BA (Hons) British Politics and Legislative Studies

How has modern Britain been shaped by politics, crisis, and change? This module explores British political history from the end of the Second World War to the present day.

You’ll examine the key events, leaders, and ideas that transformed Britain - from the creation of the NHS and post-war rebuilding to Thatcherism, New Labour, Brexit-era politics, and beyond. Along the way, you’ll explore how elections, economic crises, and social change have influenced political decisions and everyday life.

Through analysing major turning points in modern history, you’ll gain a deeper understanding of the forces that continue to shape Britain today.

Explore the moments that changed Britain and understand the politics behind modern society.

Political action is collective action among people who share beliefs. This module explores the most important formulations of these collective views. It explores political ideologies that defend the status quo, those who wish to reform it, and those that seek a radically different political reality.

Who really governs Britain in the age of Brexit? This module explores where power lies within the British political system and how the UK is governed today.

You’ll examine the key institutions, traditions, and political parties that shape British politics - from the Prime Minister and Cabinet to Parliament, Whitehall, local government, and devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales. You’ll also explore the role of major political parties including the Conservatives, Labour, and the Liberal Democrats.

By investigating the UK’s uncodified constitution and the changing nature of political power, you’ll gain insight into how decisions are made and contested in modern Britain.

Understand the forces shaping British politics and discover how power really works in the UK.

This module provides an introduction and explanation of the plural theories and models of policy making before applying these theories and models to the practice of policy-making, via a series of case studies of policy-making in practice.

This module introduces Comparative Politics, one of the major building blocks for the study of Politics. It introduces “the study of the state” and some of the main concepts used by politics scholars, like political culture, political parties, executives, legislatures and constitutions.

You'll gain the tools to understand and explain developments in the global political economy and be introduced to international political economy, one of the main sub-disciplines of politics and international relations. You will trace the evolution of ideas, institutions and policies related to global financial markets, transnational production, global division of labour, gender and climate change.

The Contemporary House of Commons module provides a distinctive opportunity not only to study the role of the House of Commons in the UK political system, but also to engage with practitioners, to develop skills of advocacy and to engage in research of primary sources, and to do so through small-group extended seminars, ensuring continuous engagement with fellow students and with the module leader, who is also parliamentarian.

You will study in depth the basic principles and the workings of a variety of electoral and voting systems used in the UK and around the world. You will explore the implications of electoral and voting systems for democracy and political representation. Your assessment in the form of a policy brief will prepare you for future interactions with policy-makers.

In this module you will begin the journey of becoming an independent and autonomous political researcher. You will learn more about how Political Research – especially that conducted within the School of Politics and International Studies – is produced, and be equipped with the understanding and skills necessary to design your own political research project. This module will prepare you for the Final Year Project and for putting into practice your own programme of research.