask critical questions about the politics of conflict and violence in the modern world. Combining theoretical and empirical approaches, you will explore the politics, sites, logic, technologies and ethics of conflict and violence.