PR1000 focuses on the practical issues of research in Politics and International Relations: the principles that guide scholars in Politics and International Relations as they conduct research, the kinds of questions they ask, and the variety of decisions that they must make in order to answer them. Analysing these issues will provide a strong platform to judge the merits of different arguments presented in academic literature and help students to be able to distinguish the good from the bad or unconvincing.
There are no pre-requisites for this course. The module overlaps with two other first year modules (Classic and Contemporary Readings in Politics and International Relations [PR1520] and Introduction to Research Methods in Politics and International Relations [PR1000]), but we welcome students who are not taking these modules.
PR2000 is the second of three full-year modules – PR1000,
PR2000 and PR3000 – which Politics and International Relations students take
during each of their undergraduate years. PR1000 and PR2000 together provide an
introduction to a range of approaches and methods commonly used in the study of
Politics and International Relations and equip you with the skills to
successfully study and analyse a wide range of political phenomena.
The course is made up of 20 weekly sessions. You can expect each session to take up to 3 hours, in a mix of online and in-person activities, depending on the circumstances. The key elements of each 3-hour session will be: a live-streamed lecture (between 1-2 hours) and a lab session/seminar. The priority will always be to keep everybody safe, so you can expect some variation in the structure of the sessions as the weeks progress.
The first part of the course deepens our understanding of quantitative methods, and how we can test different explanations with quantitative data. In this part of the course we will spend time in the labs and get hands-on practical experience of how to analyse quantitative data. In the second half of the course, we consider the strengths and limitations of experimental research and how experiments can be used to test causal hypotheses – both in theory and practice. Together, we go through the different stages of developing a research project and how these relate to each other.
Students taking the course will gain knowledge of the ‘nuts and bolts’ of the political system. You will learn about how and why the system operates in the way it does, the quality of contemporary democratic governance and key features of political behaviour in Britain. Students studying PR2480 will be encouraged throughout the course to be mindful of the relationship between theory and evidence.
The first half of the module will focus on Britain’s ‘traditional’ democratic system, including its origins, development and institutions. The second half will focus on dynamic elements of British democracy, including political parties and party competition, political and especially voting behaviour, and attitudes towards democracy.
Module Staff
Convenor:
Dr Michelle Bentley
Reader in International Relations
Director, Centre for International Security
McCrea 1-23
Michelle.Bentley@rhul.ac.uk
Office hours:
Wednesday 12-1pm online (contact convenor for a Teams appointment)
Friday 2-3pm in person (McCrea 1-23)
No office hours in Reading Week
Seminar Tutor:
Dr Pauline Heinrichs
Lecturer in International Relations
McCrea 1-20
Pauline.Heinrichs@rhul.ac.uk
Office hours:
Tuesday 10-11am in person (McCrea 1-20)
Friday 10-11am in person (McCrea 1-20)
The purpose of this course is to provide students with a broad overview of how citizens, politicians and the media interact across Western democracies during both electoral and governing periods. While the course will cover key aspects of political communication in the United Kingdom, the focus will be mostly comparative.
There will be weekly, one hour lectures and weekly, one hour seminars. One of the lectures will be replaced by your individual viewing of a documentary film, for discussion in the seminar. Reading weeks will fall in week six of the Autumn and Spring terms.
Each student will be expected to attend the lectures and prepare for the seminars by reading from among and beyond the suggested reading. Seminars will be based upon individual student presentations and specific practical activities and exercises. Some course materials will be provided via the Internet.
In the third year of your degree course you are required to write a dissertation of 8,000 words. This dissertation is equivalent to one full course unit. It is expected that you put 200 hours of work into researching and writing your dissertation.
The dissertation is an opportunity for you to examine, in greater depth, an area of interest to you. You will have a member of staff to act as a supervisor. The role of the supervisor is to help and guide you with your dissertation. The choice of dissertation topic, the research strategy, and the actual work are up to you. The dissertation is assessed on the basis of the originality and quality of the ideas explored in it, together with evidence of scholarship.
To help you with your dissertation, we provide a series of dissertation workshops on the selected topics of your choice.
This course is designed to introduce advanced undergraduates to the major themes of contemporary Latin American politics and, consequently, democracy and political development. While the course stresses the political aspects of the developmental process, its objective is to show the linkages between economic, social, cultural, and political phenonema--both at national and international levels. The first half of the course discusses formal political institutions – democracy, executives and legislatures, courts, and party systems – and the second half discusses bottom-up political topics. For example, we will discuss vote buying, informality, drug violence, protest, and revolution.
The course is made up of 10 weekly sessions. You can expect each session to be about 2 hours. The key elements of each 2 hour session will include an in-person lecture and an in-person one-hour seminar.
This course describes and analyses the many ways in which politics affects the law, and in particular the decisions made by judges on top courts.
It looks at some of the big divides between legal systems in their attitudes to judges and judicial discretion, and the different rights which judges are asked to guarantee.
It looks at different ways in which judiciaries vary, from more to less active, more to less independent, and more or less collegial or confrontational.
It also hints at advanced debates in political science about the study of judicial behaviour, in particular the kinds of explanations offered for why US Supreme Court Justices decide the way they do -- and whether these explanations travel outside the United States.
The course is targeted at final year undergraduates doing either Politics (in combination with other subjects) or Law with Politics.
Convenor:
Dr Michelle Bentley
Reader in International Relations
Director, Centre for International Security
McCrea 1-23
Michelle.Bentley@rhul.ac.uk
Office hours:
Wednesday 12-1pm online (contact convenor for a Teams appointment)
Friday 2-3pm in person (McCrea 1-23)
No office hours in Reading Week
What explains the success of political outsiders and how best can mainstream parties respond? Why have recent results been so unpredictable? And how can we better track public opinion and analyse voting behaviour?
In this course we will answer these questions. More generally, this course examines the relationship between voters and political parties, and considers the theory and practice of how electors decide whether to vote (or not) and for whom to vote.
The course contains both a theoretical and an empirical component. Students will be encouraged to assess the evidence for competing explanations of voting behaviour through readings drawn from research on countries across Western Europe and North America. Besides an understanding of the main theories and main questions in the field of voting behaviour, the course will provide students with a thorough understanding of how to conduct systematic empirical research and critically appraise it.
David Ben-Gurion and Konrad Adenauer chatting in 1960
PR 3632: Identity, Emotions and Trauma in International Politics
Course Convenor/Lecturer: Dr. Adam B. Lerner
Class Timetable
- Lectures on Tuesdays from 2-3 PM, WINDSOR-0-04
- Seminar 1 on Tuesdays from 4-5 PM, WOLFSON-351
- Seminar 2 on Wednesdays from 9-10 AM, ARTS-EX-SEM
Office Hours for Dr. Adam B. Lerner: Tuesdays 1-2 PM and Thursdays from 1:30-2:30 PM (on MS Teams)
This course will examine Young People’s (15-25 year olds) Politics in UK but also from a comparative perspective. The course will look at recent trends in young people’s engagement with electoral and non-electoral politics, and in the values and democratic experiences that define their politics. Drawing on existing theoretical literature and empirical research, the course will, in particular, investigate how young people ‘conceive’ of politics, how and why they engage (or do not) in politics and civil society, what their values are and the issues that particularly concern them, and how these differ to the population as a whole (e.g. are we witnessing a new depoliticised generation, or a generation that defines politics differently, or are these differences more reflective of the life-cycle effect).
How will teaching take place?
There will be ten weekly sessions, which will be divided into 3 parts.
- For each week, a set of online lectures will be made available
- Starting in the second session, a weekly “Padlet” exercise, in which you will upload one visual artefact and its analysis according to a weekly theme, as well as engage with images uploaded by colleagues through comments (see more information on the ‘Portfolio’ exercise)
- An in-person lecture will take place Tuesday 1400-1500 at the Moore Auditorium
- Face to face seminars will take place Tuesday 1500-1600 and 1600-1700 in the International Building, room 028
The Module has one Formative assessment:
The weekly Padlet exercise requires you to upload an image to Padlet and to explain how it relates to a subject taught in this course in the current week or previous weeks. Place the image and your analysis. Place your full name and the number of the upload (Yoav Galai. Upload 1). Please try to participate each week, you need a minimum of 4 for the second formative assessment, but the whole point of this module is to think visually so it is important that you give it a try every week.
The module has three Summative assessment.
The first formative assessment is 28 October and it is a 1000-word visual analysis of an image or video of your choosing worth 30% of the grade, to which you apply methods that we pick up in the first three sessions. Think of it as an expanded version of the Padlet exercise and you may use a Padlet analysis that you already did as the base for this exercise.
The second one is 7 December. It is worth 20% of the grade and it should not require as much work. This is a selection of 4 of your favourite Padlet posts (except for the one you used in the previous assignment – if you did so). So besides polishing it up and moving it to a new file, this isn’t one to worry about. However, if for any reason you have not submitted at least 4 Padlet posts, you will lose marks.
The third assignment is 14 December. It is worth 50% of the grade and it is a classic 2000 word-essay on the subject of your choosing within visual politics. Please check with me to make sure your project is within the scope.
What do I need to bring?
The module will develop your visual literacy and we will delve into the technicalities of imaging in general and digital imaging in particular. No purchase of software is required, but use of a laptop computer, both for seminars as well as for assignments, is recommended. If you do not have access to a laptop, please let me know.
What do I need to do?
For EACH seminar EVERY student will be expected to read items from the list of readings and be prepared to discuss these in the seminar. Some course materials will be provided via the Internet. A Reading Week, during which there will be no seminar, will occupy the sixth week of the term.
In any of the 10 teaching weeks you are expected to:
1. Do all of the required reading
2. Watch the recorded lecture and participate in the post-lecture forum
3. From the second week of teaching: add your entry to the weekly padlet exercise (a minimum of 4 times is required for the assignment, but you are expected to contribute each week)
4. Attend the weekly lecture
5. Attend the weekly seminars
The Politics of Russia and Eastern Europe covers key issues and contemporary developments in the politics of the post-communist region. Students are not required to have prior knowledge of the region to excel in this course.
This course is made of 10 weekly sessions. The key elements of each weekly session will be: the Lecture and the Newsroom.
You are expected to read ALL the essential readings before the weekly session. Each week, the Talis Reading List will also include additional readings and links under “to know more”. You are not required to read those, but do look at their titles to see if anything strikes your fancy! Additional readings are for you to go deeper into some topics, read more about your Newsroom country, and find good sources for your coursework.
This module examines the contemporary literature on social diversity and political representation. It introduces students to theories of representation, debates over women’s and other group’s interests. It applies these frameworks to consider why social diversity in our parliaments might matter and what difference – symbolic, substantive and affective – sex, gender, ethnicity, disability and other demographic characteristics make to elected political institutions, the policy process, political outcomes, and healthy democracies. Discrete topics include theories of representation and the link between the general public, political actors and the media; descriptive representation in national legislatures and executives with a focus on gender, ethnicity and disability; strategies for increasing descriptive representation; the media’s representation of political (gender, ethnic and disabled) minorities. The module will introduce key theoretical research on political representation; introduce current empirical research regarding participation and representation in electoral politics; and examine extant empirical and theoretical literature on representation across its various dimensions: descriptive, substantive and symbolic, and to introduce newer research on other forms of representation.