Political Science

This course explores the role of seapower and empires in the development of modern warfare, strategy, and international relations. Students examine the role of sea power in imperialism and the relationship between East and West, the role of technological innovation in the ability of sea power to affect war and politics both at the global and regional levels, the role of maritime geography as a structural impediment and enabler in the projection of power, and the conceptual complexities involved in the terms empire and imperialism as tools for understanding the strategic challenges that face the world today.

This course provides a social policy perspective on a range of issues which impact upon family life. Topics include definitions and ideologies of family; changing family structures; lone parent families; contraception and abortion; homosexuality; and strategies for policy change. Students learn to identify major theories on the family; engage in an analysis of central developments in family life in Ireland; be conversant with major policy developments relating to family in Ireland; and have an understanding of the diversity of family forms in contemporary society, and the ability to critically discuss them.

Where does power lie in politics? Whose explanations about how the world works are valued and why? This course examines the answers to these questions. It also examines the formation of the modern state system and interrogate the conceptualisation of the state that informs much contemporary theory and practice in politics at the national and international level. A substantial part of this course is devoted to the introduction of the main theoretical traditions that animate the study of politics and international relations. 

This course examines the politics and practices of global health. The course introduces students to the key interdisciplinary concepts used to understand global health policy. Exploring a variety of case study examples drawn from across the world, the course then examines global health policy and governance structures, health systems, and issues of inequality and justice in global health. Through perspectives drawn from the social and political sciences, this course provides students with the skills to analyze current and emergent global health policy challenges.

This course provides an introduction to basic political theory, a history of international politics and global governance, and to the structure of the global political economy. Students are given an opportunity to learn about the actors, structures, and politics of global health governance and international health policy. This includes global actors such as WHO, the Gates Foundation and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria; as well as the role of civil society organizations and social movements in promoting global health equity. With these basic building blocks in place, the course examines the following contemporary health issues through a social and political lens: health financing and health sector reform; global pandemic threats and the securitization of health; the effects of armed conflict on health; and the influence of trade and business on health. The course also examines health inequalities within the local area of East London - a part of London which includes both some of the most deprived households in the country, as well as one of the biggest financial and banking hubs in the world. This includes a field trip, as well as a global health "treasure hunt" in the British Museum.

This course engages with key contemporary issues and debates in politics through the thought of political theorists writing from different traditions and perspectives. It examines fundamental and perennial political questions as well as issues new to our time. Topics may include freedom and autonomy, epistemic crisis and democracy, intergenerational justice, animal rights, the impact of AI etc. It offers the opportunity for students to examine more contemporary theorists, debates, and literature in dialogue with each other. The course introduces students to a variety of competing theoretical perspectives, requiring critical consideration of the insights and problems each perspective offers. It provokes students to engage with, evaluate, and critically reflect upon the different ways to think about and conceptualize key issues and debates in political theory.

This course aims to explore a set of important issues about the theory and practice of democracy. The first part of the course will examine the challenge of meritocracy and various justifications of democracy, including those offered by Mill, Rousseau, Schumpeter, and others. The second part will address some of the most pressing problems facing liberal democracies today: how to improve the quality of public deliberation in the age of social media? How to overcome the challenges posed by populism? How to maintain the efficacy of democratic institutions in a global capitalist economy?

This course examines the political thought of tumultuous times in ancient China covering the late Spring and Autumns (770-476 BC) and Warring State (476-221 BC) periods. It focuses on the following questions: what is, for ancient thinkers, the common good for All Under Heaven? How can the ruler deliver good governance? What is the standard of political legitimacy? What role do scholars play in political order? What is the relationship between domestic and international order? How do all of these bear on the understanding of human nature?

The analogy between the intelligence analyst and the academic, evoked above by the spy fiction writer John le Carré, is theme of this course. The course teaches students about the function of intelligence in the 20th and 21st centuries, and promotes reflection on the nature of scholarly work. The connection between scholars and the spies is not just a fanciful one dreamed up by novelists. During the world wars and the Cold War, academics swelled the ranks of Anglo-Students learn about the problems of gathering evidence, interpretation, analysis, presentation, and distribution of intelligence.