London School of Economics

This course tackles questions of war, peace, and security from an analytical perspective, by highlighting changes and continuities in international security. The first half of the course reviews the major theoretical frameworks that have been used to explain the causes of war on the world stage, as well as its character and duration in the international and domestic arenas. Students use these theoretical frameworks as a lens through which to examine problems of war and peace, and threats to individual, national and international security in the contemporary era. The second half of the course turns to questions of security more generally. Students examine political violence, terrorism, insurgency, humanitarian emergencies, climate change, and other threats to individual and collective security.

This course provides a systematic examination of the policy process in the context of developed nations and the key theories and models in the study of public policy. The course encourages a critical appreciation of the main trends in contemporary public policy-making. Students look at the different stages of the "policy cycle" such as agenda-setting, implementation and evaluation. Students study the determinants of public policy such as public opinion, political parties, and technology as well as central themes in the study and practice of public policy, such as corruption and risk management.

This course introduces students to the intersection of urban geography and the geography of globalization, with the aim of understanding key references in academic debates, and their relevance for real-world social, economic, and political issues in our cities today. The course offers a critical, human-geographical perspective on "global cities," how these manifest in different parts of the world, how they matter for distinct realms of urban life, and how we can study features of global urban geography. Themes include empires, development, and cities; global cities; "Third World cities" or "cities of the global South"; urban spaces of neoliberalism; new geographies of urban theory; and planetary urbanization. Students examine cases related to migration, sexual minorities, the circulation of ideas, and gentrification. Examples come from both the "global North" and the "global South," with the aim of helping students understand when and how these categories may be useful.

The course offers a multidisciplinary approach to international migration, its causes and consequences, and the challenges it presents to policy makers. Questions examined in the course include: Why has migration become one of the defining issues of the 21st century? How can one explain differences in national policy responses and their limited effectiveness? What role can international cooperation play in migration management? Why do immigrants do particular kinds of work? What are the problems of migrant integration? Has multiculturalism failed as an integration model?

While the study of social and public policy has traditionally been concerned with actions taken by governments, the wider non-governmental sector is increasingly recognised as playing a key role. This course focuses on both international and local “non-governmental organizations” (NGOs) that have emerged around the world to address a wide range of social, political, and environmental concerns. It offers a critical perspective on NGOs in the context of development and social policy, covering both theoretical and policy issues. The focus is on two main inter-related themes: how NGOs serve as vehicles through which citizens organize, and how NGOs are instruments through which states, businesses, and funding agencies pursue their interests.

This course introduces Comparative Political Economy (CPE), an important subfield of political science that analyzes how economic policy, politics, and institutions shape the interaction of capitalism and democracy in different countries. It provides a toolkit of CPE arguments and insights that make sense of contemporary upheavals such as the rise in populism and threats to established democratic norms, the repercussions of financial market volatility, and the massive impact of accelerating technological and climate change. Questions addressed include: Is the political equality implied by democracy compatible with the economic inequality characteristic of capitalism? Does the power of the wealthy undermine democracy, and ultimately, capitalism itself? What role do governments play in a capitalist economy? How can we explain rising inequality? How does the welfare state shape capitalism? What are the roots of financial instability, and how does it affect politics? Does the technological revolution of the internet age change the relationship between capitalism and democracy, and if so in what ways? How have globalization and the rise of China affected politics in the high-income countries of the West? Can democracy and capitalism survive a world of multiple crises, such as increased geopolitical tensions and rapid climate change? The course focuses on the rich democratic nations of Europe and North America, but also places the political economy of these regions in their global context. 

This course provides students with a deep understanding of how firms develop and sustain a competitive edge. By engaging with real-world case studies, students learn the key concepts and theories in the field, and how they can be used to interpret and evaluate business situations. Paying special attention to the factors that explain why some firms perform better, students understand the drivers of competitive advantage both in the short and long term.

By examining the development of international political theory, from the Ancient Greeks to the present, the course explores and criticizes theories and arguments that have been offered to defend or challenge the power of political communities and explain the sources and varieties of conflict and cooperation that can occur within and beyond political communities. The course examines the ideas of great political thinkers from Thucydides, Machiavelli, and Hobbes to Kant, Hegel, and Marx as well as the use to which these arguments have been put in the world of politics and international relations by contemporary thinkers. These thinkers and the concepts they identify and use will provide us with a window into the structures that shape much international politics such as states’ rights and international humanitarian obligations; the nature and status of international law, and the prospects for global democracy and democratization.

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