Undergraduate Catalogue of Courses 2013/2014
POLITICS
(see also International Relations)
PLEASE NOTE: Resit: (for Honours students only): Candidates achieving a CAS mark of 6-8 may be awarded compensatory level 1 credit. Candidates achieving a CAS mark of less than 6 will be required to submit themselves for re-assessment and should contact the Course Co-ordinator for further details.
Course Co-ordinator: Dr A Widfeldt
Pre-requisite(s): PI 3061 Political Analysis.
The extreme right party family has grown in significance in recent decades. This growth has not been restricted to electoral support, but has also been noticeable in terms of legitimacy as well as direct and indirect political influence. The course will provide an in-depth understanding of extreme right parties. It will examine alternative definitions of extreme right parties, their ideology, their political impact, the reasons for their success and any possible links between the contemporary extreme right and traditional fascism. Key controversial concepts, such as racism, xenophobia and extremism will be scrutinised. The course will provide in-depth contry-by-country coverage as well as broadly comparative and conceptual themes.
1 two-hour lecture and 1 one-hour seminar per week.
1st Attempt: 1 three-hour written examination (60%); 1 continuous assessment essay of 5,000 words (40%).
Resit: Examination (100%).
Formative Assessment and Feedback Information
Extensive written feedback on summative assessment. Continuous feedback on oral contributions in class.
Course Co-ordinator: Professor C Haerpfer
Pre-requisite(s): PI 3061 Political Analysis.
- Theories of Democratization and Waves of Democratization
- Measuring Democratic and Undemocratic States
- International Context of Democratization
- Economy and Democratization
- Mass Beliefs, Political Culture and Democratization
- Gender, Age, Education, Urbanisation and Democratization
- Social Capital and Social Movements
- Political Participation and Political Parties
- Electoral Systems and Media
- Elections and Democratization
- Democratization in Southern Europe
- Democratization in Latin America
- Democratization in post-Communist Eurasia
- Democratization in Middle East, North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa
- Democratization in East Asia
- The Future of Democratization
2 one-hour lectures and 2 one-hour tutorials, per week.
1st Attempt: One 4,000 word essay (40%) and 1 three-hour written examination (60 %).
Resit: One 4,000 word essay (40%) and 1 three-hour written examination (60%).
Formative Assessment and Feedback Information
The students can meet the course coordinator every week on.
Thursday between 15:00 and 17:00 hours for feedback.
The feedback on essays will be in writing and verbally up to 3 weeks after the essay submission deadline.
Course Co-ordinator: Dr P Cairney
Pre-requisite(s): PI 3061 Political Analysis.
The course is designed to investigate the dynamics of public policy. In seminars we consider the main ways to explain how and why policymakers make decisions. We discuss the nature of policy, power and the role of ideas. We explore theories on institutions, rational choice, policy networks, agenda setting and governance and compare them with descriptions of policy cycles and the 'rational actor'. For the course assessment, each student selects a policy issue that they are particularly interested in, outlines the main events and seeks to explain those events by drawing on public policy theories.
1 two-hour seminar on policy theory and 1 one-hour seminar on case studies per week (subject to negotiation with students).
1st Attempt: 1 three-hour written examination (60%); continuous assessment (essay project 4,000 words) (40%).
Resit: 1 three-hour exam (60%). In-course grades will be carried forward unless the student opts to resubmit course work (40%).
Formative Assessment and Feedback Information
Continuous (weekly) oral feedback on continuous assessment.
Extensive feedback on summative assessment via Grademark on turnitin.
Course Co-ordinator: Dr H Brandenburg
Pre-requisite(s): PI 3061 Political Analysis.
The course examines the role of political communication, its theoretical basis, and its empirical study across countries and over time. Topics include soft power, propaganda and PR, political marketing, media ownership and sources, media and campaign effects, global political communication, communication, conflict and terrorism, deliberative democracy and the virtual public sphere.
1 two-hour lecture and 1 two-hour tutorial per week.
1st Attempt: Take-home exam consisting of three 1,000-1,500 word answers to be completed within three days (60%); continuous assessment consisting of one 4,000 word essay (40%).
Resit: Take-home exam (60%); In-course grades will be carried forward unless the student opts to resubmit course work (40%).
Formative Assessment and Feedback Information
Extensive feedback on summative assessment (via Grademark on turnitin).
Oral feedback in tutorials.
Course Co-ordinator: Professor M Keating and Dr A Wilson
Pre-requisite(s): PI3061 Political Analysis
Nationalism is one of the most powerful forces in modern politics. Its death has been pronounced many times but it always seems to return, in the United Kingdom, across Europe and in the world at large. Theories of nationalism range from the primordialists, who see it as a product of deep forces in the human psyche and history, to modernists who insist that it is the fruit of modernization and subject to construction and change. Evaluations range from the condemnation of those who see in it nothing but manipulation and aggression to those who argue for it as an essential underpinning to the liberal democratic polity and social solidarity. We will explore these issues in a comparative perspective, considering the principal theories and examining instances of nationalism in practice.
The course is organized in an innovative way. Rather than the standard lecture-tutorial format, there will be a mixture of lectures, audio-visual materials and group discussions. The first lecture will be devoted to theories of nationalism 1-2pm. You should read the assigned reading alongside this. We will then proceed to a case study and there will be a lecture on this 2-3 pm. Between 4 and 6pm you will break up into groups to do an exercise on the case, followed by a report-back session.
There are therefore five-six hours work in the course of the day but the course will run only every second week.
1st Attempt: 1 three-hour written examination (60%); continuous assessment (40%). The continuous assessment is a 4000 word essay. The title and topic are suggested by each student and negotiated between student and tutor.
Resit: 1 three-hour written examination (60%); In-course grades will be carried forward unless the student opts to resubmit course work (40%)
Formative Assessment and Feedback Information
Continuous (fortnightly) oral feedback on group projects.
Extensive written feedback on summative assessment .