BA (Hons) International Relations and Politics with Foundation Year

This module provides you with the integrated skills required for academic success. You will develop your skills of creating posters, constructing bibliographies, and sourcing relevant materials. Alongside this you will learn to identify and understand academic writing and referencing techniques. The multi-disciplinary syllabus and assessment tasks will enable you to acquire the academic skills needed for successful transition into Level 4 and the completion of the degree.

This module provides you with the necessary skills to develop a research project on the Liverpool City region from your particular subject perspective. You will explain academic research methods, write a coherent piece of academic work based on an understanding of Liverpool, and locate relevant research to support your project. The module will help you to develop an independent approach to learning. 

This module introduces you to key themes and perspectives in the Arts and Humanities through the cross-disciplinary study of representations of, and responses to, war. It will include regular assessment tasks in order to support a structured approach to learning.

This module aims to develop your understandings of society at peace through a multi-disciplinary approach in the arts and humanities. The assessment tasks will enable you to focus on a subject area which will facilitate your selection of a pathway for Level 4.

This module will broaden your understanding of the Cuba Missile Crisis and wider issues connected with the Cold War. It will provide you with the opportunity to engage with a variety of sources and historical tools to better understand the past.

This module is designed to help you understand the world in which we live in today. This module provides a solid grounding in the study of international affairs through the varying theories that have been developed throughout the 20th and 21st Centuries. Through discussing these theories, we also examine how they have informed the international system and the institutions and practices that operate within it.

This module enables you to understand the world in which we live today. It provides a solid grounding in the study of international affairs through the varying theories that have been developed throughout the 20th and 21st Centuries. Through discussing these theories, we also examine how they have informed the international system and the institutions and practices that operate within it. 

Theory is an important tool in understanding why and how we act, whether it be as an individual or a group. This module encourages us to think about the different ways in which we have attempted to understand the relationship between the human, state and society. All too often our understanding of these theories are driven by Western political thought. Whilst an essential component, this module will also explore non-Western thoughts on this relationship in an attempt to gain a greater understanding of humans and the world in which we live.

In order to understand how the state engages with other actors at the international level it is essential to understand how the state functions. It is driven both by theory and practical examples. In this module you will examine the various political models and how they operate in practice. How does China, for example, operate in the space between authoritarian rule and democracy? Does China's political model offer stability and an example for other states to follow? Can a state lose its democratic identity as well as gain one? These are all the kinds of questions that arise when comparing different political systems, states and societies with each other. 

This module provides you with the necessary skills and tools to analyse academic research on international relations and politics. A skills specific session will be incorporated in this module.

The state in international affairs is an essential component to the study of International Relations. This module will guide you through its development in Europe from the 17th Century to the present day. We will explore how the state operated during this period, and question why it has been so resilient an entity for human organisation. We will also examine the impact of the end of the Cold War along with how subsequent thinking has led to significant changes in how the state and its power are understood by the international community. 

This module introduces you to a range of techniques for the analysis of political activism and political communication. It pays particular attention to new and emerging methods of communicating information on a variety of social and digital media platforms. It will look at key moments during the development of social media and net platforms such as the Arab Spring, and the Black Lives Matter and #MeToo movements. The module will assess how online and social media have transformed political communication and empowered grassroots activists to become involved in major political issues.

This module introduces you to a range of techniques for the analysis of political activism and political communication. It pays particular attention to new and emerging methods of communicating information on a variety of social and digital media platforms. It will look at key moments during the development of social media and net platforms such as the Arab Spring, and the Black Lives Matter and #MeToo movements. The module will assess how online and social media have transformed political communication and empowered grassroots activists to become involved in major political issues.

In the first year of your degree you would have examined the different theories that are applied in International Relations, and how they were developed. Whilst you would have touched on how these theories formed and how they disputed each other, this module goes into the controversies in further detail. Structured around the 'Great Debates', this module provides greater insight into the theories that help inform our understanding of the world.

This module provides you with the opportunity to develop an in-depth understanding of a particular topic in International Relations and Politics, and enables you to develop the necessary research skills in preparation for your Level 6 dissertation.

This module enables you to focus on a particular region of the world based on what is of particular interest in the year of delivery, and contingent on the research expertise of the instructor.

The aim of this module is to introduce you to modern African history in order to develop an understanding of colonial rule and decolonisation in Africa.

This module enables you to explore politics and popular culture as a sub-field that articulates the ways in which politics is understood through popular culture. It demonstrates how theory as a means of making sense of the world impacts upon the everyday. It provides you with an opportunity to take ownership over your learning process through student-led seminars, guided by preceding interactive lectures.

This module is designed with the understanding that our extant historical knowledge (which is implicitly Eurocentric) needs to be globalised. It means that non-western history should be better weighted and given due attention rather than seen as a passive receiver of western impacts. It emphasises a lot on the multiplicity of actors in the making of Chinese history and, more importantly, their connections and complex relationships.

The dissertation is an independent research project. Working under the direct supervision of a research-active member of staff, you will produce an extended piece of original independent research which will draw upon the latest developments in your field and demonstrate your in-depth knowledge. It will further enhance key transferable skills developed from the Level 5 Research Paper in International Relations and Politics, such as project management, effective research skills, effective communication, critical analysis and high-level evaluation of data, as well as professional time-management.

This module is designed with the understanding that our extant historical knowledge (which is implicitly Eurocentric) needs to be globalised. It means the non-western world should be better weighted and given due attention rather than seen as a passive receiver of western impacts. It emphasises a lot on the historically situated forces in the making of non-western world of ideas and, more importantly, their connections and complex relationships.

This module enables you to explore the nexus between literature, popular culture and mass communication and their political aspect which enables its interdisciplinary dimension. You will be led to read literature and films closely and relate the political-aesthetic aspect to your daily experiences.

This module provides you with a critical reflection on the application of democracy promotion by successive US governments, and questions whether democracy promotion as employed by the US delivers democracy.

The module adopts various sociological and critical criminological approaches in the understanding of sport in contemporary societies. The module looks at issues relating to recent transformations, prejudices and cultural cohesion in the world of sport, focusing in particular on developments relating to issues such as racism, nationalism, globalisation and gender prejudice. The module will also be centrally concerned with the transformation of sport in the light of ongoing changes to a consumerist society.

In this module you will explore sociological and feminist debates around the body, gender and sexuality. You will engage with ideas which challenge the normative representations and 'taken for granted ideas' around body shape and image, gender and sexualities. It covers topics such as body modification, beauty, pornography, sex work, trans* identities and violences against the body.

This module will begin by examining major philosophical and theoretical approaches to the study of emotions. Thereafter the module will examine a series of case studies in aversive emotions such as fear, hate, anger, and disgust. By the end of the module, students will have a strong understanding of the ways in which we might approach the analysis of emotions, and will have covered a range of contemporary cases allowing them to unpick the politics and aesthetics of aversive emotion.

This module highlights the relationships between politicians and the media and the role of the media as a primary space for political agenda setting. The module will look at the political structures in Britain, including what devolution has meant for people in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It will encourage you to engage closely with the political economy of the news media in Britain and the role that it plays in political communication. It will address the historically often jingoistic and patriotic nature of the English-based national news media and how that led to the grotesque caricatures of other nationalities and identities from the 19th century onwards. This ultimately led to the Euro-sceptic tradition in British newspapers which developed from the 1980s, just a decade after Britain had entered Europe, to the heated media and public debates leading up to Britain’s exit from the European Union following the Brexit referendum of 2016.

This module provides you with an understanding of the history, nature and operation of international law and the actors and bodies involved in the development and enforcement of international law. It encourages reasoned, critical analysis and debate of contemporary issues within international law, with particular reference to the role of the United Nations in the maintenance of international peace and security.