IB Global Politics Syllabus Hub
Your complete roadmap to the IB Global Politics syllabus. Master every component with Academy checkpoints, study tools, and spaced review.
The IB Global Politics course is built around a shared core, three thematic studies, and a higher level extension. Each of these components develops your understanding of how power, sovereignty, legitimacy and interdependence shape political outcomes across the world. Together, they prepare you to analyse political issues, evaluate evidence, and construct well-supported arguments.
This Hub brings all five components into one place. Each part below opens a full interactive study dashboard containing trackable checkpoints, a mastery gate with self-test questions, a progress tracker, weak spot monitoring, and a spaced review schedule. Your progress is saved in your browser so you can return at any time and continue from where you left off.
Choose Your Study Path
Click any card to open a detailed syllabus breakdown with interactive mastery tracking.
Part 1 – The Core: Understanding Power and Global Politics
35 CheckpointsMaster the foundational concepts that run through the entire course. This section covers framing global politics, power, sovereignty, legitimacy, interdependence, and theoretical perspectives. The Core provides the conceptual lens you will use across every thematic study and the HL extension. It includes key case studies alongside the Academy Mastery Gate system.
- Framing Global Politics
- Power in Global Politics
- Sovereignty in Global Politics
- Legitimacy in Global Politics
- Interdependence in Global Politics
- Theoretical Perspectives
Part 2 – Rights and Justice
35 CheckpointsExplore the nature and evolution of human rights, codification, protection, enforcement, and debates on rights and justice. Includes key debates on universalism versus cultural relativism, freedom versus security, and rights versus sovereignty. Case studies are drawn from contemporary global politics, and the section prepares you to analyse how rights are defined, protected and contested.
- Contested Meanings of Rights and Justice
- Codification of Rights
- Protection and Monitoring of Rights
- Enforcement and Challenges
- Debates on Rights and Justice
- Actors and the Future of Rights
Part 3 – Development and Sustainability
35 CheckpointsExamine contested meanings of development, measuring inequality, pathways to development, debates on sustainability, political actors, and environmental governance. Includes key indicators, contemporary case studies, and critical views on sustainable development including de-growth and regenerative approaches. This section helps you connect economic, political and environmental dimensions of global inequality.
- Contested Meanings of Development and Sustainability
- Measuring Development and Inequality
- Pathways to Development
- Debates on Development and Sustainability
- Political Actors and Development
- Sustainability and Environmental Governance
Part 4 – Peace and Conflict
35 CheckpointsAnalyse contested meanings of peace, conflict and violence, the roles of political stakeholders, causes and types of conflict, debates, conflict resolution, peacebuilding, and security. Includes models and tools for analysing peace and conflict, along with case studies that span inter-state, intra-state, non-state and asymmetric conflicts. The section also examines peacemaking, peacekeeping and peacebuilding as distinct approaches.
- Contested Meanings of Peace, Conflict and Violence
- Interactions of Political Stakeholders and Actors
- Nature, Practice and Study of Peace and Conflict
- Debates on Peace and Conflict
- Conflict Resolution, Peacebuilding and Reconstruction
- Security and the Future of Peace
Part 5 – HL Extension: Global Political Challenges
30 CheckpointsHigher Level students conduct extended inquiries around eight Global Political Challenges. This section covers guiding inquiry questions, researching case studies, connecting cases to course content, Paper 3 preparation, and the self-guided inquiry process. It also includes guidance on building a solution-oriented response supported by evidence from your own research.
- The Eight Global Political Challenges
- Guiding Inquiry Questions
- Researching Case Studies
- Connecting Cases to Course Content
- Paper 3 Preparation
- The Self-Guided Inquiry Process
How to Use This Hub
Each card opens a full interactive dashboard. Every dashboard contains a content overview, a recommended study sequence, trackable checkpoints, a mastery gate with self-test questions, a progress dashboard, a weak spot tracker, and a spaced review schedule.
Every checkpoint can be marked as Not Started, Revising, or Practising. When you are ready to demonstrate mastery, use the Mastery Gate. If you pass, the checkpoint is marked as Mastered and enters a spaced review cycle at one day, three days, seven days and thirty days. If you cannot pass, the checkpoint is added to your weak spots so you can revisit it.
The recommended study sequence across the course is:
- Start with the Core to build your conceptual foundation.
- Move through the three thematic studies to apply those concepts across different political contexts.
- Begin the HL extension when you are ready to conduct extended research and prepare for Paper 3.
- Return to weak spots and spaced reviews regularly to consolidate your understanding.
You can study the parts in any order that fits your classroom sequence, but the Core is designed to come first because every later section draws on it.
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