Introduction into Politics: Key Concepts and Texts (BASC0041)

On this course students will get to grips with the some of the most basic and most important questions that political thinkers have struggled with over the ages, including:

What does it mean to come together in a political community?
What is a politics of fear?  And what might be a politics of hope?
What is the relationship between politics and violence and war? Between politics and morality?
How does politics balance the claims of order with the claims of liberty?
And how can we use politics to change the world?

Through close engagement with core texts that will include Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Rousseau, Schmitt, Arendt, Havel and Foucault, this module will help students come to understand the key coordinates of political experience and political activity.

This module introduces students to the multidisciplinary and transnational study of the history and politics, peoples and societies of the Americas. From the...

Encountering the Americas: Key Themes and Concepts (AMER0038)

This module introduces students to the multidisciplinary and transnational study of the history and politics, peoples and societies of the Americas. From the pre-Columbian period to the present day, we will explore some of the major forces and processesthat have shaped and reshaped the regions of the hemisphere over time, thinking both comparatively and transnationally as we do so. To think comparatively, we will examine factors such as demography, geography, economy, culture, and ideology that led to both common patterns and historical divergences across the Americas. From a transnational perspective, we will be looking at the profound and continuous impact of exchanges and interactions between the regions, states, and peoples of the Americas over the module of history.

This course evaluates Russia’s strategy and foreign relations in the Middle East since 1945. In lectures and seminars, students will examine...

Soviet and Russian Strategy in the Middle East (SESS0090)