Dissertation
You will make an original contribution to research by designing, carrying out and writing up your own project on a topic you choose, supported by your dissertation supervisor.
Compulsory•40 credits
One-Trimester Internship
Apply knowledge learned on your degree in a real working environment on one of our unique internship opportunities - enhance your chance of getting a job at the same time.
Compulsory•60 credits
One Trimester Abroad
An opportunity to study for a semester abroad at any of our partner institutions. Select a number of modules on offer from the host institution to count towards your degree.
Compulsory•60 credits
UK Politics in an Age of Austerity and Brexit
Examine contemporary debates on economic, social and political renewal. You'll cover topics such as: Brexit, austerity, foreign policy and the future of the welfare state.
Dangerous Minds
Study the relationship between ideas, the people who promote them, and political practice. From Plato, to Machiavelli, explore just how influential and dangerous ideas can be.
BRICS: Emerging Powers in International Affairs
Discover challenges facing the five emerging powers (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) in the shifting power structures of international affairs.
Culture Wars
What causes the culture wars? Explore the controversies. From identity politics to free speech and BLM to transgenderism.
The Politics and Philosophy of the Environment
How should we think about the environment? And how should we act towards to it? You'll study environmental attitudes, the politics and ideology of environmentalism, its ethics and philosophy, pressure groups and political parties, and the principles of environmental policy.
The Contemporary House of Commons
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.
Comparative Legislatures
Examine how legislatures fit within systems of government. You'll explore the Westminster model, US Congress, and the Brazilian, German, South African and Chinese parliaments.
Parliament in the UK: Approaches to Reform
Parliament in the UK: Approaches to Reform provides students with an opportunity to assess Parliament in the content of a constitution in flux, to debate the merits of constitutional reforms, and to engage with practitioners, to develop skills of advocacy- not least through an adversarial debating format – 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.
Democracy and Legitimacy in the European Union
This module focuses on the theoretical and empirical context in which democracy and legitimacy have become existential challenges for the European Union.
Germany in the New Europe
This module assesses the reunified Germany and its role in the new Europe. You'll learn about Germany's political parties, its government and its main policies.
The Vikings and their World
In the early Middle Ages, the Vikings founded new towns and kingdoms, developed new technologies, and crossed the Atlantic 500 years before Columbus. By studying historical, literary and archaeological sources this module will examine the Vikings’ world view and ask why they continue to be so popular today.
Global First World War
The First World War affected every aspect of life and every corner of the map. This module looks at how the experience of empire and shared ideas about race and gender shaped the response to the war. Why were diverse peoples and resources required to serve, but only some were deemed suitable for bearing arms? How and why was the war fought far beyond the Western Front? Why were only some aspects of the violence and destruction of warfare deemed an ‘atrocity’?
Insiders and Outsiders: Community and Belonging in History
For the ancient Greeks, citizens ruled. But their notion of a citizen was exclusive: men ruled over women, children, slaves, animals and things. In ancient societies, most people were excluded from power, participation, markets, resources and opportunity – they were ‘outsiders’. Over time, or so the story goes, societies have worked to ensure the inclusion of outsiders, whether through voting rights, civil rights, access to educational and career opportunities. This module explores the ways in which groups, communities, and nations determine and decide: who belongs.
Fear and Terror
Are fear and terror the tools of the weak or of the strong? Totalitarian regimes from Stalin to Pinochet’s Chile have used extreme violence, secret police and state sponsored terrorism and assassination to assert their authority. Meanwhile, non-state actors, such as the IRA, Al-Qaeda and the ANC, relatively small in terms of number and weak in terms of infrastructure, have used campaigns of sporadic violence to effect change. Are they ever justified in doing so? Sometimes terror tactics have had important racial and ethnic dimensions as in the exercise of colonial power and in genocidal campaigns. In wartime, is the inducement of fear unavoidable or are atrocities deliberate? Are some acts beyond the pale, to be punished as war crimes? Can Truth and Reconciliation activities in the wake of such acts achieve their goals.