International Relations BA (Hons): XJTLU 2+2 programme

After years of authoritarian stasis, the tectonic plates of Middle East politics began to shift with the "Arab Spring" of 2011. Much media analysis reduces political explanation of the region’s politics to a single variable (Islam) or its impact on Europe (refugees, terrorism). This module will provide students with the tools to analyse the region’s politics in its richness. Students will critically engage with key concepts and debates in the study of Middle East comparative politics. These include the role of oil and the "rentier-state", democratisation and authoritarian resilience, and the role of religion in politics.

This module will train students to be a skilful political thinker with a critical attitude appropriate for the challenges of the twenty-first century. It is distinctive in offering a toolbox of practical critical thinking techniques as well as exploring a range of cutting-edge theoretical debates.

After completing this module, students will be able to clearly dismantle bias, faulty reasoning, and rhetoric in political debate, understand the mechanics of how different kinds of arguments work, and construct powerful – and fair – arguments of their own. They will also explore some of the most important questions emerging in the current crisis of Western democracy. Is it possible to think freely in an era of echo chambers and fake news? What kind of thinking does a legitimate democracy require? Does the education system really do its job? And what role can critical thinking play in tackling issues of social justice? The module will also examine different philosophical frameworks for understanding human culture. Can a culture be investigated using the scientific method? What other methods might be used? To what extent does academic research reinforce elite interests? The module will include a weekly two-hour interactive workshop and one-hour seminar with a hybrid skills/theory approach each week. Both workshops and seminars will include a diverse range of hands-on multimedia activities, a combination of individual and collaborative exercises, and debates and cooperative dialogues.

The international system has no central authority that makes and enforces laws, yet it is not totally anarchic. A large number of international organisations allows states to co-operate in areas as diverse as the economy, international security, or the protection of the environment. The aim of this module is to enable students to systematically study international organisations. We focus on key questions: How do international organisations become (and remain) legitimate? Are they independent from their member-states? What inequalities and hierarchies do they transform or reproduce? Through a series of empirical examples – such as the United Nations, the WTO, the World Bank – students will be able to systematically analyse the role and functions of international organisations in global politics.

Understanding security in international relations and how it is challenged by contemporary globalisation.

The module provides an overview of struggle for democracy in contemporary history. It challenges students to reflect upon why a particular variety of democracy, representative government (or ‘polyarchy’), has become one of the dominant political systems in the modern world. It explores the circumstances under which dictatorship gives way to representative government, and the conditions under which it endures.

The course focuses on three major approaches to questions of democratisation: modernisation theory; the social forces tradition; and transition theory. These rival theories provide the framework for an exploration of key cases in the history of democracy as the course follows the so called ‘waves of democracy’ and ‘reverse waves’ of democratic breakdown.

Moving to the frontier of democratic struggle, the course examines the prospects for democracy in the global South, or amongst countries that democratised during the most recent ‘Third Wave.’ Is there any reason to expect that democracy will take root and consolidate, or might new hybrid political systems establish themselves? Will struggles over the legitimate basis of political rule continue? What can this tell us about the future of democracy in an interdependent world?

This is the first module offered to second year undergraduate students to examine the process of political speech and its impact upon the quality of democratic discourse. The module will scrutinise the kind of audiences political figures face, issues of freedom of speech, the development of authentic political rhetoric, the advancement of ideological perspectives, the impact of political manipulation through concepts such as ‘fake news’, and also the process of delivering political speeches.

This module will introduce core concepts in contemporary gender politics –including feminist theoretical understandings of nation, state, family and the market. Gender and feminist politics will be explored more deeply by engaging with intersecting identities and current theories of the concept ‘woman’. Concepts will be illustrated with real world, contemporary case studies (for example, gender based violence and reproductive rights) and also consider non-traditional forms of political engagement including activist organising. The module will encourage students to critically engage with topics through popular culture, media sources, films, books and podcasts and reflection on their own experience. Research, critical thinking and presentation skills will be developed through coursework assessment.

Are voters rational? What is the effect of electoral systems on parties’ platforms? How do Special Interest Groups and the Media affect politics? What is the effect of economic shocks on the demand for populist parties? How do autocracies work? What is the role of violence in autocratic regimes? These are some of the puzzles this course aims to explore using seminal works in political economy. Political economy uses tools from economics to study how political actors, institutions, and choices shape economic or political outcomes. This course covers recent advances in both theoretical and empirical political economy. Students will be introduced to methods in empirical analysis (OLS, Instrumental Variable, Panel Data). These methods will be applied to modern day political problems, in particular, the study of democratic and autocratic politics.

This module is about politics, about policies, political institutions, and the political culture of Rome in the Late Republic. It does not only trace the deterioration of political consensus amongst the senate aristocracy and the rise of powerful individuals like Marius, Sulla, Pompey, or Caesar put also aims to explore the wider cultural context within which politics unfolds.

The media are now central to any discussion of contemporary war and conflict while global news reporting is supposedly in decline. How can we understand the interplay between global news, media and war in the context of rapidly evolving communication technologies and journalistic practices? This module explores the broader context of global news focusing on media in different parts of the world and the way they report on global issues. It considers the professional practice of foreign reporting and the challenges that notions of ethics, objectivity and attachment present for journalists. Then it engages with both the responses of states, including the use of media management and persuasion, and those of audiences who are often conflicted in reaction to distant conflict. The module concludes with an investigation of specific wars of recent years and a look at the future of reporting war and beyond.

The Basque language is the axis of a long-standing culture that came to feel at risk around the late 19th century. The Basque nation has since embarked on a fight for survival that has largely contributed to transform the Basque Country into an open, modern, and dynamic society. But contemporary Basque society is characterised by its conflicting identities, Basque and Spanish being the most noted of them. This module will analyse the most relevant areas of that conflict from a cultural, historical, and anthropological perspective. It will also offer a taste of contemporary Basque arts and the identity play between the local and the global in which they are inscribed. This is not a theoretical module. It is practical through and through. But by means of studying contemporary Basque society and culture students are invited to reflect about the concept of identity, both its importance to all of us and its striking fragility, and the way all that is linked to their own experience of nationality.

This module is introduced to increase the variety of modules offered to second-year BA students. With increasing student numbers and diversity of students in terms of their programme choices and their interests, this module offers a degree of specialisation and deepening of understanding of transnational security and the ways in which state and non-state actors (especially in the Global South) are responding to ‘new’ security challenges. The focus on the Global South aims at challenging dominant framings of regions such as Africa, Asia and Latin America as sources of insecurities that lack agency on transnational security issues. This module builds student’s understanding and knowledge of the processes and the politics of securitisation, crucial for understanding international peace and security in the context of shifts in global power distribution.

International (or Global) Political Economy (IPE/GPE) is a sub-discipline of International Relations. This module examines the interplay between politics and economics and the way this relationship is influenced by domestic and international forces. It examines the social underpinnings of economic transactions, the political frameworks that shape economic activity at national, regional and global levels, and the economic imperatives that impinge upon political decision-makers. During the module, you will be introduced to influential perspectives, theories and ideas that have been advanced to explain and anticipate events and developments in political economy. The module covers the most important issue-areas in international political economy and examines recent developments, including the global financial crisis of 2008, challenges to the western liberal order, and the impact of the ecological crisis on global political economy. Firms, individuals, markets, societies, social classes, and states are all important elements of IPE. Theories differ in the way they deal with these elements and the relative significance they accord to each of them. The tension between the elements, resulting in cooperation and conflict, is a major feature in the theory and practice of IPE.

The module examines the factors that give rise to international crises and shape the foreign policy responses of states. It examines the making of foreign policy from a number of different analytical perspectives. Successive weeks examine factors at different scales that influence foreign policy. These include the distribution of power and interests in the overall international system, the role of public opinion, the operation of foreign policy bureaucracies, and psychological processes in the minds of national leaders. Concurrently, we will examine statistical patterns in international crises, using data from the International Crisis Behavior (ICB) project. We will also discuss specific inter-state crises in depth, including India- Pakistan conflicts, the first Gulf War, and the Cuban missile crisis. The main assignment for the module, which is submitted at the end of the semester, will encourage students to combine different levels of analysis into a convincing explanation of a foreign policy scenario in world politics.

This module provides an overview of theories of peace and conflict studies by tracing the conflict process from conflict onset and participation, conflict dynamics, through to the conclusion of conflict and peace processes. Students will develop the tools to critically explore whose voices and experiences are centred in conflict and peace processes and to understand how conflict affects different identities and communities. In so doing this course covers cultural, economic, and political explanations, as well as conceptual debates in the field and different strategies of peace and conflict. This course analyses case studies of conflicts that espouse different ideological and theological orientations from different parts of the world. This module introduces students to the core ideas and debates in peace and conflict studies in preparation for specialised peace and conflict modules offered to final year BA students.

This module focuses on the concept, institutionalization, and politics of human rights in international politics. It will provide an overview of the philosophical foundations and debates on human rights. Students will learn about the history and development of human rights in international politics. The module will explore how policies, institutions, and actors aim to improve human rights regionally and globally. It will critically assess the efforts to promote and protect human rights in international politics. At the same time, the module will look at human rights in various regions in the world, as well as issues including war crimes, genocide, torture, environmental rights, women and children’s rights and others.

This module explores the ethical dilemmas that arise in some of the most controversial public policy debates. We will explore questions such as: should people have the right to euthanasia? Should we ban pornography? Should the consumption of, or testing on, animals be banned? Should we criminally punish people for taking recreational drugs? Are reparations morally justified? We will explore these questions by critically assessing the arguments of political, moral and legal philosophers, and evaluate the implications of their arguments for policy making.

This module aims to provide students with an in depth analysis of British Foreign Policy. The module covers Britain’s responses to the emergence of the United States and the Soviet Union as the two main superpowers; the end of Empire and the emergence of the Commonwealth; relations with Africa and the Middle East; the growth of new institutions of global governance; Britain and Europe; and the ethical foreign policy, and the long road to Brexit. As such, this module seeks to fill that gap by providing further optionality to already popular programmes in the Department of Politics.

This module is designed to introduce second year undergraduates to issues surrounding racialization in comparative politics. It will locate ‘race’ as an enduring feature of access to power and look at critical race theory in relation to national (UK) and international politics. This module will enable students to develop critical thinking skills about the construction of ‘race’ and ethnicity and how this construction affects certain marginalised communities and precipitates particular modes of democratic engagement and disengagement, participation and resistance and privilege and disadvantage.

As of March 2022, this course was awarded a Fulbright Global Challenges Teaching Award (GCTA). The GCTA requires that a Liverpool class be adapted for co-teaching with a US counterpart as part of a virtual exchange. For 2022, POLI265 will be a COIL class. Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) refers to a learning and teaching paradigm aimed at developing cross-cultural awareness through shared learning environments. This means that those who participate in this class will be now co-taught by journalism and creative media Professor George Daniels of the University of Alabama. They will now collaborate with and learn alongside an American cohort of students. The module will also now incorporate Professor Daniel’s expertise on race, gender, and media.

This module explores contemporary sexual politics, connecting key debates in European sexual politics to global flows of regulation and resistance. We will examine topics such as: moral panic; sex tourism, sex work and sex trafficking; reproductive technologies; and sexual rights. Through the module, students will explore these contested political arenas, critically engaging with intersectional feminist and queer scholarship, activist campaigns and policy approaches.

This module introduces students to the study of globalisation in the early 21st century. In the 19th and 20th centuries there were big debates between those who think things work best when people are left to decide how they want to live and get what they need by trading with each other, and those who wanted a communist society where people get what they need and contribute what they can to the common good. Of course it did not work out that way, and now for many people free markets, or neoliberalism is the only serious game in town. The course examines those debates before moving on to examine case studies of how they have worked out in practice.

This module offers an in-depth examination of key themes in the cultural, social and political history of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from 1949-1990, as well as questions of memory after 1990. It explores key milestones in the history and politics of the GDR (e.g. the uprisings of 17 June 1953, the building of the Berlin Wall and the demonstrations of 1989), as well as central themes within society and culture, such as gender, youth and cultural policy. Each theme will be examined through a range of texts, films and other primary and secondary resources, to develop a detailed knowledge and understanding of the meaning and significance of life and culture in the GDR and its relevance for contemporary eastern Germany.

The module develops a decolonial approach to the history of Italy, Africa and the Mediterranean, focusing on trajectories of colonialism and migration to and from Italy, from the age of the empires to the present. Adopting a decolonial perspective on the history of the Italian empire, its languages and cultures, the module examines some of the cultural and geopolitical tensions that shape ideas of heritage, citizenship and belonging between Italy and Africa. Exploring the making of individual and collective memories through a variety of media and languages, the module develops a language-sensitive approach to the study of history, memory and culture in the 21 st century.

This module focuses on questions of borders and bordering in the EU, how these practices have developed over time and the responses to them by migrants, solidarians, activists and humanitarians. It will engage with different forms of migration pathways and practices, including, but not limited to, the guest worker programmes of the 1950s and 1960s as well as current movements of displaced people seeking asylum. It will engage with themes including the history and construction of borders and bordering, as well as with questions of constructed vulnerability, gender and racialisation, migrant autonomy and solidarity, Racial Capitalism, and the humanitarian industrial complex.

This module aims to acquaint students with terrorism and counter-terrorism in today’s world. It starts by examining key concepts, theories, and history and then moves on to looking at a range of issues that have been the subject of particular debate, such as whether terrorism works, whether there are regularities in how campaigns end, and the necessity and contributions of literature on ‘Critical Terrorism Studies’. The module concludes by looking at whether we are at the end of the religious wave of terrorism and what we might expect to occur next.

This module explores the role of the EU as an international actor in the sphere of foreign policy, international relations, and security and defence. It analyses the historical development of EU foreign policy and its various dimensions, the main institutions and players involved, but also the different roles the EU assumes when acting internationally, and how it relates to regional and global partners. The module delves into some critical questions about the nature of the EU- whether it actually is an actor capable of making a distinct foreign policy- and whether any policy-making at EU level, particularly in matters of security and defence, is legitimate. This module can build on previous knowledge about EU history and integration or can provide new and specialised knowledge about this organisation’s foreign policy.

Conflicts, terrorism and wars have plagued human societies since their inception: which factors are likely to explain their occurrence and duration of wars? How are civil wars different from inter-state and ethnic conflicts? Who is more likely to become a terrorist? How does the public react to terrorist attacks? How do states respond to terror? This course examines a number of theoretical and empirical debates in the study of conflict and terrorism. We will investigate how empirical analyses can help settling some debates while others remain still open. By the end of this module, students are expected to (1) develop an understanding of the major explanations for conflicts and terrorism and critically discuss their strengths and shortcomings (2) interpret the findings advanced by the empirical literature against or in line with the discussed theoretical predictions (and students’ own pre-theoretical intuitions) (3) get exposed to the data and techniques employed by empirical scholarship to investigate conflict and terrorism.

Please note: this is a theory and method heavy course and the application of both will be a mandatory requirement for the assignment(s). Students should be prepared to devote considerable time to familiarize themselves with methods and theory.

Civil war is the most common form of armed conflict today. While around thirty interstate wars have been fought since World War II, over one hundred civil wars have been recorded. Scholars have long focused their attention on civil conflict, producing a large body of literature on different aspects of civil war, e.g. exploring onset, duration, strategies, outcomes and termination, the formation of rebel groups, and the various forms of intervention in civil war. The module will introduce students to this body of research.

Substantially, the module is divided into four parts. The first part provides an introduction to the study of civil war and an extensive methods discussion. The latter will emphasis concepts and measurement, causal assessment, and case selection. In the second part of the module, we will look at civil war onset. War is a costly and risky endeavor, and rebels face particularly steep odds going up against states that are typically far more powerful. Why do they occur? The third part explores the dynamics in civil wars. Why do parties target civilians? When do civil wars spill over? The fourth part looks at the end of wars and termination of conflict. Why do some civil wars last longer than others? Why do some end in a negotiated settlement while others do not? Does outside intervention facilitate the termination of civil wars and prevent their recurrence?

Northern Ireland is justifiably considered a place apart in UK politics. The region experienced thirty years of violent conflict, known as ‘the Troubles’ (c.1968-1998), and it remains a deeply divided society. Northern Ireland’s devolution settlement was designed by international treaty, its party system is unlike any other in the UK, and its model of government is unusual even by international standards. This module introduces students to the principal debates associated with the conflict, politics, and governance of Northern Ireland. Topics explored in the module include: interpretations of the conflict; the strategy and evolution of paramilitary organisations; British state policy; the use and effectiveness of consociational powersharing since 1998; and ‘post-conflict’ politics and community relations in Northern Ireland.

Increasingly recognition of the environmental threats that we all face means that responding to this crisis affects the decisions we all make at a variety of different scales. This module explores the extent to which environmental concerns are taken into account in various decision-making processes involving the public (government), private and third sectors at a variety of different scales, global, European, national and local. The module is assessed by an essay and an open-book exam, which provides students with significant choice to explore those parts of the module they find most interesting.

Whilst for many people, colonialism has ended, we live in a world where the effects of colonialism are still visible. Many academics have taken a critical perspective on these continued legacies, and this field of thought is now broadly known as ‘postcolonialism’. This module explores the social, political and cultural effects and legacies of colonialism as they occur in particular contexts. The module is divided into two sections, one exploring the theoretical ideas of postcolonialism, the other looking at how thinking ‘postcolonially’ helps us to understand the world. Students are assessed through two pieces of coursework, one a theoretically-driven essay on a student-chosen topic, and one, focused on authentic assessment, which analyses the postcolonial aspects of contemporary culture (e.g. a film, book or museum).

This module is designed for students seeking nuanced understandings of the drivers of various struggles for social change and environmental justice, as well as ways in which resistance, contestation, and alternatives are practised. Readings will provide a critical overview of the historical and sociopolitical forces that continue to generate inequality, damage the environment, escalate the climate crisis, and impact the world. Students will examine the complex dynamics and contentious politics that emerge across differing environmental, political, and economic conflicts, as well as evaluate the role of social movements, mutual aid, and collective action in advancing transformative change. Content will also cover various activist strategies, tactics, and forms of protest, revolt, and rebellion.

This module will introduce students to debates about democracy in Latin American during and after the Cold War, including the breakdown of democratic regimes and democratisation. By examining the changing relationship between the state, civil society and citizens since the mid-twentieth century, we cover various aspects of the democratisation process in the region, including theoretical explanations. In the first half of the module, we examine the influence of the Cold War on Latin American politics, including the Cuban Revolution, US-Latin American relations, and the emergence of military regime. This is followed by an examination of the ‘transitions to democracy’, including topics such as transitional justice, human rights, and the memory and legacy of dictatorship. We finish by studying some of the challenges confronting Latin America societies today and the prospects for democracy.

This module unravels why and how immigration, and the ‘crisis’ that surrounds it, has become ever more central to political debates. Students will learn how to assess and use theories and apply to case study material relating to a range of countries, but there will be particular focus on receiving states – mainly the UK and the US and selected European countries. The module explores how the topic of immigration connects with some of the deepest political questions which face contemporary democracies including human rights, citizenship, identity, globalisation and nationalism. It is through the international movement of persons that the edges – and limits – of the state (both territorial and conceptual) are rendered visible. The approach is to analyse state responses to immigration as a lens to critique the nature of liberal democracy and the contemporary nation-state. The module maintains a clear focus by locating the very wide range of debates that exist over immigration within a theoretically-informed perspective on policymaking and liberal democratic states as political systems.

The geopolitical changes resulting from the end of the Cold War, the ‘War on Terror’ and the ‘Arab Spring’ have profoundly changed the environment in which humanitarian action takes place. These changes have triggered heated debates on ethical, analytical, programmatic, and operational issues within the humanitarian community.

Numerous humanitarian actors and agencies have emerged from the global South, alongside and outside of the traditional Western, UN-led humanitarian system. The “complex emergencies” of the 1990s and early 2000s, such as those in Rwanda, Somalia and the Balkan conflicts, have now transformed into today’s “protracted crises,” with 80% of the humanitarian budget now spent on “emergencies” lasting five years or longer. Long-held principles are being questioned or discarded, with humanitarian action no longer seen by many belligerents as either neutral or impartial. Moreover, the impacts of climate change are steadily increasing the vulnerability of populations around the world and have already aggravated these trends. This class will challenge students to consider the principles, analytical perspectives, and actions required to protect the lives, livelihoods, and human dignity of crisis-affected people. The class will also interrogate the critiques levelled against the humanitarian system, such as whether humanitarian action can under certain circumstances do more harm than good, and explore some of the ways the humanitarian system has responded to these challenges.

This class will introduce students to a broad range of research and evidence that constitutes our collective knowledge on humanitarian action in complex emergencies, key ethical and policy debates, and the practical dilemmas that surround contemporary humanitarian action.

​What are the institutional prerequisites of economic development? Global development institutions such as the World Bank or UNDP have proposed the concept of "good governance" as an answer to this question. This module critically engages with this concept by juxtaposing it with various historical institutionalist accounts of the state, including the East Asian developmental state, Africa’s failed states, and the Middle Eastern rentier state. Students engage with key debates about the role of the state, democracy, corruption and the "resource curse" in economic development.

This module examines the different ways in which states intervene in the domestic affairs of other states or territories such as humanitarian intervention, invasion, annexation, peacekeeping, and colonial interventions. It explores how intervention has changed and developed historically, especially during and after the Cold War. It analyses whether state-practice has out-run the rules and norms that guide international state behaviour, particularly the legal framework of the United Nations and other relevant bodies of international law.

The principal aim of this module is to analyse the political significance of national and ethnic identity in international politics. This involves the examination of the interrelationship between national identity, territory, sovereignty and democracy within the nation-state from historical and ideological perspectives, and in the context of current political developments. Module deals with cultural diversity, the role of the nation-state in international system, ethnic conflict, migration, diasporas, neo-nationalism and the European Union.

The module begins with an analysis of the validity of comparative approaches to the study of the politics of peace, before moving to a series of individual case studies. These include Northern Ireland, Bosnia, the Middle East and the Basque Region.

This module provides alternative perspectives on global politics, drawing on feminist theory and gender analysis, with a focus on conflict and peace, and the implications for global politics and International Relations (IR). The module will engage with theoretical concerns (how are women affected differently by conflict and peace, how do we engage feminist methodologies) to practical concerns (conflict, security, participation, sexual violence, human rights). Theories and concepts will be illustrated with relevant global case studies and examples. The module aims to encourage engaged, critical reflection on feminist approaches to our understanding of issues in world politics.

Should there be a wall of separation between the institutions of religion, politics and law? Should politicians, public officials and citizens refrain from appealing to religious beliefs when debating laws and policies? Should religious citizens be entitled to special rights, such as exemptions for Kosher and Halal animal slaughter or doctors who do not wish to provide abortion services? On this module we’ll explore these and many other moral questions from the perspective of analytical political theory. To do so, we’ll examine how the freedom and equality of religious and nonreligious citizens should be balanced, and what are the policy implications our moral arguments.

The module studies human rights through the lens of the media in order to critically understand the changing nature of human rights’ representation and the role media play in representing and responding to critical human rights issues. It explores the interconnections between media and human rights focusing on media and human rights theory, policy and practice and exploring both historical developments and contemporary issues. In particular, the implications of the global media in the current information age for a range of key human rights’ issues are analysed. Among the issues that will be reviewed are terrorism and war on terror, freedom of speech, human trafficking, asylum and immigration, torture and genocide, humanitarian intervention.

This module involves students researching and producing an 8,000 to 10,000 word dissertation. It helps develop key skills such as autonomy, in-depth analysis and research design.

Students are responsible for formulating their own research question and are encouraged to maintain a close relationship with their supervisor who will provide guidance and support throughout the module.