Final Year, Component 05

Politics is about people. Everything – angry tweeting, constitutional design, environmental lobbying, states going to war – boils down to the opinions, decisions and behaviour of individuals, and understanding those is the territory of psychology. Political psychology is a growing and thriving subfield, to which this module provides a wide-ranging introduction.

What are the challenges to democracy in Latin America and how do they prevent democratic consolidation? Gain an introduction to the politics of Latin America and explore the significant challenges to democratic consolidation throughout the region. This module will enable you to be better prepared to tackle complex and important political, economic, and social questions in this dynamic region of the world.

War narratives and studies of political violence have traditionally focused on the roles and actions of men. Women have typically been framed as innocent bystanders and victims. Yet, women often actively participate in civil wars and in terrorist campaigns, either as civilian supporters of these groups or as armed fighters. In addition to acknowledging the profound impact that civil conflicts have on women, this course explores the many important roles that women often play in terrorist and rebel organizations and examines women's potential contributions to post-war peace building and conflict resolution. The objective of the course is that you will gain a better understanding of the roles women play in the production and resolution of political violence and the manner in which gender and gender attitudes influence war and armed conflict.

In this module, you’ll gain an introduction to the domestic politics of Israel in a comparative perspective, including issues of internal cultural diversity, religion and politics, fragmentation of the political party system, and coalition governance. You’ll explore political institutions, parties, and voting behaviour in Israel, and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the state of Israel as a democratic country, understand the Israeli political structure, and discuss the electoral arena.

Study one of the most important contemporary societal and political issues that require urgent policy action: climate change. You consider the state of the natural environment and growing concerns related to the climate crisis. You will also explore environmental and climate policies, regarding how they shape and are shaped by individual attitudes, social movements, institutions, parties and international diplomacy.

This module explores key elements of international environmental politics, the actors, means of cooperation, and its consequences. A lot of emphasis is given to the role of international environmental institutions as major actors of international environmental politics. In addition, we will explore climate change and some of its major consequences in international relations, namely, conflict and migration. The module also offers the opportunity to students to learn how to write a policy brief and a policy report. Such transferrable skills are highly demanded in the job market.

This module offers you an introduction to the theory and practice of quantitative data analysis techniques. You will also be introduced to the computer package R, which is widely used by academics and practitioners for the analysis of quantitative data. As the work becomes more challenging, the relevance of the techniques to modern social science research becomes more apparent.   

In this module you focus on conflict resolution in inter- and intra-state issues. You gain experience in the practical as well as in the theoretical aspects of negotiation and mediation, exploring the applicability of various tools and techniques in problem-solving real cases of international conflict, and making use of negotiation and mediation techniques in role playing exercises and other types of simulations.

The course covers topics in comparative political economy, including the relationship between domestic politics, domestic economic conditions and markets, and government economic policy. The goals of the course are to (a) introduce students to contemporary scholarly research on comparative political economy topics, (b) introduce students to strategic models in political science using substantive applications, and (c) stimulate students to form original ideas for promising research projects in contemporary comparative political economy.

This module introduces historical and contemporary traditions within political theory, and applies these theories to pressing policy debates.

In this module you gain an overview of the logic of social science research designs that includes the goals, theories and strategies of social science research, and develop a research agenda for potential use as publication in a peer reviewed journal, MA or PhD dissertation.

This module introduces you to key concepts and theoretical approaches to studying and analysing public policy as well as applying these concepts and approaches to real-world public policy areas. This includes the economic, theoretical and normative foundations for public policies, theories of the public policy process and the actors and institutions involved in this process as well as approaches to studying the politics and political dilemmas regarding public policy. You will also be introduced and apply these concepts to real-world policy areas including education, pollution and taxation.

The module “The Politics of Public Policy” provides a comprehensive overview of the key players and institutions that shape the policy-making process. You will study theories and evidence surrounding the creation of policies and explore the impact of political actors, institutions, and strategies on the formation and implementation of public policy. Through the examination of advocacy coalitions, policy networks, and the influence of ideas, beliefs, and interests, you will gain a deeper understanding of the relationships between state and private actors and the role of interest intermediation and lobbying in shaping public policy. The course also focuses on the interactions between legislative and executive branches of government, as well as the influence of international institutions and policy diffusion beyond the nation state. By the end of the course, you will have a well-rounded knowledge of the complex and dynamic politics of public policy and will be able to analyse specific policy processes using the tools and approaches covered in the module.

The world of violent non-state actors has received growing attention among academics and policy circles. Given the rise of groups such as the Islamic State, and criminal organisations fighting in Mexico and other locations, the focus on violent non-state actors has become increasingly important. This module focuses on the political science literature on violent non-state actors. We start with a conceptual approach, considering why some groups fit into categories such as "insurgent" while others perhaps fit better in another category such as "terrorist" or "mafia". It also examines why non-state actors resort to violence and crime, what tactics and strategies they use, how they fund their existence, how they undermine the state and what can be done to counter the instability they cause. The module will examine the objectives of these organizations, what their mobilization strategies are and what often constitutes their support base. The module will give a thorough overview of not only the world of violent non-state actors but also the political, economic, geographical and regional environments which help to explain their strength.

This module examines the institutions that govern international relations. It is designed around the following question: Do international institutions promote international cooperation? In particular, the module analyses how formal and informal international institutions can help to overcome the main challenges for international cooperation and promote global governance.

In this module you focus on conflict resolution in inter- and intra-state issues. You gain experience in the practical as well as in the theoretical aspects of negotiation and mediation, exploring the applicability of various tools and techniques in problem-solving real cases of international conflict, and making use of negotiation and mediation techniques in role playing exercises and other types of simulations.

The course covers topics in international political economy, including the relationship between domestic politics, international economic conditions and markets, and government economic policy. The goals of the course are to (a) introduce students to contemporary scholarly research on international political economy topics, (b) introduce students to strategic models in political science using substantive applications, and (c) stimulate students to form original ideas for promising quantitative research projects in contemporary international political economy.

This module offers you an introduction to the theory and practice of quantitative data analysis techniques. You will also be introduced to the computer package R, which is widely used by academics and practitioners for the analysis of quantitative data. As the work becomes more challenging, the relevance of the techniques to modern social science research becomes more apparent.

The objective of this module is to provide a better understanding of democratic political processes in Europe. The first part will be devoted to studying the origins of party systems, the impact of different electoral systems on party competition, and linkages between citizens and politicians in West and East European countries. In the second part, we will analyse the rise of populist and extremist parties, democratic backsliding, and institutional mechanisms that constrain political officials. The module also provides an accessible introduction to research design and methods that political scientists have used to address these topics. By the end of the course students will have a sound knowledge of contemporary European politics and understand the advantages and limitations of comparative research. Specifically, participants will become familiar with important academic debates in political party behaviour, the rise of extremism, democratic backsliding, and accountability mechanisms. Students are encouraged to critically assess the validity of conflicting theoretical claims and arguments on the basis of appropriate empirical evidence. The module will also help students hone their analytical and writing skills. By composing short response papers, a grant application, an essay, and peer review comments, students learn how to tailor their writing to different audiences.

This module introduces the fundamental concepts and logics of poststructuralist political theory, drawing on post-Marxism, deconstruction, structural linguistics and psychoanalytic theory. Students are invited to engage with contemporary debates in critical political theory in order to better probe and grasp the role that discourse and ideology play in our understanding of the contemporary world.

This module introduces key ideas associated with political discourse theory, situating this within the broader field of critical political theory. It critically engages with the conceptual frameworks and presuppositions associated with the work of scholars in critical political and social theory who draw on a wide range of sources, including psychoanalysis, post-marxism, and contemporary continental philosophy. Participants unpack the visions they project and evaluate their prospects for effective and sustained political action and ideological critique in a time of poly-crisis (economic, political, and ecological crises, among others).

In this module we will explore the main theoretical developments since Freud, with emphasis on the British school. Amongst the authors studied you will find: Sandor Ferenczi, Anna Freud, Melanie Klein, Wilfred Bion, Donald Winnicott, John Bowlby, Michael Balint, Jacques Lacan, and Heinz Kohut. The aim of the module is to understand the developments while comparing different analytic and psychoanalytic schools.

This module is designed to explore the relationship between psychosocial studies and psychoanalysis. You’ll be introduced to a range of significant psychoanalytic ideas, not only on their own as abstract theory, but also through their use in various fields, clinical and nonclinical. Such an approach will help you understand the utility and limitations of psychoanalytic ideas more deeply and critically.

What is politics (is it about justice or power)? How does political philosophy relate to real politics? What are competing approaches in contemporary philosophy? What are the strengths and weaknesses of these approaches?

Since the financial crisis of 2008, the social consequences, moral status, and even long-term viability of capitalism have come under renewed scrutiny. Does it foster economic growth and protect individual freedom, as its proponents claim? Or is it a destructive system out of control, as its detractors argue? Should the market be given even freer rein? Or should capitalism be reformed and restricted? Or should it be abolished and replaced altogether? And, if so, what would replace it?

What is ‘critical theory’? At one level, it is a tradition that can be traced back to ‘Frankfurt School’ thinkers such as Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer. But the term has also come to be used more broadly, to encompass independent traditions of thought such as (certain strands within) feminism, anti-racism, post-colonialism and queer theory. This course aims to give a ‘critical’ introduction to critical theory, looking beyond the canon in order to come to a deeper understanding of critical theory and its limits.

Discover what is probably the most influential and significant tradition of critical social philosophy to have emerged within twentieth-century European philosophy: The Frankfurt School. The module takes either the form of concentrating on some of the leading figures (such as Adorno and Horkheimer, or Habermas, or Honneth), or focusing on specific themes such as alienation, reification, social pathology, progress, capitalism or social freedom. The exact focus will vary from year to year.

How has colonialism created human rights problems, now and in the past? And what part did mandates for free markets, industrialism and state sovereignty play? Study thinkers like Cesaire, Fanon, Arendt, Agamben and Taussig. Discuss specific international situations like Palestine, forced removal of Aboriginal children and the war on terror. This module has been designed to enable students to integrate their subject knowledge with an understanding of sustainable development, acquiring the skills and competencies essential for addressing the urgent sustainability challenges of the 21st century.

What are the principles of modern survey design? And what is best practice? Explore the fundamentals of survey design and the concept of survey error. Analyse different types of design and modes of data collection, drawing on real-life examples. Build the transferable study skills required to conduct professional surveys. As part of this module, you're required to undertake a 10-day work placement. If you're placement is in London, your travel costs will be paid for by the company. Outside of London, you may incur associated travel costs.

How do you deal with sampling error? What problems arise from non-response errors? And can you reduce such errors? Examine methods for mitigating non-responses errors and understand the key issues in managing data and survey processes, while gaining practical experience of designing samples.

Want to gain practical experience in the day-to-day running of a large-scale survey research project? This module will provide you with the opportunity to observe the work of survey organisations in practice and apply the theoretical knowledge gained, preparing you for employment as survey professionals or for postgraduate research work.

Throughout the module, we will discuss international theories of migration and social integration, examine migration and refugee policies in a comparative perspective, the difference between statistical and taste-based discrimination, and the perpetuation of bias, how we gain an understanding of labour market integration; and the debates surrounding migration, prostitution and sex work.