This is a shelf course. A shelf course comprises a number of modules related to this broad area of study. Each module is a separate semester of study in this area and is offered in rotation. You can study TWO modules but you cannot study the same module twice.
|
Subject Area: Politics
This course can also be studied in the following specialisations: European Studies & International Relations
Module: "Britain in the twentieth century World"
When the twentieth century began, Britain was the world's leading power, presiding over a large empire. By the end of the century, however, it could no longer claim to be a world power, having lost its colonial possessions and radically reduced its worldwide military commitments. Britain was now a middle-ranking power whose interests mainly centred on Europe. This module examines Britain's place and role in twentieth century European and international politics. In doing so, it not only revisits the question of British 'decline', but it also offers a broader reflection on the nature of international power and the mechanisms of policymaking. It also describes the role of political leadership and political institutions in shaping Britain foreign policy-making. It discusses the processes, institutions, actors and calculations involved in foreign policy making in twentieth century Britain, and how these have changed under the impact of decolonisation, Cold War bipolarity and globalisation.
Module: "Russia" (Semester 2, 2011)
Russia – its history, politics, economy and society – is examined in to test key political science concepts. Some familiarity with Western democracies is assumed, since part of the test is to compare how the concepts perform in analysing Western democracies and Russia. A common questions asked about Russia is: ‘are they like us, or are they completely different?’ It is a question that will force participants in the course to think hard about the nature of Russia and the adequacy of the concepts used to analyse it. Concepts include political culture, rational actor theory, neo-institutionalism, personalism and institutionalisation, Weberian categories of legitimacy, democratisation and transition theory, and various forms of geographical and economic determinism. Key aspects of Russian history – Orthodoxy, the Westernisers versus Slavophiles, the Bolshevik Revolution, Stalin’s terror, the transition from Soviet rule – are examined, as are the features of its geography that might be relevant to its development.
