Is torture ever morally justified? Should pornography be banned? Should prostitution be legalised? Take part in the intellectual search for the moral principles that should govern how we answer these questions and others in governing public policy.

Understand how different statistical and experimental methods can be used to answer questions about political phenomena. You evaluate the assumptions of standard statistical tests and the linear regression model, consider alternatives to those, and learn about causal inference.

Examine how people reason about voting and politics, and why people vote the way that they do. You consider the effects of institutions such as the electoral system or the number of political parties on voting behaviour, using case studies from elections in Britain and other advanced democracies.

How do interest groups influence the trajectory of a country's foreign policy? Who benefits and gains from globalisation and how does this affect their political beliefs? In this module you explore how domestic politics and interests influence government's decisions in the international arena, and how international politics affects domestic politics.

Authoritarianism: This module examines authoritarianism, one of the biggest challenges to modern-day democracy. We start by defining autocracy and evaluating alternative measurements of regime type (dictatorship vs. democracy). We then examine the factors that drive politics in dictatorships. In particular, we focus on why dictators often rule with nominally democratic institutions. We analyse why and how such institutions are set up, what explains variation in how they are utilised, and what the effects of such institutions are on regime longevity and government performance. Lastly, we consider the conditions under which regime failure (e.g., democratic transitions) are more likely to occur.

“Globalisation” encompasses a wide range of phenomena, including increasing global trade, deeper integration of financial markets, increasing foreign direct investment, the spread of multinational corporations, reduced travel, transportation and communication costs, and the emergence of global cultural trends. Globalisation impacts people in many different ways, both positively and negatively. It can enrich our lives, but it may also spur disruption and backlash.

In this module you will examine corruption, a global problem that is present in dictatorships as well as democracies, in developing and more developed societies alike. In particular, you'll focus on the impact of corruption on democratic regimes. At the extreme, corruption hampers economic development, reinforces social inequality, and undermines democratic development generally. You will start by defining corruption and discuss alternative tools to evaluate the extent of corruption within a given polity. You'll then examine the causes and consequence of corruption (both political and bureaucratic). Last, but not least, you'll evaluate existing strategies to contain and control this problem.

Explore the democratisation of West Germany through investigating the role of the constitution formed against anti-democratic forces, the institutions created by that constitution, the emergence of political parties and social movements as the main channels for participation, and the transformation of Germany’s traditional subject culture into a civic culture.

This module aims to provide students with a detailed knowledge of how the UK Parliament works (in both theory and practice). Subject to validation, this module is co-taught by staff at the Houses of Parliament and has the support of The Speaker and the Clerk of the House in the House of Commons, and the Lord Speaker and the Clerk of the Parliaments in the House of Lords. The module content is delivered collaboratively by the Houses of Parliament and the University of Essex, with the University providing academic and theoretical content and Parliament providing practical and vocational teaching about the work, processes and business of Parliament.

The aim of this module is to provide a profound understanding of contemporary German politics. For this purpose, it will give an overview over Germany’s post-war political development, institutional design, and electoral as well as party system. It addresses why Germany is considered a ‘militant democracy’ and the country’s interlocked decision-making process. The module sheds light on general trends and developments that Germany shares with other countries, such as the increasing fluidity of electoral preferences, the fragmentation of the party system, the ramification of the climate crisis and increasing social disparity. At the same time, the module outlines and discusses some of the more distinct features of the German case, such as the country’s social and economic model or its special role on the international stage. Apart from that, the module explores critical policy issues and current challenges including Germany’s environmental, welfare, and immigration policies. Contextualising and discussing current events in German politics will also be an integral part of this module.

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.

The field of security studies has become increasingly important over the last decade. While old conflicts are reigniting and new ones are emerging, scholars and decision-makers debate about changes to the concepts of security, the redundancy of military force, and the centrality of the state in order to face these ever-important issues.

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.

This module examines the interplay between state fragility, in its political, economic, social and security dimension, and conflict. The multidimensional fragility framework, introduced by the OECD, provides a crucial analytical foundation to understand the causes and consequences of fragility, the links between fragility and many contemporary crises – including migration, climate change, violent extremism, and the war in Ukraine – and can inform more effective policy responses in fragile contexts. The topics covered in this module include (but are not limited to): the relationship between state capacity and conflict, the political dimensions of state fragility and their effect on civil war and terrorism, the "resource curse", ethnic dynamics of mobilisation, conflict and terrorism, the causes and consequences of refugee flows and the migration-security nexus.

How does state fragility influence the risk of conflict and terrorism? How does the legacy of conflict and violence influence post-conflict state building? What factors promote a durable peace? Study the interplay between state fragility, political and economic development, state building, and conflict.

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.

This module explores the nature and foundations of international obligations. It asks what we owe to people in other countries, and what they can demand of us as a matter of right. Questions to be addressed include the following: Who owes what to the very poor? Are citizens of affluent countries complicit in the creation and maintenance of world poverty? Does justice demand the elimination of global inequality? Is the promotion of human rights a form of western cultural imperialism? When is international trade unfair? Do states have a right to close their borders to outsiders? Under what conditions (if any) is it permissible to wage war? We will address these questions by considering the answers that they have received in important recent works of normative political theory.

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.

Prepare an 8,000 word dissertation which researches the political topic you are most passionate about.

This module is intended to provide you with a broad understanding the main theoretical frameworks of media and journalism to develop their critical appraisal of the interconnected communication world of today. This module is intended to provide you with a broad understanding the main theoretical frameworks of media and journalism to develop their critical appraisal of the interconnected communication world of today. It is aimed primarily at students looking to develop a research career in journalism or media studies as well as those students looking to acquire a critical approach to journalistic practice. It will also be interesting to students of Government and Sociology who are interested in understanding the big debates around the media and the relationships with politics and society. Each week a current event will be discussed in the seminar as well. The module will equip students with the knowledge, theoretical frameworks, and critical tools to unpack the complexities of contemporary networked newsrooms. It will provide the conceptual framework required to analyze and comprehend our interconnected communication sphere. The module will be open to students from LIFTS who want to critically reflect on the professional practice and to students from Government and Sociology who would be eager to acquire analytical tools that would support their interdisciplinary research.