International Relations and Democratic Politics MA

The module examines key issues and debates in democratic politics. It focuses on 20th-century democratic thought and discusses how key democratic ideas/ideals have been interpreted and re-interpreted to address dominant trends and changes in democratic societies. The module identifies some of the challenges confronting democratic theory and practice, and it examines differences between old and new democracies. Throughout the module special emphasis is given to the dynamics of democratic institution and democratic renewal.

You will receive supervised guidance and research methods training (through a series of research method workshops, the Dissertation induction and colloquium seminars, and individual Dissertation supervision sessions) to prepare you for your Masters Dissertation on an agreed research topic. You will begin identifying your Dissertation interests at the start of your studies, when you will be able to discuss your ideas with different tutors who may direct you towards taking appropriate option modules that support your future research studies. This module must be taken either following the completion of all other modules, or concurrently with modules in your second semester.

This module introduces you to the theoretical frameworks and practices of the politics of global complexity, the debates that have been triggered, and the way that complexity understandings have developed, especially in the 1990s and 2000s. Emphasis is placed upon the conceptual frameworks deployed in understanding system effects on political, economic and social life, and how these enable us to rethink democratic governance, power and agency. While focusing on conceptual frameworks, this module also engages with how complexity is reflected in new approaches to policy, and external stakeholders will provide input to the module (for example, the Social Market Foundation, Demos, the New Local Government Network and the Foreign Policy Centre).

This module focuses on post-Cold War United States foreign and national security policies, and the US policy-making processes. It exposes you to competing interpretations of both policy and the policy-making process. For example, did the end of the Cold War or 9/11 and the onset of the so-called ‘war on terror’ mark new eras in US foreign and national security policy? And how important is the Congress and US public opinion in the making of US foreign policy? The module shows that US policies are rooted as much in domestic politics as they are in America’s perceptions of its interests in a changing international environment.

This module explores and assesses new forms of citizen participation across the world. Recent decades have witnessed increasing experimentation and institutionalisation of democratic participation organised and sponsored by both public authorities as part of formal decision making (e.g. citizens’ assemblies, participatory budgeting) and by activists, often in opposition to public authorities (e.g. Occupy, World Social Forum). In both cases, these democratic innovations aim to increase and deepen citizen engagement in democratic politics. The module provides an overview of developments in democratic theory and political and social science that help to interpret these exciting democratic practices. Detailed engagement with and evaluation of cases from around the world is promoted. The module provides an opportunity for students to contribute to the global research project and platform Participedia.

Your main focus throughout this module will be on the domestic and international politics of China and India, and on empirical examples of the global change characterised by the predicted rise of these two non-Western states. The aim will be to go beyond the news headlines to develop a scholarly and critical understanding of the emerging great powers. This offers you an opportunity to train in international relations and recognise, understand, and deal with the changes in the global political landscape.

You will explore the EU as a polity and as a system of governance. The module offers a practice-led survey of governance issues in the EU, informed by relevant theoretical approaches. You will cover the legal framework of the EU and the roles of member state and institutional actors in its decision-making processes; questions of institutional efficiency, accountability and the wider legitimacy of the EU; and characterisations of the EU as a polity and as a global actor.

The module focuses on current debates on Middle Eastern politics from a number of perspectives, with a focus on the role of Islam. You will be introduced to a variety of theoretical approaches to studying the modern Middle East, to relevant perspectives in International Relations, to selected case studies and various contributions to the debate from inside and outside the Arab world. A multidisciplinary approach will be adopted, where you will be steered through the fields of comparative politics, Islamic and Middle Eastern studies, and social and political theory so that at the end you will have achieved, in addition to familiarity with key issues in modern Middle Eastern politics, an appreciation of the theoretical perspectives being covered. In the process, you will be encouraged to develop a critical understanding of the workings of the region and challenged to assess the explanations given and provide your own explanations.

The module explores and compares a range of approaches to analysing and evaluating governance and policy, assessing the understandings of democracy that they imply. These approaches are introduced through a range of case studies relating to policy making in contrasting national and international contexts. You will explore the challenges of defining and delivering policy across a range of international, national and sub-national contexts, and reflect on the implications of these challenges for democracy.

The module will introduce the students to new theories and different ways of looking at the core concepts of international relations, and enable them to utilise these to understand the transformations in global politics brought about by the rise of non-Western states. Key concepts and key issues from international relations, especially those salient for West/non-West relations and for the Global South in general, will be examined from different critical perspectives.

You will explore the European Union’s international role: as an international trade partner; in its evolving competencies in foreign policy; in its dealings with NATO, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and its member states over defence and security issues; in its relations with accession states and other ‘third states’; and in its self-image and values as an international actor. The module offers a practice-led survey of the EU’s external activities, informed by relevant theories.

You will explore the main 20th- and 21st-century theories of the state and examine the different approaches to the phenomenon of violence and its causes. The module examines the challenges arising from globalisation and will help you to grasp the new forms of antagonisms that have evolved in the new world order emerging after the collapse of the Soviet model.

This module aims at evaluating the relevance of contemporary debates in international relations and political economy to the study of energy security, energy markets and climate change. It examines the political history of the modern energy systems and the role played by states and major private and state-owned companies. In addition, it explores the role of global institutions and their impact on the interplay between energy security, energy markets and climate change. The module also critically assesses standard approaches to the issue of energy security by focusing on the problem of energy poverty and resilience.

Since the 2000s the global energy landscape that took shape in the last two decades of the twentieth century has been altered due to major geo-political and geo-economical shifts, the rise of new players in the energy sector and technological breakthroughs. The aim of this module is to analyse the impact that these developments had on the energy security of key producing and consuming countries. It will analyse these problems by focusing on change and continuity in the decision-making processes of state and non-state actors. Countries covered include the US, the EU, the Asian rising powers, Russia and specific case studies from the Middle East, Central Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.