Politics with International Relations

The module critically explores techniques and underlying debates relating to research methodology, and directly provide students with concrete tools necessary to conduct independent research. Semester one provides students with an overview of research methods employed in the Social Sciences, including basic quantitative and qualitative methods. Semester two gives students an opportunity to undertake independent research. The exact nature of the project will be negotiated with a tutor, with the outcome being an extended essay. There will be a minimum of four supervisory tutorials between the student and tutor. The module ultimately guides students towards an independent research proposal and prepares them for the dissertation in their final year. 

This module focuses on the key underpinnings of international institutions and the on-going debates that seek to reform them. Including the United Nations and other post-WWII institutions, the module covers a range of international institutions and non-government organisations that have a role in politics and global studies. The module will assess the ideology behind international institutions and their relationship with the state (and other actors) and the degree of cooperation, collaboration and harmonisation (or otherwise) that exists between various bodies in a global setting. This module also considers governance in terms of national policymaking, examining the nature of foreign policy decisions, including the process of decision-making and the actual foreign policies pursued by state actors. A range contemporary and classic case-study examples are explored to illustrate the role of individual leaders, the interplay of domestic and international politics, regional and international influences and key debates in the field.  

The first part of this module introduces the core philosophies, theories and concepts surrounding political leadership and political communication. Contemporary leaders are used as case studies to draw out both the challenges of leadership and the strategies used to gain and sustain power. This module examines current debates, such as the growing trend of media control in democratic and autocratic systems, the problems of gender and leadership, the presidentialization of European politics, the rise of far-right populism, the fragility of personalistic leadership and state leadership on the global stage. The second part of this module applies these concepts through an examination of the American Presidency since 1945, providing analysis of the development of the office through the various Presidencies to the present day. The includes issues such as presidential personality, campaigning, public opinion, relations with Congress, recurrent domestic issues, national security and war, and other wider socio-cultural-political affairs. 

In Semester 1, students can choose ONE of the following options:

• Middle Eastern and North African Politics
  • This module introduces students to a number of the most significant issues in the political and religious agendas of the contemporary Near and Middle East. Utilising a variety of material, this course provides a solid grounding in the more conspicuous concerns that affect the region at the start of the Twenty-First Century. Critical interpretation of the issues under consideration is encouraged through the close reading of primary sources
• Work Placement
  • This module introduces students to a number of the most significant issues in the political and religious agendas of the contemporary Near and Middle East. Utilising a variety of material, this course provides a solid grounding in the more conspicuous concerns that affect the region at the start of the Twenty-First Century. Critical interpretation of the issues under consideration is encouraged through the close reading of primary sources

In Semester 2, students can choose ONE of the following options:

• Liberty and Extremism
  • This module examines the meaning of liberty, paying particular attention to issues posed by historic tensions between the individual (or small groups that represent such rights) and the larger collective, both social and political.  Case studies will examine recent issues, which may include: gun control, abortion, voting rights, prison system, “hate” groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan; and the War on Terror and issues of liberty during wartime. 
• Gender, Sexual Violence and Politics
  • This module investigates a wide range of approaches to gender and sexuality studies such as within a theoretical, social, cultural, political and historical field.  Within this remit the module challenges current understandings of gender and sexuality by interrogating cultural identities of gender and the production of power systems and gender hierarchy. This module will also involve a cross-cultural comparison of these understandings and power systems on an international scale. 

This is a dissertation of between 8,000 and 10,000 words on a subject of the students’ choice (subject to approval). Study is primarily student-directed, with regular supervision supplied by tutors. This is an Extended Independent Study module. 

This module examines the meanings, interpretations and applications of populism and, separately, and relatedly of conservatism as political philosophies, ideologies and modes of governance, from its modern incarnation in the late nineteenth century and late eighteenth century respectively, to the present day. Recent years have seen a growth in “populist” politics: reacting to the perception that national and international governance is shaped by, and for the benefit of, an out of touch “international elite”. This module, in the first semester, will examine the causes of populism and its history as a political force, exploring links between identity and populism, and their common roots. Examples of populism will be drawn, principally, but not exclusively, from the USA, and Europe, notably the UK, while the second semester focuses principally on conservatism’s incarnations and development in the United States and Great Britain as a means of drawing upon comparative political study.

This module identifies, analyses and challenges key concepts, themes and theories relating to resource competition and development in the Global South. The first part of this module introduces the Global South from a geographical and human security perspective, considering pressing issues relating to poverty, hunger, health and climate change. The focus is on the nature of development problems, policy solutions but also the effectiveness of policy. The second part of this module focuses on the nexus between political power and natural resource competition in a number of regional settings, including Africa, Central Asia, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. The primary focus is on food, water and oil scarcity as well as the impact of resource politics on foreign policy, regional dynamics and wider international relations. 

In Semester 1, students can choose ONE of the following options:

• Middle East and North African Politics
  • This module introduces students to a number of the most significant issues in the political and religious agendas of the contemporary Near and Middle East. Utilising a variety of material, this course provides a solid grounding in the more conspicuous concerns that affect the region at the start of the Twenty-First Century. Critical interpretation of the issues under consideration is encouraged through the close reading of primary sources.
• Social Movements and Collective Action 
  • The emergence of new forms of 21st century protests such as the Arab Spring, the Occupy movement and Black Lives Matter have highlighted the significance of social media and digital technologies for the operation of social movements. While social movements have long been global and international in their nature, activists’ strategic use of technology such as Twitter and Facebook have brought campaigns to new global audiences and generated networks of transnational solidarity. This module introduces students to the study of social movements and protest around the world. Drawing on structural and cultural social movement theories, as well as theories of globalisation and the network society, it examines the historical, social, cultural, and political foundations of 20th and 21st century social movements. Drawing on contemporary examples of activism, it considers how new forms of technology help to challenge, or reinforce, existing inequalities and exclusions from the public and political spheres. 

In Semester 2, students can choose ONE of the following options:

• Russian Foreign Policy
  • This module examines the nature of Russian foreign and security policy by considering a range of factors that, to varying extents, determine Russia’s relations with the rest of the world. These influences include historical legacies from the Soviet and pre-Soviet periods, cultural influences, ideological influences and the role of both geo-politics and geo-economics in shaping relations with other actors in the international system. This module provides students with the tools to critically assess Russia’s (often) competing foreign and security policies with a range of actors, including the ‘West’ (the EU and US), rising powers (in particular China, Brazil, India), traditional partners (Cuba, North Korea and Syria) and states in Russia’s so-called ‘near abroad’ (former Soviet states). This module also explores Russia’s own perception of its place in a fast-changing international system, where traditional foreign and security policy concerns compete with new priorities. 

• US Foreign Policy
  • United States’ foreign policy has far-reaching impact and global ramifications. The contemporary position of the US as the “world’s only superpower”, and her dominance in terms of world trade, military capacity, and cultural output, means that the foreign policy decisions of the US government are hugely consequential and worthy of study. This module will seek to explain how and why these decisions are made by introducing the key foreign policy concepts and ideological positions present in the US polity, as well as charting the institutions and offices under whose authority it falls to make them. Expanding on this, an analysis will be made of extra-governmental institutions, such as the media and its impact on policy. Students will gain an understanding of the processes involved in formulating America’s foreign policy, the extent of its impact in the arena of international relations, and the objectives and motivations that drive it.