Political Science

This course examines China’s changing international relationships in Asia and beyond through frameworks and concepts in the international relations literature. Part I sets out the context, Part II examines some of the main approaches in international relations, while Part III applies these to questions of regionalism in East Asia, maritime politics, and the Belt and Road Initiative.

This course provides an introduction to the comparative politics of the US and the UK.  Attention is given to similarities as well as differences, and the course uses comparative analysis to throw light on the political systems in both countries.  Occasional reference is made to other countries. The course is structured around four themes: ideologies and foundations, institutions, political actors, and policy.

Students examine how we form opinions about the world, cases of conflict, diplomacy, and the role of non-state actors and major global institutions in creating/sustaining the world around us today. In particular, students assess the different assumptions within particular approaches to IR, their methods and understanding of who and what matters in global politics; how approaches conceptualizes international institutions, and the relationship between agency and international structure. Students investigate issues like whether there is equal sovereignty in the world today, what do we mean by "North-South relations" and the links between theory and practice. Key concepts include anarchy, sovereignty, power, hegemony and empire, the state, and the international system.

This course focuses on why countries democratize, when democracy consolidates or backslides, and what drives these processes. It considers a variety of challenges to democracy at the national and international levels such as corruption, discontent, economic inequality, globalization, legitimacy, authoritarian contestation, technological change, polarisation or populism. The aims of this course are to introduce key concepts and theories in the study of democracy, to foster an understanding of broader processes such as democratisation, democratic consolidation and backsliding around the world, to develop analytical skills necessary to identify and scrutinize the contemporary challenges to democracy.

This course provides a better understanding of France, its population, their characteristics, and the country’s political life. The curriculum focuses on current French society and its evolution in relation to the weight of history, its territorial dynamics, and cultural and political ideals.

This course introduces the discipline of international relations and provides students with the intellectual and analytical tools to understand how the world came to be how it is today, and where it might be headed in the decades to come. Topics include mainstream and critical perspectives on international relations, placing Western and Global South perspectives on the discipline into dialog with each other, global inequality, and the conflict in Israel/Palestine. 

This course investigates questions that are both central to political philosophy and of current political importance. They include: What does it take for a society to be just? How can we come to own natural resources? and more. 

This course introduces students to the basic framework and key concepts to understand the behavior of voters and politicians in elections. It also explores the foundations of political parties and electoral competition. The course acquaints one with the knowledge and terminology of political science, but also gives one tools to evaluate information and think critically about how politics works.

This course examines dominant schools of political thought in the 20th century and political theory relevant to assisting interpretation of the politics of development. Modern liberal democratic thought and 20th century Marxist thought; Nazism and Neo-conservatism; Anti-colonial thought and Nationalism; and West Indian political thought will be reviewed and assessed. This course will also provide exposure to critical methodologies used in contemporary political sciences.

This course provides students with an in-depth understanding of innovation and its dynamics. It explores the determinants of innovation, drawing on theories to examine how and why innovation occurs, and the types of innovation that may emerge from different political economy perspectives and institutional frameworks. Part of the course involves examining policy evaluation and design, specifically discussing how to provide policy advice that considers the complex societal ecosystem, including societal hopes and fears.