UKM pioneered the Strategic Studies program in Malaysia when the then Strategic and Security Studies Unit (UPSK) offered its first diploma program in Strategic and Security Studies in 1981. UPSK embarked on another milestone in 1994 when two taught Masters programs namely Policy and Security Studies and Defense Studies were introduced. These two inaugural postgraduate programs had paved the way for a strategic collaboration between UKM and the Institute of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations (IDFR) in 1999. A new Masters program was born out of this strategic partnership known as Masters in Strategy and Diplomacy; a program that also recruits foreign participants other than the local participants who represent mainly key government agencies and corporate institutions. At the inception of the program, it welcomed 18 postgraduate students with 40% of the foreign participants coming from China, Egypt, Brunei and Kuwait.

UPSK became part of the new Center for Politics, History and Strategy under the restructuring exercise of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities (FSSK) in 2001. The restructuring also saw the new Strategy Program offering its debut undergraduate program in International Relations. The first intake came in 2003 and the last batch of the undergraduate program graduated in 2013. The program was discontinued in 2013 to allow for the development of a more refined undergraduate curricular in international relations. Beginning the new academic year of 2016/2017, the Strategy Program is proud to welcome its first batch of a re-branded Undergraduate Program in International Relations. It is going to be the first undergraduate program in International Relations in Malaysian varsity to be fully conducted in English. Also, recently in 2013, a new taught Masters program in East Asian Studies was launched and recruited its first batch. Apart from the existing taught Masters and forthcoming undergraduate programs, the Strategy Program also offers Masters by research and Ph.D. programs in International Relations-related subjects.