LIVERPOOL HOPE UNIVERSITY

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1 LIVERPOOL HOPE UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF ARTS AND HUMANITIES POLITICS & INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS YOUR FUTURE STARTS WITH HOPE

2 Politics & International Relations Fact File Faculty: Arts and Humanities Department: History and Politics Campus Location: Hope Park Entry Requirements: The standard offer level is between UCAS points, including a minimum of two A/A2 levels or equivalent. UCAS Code: L201 Duration: Three years Year of Entry: 2016 Fees: The tuition fees for home and EU students for 2016/17 are 9,000 for full-time undergraduate courses. Degree: BA Single Honours You may also be interested in... Geography History Law Contact Details: Student Recruitment +44 (0) enquiry@hope.ac.uk 2

3 Course Introduction Politics and International Relations is a single honours subject which encompasses a range of issues central to an understanding of contemporary society at both a state and interstate level. We consider Politics and International Relations theory, how states interact via the consideration of case studies and evaluate transnational issues such as globalization and the environment. Across your three years of study you will consider issues in dedicated politics and international relations classes and fuse and integrate the subject ideas together in the form of a dissertation project in your final year. Politics and International Relations is a dynamic and changing subject area. At Liverpool Hope we engage in field trips to regional and national institutions, and on an annual basis undertake a field trip overseas to visit international political bodies. Politics and International Relations addresses the responsibilities of individuals and collective groups in society on both a national and global scale. It corresponds in several important ways with the University s distinctive mission and values. It considers issues of citizenship, individualism and different routes through which society can evolve to enhance individual sovereignty and international responsibility. 3

4 What you will study Level C (Year One) Politics: You will take a lecture series entitled The Foundations of Politics. This will comprise three lectures per week, each lasting one hour, and will introduce you to the discipline and a range of its key theories. In addition to this you will take two seminars. These are entitled Political Institutions and Political Actors. They consider the core structural components of politics and how individuals and groups interact with these institutions. In addition you will participate in a weekly small group tutorial International Relations: You will take a lecture series entitled The Foundations of International Relations. This will comprise three lectures per week, each lasting one hour, and will introduce you to the discipline and its most influential, structural theories. To reinforce your learning in the lectures you will take two seminars. The first of these, Key concepts in the study of International Relations will better prepare you to deal with the theories that characterise the discipline. International Relations Weekly Briefing will give you the opportunity, in seminar, to explore and debate real world developments. In addition you will participate in a weekly small group tutorial Assessment methods include essays, exams and tutorial workbooks. Level I (Year Two) Politics: The lecture series in your second year considers Democracy and considers its strengths and weaknesses as a political system. It build upon your learning in the first year and looks at the evolution and implementation of democracy from Athens to the present day. Two seminar series look at democracy and the use of it in the United Kingdom, and the variety of forms of democracy found in Europe. Through the integration of these strands of thought it is possible to come to an enhanced understanding of democracy as the most popular form of governance in the modern world, replete with significant variations in its understanding and practice. The small group tutorials consider a range of alternative ideologies to democracy and give alternative viewpoint about popular governance. International Relations: The lecture series in the second year, Understanding International Relations: Reflective approaches and subfields of enquiry, takes into account your advances in learning during the first year and, therefore, prompts you to consider in some depth a range of more nuanced, reflective theories of International Relations. You also are exposed to one of the most important subfields of International Relations, Foreign Policy analysis. The seminar series, Debating New Agendas in International Relations allows you to get underneath latest occurrences in international affairs and come to grips with competing perspectives. The parallel seminar, Explorations in the Philosophy and Methods of International Relations, 4

5 ensures you start to think with the abstract reasoning and awareness of a student at maturing stage of undergraduate study: you will come to grips with some of the most intriguing questions concerning the nature of the discipline, where we look for evidence, the methods we use and how these factors impact on society s knowledge and understanding of International Relations. The small group tutorials will continue to reinforce your learning Assessment methods include essays, exams and extended projects. Level H (Year Three) Politics: In the final year a research project is undertaken on an agreed subject area. Thereafter the core lecture series looks at politics in the United States and power and the state, considering the strengths and weaknesses of each. Seminars undertaken serve to reinforce an understanding of this, with one on the US presidency and American politics and the other on political power. This give an historical understanding of issues, enhances a contemporary understanding of current political and economic dilemmas and allows primary research into a number of contentious areas. A tutorial series is designed to give support in research methods and to assist in the production of a high quality research project involving Politics and International Relations material International Relations: As you would expect in your final year the pace steps up a gear and so too the complexity of the ideas and arguments you encounter. The lecture series, Critiquing theories, unsettling assumptions: re-visiting knowledge and understanding in International Relations, scrutinises and deconstructs that which was encountered in the first two years to leave you with a very nuanced, critical understanding of International Relations theory and real world dynamics. You can specialise with seminars in Security, Peace and Conflict Studies: contemporary approaches or Economic crisis and political conflict. Your tutorials will focus on supporting you through independent research with the focus of this work agreed between you and your supervising academic tutor Assessment methods include a research project, a two hour exam and essay coursework. 5

6 Employability and Career Opportunities Careers available for Politics and International Relations graduates include those in government, in international organisations and in policy work. Currently, there is an increase in demand for teachers with Politics skills as well. And, of course, many firms and companies look for the general skills that a Politics and International Relations degree gives you such as conducting analysis, preparing reports, constructing arguments and making judgements. We encourage team work, autonomous learning and try to develop communication skills throughout the three years of study. Many students move on to postgraduate Masters programmes and Research degrees. We have graduate students who work in parliament in the field of communications, with the civil service and with the NHS and with voluntary bodies. Current postgraduate courses offered by Liverpool Hope include: MA International Relations MA Peace Studies 6

7 Why study this subject at Liverpool Hope? Politics and International Relations considers issues themes and issues that are prominent in contemporary times. In our classes we have students from around the globe, giving an international perspective on how interstate issues might be considered, addressed and resolved Politics and International Relations gives you a range of skills that you can use how to analyse problems, how to make judgements and how to negotiate compromises. At Liverpool Hope we emphasise research skills to enhance an understanding of how to address political issues and come to conclusions about the causes and consequences of issues at a state and international level. We also encourage consideration of theory in both subject areas We engage in issues at a practical level. Each year we have guest lecturers and speakers, including politicians, visit Westminster and have an overseas trip which visits political institutions. Recent trips have included Berlin, Brussels and Madrid We have a Politics and History society, run by and for students. It organises social events, has guest speakers, pub quizzes and promotes activities within the department The tuition you get at Liverpool Hope is delivered by active researchers who publish and are engaged in research at the cutting edge of the discipline. Staff frequently give papers and lectures at Hope as part of their research remit We have a War and Peace research centre which attracts speakers of note and organises round table discussion on topical political and International Relations issues. 7

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9 Academic Staff Profiles Dr Robert Busby, Senior Lecturer Dr Robert Busby is a Senior Lecturer in Politics and Subject Leader. His research is primarily in the field of American politics, political scandal and aspects of political communication. Dr Busby has published three research monographs, two on political scandal and one on comparative political marketing. His teaching spans Politics and International Relations at graduate and postgraduate levels. Professor Christopher Williams, Head of Department Professor Christopher Williams holds the Chair in Modern History. He was awarded an Honorary Degree in Political Science by the Institute of Socio-Political Research, RAN and made a member of the Russian Academy of Political Science, Moscow in His areas of research expertise include Russian politics and foreign policy, Russia s relations to USA, China and EU and the Near Abroad. He is particularly interested in language and ethnic policy in post-soviet Russia and the way in which history and memory shapes the process of ethnic mobilisation. Dr Michael Holmes, Senior Lecturer Dr Michael Holmes is a Senior Lecturer in Politics and Deputy Director of the Archbishop Desmond Tutu Centre for War and Peace Studies. Dr Holmes specialises in the study of the impact of European integration on political parties and party systems. He is also active in the study of Irish foreign policy and on Ireland and the European Union. He teaches seminars and lectures in Politics and International Relations. Dr Stefanie Kappler, Senior Lecturer Dr Stefanie Kappler is a Senior Lecturer in International Relations and Director of the Archbishop Desmond Tutu Centre for War and Peace Studies. Her research interests include local and international peacebuilding, their associated spaces of agency and the role of culture therein. Dr Kappler is particularly interested in the contested and transformative nature of local imaginations of peace and has conducted fieldwork in Bosnia-Herzegovina, South Africa, Cyprus, Brussels and the Basque Country. 9

10 Dr Catalina Montoya, Lecturer Dr Catalina Montoya is Lecturer in International Relations. Her main research interest is in the field of political communication, including media-state relationships, communication, conflict and peace, journalism and international relations. She has published on the impact of event driven news in the projection of US foreign policy in Colombia, the use of media by civil society organizations to foster democracy and human rights in Colombia and Latin America and the relationships between political and media systems in Colombia. We also have a number of senior postgraduate students, pursuing PhD degrees, who provide tutorials to our students and share with them insights from their own emerging research. Dr Danny Rye, Post-doctoral Teaching Fellow Danny Rye is a Post-doctoral teaching fellow in Politics. His research interests include political parties and organisation, theories of power, political disengagement, and the British Labour Party. His approach to research seeks to weave together insights from political theory together with the issues, institutions and practises of politics in order to shed light on real-world political problems. It was this approach that contributed to his PhD being awarded the Sir Ernest Barker Prize for Best Dissertation in Political Theory by the Political Studies Association in His recent monograph, Political Parties and the Concept of Power (Palgrave) also reflects this approach. Presently, Dr Rye is engaged in considering how political organisations of different kinds can support the capacity of human beings to be effective citizens and political actors and in examining the changing representative role of political parties. Teaching at Liverpool Hope includes British politics and demoracy, political theory and research methods. He is an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. 10

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12 Liverpool Hope University Hope Park Liverpool L16 9JD t: e: If you require this document in another format please contact us. The University reserves the right to make variations to the content or methods of delivery of courses.