POLITICS AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Dr H Weber

Pre-requisites

None

Notes

This is a level 1 International Relations course.

Overview

The course provides students with an outline of the structure of the international system and introduces them to certain key concepts such as state, nation, alliance, war etc. The course is in three sections covering concepts, the political power structure and the political aspects of the functioning of the international economy.
3 one-hour lectures per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per week.
1 two-hour examination (90%) and tutorial participation (10%).

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Dr M Dyer

Pre-requisites

None

Notes

This is a level 1 Politics course.

Overview

The course examines the political systems of the UK and the USA. The course will focus on constitutions, institutional structures and political parties.
3 one-hour lectures and 1 one-hour tutorial per week.
1 two-hour examination (90%) and tutorial participation (10%).

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Dr B Gruffydd Jones

Pre-requisites

None

Notes

This is a level 1 International Relations course.

Overview

Through the study of a linked series of issues and case studies, this course will introduce students to a range of developments in International Relations from a number of perspectives. To amplify the conceptual lessons that may be drawn from these studies, different theoretical perspectives will be explored in each instance.
3 one-hour lectures and 1 one-hour tutorial per week.
1 two-hour examination (60%), continuous assessment (30%) and tutorial participation (10%).

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Mr B Criddle

Pre-requisites

None

Notes

This is a level 1 Politics course.

Overview

The course examines the political systems of France and Germany. Attention is focused on the countries’ constitutions, institutional arrangements and political parties.
3 one-hour lectures and 1 one-hour tutorial per week.
1 two-hour examination (90%) and tutorial participation (10%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Professor T Salmon

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 2 or above who have passed either PI 1006 or PI 1507.

Notes

This is a level 2 International Relations course.

Overview

An examination of the role and functions of international organisations in Europe; the rise of regional integration and institutions in Europe; the theoretical perspectives on those developments; a study of the European Union - its structure, pillars and policy-processes, the power of its institutions, its relationship to member-states, and contemporary issues. Other European institutions including Council of Europe, NATO, WEU and OSCE are studied from a comparative perspective.
3 one-hour lectures per week and 1 one-hour seminar per week.
1 two-hour examination (60%), continuous assessment: long essay (30%) and tutorial participation (10%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr R Axtmann

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 2 or above who have passed either PI 1007 or PI 1508.

Notes

This is a Level 2 Politics course.

Overview

This course provides an overview of the major political ideologies that have shaped and continue to shape, politics past and present. Ideologies have histories, and this course discusses how ideologies originated and how and why they have changed over time.
3 one-hour lectures and 1 one-hour tutorial per week.
1 two-hour written examination (60%), continuous assessment (30%) tutorial participation (10%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Mr B Criddle

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 2 or above who have passed either PI 1007 or PI 1508.

Notes

This is a level 2 Politics course.

Overview

The course is an empirical study of the relationship between politics and society, involving a study of political socialisation, political participation, the media, political parties, interest groups and new social movements.
3 one-hour lectures and 1 one-hour tutorial per week.
1 two-hour examination (60%) and continuous assessment: long essay (30%) and tutorial participation (10%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr M Weber

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 2 or above who have passed either PI 1006 or PI 1507.

Notes

This is a level 2 International Relations course.

Overview

An introduction to the major perspectives that have evolved in the discipline of International Relations within a framework emphasising the importance of methodological issues to our understanding of the subject. The course will examine: ‘rationalist’ approaches to theory, including realism and neo-realism; liberal and marxist international political economy; and ‘reflectivist’ theories, including critical theory, social constructivism, post-modernism, feminism and environmentalism.
3 one-hour lectures per week and 1 two-hour tutorial per fortnight.
1 two-hour examination (60%) and continuous assessment: long essay (30%) and tutorial participation (10%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Professor D Arter

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3.

Notes

This is a Politics course.

Overview

The course is designed to provide a basic introduction to the political systems of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. The treatment will be comparative and theoretic and designed to strengthen students’ understanding of a relatively neglected region of the New Europe. Following a brief historical introduction, the focus of the course will be on the comparative analysis of the ‘political inputs’: political culture, elections, electoral systems, referenda, social cleavages and voting, parties, party system and interest groups. Drawing on the basic comparative politics literature, the course will also consider issues such as party system change and neo-corporatism in the Nordic context.
1 two-hour seminar per week.
1 two-hour examination (60%) and continuous assessment (40%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr G Kütting

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3.

Notes

This is an International Relations course.

Overview

The course will consider the growing literature on processes of globalization. It will consider 3 main aspects: economics, politics and social globalisation, stressing the connections between the processes and the different emphases they receive in the literature. It will critically assess the literature and traditional approaches to the domestic/international interface.
2 one-hour lectures and 1 two-hour seminar per week.
1 two-hour examination (60%) and continuous assessment (40%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr M Dyer

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3.

Notes

This is a Politics course.

Overview

The purpose of the course is to review the wide variety of electoral systems (including referendums) that exists today (first past the post, majority systems, STV, PR) and their classification in terms of inputs, objectives and consequences. Examples are drawn from specific countries and contexts.
1 one-hour lecture and 1 one-hour seminar per week.
1 two-hour examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Professor M Sheehan

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3.

Notes

This is an International Relations course.

Overview

Salient concepts of security and conflict will be examined within a broad historical context. This will be complemented by an assessment of the contribution of notable thinkers from classical to contemporary times. Within this framework the utility of practical instruments of international security such as alliance, limited war, deterrence, collective security, and military intervention will be considered, as will selected contemporary national security policies.
3 one-hour lectures and 1 one-hour seminar per week.
1 three-hour examination (60%) and continuous assessment (40%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr W A Maloney

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3.

Notes

This is a compulsory Junior Honours course for Honours candidates in Politics and/or International Relations.

Overview

The course examines several (contested) key concepts, and important theoretical and methodological approaches in political science and international relations (e.g. the nature of sovereignty, regime theory and global governance, rational choice theory, typologizing party systems, quantitative analysis etc).
3 one-hour lectures per week and 8 one-hour seminars.
1 two-hour written examination (60%) and continuous assessment (40%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Ms E Clarence

Pre-requisites

Available only to Junior Honours students.

Overview

This course introduces major concepts in the public policy literature and describes (and assesses) the significant changes in the organisation of British Central Government - most importantly Departmental agencies.
1 two-hour lecture per week and 1 two-hour seminar.
1 three-hour examination (60%) and continuous assessment (40%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Professor D Arter

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3.

Notes

This is either a Politics or International Relations course.

Overview

The course will introduce students to the foreign policies of the Nordic countries since the First World War, discuss their changing attitudes towards regional co-operation and European integration and consider their role in the New Europe of the post-Cold War era. Although helpful, background knowledge of the Nordic countries is not essential.
1 two-hour lecture and one tutorial per week.
1 two-hour examination (60%) and continuous assessment (40%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Professor T Salmon

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3.

Notes

This is a course in both Politics and International Relations.

Overview

The module examines the EU Policy process from the perspective of multi-level governance, contrasting it with inter-governmentalism. It focuses on the policy networks involved in different issues, explores several policy frameworks and networks in various issues, and examines how national and sub-national administrations operate within this policy-making environment.
1 two-hour lecture and 1 two-hour seminar per week.
1 three-hour examination (60%) and continuous assessment (40%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr W Maloney

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3.

Notes

This is a Politics course.

Overview

This course provides an introduction to some of the broad theoretical and conceptual challenges and problems involved in political analysis. It will focus especially on conceptual approaches that derive from an emphasis upon empirical analysis and scientific procedures. The themes covered will relate to theoretical notions of the state and democracy.
5 one-hour lectures; 1 one-hour seminar per fortnight.
1 two-hour examination (60%) and continuous assessment (40%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Ms L Stevenson

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3.

Notes

This is a Politics course.

Overview

The course will examine Politics in Scotland in a comparative context. It will consider Scotland as a ‘stateless nation’ within a pluri-nationalist state. Topics covered will include class and nationality, the rise of nationalism, political parties, Scottish government, the devolution issue and the implications of the Scottish Parliament.
1 two-hour seminar per week (or as may be arranged).
1 two-hour examination (60%) and continuous assessment (40%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr B Gruffydd Jones

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3.

Notes

This is an International Relations course.

Overview

The first part of the course examines Africa in the historical development of the modern global political economy, from the transatlantic slave trade to the present. The second part of the course looks at contemporary issues in Africa, such as poverty, structural adjustment and neo-liberal reform, conflict, human rights. Throughout the course contending perspectives and interpretations of Africa’s politics and international relations will be considered, paying attention to questions of Eurocentricity, and the writings of African scholars.

2 one-hour lectures and 1 two-hour seminar per week.

1 three-hour examination (60%) and continuous assessment (40%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr R Axtmann

Pre-requisites

Available only to Senior Honours students.

Notes

This is a Politics course. This course is not available in 2003/04.

Overview

This course asks: What is globalisation and how should it be conceptualised? Is globalisation associated with the demise, the resurgence or the transformation of state power? What limits does globalisation impose to politics? How does globalisation affect democratic rule?
1 two-hour seminar per week.
1 two-hour written examination (100%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr G Kütting

Pre-requisites

Available only to Senior Honours students.

Notes

This is a Senior Honours International Relations course. This course should not be taken by students who have already completed PI 3537.

Overview

This course will analyse the special role of environmental issues in the theoretical discourses and practical applications of International Relations. It will consider the special status of environmental degradation in international affairs from a variety or perspectives and follow up this analysis with case studies of particular environmental problems.
1 two-hour seminar per week.
1 two-hour written examination (60%) and continuous assessment (40%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Professor M Sheehan

Pre-requisites

Available only to Senior Honours students.

Overview

The course would aim to analyse the subject at two levels of analysis, the state level and that of the international system. Historical data would be used to bring out the way in which states have used military power to further their foreign policy objectives over time and how these interactions have contributed to the evolution of the international system into its current form. The ideas of the most influential military thinkers will be examined, culminating in an analysis of contemporary strategic thought in the nuclear age.
1 one-hour lecture and 1 one-hour tutorial per week.
1 two-hour examination (60%) and continuous assessment (40%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr M Weber

Pre-requisites

Available only to Senior Honours students.

Overview

The discipline of International relations has been shaped significantly by debates over questions of ontology, epistemology, and methodology. In particular prominent fashion, these themes have underpinned the ongiong debate in International Relations Theory between 'rationalists' and 'reflectivists'. Reflectivist positions are now routinely summarised in IR as 'critical theory'. The aim of this course is to explore the potential and limitations of different approaches in Critical International Theory, by reconstructing their intellectual heritage, philosophical underpinnings, and methodological choices, as well as by reviewing their explanatory and interpretive scopes and claims. Constructivism (in different variants), Normative Theory, Post-stracturalism, Open Marxism, Gramscian theory, and Critical Theory (Frankfurt School) will be central themes of this course.
We will consider to what extent it is plausible to use the general label of 'critical theory' for such a variety of approaches, which do not always seem to be compatible. Using a selected set of such case studies, different approaches will be compared and analysed.
1 one-hour lecture and 1 hour tutorial per week.
1 two-hour written examination (60%) and essay (40%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Professor G Jordan

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 4. Not available to students who have completed PI 3527.

Notes

This is a Politics course.

Overview

The course will look at the creation (and maintenance) of interest groups and, in particular, the debate over Olson’s The Logic of Collective Action. It will look at the state/societies literature that addresses the participation of interests in policy making.
1 two-hour seminar per week.
1 two-hour examination (100%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr A Widfeldt

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 4. Not available to students who have completed PI 3029.

Notes

This is a Politics course.

Overview

The course will assess the development of extreme right, racist and right wing populist parties and movements in Western Europe during the post-war period. It will cover the theoretical aspects of Fascism, racism and populism. It will also study the rise of the radical right, and go through various explanations behind this development. Factors behind voting for radical right parties will be studied, as well as the political effects of their entry into the political system. The course is comparative. Most West European countries will be covered to some extent, but there will be some emphasis on Scandinavia, Germany, Italy, France and Britain.
1 two-hour lecture and 1 two-hour seminar per fortnight.
1 two-hour examination (60%) and continuous assessment (40%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr R Axtmann

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 4. Not available to students who have completed PI 3034.

Notes

This is a Politics course.

Overview

This course provides an introduction to central accounts of democracy from classical Greece to the present and a critical discussion of what democracy should mean today. Topics discussed are: citizenship, civil society, multiculturalism and cosmopolitan democracy.
1 two-hour seminar per week.
1 two-hour written examination (100%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr L Bennie

Pre-requisites

Available only to Senior Honours students.

Notes

This is a Senior Honours option in Politics.

Overview

The course aims to develop an understanding of Britain’s political party system with a focus on the Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green parties. The course will cover four broad areas. First, party ideology and its relationship with party policy. Second, the nature of party support. Third, membership, activism and leadership, involving an analysis of party organisation. Finally, the course will assess parties in government by considering their impact on public policy in Britain. Students will be asked to consider the following questions. Do Britain’s parties offer radically different policy alternatives? What do the voters want from the parties? How different are party structures? Is party rhetoric reflected in accomplishment? In essence, do parties matter?
1 two-hour lecture/seminar per week.
1 two-hour examination (60%) and continuous assessment (40%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr B Gruffydd Jones

Pre-requisites

Available only to Senior Honours students.

Notes

This is a Senior Honours option in international relations.

Overview

This course examines both theories and concrete histories of imperialism. What at the various theories of imperialism, and to what extent do they help to shed light on contemporary features of international relations and world order? The course begins by examining theories of imperialism as a way of explaining the construction of world order. Their relevance and limitations are then explored through examination of concrete forms of imperialism spanning the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. This includes consideration of economic, political and cultural expressions of imperialism. As the twenty-first century begins to unfold are we witnessing the emergence of a new imperialism?

1 two-hour seminar per week.

1 two-hour examination (60%) and continuous assessment (40%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Professor T Salmon

Pre-requisites

Available only to Senior Honours students.

Notes

This is a Senior Honours option in International Relations.

Overview

Since 1989 the nature of security and European security has led to a questioning of old assumptions. This module will re-examine from the perspective of the late 1990s the concepts of security and alliance. It will then examine the structures of the contemporary European security architecture, and the position of the United States, Russia, the UK, France, Federal Republic of Germany, Poland and Ireland, towards that structure.
1 one-hour lecture per week, 9 one-hour seminars.
1 two-hour examination (60%) and continuous assessment (40%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Professor M Sheehan

Pre-requisites

Available only to Senior Honours students.

Overview

Students will prepare and present, under the supervision of a member of staff, a dissertation on a topic approved by the Department.
Dissertation, 10,000 - 12,000 words in length (100%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Professor M Sheehan

Pre-requisites

Notes

This is a Senior Honours option in International Relations.

Overview

The course examines the theoretical literature on arms control and disarmament before proceeding to a series of case studies. It examines both issue areas such as chemical weapons, nuclear proliferation and conventional forces in Europe, as well as the political aspects of arms control bargaining and negotiation, the weapons development process, the problem of verifying agreements and the economic and strategic implications of particular treaties.
1 two-hour seminar per week.
1 two-hour examination (60%) and continuous assessment (40%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Mr B Criddle

Pre-requisites

Available only to Senior Honours students.

Notes

This is a Senior Honours option in Politics.

Overview

An examination of the French party system and parties through a study of the major political formations (PC, PS, UDF, RPR, FND), in terms of history, doctrine, intra-party relations, organisational structures, factionalism, electoral strategies and voting behaviour.
1 two-hour seminar per week.
1 two-hour examination (60%) and continuous assessment (40%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr L Bennie

Pre-requisites

Available only to Senior Honours students.

Notes

This is a Senior Honours Politics option.

Overview

This course will examine green political ideas and their impact. It will examine the conceptual meanings of ecologism and environmentalism and apply this knowledge to various aspects of contemporary British politics and political behaviour, including public opinion, consumer behaviour, group activity, voting behaviour, party politics and policy outcomes.
1 two-hour seminar per week.
1 two-hour written examination (60%) and continuous assessment (40%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr M Dyer

Pre-requisites

Available only to Senior Honours students.

Notes

This is a Politics course.

Overview

The purpose of this course is to account for the evolution of the Scottish electoral system since the Reform Act of 1832, and the interaction between its formal features and the social context in which it has operated. Particular reference is made to the politics of parliamentary representation: styles of campaigning, the development of the political parties, methods of selection and characteristics of Scottish Members of Parliament, and voter choice. There is also a contemporary focus on research in to the decline of Unionism/Conservatism, the rise of Scottish Nationalism, surveys of voter opinion, and the consequences of devolution for the Westminster and Edinburgh systems of representation.
1 two-hour seminar per week.
1 two-hour examination (100%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr M Weber

Pre-requisites

Available only to Senior Honours students.

Notes

This is a Senior Honours International Relations course.

Overview

Politics in the global arena is shaped significantly by the multiplicity of collective identities and cultural frameworks. As globalisation and the aspects of global integration associated with its advance, questions of culture and identity have gained renewed pertinence and relevance. In this course, we will engage with the debates about the resurgence of identity politics, trace their conceptual and normative underpinnings, and consider the pratical political implications of boundaries of identity and culture. Among the examples we will look at are, for instance, global networks and local political agendas of indigenous peoples spanning from Australian Aboriginal Organisations to the North American ‘First Nations’.
We will discuss changing conceptions of intercultural dialogue, the role of religious identities in shaping global politics, and the implications of identity politics for an international system predicated on modern conceptions of the state.
1 one-hour lecture and 1 one-hour tutorial per week.
1 two-hour written examination (60%) and continuous assessment (40%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr A Widfeldt

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 4.

Notes

This is a Politics course.

Overview

The course examines the changing nature and significance of the organisation of political parties in Western Europe. The focus is on party finance, membership, decision-making structures and professionalisation. The parties’ relation to the state and civil society is addressed.
1 two-hour lecture and 1 two-hour seminar per fortnight.
1 two-hour examination (60%) and continuous assessment (40%).