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.

This module focuses on the role of women in diverse global leadership positions, including how gender roles and norms have affected the integration and advancement of women in business and governmental organizations. Following an introduction to theories and literature of gender and leadership roles, you will address the empirical record of gender issues in the business, government and international security realms. You will conclude with an evaluation of whether and how gendered leadership leads to distinct policy outcomes and political deliberative processes.

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.

This module explores the relation between gender and political theory by focusing on the work of feminist theorists, the critiques they have developed of mainstream understandings of key political concepts, and how they have sought to 'en-gender' those concepts. Themes may include the public/private divide, equality, intersectionality, democracy, power, rights, justice.

Theories of justice are still being worked on and developed today. You question contemporary theories of justice through applying them to some of the most controversial issues dominating contemporary politics.

International migration is at the forefront of academic and policy discussions. You'll explore the multiple dimensions of human development linked to international migration, and the determinants and dynamics of international migration and its economic and social effects on both sending and receiving countries.

Study one of the most important contemporary aspects of political action: the natural environment. You consider the state of the environment and possible paths along which it might change, before exploring environmental policies from the level of individual values to the environmental movement to political parties, and finally to the level of international affairs.

This module provides a better understanding of democratic political and economic processes in Europe. In the first part, you will compare representative democracy with direct democracy instruments and analyse under what circumstances referendums are suitable for making political decisions. As corruption is a perpetual threat for democracies, you will examine what types of corruption are prevalent in Europe, how they are measured, and which accountability mechanisms have proved effective at curbing corrupt behaviour. You will then examine the institutional foundations of welfare-capitalism, analysing how coordinated and liberal capitalism types responded to challenges such as globalisation and deindustrialization. The second part of the module is devoted to studying the power-sharing arrangements in the European Union. In this context, you will examine under what circumstances member states may decide to delegate powers to the EU level or alternatively re-nationalize supranational powers. The module also provides an accessible introduction to research design and methods that political scientists have used to address these topics.

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.   

Master the quantitative methods that are essential for testing hypotheses. You will study hypothesis testing, linear regression models, and more advanced regression models ubiquitous in political science, accompanied by data science and R programming skills.

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 bridges together topics in international relations, comparative political economy, and economics. The goals of the course are to (a) introduce students to contemporary scholarly research on 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 the area of contemporary political economy. 

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

Evaluate a variety of foundational questions in the philosophy of science about how and to what extent we can obtain certain, value-free knowledge and make laws about the social world. Explore the methodology of normative political theory and the role and importance of ideals and utopias in political thinking.

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.

You replicate an already published paper to better understand the details of the empirical analysis, assess its robustness, and develop the paper in a new direction by changing one element. For example, include a new control variable, introduce an interaction term, or extend the time period or the sample size.

On this module you explore a variety of questions concerning public opinion: How do citizens acquire information and convert it into opinions? Can politicians and the media influence public opinion and if so, how? How do we select representative samples in order to understand what the public really thinks? How do we measure opinion accurately? What type of measurement scales are available to help us do this?

This module introduces principles and applications of the electronic storage, structuring, manipulation, transformation, extraction, and dissemination of data. In the age of "Big Data", the vast amount of data is generated in each day, and if equipped with a right set of skills, computational social scientists can obtain valuable insights only attainable through a data-driven approach. This module is aimed to provide an opportunity for learning such skills through programming in Python.

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.

This module introduces the main political arenas and actors that shape public policy in democratic states and beyond. You will analyse and debate political conflicts around policymaking in the core arenas of democratic government including elections, parliaments, governments, the bureaucracy, and the judicial system. You will examine the public policy role of interest groups and civil society and explore policymaking beyond and outside of formal governmental arenas as well as in non-democratic states.

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. We will apply both the theories and methods of psychology to the behaviour of a range of political actors – voters, leaders, protestors, even terrorists. This is a practical as well as a theoretical module, with heavy emphasis on how we learn about political psychology and with every student designing – and perhaps in their dissertation executing – a research project in the field.

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.

This module exposes you to different political theories and approaches within the field of conflict resolution. It provides an overview and a basic framework for studying the evolving field of conflict resolution. The focus is on conflict resolution in inter- and intra-state issues. You will have the opportunity to explore conflict resolution methods such as mediation, negotiation, arbitration, collaborative problem solving, peacekeeping operations, and other applications. This module especially focuses on the practical as well as on the theoretical aspects of negotiation and mediation. You will also have the opportunity to explore the applicability of various tools and techniques in problem-solving real cases of international conflict and to make use of negotiation and mediation techniques in role playing exercises and other types of simulations.

This module focuses on how domestic politics affect national integration into international markets. You will examine areas like how national politics affect trade policy, foreign direct investment, financial markets, financial liberalisation, sovereign debt dynamics, central banks and monetary policy, and exchange rate policy and regimes. Extra topics include things like economics of inter- and intra-state conflict. You will cover these dynamics in both developed and developing, and democratic and authoritarian nations.

This is a module in political theory. You will read classic texts that first formulated our modern ideas of democracy and freedom, as well as more contemporary texts that challenge these ideas. You will discuss democracy from a range of historical, normative, and theoretical perspectives. Questions include: What is democracy? What is democracy’s value? What are the practices that are constitutive of democracy? You will also consider some challenges for democracy, considering contemporary threats to democracy and freedom.

This module starts with a refresher on linear regression before delving into more advanced methods, both theoretically and practically. You will start with the assumptions that go into linear regressions, learning to analyse whether each assumption holds and considering how our results are impacted when they do not. The remainder of the module will focus on more advanced statistical methods with a focus on two broad categories. The first will be models for analysing non-continuous dependent variables, including binary, categorical and ordinal dependent variables. You will also spend some time looking at causal inference methods and analysis, using both observational and experimental data.

The objective of this module is to provide a better understanding of democratic political and economic processes in Europe. The first part of the module will be devoted to studying the origins of party systems, party competition, electoral systems, the rise of populist and extremist parties, referendums, and linkages between citizens and politicians in West and East European countries. In the second part, we will examine the institutional foundations of welfare-capitalism and analyse the incentives of different actors (labour unions, employers, lobbyists, etc.) to maintain or undermine certain regulatory arrangements. Furthermore, we will study how coordinated and liberal capitalism types responded to challenges such as globalisation and deindustrialization. A large part of the module is devoted to studying the power-sharing arrangements in the European Union. In this context, we will analyse the new trade agreements the EU has struck in light of rising global trade tensions, and what the euro crisis, influx of refugees, and disintegration referendums might mean for the future of the EU. The module also provides an accessible introduction to research design and methods that political scientists have used to address these topics.

This module presents advanced quantitative methods for political science based on maximum likelihood estimation (MLE), with a particular focus on the generalised linear model (GLM). After introducing the principles of MLE, models for different kinds of outcome distributions, such as binary, ordinal, categorical, count, and event history data, are considered. This module also introduces some advanced methods beyond the GLM. All models and methods are approached substantively, mathematically, and computationally (using R), with applications to political science research questions. Throughout the module, you will also familiarise yourself with the interpretation and presentation of empirical evidence in political science. The module will be particularly useful for you if you aim to pursue a career in academia or in research-intensive environments, for example think tanks, research-related government posts, data science, or survey analytics.

This module is about how representative democracy works in Europe. You will examine several topics within the European context, including: public opinion, political participation, political parties, electoral systems, party competition, and how to evaluate democracies. You will also develop specific knowledge about several European countries, by learning how the political institutions function within them. This module also provides an accessible introduction to research design and methods that political scientists have used to address these topics.

This module introduces methodological debates and the empirical analyses required to understand and undertake research in public opinion and political behaviour. The module examines issues related to; polls and surveys - how do the public understand questions in surveys and how can we go about measuring this? Sampling theory: How do we select representative samples? When is it okay not to use representative samples? Measurement and scaling: How do we measure opinion and political behaviour? What type of measurement scales are available to help us do this? How to design survey questionnaire and to plan survey fieldwork? You will also look at how to program and run online survey and survey experiments; description and visualization of public opinion data as well as examining how to test hypotheses.

This module introduces, develops, and critically engages key strands of poststructuralist discourse theory, including post-marxism, structural linguistics, deconstruction, and psychoanalytic theory. In particular, it clarifies key theoretical categories by examining their associated conceptual frameworks and presuppositions, by probing their value for political analysis and ideological critique, and by exploring their usefulness in relation to selected case illustrations. The module also engages with a set of contemporary debates in political and social theory, in order to deepen our grasp of the role that the categories of discourse and ideology can play.

This module introduces the fundamental concepts and logics of poststructuralist discourse theory, including discussions of post-Marxism, deconstruction, structural linguistics, Foucauldian discourse analysis, and psychoanalytic theory. Students are invited to engage with contemporary debates in critical political theory, focusing on the emergence and character of core political ideologies, such as neoliberalism, populism, nationalism and socialism, as well as the interpretation, explanation and evaluation of key events and developments, such as the different ideological responses to the global financial crisis, the construction of new political identities, the role of social movements, and the ecological crisis.