MA Politics

The World's First MA in Politics with a Concentration in Anarchist Studies

Debt-Free • 100% Online • Scholarships for Everyone

A unique programme in the world. Distance learning with synchronous and asynchronous options. Tuition investment <6,000 €. Scholarships available for all admitted students.

The GCAS MA in Politics with a concentration in Anarchist Studies is a unique programme in the world. The courses are designed to promote a radical and profound critique of the current political system, highlighting its flaws and possibilities. We value students who take their critical thinking to new political horizons and offer a faculty willing to accompany them every step of the way. The programme emphasizes intellectual freedom, interdisciplinary engagement, and politics as a living practice capable of genuine social transformation.

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About the Program

100% Online & Flexible

The GCAS MA in Politics is 100% online and designed for maximum flexibility. Courses are held on weekends, making it possible to pursue advanced philosophical research while balancing work, family, and global commitments. Study from anywhere in the world while engaging in rigorous, live seminars with leading scholars and an international intellectual community.

Rigorous & Research-Driven

The GCAS MA in Politics is rigorous and research-driven, designed for students committed to serious, original philosophical inquiry. Courses emphasize close reading, conceptual precision, and sustained argumentation, while individualized mentorship supports the development of independent research projects that meet the highest international academic standards.

Debt-Free Education

The GCAS MA in Politics is fully accredited and debt-free, grounding academic freedom in material reality. By removing financial pressure, students are free to think critically, take intellectual risks, and pursue original research without compromise. The program combines rigorous philosophical training, close mentorship, and interdisciplinary inquiry within an independent, globally recognized academic framework.

Global Community

GCAS brings together students and faculty from across continents in a shared intellectual space. The program fosters sustained dialogue across cultures, disciplines, and traditions, creating a vibrant global community committed to serious scholarship, mutual support, and philosophy as a living, collective practice beyond borders.

Prof. Dr. Francisco González

A Word From The Director

"We invite cultural workers, scholars, artists, and activists seeking a curriculum and community through which to ground and refresh their practice and to produce and empower shared knowledges."
Prof. Dr. Francisco González Program Director
Meet the Director

Curriculum

Course Descriptions

Political Theory — Asma Abbas, PhD
How do philosophies and theories of politics differ from theory that is political? The course engages with the varying historical and cultural demands of the task of political theorising, to track the changing means of politics and the political, as domains, discourses, vocabularies, and disciplines of human experience. A major emphasis on the ordinary arts of being human that constitute political engagement, and how attending to these enables us to think of politics, the human, time, place, thought, action differently. We visit all texts as agnostics, sceptics, and critics, assessing their approaches, definitions and arguments, earnestly working with and through them to (1) become fluent in basic concepts and terms at work, and (2) come up with our own speculations about what constitutes the political; when, where and how politics happens; what it means to think, ask, and act politically; and what being a student or "expert" of politics may entail.
Political Economy — Silvia Federici, PhD
Description pending.
Research Methodologies — Asma Abbas, PhD
This course invites students to take one aspect of their contemporary political experience and to unpack it using various tools and methods at their disposal, en route to assembling and articulating their own methodological framework (like an artist's statement would be for artists). Depending on where one starts to tell a history of the present, we find different crumpled timescapes of the global necropolitical postcolony. The course attempts to treat this as an occasion for a particular kind of political reading, and for enacting a desire for political, social, and cultural analysis that is honest about at least the inefficacy and, worse, the complicity of our epistemologies and methods in the conditions of our political existence. How are we to create totalities and frames that connect without colonising? Is it possible to read and harness our recent history in a way that impacts how we name, understand, and solve political problems? The course is attentive to differences and specificities that are often sacrificed to achieve grand theory, favouring methods of addressing the theoretical, temporal, and spatial intersections of political life that go further than a superficial intersectionality of race, class, and gender as positivist concepts, to a dynamic treatment of bodies, affect, memory, identities, cultures, institutions, power, and lifeworlds in contemporary geopolitics marked by old and new regimes of capital and colony. The emphasis will be on formulating our own frameworks and methods applicable to our projects and pursuits in conversation with these attempts.
Imperialism and Colonialism — Manuel Carrión, PhD candidate
This course offers a critical examination of colonialism and imperialism as foundational modalities of Western geopolitical engagement. We will analyze the historical trajectories of imperial power and their enduring impacts on global political structures, land-based relationships, and Indigenous sovereignty. By placing historical archives in dialogue with contemporary social movements, we will discuss how colonial logics continue to shape neoliberal governance and extractive capitalism in the Western world.
Further Studies in Politics I — Chris Hedges
Description pending.
Further Studies in Politics II — Franco Berardi
Description pending.
Anarcho-Feminism and Intersectionality — Amapola Cortés, PhD candidate
In this course, we will approach anarcho-feminism as a field of intersection between anarchist theory and feminist theory, considering both its classical formulations and its contemporary critical reinterpretations. Throughout the course, we will explore the questions, tensions, and political stakes that emerge when anarchism is thought of in terms of the body, everyday life, and social relations. The course invites us to problematize notions such as autonomy, freedom, family, work, care, and community, articulating theoretical reflection and collective discussion. It proposes to incorporate debates and experiences situated in Latin America to challenge the canon.
Post-Anarchism — Alberto Pacheco Benites, PhD candidate
In this course, we will review what has been understood as post-anarchist thought, which, in general terms, refers to a mixture of anarchist and poststructuralist traditions (influenced by the thinking of Deleuze, Guattari, Foucault, and others), where modern grand narratives and their universal values are criticized, and key notions of traditional anarchism, such as class, the subject, and power, are complemented.
History of Anarchism — Francisco González Castro, PhD
In this course, we will take a panoramic view of the history of anarchism. To do so, we will review some of its most relevant issues, such as criticism of authority, power, property, the state, and capitalism, correlating these ideas with some of its most representative thinkers, such as Proudhon, Bakunin, Goldman, Graeber, Chomsky, etc. To ground these analyses, we will also review specific cases where anarchism has been put into practice.
Art and Politics in Anarchism — Lucy Quezada, PhD candidate
In this course, we will review the aesthetic-political tradition of anarchism, which differs from the Marxist tradition or the left in general. To do so, we will focus on texts by Proudhon, Fénéon, Read, and Antliff, which represent different moments in history and how the relationship between art and politics has been understood in the anarchist tradition. We will also discuss artworks that represent this relationship.

Learn from World-Class Faculty

Our faculty are leading scholars, published authors, and practitioners who bring real-world expertise to every course.

Your Career

This program prepares you for leadership roles across academia, industry, and public service.

Academia & Research

Pursue doctoral studies or research positions at leading universities worldwide.

Public Policy

Shape policy at NGOs, government agencies, and international organizations.

Cultural Institutions

Lead at museums, foundations, and cultural organizations.

Consulting

Apply critical thinking skills to strategy and management consulting.

Writing & Publishing

Pursue careers in journalism, publishing, and content creation.

Education

Teach at secondary or post-secondary institutions.

Investment

Total Tuition €6,000

€3,500 if you apply by 1 June 2026

Financial Aid Available

Every accepted student receives tuition reduction scholarships. We are committed to making education accessible.

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Admission Requirements

Admission Requirements

Our collective of faculty and students hails from some of the best and experimental academic institutions in the world, including the New School for Social Research, Bard College at Simon's Rock, Columbia University, Johns Hopkins University, Smith College, University of Pennsylvania, University of Oregon, Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture, Jawaharlal Nehru University, and University of Leiden, to name a few. Most importantly, they emerge from diverse geographic, academic, and political locations — summoning every continent and tackling the history and aftermath of colonialism, oppression, and liberation.

Entrance is very competitive and most successful applicants have a first-class degree or the equivalent. Most successful applicants hold degrees in the liberal arts, humanities, and social sciences widely considered. We are interested more in your approach to knowledge and its production rather than the content or specific discipline of your degree. Applications from all backgrounds are encouraged if sufficient motivation, interest, an appreciation for the politics of knowledge, and a commitment to remaking the university anew can be demonstrated.

Applicants must possess an accredited Bachelor's degree to be considered for admission. To help us accomplish our goal of truly accessible education, the application does not have a fee.

Frequently Asked Questions

The MA in Politics is designed to be completed within one year, though many students finish in approximately 15 months. Flexible pacing allows participants to extend their studies up to two years, depending on individual circumstances and research timelines.

The MA in Politics offers a unique concentration in Anarchist Studies — one of the only programmes of its kind in the world. Courses cover the history of anarchism, post-anarchism, anarcho-feminism and intersectionality, and art and politics in anarchism, alongside broader political theory and political economy. This concentration allows students to develop rigorous, original research grounded in anarchist thought and practice.

You complete 10 courses (3 ECTS credits each, totalling 30 ECTS). Each course meets four times for discussion. Students write weekly reflections, deliver a 10-minute presentation, and submit a 1,500-word research paper per course. After completing coursework, you move on to the thesis and comprehensive examination (60 ECTS).

Yes. The MA in Politics is 100% online, including live seminars, coursework, supervision, and thesis development. The programme is designed for global participation without any on-campus requirements. However, we do offer occasional residential intensives in cities like Paris, Berlin, Belfast, and Florence — these are optional and also available online. GCAS does not issue student visas to study in the EU.

No. The MA in Politics welcomes applicants from all academic and professional backgrounds. We are interested more in your approach to knowledge and its production rather than the content or specific discipline of your degree. Cultural workers, scholars, artists, and activists are all encouraged to apply. Motivation, intellectual curiosity, and a commitment to critical thinking are central to admission.

Yes. After completing the 10 required courses, students work closely with a supervisor to develop a 20,000-word Master's thesis. Supervision is matched to each student's research focus. Students meet with their academic supervisor monthly to ensure writing and research targets are accomplished.

Yes. The MA in Politics is research-driven and designed to prepare students for doctoral-level (PhD) study in politics, political theory, and related fields. GCAS also offers a PhD program in the Humanities and Social Sciences to which graduates of the MA in Politics are often invited to continue their research.

Tuition fees are €3,500 if you apply by 1 June and are accepted. This applies for national and international students. Financial aid for a tuition fee reduction of up to 50% is available to all students upon application. Tuition can be paid in installments. To help us accomplish our goal of truly accessible education, the application does not have a fee. Once you graduate, you will become a co-owner of GCAS College Dublin.

Yes. The programme is accredited by the European Union through Woolf a higher education institute. Once completed, the degree can be used to continue into post-graduate education and apply for academic, policy, and professional positions worldwide.

This programme combines elite faculty — including Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Chris Hedges and renowned political economist Silvia Federici — with global access, flexible online study, affordable tuition, and a strong research focus. The concentration in Anarchist Studies makes it one of the most distinctive MA programs in politics worldwide.

Ready to Begin?

Applications are open year-round. Start your journey today.

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