Module Description – A university degree opens many doors to careers but the experience and skills enhanced during a placement provide extra dimension to the qualification. The Politics in Action placement scheme is a third-year undergraduate, assessed, full-unit module. It has a novel structure which combines participation in a workplace environment for one day a week during term time (and three days a week for each term’s reading week) with scholarly reflection on the nature of the organizational, professional, and policy contexts of the placement.

Module Leader – Professor James Sloam

Module Delivery – Work Placement/Internship – 176 hours of placement; seminar and independent guided study

Assessment – Reflective log (2500 words) mid-module skills report – 25%; presentation (15 minutes) – 15%; Placement report (4000 words) – 60%

NOTE: This module is not offered to Liberal Arts or Minor students.

Students are required to contact Prof Sloam, stating their interest with an attached CV prior to registering on this module (to be put on the placement mailing list and be invited to introductory sessions on how to find a placement in the summer term). Students secure placements on their own initiative or through collaboration of the Careers Office. The placements must be agreed by Prof Sloam and a formal agreement must be signed with the placement provider by 1 September 2026. If students do not gain a placement by 1 September 2026 at the latest, they should contact the Law and Social Sciences Office and ask to be reallocated for the 30 credits onto their next preferred module(s).

PR3002 – EUROPEAN UNION PUBLIC POLICY

POL/IR

15 credits – Autumn term

Module Description – This module introduces students to political science and international relations approaches for understanding the EU’s Single Market, which is the world’s largest rules-based market. It focuses on areas of public policy and includes regulation of the market, the energy sector, the euro currency, asylum, immigration and counter-terrorism, the budget, agriculture, and the EU’s foreign policy. The module will give students a taste for understanding how real policy is made in a powerful international organisation.

Module Leader – Dr Giacomo Benedetto

Module Delivery – Weekly lectures and seminars

Assessment – Policy briefing (1000 words) – 30%; Essay (2500 words) – 70%

PR3101 – ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS

POL/IR

15 credits – Autumn Term

Module Description – This module involves students in the study of environmental politics through a multidisciplinary analysis of the challenges we face through climate change and other problems, how narratives on the environment and climate change are framed by different actors e.g. media, politicians, how pro- and anti- environmental values have developed alongside the concept of sustainability, how this has been translated into politics and public policy at local, national and international levels of governance, and how environmental activism has been expressed through social movements e.g. #FridaysforFuture. At the start of the module, we examine the gathering crisis of climate change – the threats we face and how are they framed by different political actors. Next, we explore the development of environmental values, internationally and historically, exploring concepts such as ‘postmaterialism’ and ‘sustainability’ and considering how they relate to the idea of a social contract for future generations. The next part of the module concentrates on environmental issues through the lenses of national politics e.g. the development of Green parties and policies, and broader social movements and direct action such as the Climate Strikes and Extinction Rebellion. Finally, we investigate how environmental policy is agreed and implemented at different levels of governance: through international agreements e.g., COP26 in Glasgow (2021), national strategies e.g., commitments to Net Zero, and local policy (anything from recycling, to parks, to public transport). The module, thus, provides students with a firm grounding on the nature of existing threats to the environment and how politics and public policy fails or lives up to the challenges they create.

Module Leader – Professor James Sloam

Module Delivery – Weekly seminars and lectures

Assessment – Opinion piece (10%); Policy briefs (30%); essay (60%)

What you can do to prepare the module – Think about how you encounter climate change discussions in day-to-day life. What are your views on the major environmental challenges we face and how they might be addressed? For some diverse perspectives on action against damage to the environment, see Tobin, P., & Barritt, J. (2021). Glasgow’s COP26: the need for urgency at ‘The next Paris’. Political Insight, 12(3), 4-7, and Flanagan, C., Gallay, E., & Pykett, A. (2022). Urban youth and the environmental commons: rejuvenating civic engagement through civic science. Journal of Youth Studies, 25(6), 692-708. Both of these articles are free to access online.

PR3107 – FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: CONCEPTS AND CONTROVERSIES

POL
15 credits – Autumn term

Module Description – Freedom of expression is perhaps the most important human right. This module aims to give students an in depth understanding of the nature and limits of freedom of expression (or speech) from the perspective of normative political theory. We shall investigate the values, norms and principles at issue in contexts where free speech is promoted, regulated, or denied- especially contexts where that choice is contentious, as in hate speech for instance. We shall consider some laws and social media regulations on free speech and look at plenty of real-life examples of controversial speech, especially from the UK and US. Students will be encouraged to look beyond the headlines to explore the rich academic scholarship on free speech, and to offer critical analyses of that scholarship. By the end of the module, students should be able to interrogate their own and others’ intuitive reactions in cases of controversial speech, and to develop a reasoned, nuanced approach to these controversies. Topics covered include: free speech in politics, law and philosophy; foundations of free speech (autonomy, truth, and democracy); hate speech; counterspeech; offensive speech; speech and technology: AI, social media, and privacy; no platforming; misinformation; and online public shaming.

Module Leader – Dr Jonathan Seglow

Module Delivery – Weekly lectures and seminars

Assessment – Case study (1000 words) – 30%; Essay (2500 words) – 70%

What you can do to prepare for this module – You could look at Matteo Bonotti and Jonathan Seglow, Free Speech (Cambridge Polity, 2021) or our much shorter, if rather dense article Freedom of Expression, or dip into Frederick Schauer and Adrienne Stone (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Freedom of Speech. There is a short TEDx talk on What is the Point of Free Speech? And these podcasts on Free Speech, Freedom of Speech, and Should there be any limits to free speech?

PR3300 – THE POLITICS OF INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

15 credits – Autumn term

Module Description – The world is currently a very unequal place – with the top 1 percent individuals owning more wealth than the bottom 95 percent (OXFAM, 2024). Many of the bottom 4 billion still lack good access to crucial livelihood aspects including food, clean water and sanitation, and housing. Looking forward, addressing these issues is complicated by major global challenges including historical legacies of colonisation, environmental and climate change, population growth and urbanisation, as well as by inequality itself. These realities have shaped the design of this module. In the first, introductory, part, we talk about what development is, how it can be measured, how it has been theorised, and what its state is in different regions of the globe. In the second part, we look at some of the major challenges – at historical legacies of colonisation, at environmental and climate change, at population changes, and at inequality. In the last section, we examine the effects of these challenges on countries’ domestic institutions, on states, and on international/global governance.

Module Leader – Dr Ivica Petrikova

Module Delivery – Weekly lectures and seminars

Assessment – Presentation – 30%; Essay (2500 words) – 70%

What you can do to prepare for this module – you can read the Routledge Handbook of Global Development (Sims et al., 2022)

PR3430 – DEFENCE AND SECURITY GOVERNANCE

15 credits – Autumn term

Module Description – The international security environment has undergone a number of radical changes since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The post-Cold War era has raised questions about how to tackle a host of new security challenges, which include dealing with and preventing state failure, international terrorism and crime, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. It has also witnessed a changing balance of power, including the rise of China, Russian revisionism and growing US disengagement from European security. These phenomena have fostered increasing levels of cooperation between states at the regional level (for example through ASEAN, the AU, CSDP, ECOWAS, MERCOSUR, NATO, the OAS, and UNASUR). They have also led to a growing influence of non-state actors, such as NGOs and Private Military Companies (PMCs), on security policy agenda-setting and a reliance on these actors in policy implementation. Hence, the objectives of the module are to explore the increasingly multi-level nature of defence and security policy and the implications of this fragmentation for the delivery of effective, accountable and legitimate defence and security policy. It will analyse the ‘vertical’ fragmentation of defence and security policy to regional institutions. The module also examines the extent to which it is possible to speak of a ‘horizontal’ distribution of competencies in defence and security by analysing the role of NGOs and PMCs in the provision of defence and security. In doing so, it also explores the challenges associated with civil-military cooperation (CIMIC). The module approaches these issues by critically examining the insights provided by the literature on strategic and security studies, as well as a broader range of literature drawn from political science, organisation studies and management studies.

Module Leader – Professor Tom Dyson

Module Delivery – weekly lectures and seminars

Assessment – Portfolio assessment of learning outcomes (1500 words) – 40%; Exam (2400 words) – 60%

What you can do to prepare for this module – The following articles will give you a good sense of some of the empirical and theoretical terrain covered: Haftel, Yoram Z, and Stephanie C Hofmann. “Institutional Authority and Security Cooperation Within Regional Economic Organizations.” Journal of Peace Research 54, no. 4 (2017): 484–98. Link; Krahmann, Elke. "Conceptualizing Security Governance". Cooperation and Conflict, 38, no. 1 (2003), 5–26 Link

PR3492 – THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF RACIAL INJUSTICE

POL/IR

15 credits – Autumn term

Module Description – Who wins and loses in the economy? How do racial and gender inequalities persist because of the way we buy homes, pay tuition, or govern banks? This module studies the ways that inequality and unfreedom are sustained in institutional arrangements and everyday practices. We study how the organization and governance of the economy has played a role in limiting access for women, people of colour, and other marginalized groups. We study the history of the global economy but with an attention to the kinds of domination and exploitation that made “progress” possible for some.

The aim of this module is to help you be a more engaged and more circumspect political actor, consumer, and member in your political community. You will be able to pick up a newspaper article about the stock market’s triumphs and understand the subtle dynamics of winning, losing, and exploitation that make this “success” possible. You will also have the chance to develop your skills as a reader, writer, and colleague. These analytical and collaborative skills will be paramount in any career and certainly as you face the challenge of communicating with people who think differently than you.

Module Leader – Dr Gauri Wagle

Module Delivery – Weekly lectures and seminars

Assessment – Reading summaries (1000 words) – 30%; Essay (2500 words) – 70%

What you can do to prepare for this module – Please read Lawrie Balfour’s Democracy’s Reconstruction: Thinking Politically with W.E.B. Du Bois (Oxford: OUP, 2011).

PR3540 – RADICAL POLITICAL THEORY I: HEGEL, MARX, NIETZSCHE

POL

15 credits – Autumn term

Module Description – This module aims to introduce students to key questions and arguments concerning the relationship between identity, power, meaning and knowledge, through close examination of texts from GWF Hegel, Karl Marx, and Friedrich Nietzsche. It should lead students to appreciate critiques of modern Western societies and their values, which not only underpin recent “postmodernist” or “post-structuralist” thought but also form crucial theoretical elements in debates about gender, multiculturalism, nationalism, post-colonialism, new social movements, etc., across the social sciences and humanities. It aims to develop in students the ability to critically reflect about the nature and scope of politics and ethics through engagement with texts that have sought to provide insights and new ways of thinking about these realms.

Module Leader – Professor Nathan Widder

Module Delivery – Weekly seminars

Assessment – Textual analysis (1000 words) – 30%; Essay (2500 words) – 57%

PR3600 – FOUNDATIONS OF MIDDLE EAST POLITICS

POL/IR

15 credits – Autumn term

Module Description – The Middle East continues to be at the centre of global affairs. This final-year half-unit module aims to equip future political scientists and IR experts with the necessary knowledge and analytical skills to discuss Middle East affairs with greater nuance—not as a region isolated from and exceptional to the modern world, but as one deeply connected with it. This module will survey key events in Middle Eastern history, from the rise of Islam to the Arab Spring, from the breakdown of the Ottoman Empire to the fall of Assad’s regime in Syria, and the world in the aftermath of October 7, 2023. Along the way, it will encourage students to pause and engage with broader questions of development, including military authoritarianism, neoliberalisation, sectarianism, religious extremism, civil conflict, human and civil rights, gender, and elite politics, among others. Rather than focusing on simplistic and definitive answers, the module will inspire students to ask critical questions and think deeply about the region.

Module Delivery – Weekly lectures and seminars

Assessment – Essay 1 (1750 words) – 50%, Essay 2 (1750 words) – 50%

What you can do to prepare for this module – If you took PR2460, read through your lecture notes for the weeks on the Middle East (i.e., weeks 5, 8, 9, 16–18, and 20). You might also watch Networks Are Everywhere with Albert-László Barabási (available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c867FlzxZ9Y) or read: Marc Lynch, What is the Middle East? The Theory and Practice of Regions, Cambridge University Press, 2025 (available to download here: https://www.cambridge.org/core/elements/what-is-the-middle-east/EF3F0EE4C1C84E371748892D1C24754D).

PR3620 – US FOREIGN POLICY: HISTORY, IDEAS, AND CASES

15 credits – Autumn term

Module Description – This module focuses on the foreign policy of the United States of America. It outlines the theoretical frameworks for understanding US foreign policy as well as the founding principles and ideas that underpin the US approach to international politics. This analysis goes back to the founding fathers and America’s initial rise to power (up until the end of World War II) to explore the key themes that shape US foreign policy today, before looking at the development of US foreign policy right up to the current President. The module concludes with a look at the argument on US decline and what US foreign policy may look like in the future.

Module Leader – Professor Michelle Bentley

Module Delivery – Weekly lectures and seminars

Assessment – Essay 1 (1750 words) – 50%; Essay 2 (1750 words) – 50%

What you can do to prepare for this module – Read Michael Cox and Doug Stokes (2018) US Foreign Policy, 3nd Edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

PR3633 – ETHNIC POLITICS AND ETHNIC CONFLICT

POL/IR

15 credits – Autumn term

Module Description – Ethnic identities can play an important role in politics and political violence. For example, ethnic identity can play a role in voting decisions, governments can target citizens with repression because of their ethnicity and in civil wars, armed groups can mobilise support and recruit fighters with ethnic appeals. This module examines the role that ethnic identities can play in political life, contestation and conflict. The first part of the module will focus on the origins of ethnic identities and their political salience, examining for example the role of colonialism. The second part will focus on ethnic discrimination and racism, ethnic logics to political representation and voting and the ethnically biased distribution of state resources. The third part will focus on the role of ethnicity in political violence. Here we will learn about police violence and the role that ethnic identities can play in civil conflicts. This module takes a comparative perspective and considers different states around the world, such as for example the UK, Ghana, Kenya, Zambia and the US.

Module Leader – Dr Janina Beiser-McGrath

Module Delivery – Weekly seminars

Assessment – Response paper (1000 words) – 30%; Essay (2500 words) – 70%

What you can do to prepare for this module – Please read Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo. 1997. Rethinking Racism: Toward a Structural Interpretation. American Sociological Review 62(3): 465-480; Soss, Joe and Vesla Weaver. 2017. Police Are Our Government: Politics, Political Science, and the Policing of Race–Class Subjugated Communities. Annual Review of Political Science 20:565-91; Posner, Daniel N. 2004. The Political Salience of Cultural Difference: Why Chewas and Tumbukas Are Allies in Zambia and Adversaries in Malawi. American Political Science Review 98(4):529-545.

PR3636 – PEACE AND JUSTICE AFTER CONFLICT

15 credits – Autumn term

Module Description – This module looks at the challenges of contemporary post-conflict peace and justice processes. It asks how countries deal with the legacies of wartime destruction, mass violence and societal divisions, how they attempt to establish ‘sustainable’ forms of peace and recover economically from the widespread destruction caused by conflict. To do this, it explores the role of states, international organisations such as the UN, International Financial Institutions (IFIs), regional organisations and alliances such as NATO, as well as civil society groups and NGOs that are increasingly involved in post-conflict transitions.

Throughout the weekly programme, we will reflect on the evolving meaning of peace and justice – from the liberal internationalism of the 1990s until today – as they are redefined in more inclusive ways, and the pitfalls and opportunities this entails. We will do this by exploring topics such as peace agreements (and who takes part in their negotiation), statebuilding interventions, post-war reconstruction and economic reforms, transitional justice, peacebuilding and ‘reconciliation’. Given the widely acknowledged gendered impact of war and its legacies in post-conflict societies, the module ‘mainstreams’ questions of gender throughout the teaching programme, exploring them alongside other power dynamics related to ethnicity, race, and socioeconomic status.

The module’s aims are threefold. First, this class aims to analyse the challenges posed by post-conflict transitions, with a focus on peace and justice processes. Second, the module provides a comprehensive and detailed overview of the role played by various international actors and their interventions in post-conflict contexts. Third, it aims to apply a range of IR theories and concepts to recent case studies of post-conflict transitions.

Module Leader – Dr Daniela Lai

Module Delivery – Weekly lectures and seminars

Assessment – Group presentation (1500 words) – 30%; Case study (2500 words) – 70%

What you can do to prepare for this module – the module does not assume previous knowledge of these topics, but if you want to prepare, you might enjoy watching Derry Girls (available in streaming from All 4), Argentina 1985 (Amazon Prime), or Quo Vadis Aida (Netflix). If you want to read an academic book, I would suggest starting from Oumar Ba’s States of Justice: The Politics of the International Criminal Court (Cambridge University Press, 2020), which is available as an ebook from the Library.

PR3720 – LEADERSHIP, POWER AND THE BRITISH PRIME MINISTERSHIP

POL

15 credits – Autumn term

This module enables final-year students interested in British politics to explore in depth the office of prime minister, its powers and its capacity for leadership. The prime ministership is one of the oldest headships of government and the single most important position in Britain’s political executive. We will examine its history, its relationship with other institutions and actors in the core executive, and its occupants’ capacity to influence domestic and foreign policy. We will also examine how prime ministers relate to other parts of the political system, how they might be and are held to account, and how we might evaluate styles of political leadership more broadly.

Module Leader – Professor Nicholas Allen

Module Delivery – Weekly seminars

Assessment – Blog-style essay (1000 words) – 30%; Essay (2500 words) – 70%

What you can do to prepare for this module – If you took PR1400 or PR2480, read through your lecture notes for the weeks on executives and prime ministers. An affordable and readable introduction to the topic is Steve Richards, The Prime Ministers: Reflections on Leadership from Wilson to Johnson (London: Atlantic Books, 2020).

PR3890 – AMERICAN POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT

POL/IR

15 credits – Autumn term

Module Description –This module provides students with an advanced understanding of the institutions, politics, history and culture of the United States. It offers a thorough grounding in the scholarly literature on American Political Development (APD) and requires students to evaluate that literature critically through seminar discussion, oral presentations, and two substantial pieces of assessed coursework. Using diverse methodological approaches, students examine data sources alongside major scholarly works in APD. The module deploys the tools of historical institutionalism and APD to provide advanced knowledge of the domestic politics and history of the United States, with a particular focus upon the institutional arrangements of Congress, the Presidency and the Supreme Court; the operation of the federal bureaucracy, the party system, elections and state politics. By the end of the module students are prepared to engage in their own dissertation research in the field of US politics and to excel in the study of American politics, culture and history. This module locates one of the world’s most influential democracies in temporal and comparative context.

Module Leader – Dr Ursula Hackett

Formative Assessment – In-class exercises (10 Minutes); Short projects (500 Words)

Summative Assessment – PowerPoint presentation (1500 Words) – 30%; Essay (2000 words) – 70%

What you can do to prepare for this module – Read Richard Hofstadter’s classic work, The American Political Tradition (1976). It’s also a good idea to browse the politics section of a broadsheet American newspaper regularly (e.g. Washington Post, New York Times) and, if you’ve never studied American politics before, I recommend Lowi, Ginsberg, Shepsle and Ansolabehere’s textbook: American Government: power and purpose (2019).

POLITICS AND IR MODULES IN SPRING TERM

PR3103 – PARLIAMENTARY STUDIES

POL

15 credits – Spring Term

Module Description – PR3103 Parliamentary Studies is a final-year half unit that offers students the opportunity to obtain an in-depth knowledge and understanding of the British parliament and its place in British democracy. It will help students to evaluate the work and role of Parliament and parliamentarians, appreciate ongoing debates about contemporary legislative practice, and engage critically with previous academic scholarship in this area. It will also help students to develop their own awareness and experience of conducting research. The module covers Parliament’s development and place in the British political system, its internal organisation and operation, and the work and behaviour of individual Members of Parliament. It is co-taught with officials from Parliament, who will provide students with practical and vocational teaching about the work, processes and business of Parliament based on their own experiences.

Module Leader – Professor Nicholas Allen

Module Delivery – Weekly seminars and external visits

Assessment – Comparative analysis (1000 words) – 30%; Research report (2500 words) – 70%

PR3105 – POLITICAL THEORIES OF FREEDOM

POL

15 credits – Spring term

Module Description – This module examines different theoretical understandings of freedom, and how these bear on issues relating to pluralism, gender, identity, race, and democracy. It does so by examining the work of figures from the history of Western political thought such as Mill and Berlin, and contemporary writers including Young, Reed and Pettit.

Module Leader – Dr Michael Bacon

Module Delivery – weekly lectures, seminars and guided independent study

Assessment – Essay 1 (1750 words) – 50%; Essay 2 (1750 words) – 50%

PR3106 – CRISIS, RECOVERY AND EUROPEAN DEMOCRACY

POL/IR

15 credits – Spring term

Module Description – During the last 15 years, the EU has faced a quintuple crisis of economics, migration, Brexit, the Covid pandemic, and the war in Ukraine. This module takes the students through each of these crises and the EU’s response to them in securing its own survival and in setting an agenda for a wider Europe that is less stable than in the past. The module is recommended for students who have taken PR2001 in their second year but EU beginners are also welcome. The first two weeks introduce students to the political set-up of the EU that applied in 2009, when the economic crisis commenced. The next weeks look in turn at the economic crisis of the early 2010s, the migration crisis of 2015-16, the challenge of Brexit, the Pandemic in 2020, and the Ukraine conflict since 2022. The final weeks look at the EU’s budget and its financial response, and the EU’s initiatives to set up a citizens’ conference on Europe’s future to try to build a more popular base for European integration. The assessment consists of two written papers and no exam. The first paper is a standard academic essay that draws on the relevant readings within the module. The second paper is a policy briefing for a politician or policy-maker written in the style of a think-tank.

Module Leader – Dr Giacomo Benedetto

Module Delivery – Weekly lectures and seminars

Assessment – Policy Briefing (1000 words) – 30%; Essay (2500 words) – 70%

PR3108 – LATIN AMERICAN POLITICS

POL/IR

15 credits – Spring term

Module Description – Latin America is a natural laboratory of political and economic conditions. From military dictatorship to communist revolutions, to one-party rule and electoral democracies, the region’s political regimes have undergone profound transformations during the 20th and 21st centuries. Today, Latin America’s democratic gains are both hard-won and fragile, as countries confront myriad challenges, including corruption, protest, and instability. This course will use the Latin American experience to explore how democracies thrive, stagnate, collapse, or change shape. This module introduces the major themes of contemporary Latin American politics and, consequently, democracy and political development. While the module stresses politics and democracy, its objective is to show the linkages between politics, on the one hand, and economic, social, cultural forces, on the other. We will learn about Latin American political institutions – executives and legislatures, courts, and political parties – in order to understand the historical and contemporary struggle for democracy. We will also discuss economic challenges; political inclusion along the lines of race, gender, and class; informality; security challenges; and social unrest and protest. Readings from the reading list will be both theoretical and empirical; some will cover the region and others will focus on specific countries to illustrate broader trends. The module does not assume any prior knowledge of the region.

Module Leader – Prof Jennifer Piscopo

Module Delivery – Weekly seminars

Assessment – Country report (1000 words) – 30%; Essay (2500 words) – 70%

PR3496 – NARRATIVE IN WORLD POLITICS

POL/IR

15 credits – Spring term

Module Description – “Whose story wins?” has become a popular phrase in politics. This module introduces students to the role of narrative communication in world politics. All political institutions and organisations in all countries have no choice but to communicate. They use this communication to offer direction, on any policy sector, or about the identity of the nation or community. Narrative is essential when facing difficult pasts and generating accountability. Narrative is a form that institutions and organisations now invest in. Narrative provides a sequence of events that can generate a feeling that politics should move in a certain direction. Projecting a narrative is difficult in politics because not all parties or supporters will agree with that narrative. Yet this opens up forms of disagreement and conflict that allows us to identify and explain how core political dynamics unfold, including authority, legitimacy, and memory. It also helps students explain fundamental questions in International Relations: they will be able to explain the role of narrative in generating cooperation or conflict, producing alliances or enemies, and creating expectations about how problems can be solved. Students will be asked to consider narrative in different historical moments, from different countries, and in different policy sectors. They will explore how digital media now allow citizens to produce and share their own narratives – digital storytelling has become central to many activist and citizen-led movements. The module also covers a range of theories of narrative in politics, specifically around a spectrum from ‘thin’ rationalist approaches that largely focus on narratives as ‘roadmaps’ used by political elites to ‘thick’ studies that use feminism, race and ethnicity, and formal linguistics as lenses. With each theory introduced, the students will also learn what methods different approaches use. This helps students with their final year dissertation.

Module Leader – Professor Ben O’Loughlin

Module Delivery – Weekly lectures and seminars

Assessment – Essay 1 (1750 words) – 50%; Essay 2 (1750 words) – 50%

What you can do to prepare for this module – Spend half an hour working out the political story you could tell for one of the following: a) a country, b) a brand (celebrity, sports team, company), or c) a person. For the one you chose, think about: where did they come from, where are they now, and where are they going? Be prepared to talk for a few minutes about what you found.

PR3541 – RADICAL POLITICAL THEORY II: CRITICAL THEORY AND POSTSTRUCTURALISM

POL

15 credits – Spring term

Module Description – This module aims to introduce students to key questions and arguments concerning the relationship between identity, power, meaning and knowledge, through close examination of texts from Theodor Adorno, Jean-François Lyotard, Michel Foucault, and Gilles Deleuze & Félix Guattari. It should lead students to appreciate critiques of modern Western societies and their values, that not only form part of the philosophical movements of critical theory and poststructuralism but that in turn have informed crucial debates about gender, multiculturalism, nationalism, post-colonialism, new social movements, etc., across the social sciences and humanities. It aims to develop in students the ability to critically reflect about the nature and scope of politics and ethics through engagement with texts that have sought to provide insights and new ways of thinking about these realms.

Module Leader – Professor Nathan Widder

Module Delivery – Weekly seminars

Assessment – Textual analysis (1000 words) – 30%; Essay (2500 words) – 70%

PR3631 – WHY AND HOW PEOPLE VOTE

POL

15 credits – Spring term

Module Description – Elections are more unpredictable than ever. Recent campaigns have shocked and surprised pundits and politicians alike. This module is designed to better understand these election outcomes and to examine both the long-term and short-term factors that underpin them. What explains the success of political outsiders and how best can mainstream parties respond? Why have recent results been so unpredictable? What impact do campaigns make? And how have voters become so polarised? In this module we will examine the relationship between voters - their identities and values - and political parties, and consider the theory and practice of how people decide whether to vote (or not) and for whom to vote. The module contains both a theoretical and an empirical component. Students will be encouraged to assess the evidence for competing explanations of voting behaviour through readings drawn from research on countries across Western Europe and North America. Besides an understanding of the main theories and main questions in the field of voting behaviour, the module will provide students with a thorough understanding of how to conduct systematic empirical research and critically appraise it.

Module Leader – Professor Oliver Heath

Module Delivery – Weekly lectures and seminars

Assessment – Essay (2000 words) – 60%; Research assignment (1500 words) – 40%

What you can do to prepare for this module – An accessible article that introduces some of the themes we’ll look at is ‘Trump, Brexit and the Rise of Populism’ by Ronald Inglehart and Pippa Norris.

PR3645 – REVOLUTION & COUNTERREVOLUTION IN THE MODERN WORLD

POL/IR

15 credits – Spring term

Module Description – Revolution and Counterrevolution in the Modern World is a final-year half-unit module which offers the opportunity to acquire in-depth knowledge on theories and practices of revolution and counterrevolution. You will learn how to critically and comparatively examine different features of revolution and counterrevolution, assessing case studies using different theories, and studying the impact of revolutions on local and international systems. To do that, this module introduces various definitions and types of revolution in the context of global politics, and, additionally, it brings into this important field of study the concept of counterrevolution, in order to understand the reaction of local, regional, and international actors to revolutions. So, this module does not think of cases of revolution as strictly local phenomena. Instead, it inspires analysis at local, regional and international level. It will approach revolutions not only through academic text, but also through films and other forms of art that give these complex phenomena meaning. This module will begin by introducing the main schools of thought in studies of revolution and counterrevolution . It will then explore illuminating cases of revolution from around the world, and encourage you to apply theories of revolution and counterrevolution on those cases, and, in the process, evaluate these cases in comparative terms.

Module Leader – Dr Ibrahim Halawi

Module Delivery – Weekly lectures and seminars

Assessment – Film Review (1000 words) – 30%; Essay (2500 words) – 70%

PR3930 – ISSUES IN DEMOCRATIC THEORY

POL/IR

15 credits – Spring term

Module Description – This module examines some of the things that we want electoral democracy to do well, and the trade-offs that exist between them. We might, for example, want parties to keep their manifesto pledges, and do what they said they would do -- but what if I told you that the countries where parties are best at keeping manifesto pledges also have some of the most "wasted votes" cast in their elections? We might want our country to have a constitution which says what actions are permitted and which are not -- but what if following a constitution means giving more power to long-dead individuals who were there are the time the constitution was ratified? These are some of the key normative and empirical trade-offs that electoral democracies face, and in this module we'll study a select number of these trade-offs, working out where we would draw the line and how this translates to choices about institutions.

Module Leader – Professor Chris Hanretty

Module Delivery – Weekly lectures and seminars

Assessment – Essay 1 (1750 words) – 50%; Essay 2 (1750 words)

PR3950 – GLOBAL HEALTH POLICY

15 credits – Spring Term

Module Description – Since the turn of the millennium, global health has received dramatically increased attention, both as an emergent academic discipline and in terms of heightened policy salience. This module serves as an introduction to global health policy, synthesising material from a range of disciplines such as political economy, social epidemiology, and public health. It examines the constellation of health actors involved in policy formulation, including international organisations, governments, public-private partnerships, non-governmental organisations, philanthropic foundations, and commercial actors. It tackles key contemporary policy debates surrounding the health effects of—for instance—rising economic inequalities, global trade, and austerity politics. Students are also taken through approaches to effective policymaking encompassed in the planning, delivery, and evaluation of policy responses to global health issues. Throughout the module, emphasis is placed on how health policies, systems, and outcomes are influenced by the so-called ‘social determinants of health’—the political, economic, social, and cultural factors that operate at both national and transnational levels.

Module Leader – Dr Thomas Stubbs

Module Delivery – Weekly lectures and seminars

Assessment – Portfolio (1000 words) – 30%; Essay (2500 words) – 70%

PR3957 – POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT OF AFRICA

POL/IR

15 credits – Spring term

Module Description – This module examines theoretically and empirically the evolution of politics and statehood in sub-Saharan Africa since the 1960s. It examines the material institutions, resources and capacities of states, alongside ideas of political authority and the imagination of statehood. In particular, the module explores how states have been realised through a web of relationships, including Africans’ relations to the colonial state and its legacies, and the way relations between state elites and societies have evolved since independence. Many theoretical approaches have evolved to address issues in African politics - we’ll critically examine some of these. The module has a strong interdisciplinary element that introduces students to novels, art, and film produced by African authors, artists and directors (as well as music in some instances). Students will develop an understanding of how African literature, art, and film can enhance the way we think about politics and government. Part of the module assessment will involve the design of an academic poster where students will be encouraged to develop their interests in any aspect of African politics, literature, culture, art, and music relating to a given theme.

Module Leader – Dr Lyn Johnstone

Module Delivery – weekly lectures and seminars

Assessment – Essay (1750 words) – 50%; Academic Poster – 50%

What you can do to prepare for this module – Please read Chinua Achebe’s A Man of the People (Penguin Modern Classics). This is a short political novel by one of the most famous authors from the African continent. We’ll discuss the novel, alongside the political issues it raises, during the module.

PR3963 – GENDER AND NATIONALISM IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND SOUTH ASIA

15 credits – Spring term

Module Description – This module looks at the role of gender in nationalism during the colonial and post-colonial period across the Middle East and South Asia. Students are introduced to key readings that challenge our conventional understanding of gender in international relations and look at how empire influenced our understanding of gendered roles. The module then moves to specific locations and examinations the role of gender in specific political debates in Egypt, Turkey, Algeria, India, Palestine and Iran. The module will challenge students to think beyond conventional understandings of debates about the veil, honour killings and the role of women in violent conflicts. We will examine the ways in which women in particular, seek out zones of agency for themselves, within both the domestic and political spheres in the post-colonial period, and the challenges that arise from this development. We will examine whether revolutions and political movements created spaces in which women could carve out specific political spaces for themselves, and how and why those opportunities might have been lost. By the conclusion of the module students should not only be familiar with key debates on gender and nationalism in the Middle East and South Asia, but also be able to analyse current affairs pertaining to gender in the region, in a critical perspective.

Module Leader – Dr Antara Datta

Module Delivery – Weekly lectures and seminars

Assessment – Essay 1 (1750 words) – 50%; Essay 2 (1750 words) – 50%

PR3965 – POLITICS OF SOUTH ASIA

POL/IR

15 credits – Spring term

Module Description – The politics of South Asia – India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh – are central to understanding some of the themes at the core of modern politics: poverty and development, security and warfare, migration and transnationalism, decolonisation and postcolonialism, the international economy and globalisation. This module deals with the social and political development of these countries since independence from British rule in 1947. We will analyse issues including caste politics, the role of religious violence and the place of women in politics and society. Sources will come from a range of disciplines – politics and IR, history, sociology, anthropology, novels and films. We will study regional cooperation and conflict including the troubled relationship between India and Pakistan over Kashmir and their nuclear status. By the end of the module you will have a specialised understanding of the major social, economic and political developments in the region.

Module Leader – Dr Antara Datta

Module Delivery – Weekly lectures and seminars

Assessment – Essay 1 (1750 words) – 50%; Essay 2 (1750 words) – 50%

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