Political Science

The course covers the history of Britain from the late 18th century through to c.1870. The focus is on political history broadly defined. Consideration is given to the impact of ideological, sexual, demographic, social, cultural, and economic change on the political process and policy-making, as well as more conventional issues such as constitutional reform and party politics. The course seeks to provide students with an appreciation of the wider contexts in which politics took place (social contexts especially), as well as a secure understanding of political developments themselves. 

The course addresses the place of race and racism in Western and non-Western political theory (to the extent that these should even be considered separate entities). The course fosters a conversation between a variety of different Western and non-Western thinkers in order to ask questions as how important ideas of race are or should be in political theory, how certain ideas of race came to dominate in certain contexts, how explicit or implicit racism is in certain thinkers and ideologies, whether we should consider key thinkers to be racist or whether those ideas can be separated from their other political arguments, and what it means when such questions are overlooked.

This course offers an introduction to the study of migration, borders, and security in the 21st Century. It explores how the governance of migration and borders has been transformed to include a diverse range of actors away from the exclusive domain of the state. Increasingly, EU agencies, IGOs, NGOs, security professionals, and religious organizations have become key players in governing mobilities. Key rationalities underpinning this governance are explored, from managerial, to security, and humanitarian. Emerging practices for migration control often defy territorial logic to borders, instead taking place in so-called transit and sending countries or in virtual spaces through surveillance and technology mechanisms. Thus, far from disappearing, as some scholars of globalization maintain, borders are emerging in new spaces both inside and outside the territorial state. This leads us to question the location of borders, their constitution, and their effects on liberties and fundamental rights. The course provides students with the knowledge and concepts to think critically about how power works through borders and with what effects on states, populations and individuals in terms of their inclusion/exclusion, freedom, and mobility.

This course is a study of the history of Israel as seen through films. The course examines various angles of the socio-political reality displayed in both fiction and documentary films. From the early twentieth century in Palestine and onwards in Israel, mainly through Israeli cinema, a flourishing industry nowadays, as well as through foreign cinema, the course covers the main events that shaped and continue to shape the reality of this young state: the historical events that led to its foundation, the wars which drew its borders, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and its multi-cultural identity.