Undergraduate Politics And International Relations 2020-2021

Politics and International Relations impacts on all parts of our lives, with more specifically it being the study of ideas, events, institutions and choice. Studying these provides us with both knowledge of the world and also how it operates and functions. It also changes our perception of our surroundings and makes us aware of an ever changing global context. This course will introduce students to concepts and ideas that form the basis for the study of these disciplines while simultaneously also helping us understand our own place within a global context.

Politics and International Relations impacts on all parts of our lives, with more specifically it being the study of ideas, events, institutions and choice. Studying these provides us with both knowledge of the world and also how it operates and functions. It also changes our perception of our surroundings and makes us aware of an ever changing global context. This course will introduce students to concepts and ideas that form the basis for the study of these disciplines while simultaneously also helping us understand our own place within a global context.

Ideas and ideologies are core to teaching, learning and research in Politics and International Relations. Theoretical developments are at the forefront of academic debates within the discipline, demonstrated by the appearance of a number of new approaches as more traditional theories have struggled to account for an ever changing world. This course will introduce students to these with profound questions and struggles over identity, belonging, justice and rights underpinning these theoretical debates.

Equality and inequality are at the forefront of many debates within contemporary Politics and International Relations. This course will examine the historical context, theoretical underpinnings, and also key concepts which continue to uphold equality and inequality on a global scale.

This course introduces students to contemporary challenges to African security from societal, political, economic and environmental security sectors. As a result, students are introduced to the African state as a security actor and referent, leading approaches to African security and an overview of African security literature.  

Research methods and techniques are fundamental to the study of Politics and International Relations. In addition, they are highly desired by employers. This course will introduce students to a number of different research techniques which they will use throughout their studies at Honours and in particular their Honours dissertation. Moreover, they will also constitute a significant part of their graduate attributes.

The 2016 American Presidential election further intensified global interest in the politics of the USA. The course takes an in-depth look at the institutions, the actors and the issues that make American politics a fascinating subject for observers the world over.

The aim of this course is to study the relationship between the politics of nationalism and stability. It introduces students to the different theories of nationalism in addition to several case studies in different parts of the world. The course will cover nationalism in the Middle East, the Balkans, Scotland, South and East Asia.

This course provides an introduction to the political systems of the five Nordic countries Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. It will cover a wide range of topics, such as parties and party systems, elections and voting, welfare systems, security and international relations, policy making, parliaments and governments. It is not necessary to have any specific prior knowledge of the countries concerned, or to be able to read any of the Nordic languages. The course is suitable for anyone interested in Politics and/or IR, and the different themes covered will be linked to key theories in those disciplines. 

The course involves a detailed examination of Britain’s party system and the individual political parties.  Through this course, students should acquire a knowledge and understanding of a number of inter-related themes, including the role and democratic function of political parties in Britain, the development of party philosophies and how these relate to the realities of party policy, the organisation and distribution of power within Britain’s political parties, and elections and party campaigns.  In this way, the course examines the contested and changing nature of political debate in British politics.

International terrorism and counterterrorism are at the top of today’s agenda – of scholarly debates in International Relations (IR) as well as of policy discussions on international politics. The course focuses on both the (individual and/or structural) causes and different manifestations of terrorism and reviews the debates on how to respond to terrorism not only effectively but also without violating humanitarian principles and international law. The course is interdisciplinary and will provide both an overview on current research on international terrorism and counterterrorism in IR and also with in-depth knowledge of core aspects of the issue.

This course examines the ways in which societal understandings of the past shape political outcomes in the present. Introducing students to the concept of ‘Collective Memory’, the course engages with key theoretical and empirical debates in this emerging field of Politics and IR. It asks such questions as: How can narratives of the past reproduce or challenge contemporary power relations? To what extent do political actors and institutions engineer particular historical narratives that serve their current interests? To what extent are societal ideas of the past malleable? What is the relationship between ‘remembering’, ‘forgetting’ and political power?

Human Rights have long been at the epicentre of heated debates in contemporary global politics. This course will examine the theoretical and philosophical foundations of human rights within their historical context, along with the key controversies that shape current implementation and enforcement of the human rights regime in global politics. This course is suitable for specialist and non-specialist alike. No prior knowledge is required.

This course is a how-to-guide to enquiring research questions in politics and international relations using quantitative methods. We uncover lies and damned lies about statistics in reporting about politics and international relations and learn how to correctly analyse different kinds of quantitative data using statistical software package Stata. We will learn how to produce analyses that is replicable.

This course is about political communication - how media, politicians and citizens interact, and how parties run their election campaigns - in the digital age(s). Students will learn topics like how journalism is changing, who social media empower, whether echo chambers divide, how populists treat the media, who runs campaigns, how parties target citizens, and whether digital media jeopardise democracy. These themes are explored through cases from the UK and US, but also from across the globe.

This course affords students the opportunity to apply their knowledge/research skills in the field of Politics & International Relations to an individual piece of research, focusing on a topic selected by the student and approved by the Dissertation supervisor. Over the course of the project, with guidance from a supervising member of staff, the student will conduct a literature review of relevant material, select appropriate research methods, gather data where necessary, analyse data, and write a final analysis in the form of the Dissertation. Particular emphasis will be given to helping students develop their own skills.

The course draws on key debates in global political theory to examine the politics of the modern and contemporary Middle East. The course focuses first on theoretical debates (e.g. sovereignty, security and surveillance, revolution, democracy, debt, poverty), and then encourages the development of an analysis of those debates, their applicability, strengths, weaknesses and possible innovation by exploiring them through concrete problems in Middle East politics, from the region's exprience with colonialism and neocolonialism to the emergence of nationalism and 'political Islam', from the Palestinian-Israeli question to the Arab Uprisings.

The course aims to provide students with an understanding of how conflict between ethno-national groups impacts on international politics. It explores the responses of the international community to intra-state conflict. Following an initial exploration of the relevant theories, the course focuses on a number of key conflicts in international politics. What explains violent conflict between ethnic groups? What role do external actors play in peace processes? Should the international community intervene to stop violent conflict? What kind of institutional frameworks do external actors promote in post-conflict states?

This course investigates the international relations of science and technology, focusing on both the causes and effects of technology in terms of domestic and global governance. It examines issues such as ‘big science’ projects, technology transfer, the regulation of technology, competition in technology, and state policies toward technology using examples such as the nuclear industry, biotechnology, the internet, and others.

This course aims to introduce students to Maritime Security from a strategic perspective. As a result, students are introduced to maritime strategic thinkers, maritime (naval) power and contemporary issues in Maritime Security. This course is a multidisciplinary course that combines elements from Maritime and International Law, Environmental Politics and Security, Economics (Blue Economy) and International Relations. The senior honours variant of this course will include an element of Policy analysis (Maritime Security Policy).

This course will provide an in-depth analysis of a European party family which is growing in electoral support as well as political influence. Individual countries and parties will be covered, as well as key concepts such as fascism, racism, xenophobia and populism. Students will also be familiarised with different theoretical approaches explaining the growth of extreme right parties, and responses from the political environment. The course will be beneficial to future study and work in a wide range of areas and contexts, and has relevance to social and political challenges such as integration, internationalisation, globalisation and social cohesion.

This course affords students the opportunity to apply their knowledge and research skills in the broad field of Politics & International Relations to an individual piece of research, focusing on a topic selected by the student and approved by the Dissertation supervisor. Over the course of the project, with guidance from a supervising member of staff, the student will conduct a literature review of relevant material, select appropriate research methods, gather data where necessary, analyse data, and write a final analysis in the form of the Dissertation. Particular emphasis will be given to helping students develop their own skills.

Energy and Climate Politics is a course designed to increase understanding of how energy and climate politics affects conventional political analysis and vice versa. EU politics of energy, controversies surrounding electricity market reform in the UK, how problems of energy security and climate change interact are among the topics.
How contemporary political issues are illustrated by energy issues is an important subject for discussion - for example electricity policy and the debate about the referendum and devolution and the issue of how different political systems work in their policy consultation patterns are important topics in the course.

Taking a historical approach, the course will trace the key events that have led to current Political Islam (Islamism) concentrating on the ideology and practice of various movements and groups.  It will explore contemporary constructs of identity and political arrangements within Islamism and encourage critical analysis and independent thought in relation to the challenges Islamist poses to existing theoretical paradigms.  Areas to be explored will include: the political construct of early Islam, the Sunni/Shia divide, key ideologues, and contemporary movements such as the Muslim Brothers, Hamas and Hizbullah.

This course introduces advanced Politics and International Relations students to different ways of thinking about how the production of wealth and poverty serves to sediment economic, political and cultural hierarchies globally, especially how international practices depend on the re-production of these hierarchies for their legitimation.

Beginning with a reading of some classic texts on the sources of wealth and poverty, the course offers a close theoretical and historical investigation of the silences around questions of wealth and poverty in dominant understandings of the contemporary shape of the world, including questions of development, gender, security, and human rights.

The term 'dirty war' has gained currency within both popular and academic discourse, especially within the realm of conflict and terrorism. Popular and academic interest in the terms can be traced to the deployment of the tactics of 'dirty war' in a number of notorious cases by states seeking to quell internal conflict. This course will address the historical, social and political conditions in which 'dirty war' arose in specific contexts while analysing both its form and consequences.

This course offers a broad introduction to the changing nature of why countries become and stay democratic and to the problems of putting democracy into practice in today’s world. The module introduces to the process of conducting empirical research by introducing the nature, limitations and possible applications of different analytical tools, and research methods including simple quantitative analysis.

This course introduces students to key ideas utilised in the analysis of gender and politics. It engages students with scholarship from the fields of Political Science and International Relations, offering an in-depth analysis of cases ranging from the racial politics of the #MeToo campaign to discussion of gender quotas, the politics of gendered labour, body and emotions, the causes and implications of gendered violence, political apologies and peace.