GLOBAL UG2

Go back

What you learn about on modules in this stream: This stream examines politics and international relations across regions beyond Europe and North America. It highlights modules that engage with the histories, institutions, and contemporary dynamics of Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East. Students explore how diverse political systems, cultures, and regional organisations shape global affairs, challenging Eurocentric perspectives and broadening their understanding of world politics. This stream is designed for students interested in diplomacy, negotiation, and international engagement. It draws together modules that examine global governance, foreign policy and international law

Career ambitions: working in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, for international organisations such as the UN, WTO, or IMF, as a lobbyist in Brussels or at the UN, or for international organisations such as Amnesty and Oxfam.

MODULES IN THIS STREAM

PR2440 – INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS THEORY

30 credits – Autumn and Spring terms

Mandatory – BA International Relations, International Relations as a minor component (e.g. BA Multilingual Studies with International Relations) except for LLB Law with International Relations.

Module Description – This module explores key debates in IR theory, moving a step beyond the paradigms introduced in PR1500: Introduction to International Relations. Each week, you'll be introduced to theories, asked to question assumptions that different theories and theorists make, and think more critically, and from a variety of angles, about concepts that may be considered familiar terrain. The core questions running through the module are: What is the nature of power in the international system? How should we understand the role of identity on the world stage? What ethical principles should guide how we theorise the world? What does security mean in practice: for states, for nations, and for people? By the end of the module, you’ll be able to identify dominant paradigms, as well as influential strains of criticism and potential alternative visions. You'll develop a richer understanding of what theory is, who theory is for, how theories develop and what theories allow us to do, and you'll learn to challenge conventional wisdom about international politics by centring perspectives and under-appreciated global issues outside of the dominant Eurocentric lens. On the module, we'll focus on reading thinkers’ original work, rather than textbook syntheses. You'll be asked to think critically about a variety of theories addressing the same phenomenon. And in addition to the questions above, we'll ask: What does each theory expose and occlude? Does a theory help us predict future events, make causal claims, expose gaps in thinking and/or biases, or facilitate interpretation? In what context did a theory emerge and what problems was it developed to explain? What assumptions does a theory make and how might alternative viewpoints enable critique?

Module Leader – Dr Lyn Johnstone

Module Delivery – Weekly lectures and seminars

Assessment – Reading diary (1800 words) – 30%; Essay (1800 words) – 30%; Exam – 40%

PR2500 – INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL ECONOMY

30 credits – Autumn and Spring terms

Module Description – This module examines the relationship between states and markets, power and wealth, in International Political Economy (IPE). It introduces students to the key concepts and theoretical debates in IPE. It tackles issues such as the globalisation of trade, finance, and production, the continued problems of development and democratic governance in the world economy, and emerging questions surrounding global flows, networks and spaces. Students are taken through the history of regimes, crises, and competing theories of political economy from the nineteenth century to the present day. Throughout the module the emphasis is on how political institutions operate in international politics to regulate the creation of wealth, and who benefits from these arrangements.

Module Leaders – Dr Thomas Stubbs and Dr Ibrahim Halawi

Module Delivery – Weekly lectures and seminars.

Assessment – Essay (1800 words) – 30%; Portfolio (1800 words) – 30%; Exam – 40%