History and Politics

This module explores contemporary political developments in Britain, Europe and the wider world. Content will vary from year to year and can include: post-war British politics, the organisation of the European Union and its impact on the member states citizens, global democratic transitions world-wide, and contemporary democratic structures.

This co-linked module provides you with a fundamental survey of world history. This module introduces you to the histories of relocation, encounter, empire, and migration that have shaped our world. The module uses a comparative and transnational approach, via case studies, introducing general themes in the history of migration and cultural exchange associated with mobility, imperial expansions and post-colonialism.

This co-linked module provides you with a fundamental survey of world history. This module introduces you to the histories of relocation, encounter, empire, and migration that have shaped our world. The module uses a comparative and transnational approach, via case studies, introducing general themes in the history of migration and cultural exchange associated with mobility, imperial expansions and post-colonialism.

This module exposes you in your first year to areas of ancient, medieval/early modern, and modern history related to your potential bracketed award interests. The topics and subjects can vary from year to year.

This module exposes you in your first year to areas of ancient, medieval/early modern, and modern history related to your potential bracketed award interests. The topics and subjects on offer can vary year to year.

This module will introduce you to different political processes and institutions, and will review the key research methods appropriate to comparative politics. The course will help you to identify appropriate approaches to data interpretation and presentation, and provide an opportunity to develop your own case study.  

This module introduces you to the main contemporary political ideologies and contested concepts such as feminism, ecologism, human rights and terrorism.

This module develops your understanding of principles of social policy and concepts of social justice, social exclusion, difference and diversity, by using UK-based policy case studies and looking at future challenges for the state and its citizens.

This module will help you to develop an understanding of research methods in politics. The module will discuss both the limitations and advantages of quantitative and qualitative analysis for political research.

This module introduces the history of modern political thought from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment. Studying a series of 'classic' texts by a range of political thinkers, we will discuss different frameworks for understanding key questions in politics such as: why should I obey the state? and what is political power, and how is it used? You will learn critical skills to evaluate the thinkers, examined with a focus on the social contract tradition.

On this module, you will focus on the historian’s craft, namely the ability to gain key skills in research, analysis, evidence-based theory and the importance of historiography (understanding what others have written before about the past) within a comparative framework. At the end of the module, you will have a completed independent project proposal for your final year of study. Part 1 of this module provides you with a grounding in the essential, generic skills of how to conduct academic research.

On this module, you will focus on the historian’s craft, namely the ability to gain key skills in research, analysis, evidence-based theory and the importance of historiography (understanding what others have written before about the past) within a comparative framework. At the end of the module, you will have a completed independent project proposal for your final year of study. Part 2 allows you to focus on your specific research passion and plans for independent research.

After briefly covering the early Cold War, the module will account for and critique the direction of US Foreign Policy up to the present day, exploring how US policy has addressed post-Cold War conflict and 'rogue states', terrorism, the environment and increased global economic competition.

This module explores a women’s history of North America from colonial times to the Civil War. The intention is not to cover the entire period and all regions, but rather to focus upon the ways in which race, class and gender affected the social, economic, cultural and political experiences of American women. Taking as its focus diverse groups of women who have shaped the course of North American history, this course will examine women’s lives in the context of pre-contact, early settlement, slavery, revolution, through to the end of the American Civil War.

In June 1948 the Empire Windrush arrived at Tilbury Docks carrying hundreds of people from the Caribbean. This scene has become a national symbol in Britain’s history, yet Windrush was neither the first nor the last ship to carry migrants to the British Isles. This module explores Windrush as part of a longer history of mobility in modern Britain, examines how race has intertwined with migration to order, reorder and contest the ways in which we live our lives. The module therefore offers an alternative lens through which to understand modern British history, interrogating many of the concepts we now treat as natural (race, borders, citizenship) and situating them within a longer history.

This module evaluates key social, political and economic developments in British history during the period of 1900 to 1939. It assesses the changing nature of society, before, during and after the First World War. The module examines Britain’s social structure and social relations, youth, the women’s movement, poverty, the rise of the Labour Party, the decline of Liberalism and conservative hegemony during the interwar period, and the foundation of Britain’s Welfare State.

This module introduces students to the US political system and to key aspects of contemporary US politics. It combines an introduction to the main institutions and processes of the US federal government with an overview of key developments in American politics.

This module looks at the theory and practice of coproduction across a range of public services and will help you to evaluate critically the concept of coproduction based on theory and current practice.

This module explores the fascinating world of antiquity, focussing particularly on the distinctive society and culture of Classical Greece, as well as the causes, course and consequences of the Great Peloponnesian War, fought between Athens and Sparta.

This module will focus on analysing and evaluating the Civil Contingencies Act 2004. Why it was introduced and how effective it has been since its introduction.

This module examines the different educational systems within the United Kingdom, with a particular focus on the system in England. It covers the historical development of state education in the UK and the different sectors of education: nursery/preschool; primary; secondary; further and vocational; and higher education.

Ancient Egypt was one of the first great civilisations of the world. This module explores its history from the formation of the state in the fourth millennium BC to the conquest of Alexander the Great in 332 BC. We will cover all the major periods and events of Egypt’s long history during these 3,000 years. From the lives of the pharaohs themselves – the pyramid builders and the famous Rameses The Great and Tutankhamun – to the lives of normal Egyptian villagers and foreigners living in (and sometimes ruling over) Egypt, we will look at all aspects of life down the Nile Valley. Throughout, we will study closely the primary sources left by the ancient Egyptians themselves, both written evidence and museum artefacts, including hieroglyphic temple inscriptions, papyrus letters, objects of daily life, statues, coffins, and human remains. Finally, we will look at the legacy of Egypt and the impact of this ancient culture on life in the 21st century.

An innovative module that applies interdisciplinary methods, approaches and perspectives of humanities and social science disciplines to contemporary socio-economic challenges, complementing Engaging the Humanities 1. Each year the module will address a different contemporary issue or theme. The module will give you the opportunity to develop and apply your academic skills in an applied, practical setting by undertaking an individual engagement project. This can include a work placement, volunteering, social/community enterprise, RAH! Project, awareness-raising campaign, multimedia piece, blog, creative writing, poetry or artwork performance/exhibition. Each project will be supervised and mentored by one of the module tutors. Finding external partners to work with will be supported by the Engagement and Outreach team.

This module focuses on equality and diversity in the commissioning and delivery of public services, and within social policy. Participation and under representation of women, people with disabilities, BAME in political life will also be considered.

The module will take students through the various stages of recruitment from identifying strengths and skills, to job searching and CVs, using platforms such as LinkedIn, and interview practice. Students will build up a portfolio of tasks related to employability, for instance, CV, video interview, assessment centre and reflect on their learning across the module.

The module combines a chronological approach to the war in the East, from the Japanese attack on Manchuria to the nuclear tests in the South Pacific, with thematic approaches highlighting topics such as food supplies, comfort women, Prisoners of War, animal and nuclear warfare, and troop entertainment.

The module will provide you with an understanding of the changing character of politics and society in Britain since 1980. It focuses particular attention on debates surrounding the role of the state, the economy, the organisation of industry and the role of factors such as the media and pressure groups within the political process.

This module looks at what we mean by political activism and the different forms it can take. Its purpose is to familiarise students with the nature and significance of political activism and to encourage them to reflect on their own political engagement and activism.

This module will explore links between art and politics in a thematic way focusing on the artist as witness to, activist in or victim of, political events. It will make reference to a wide range of international art, design and cinematic movements.

This module introduces the main theories of policy change and provides a systematic examination of the policy process.

This module will explore representational practices in film and television including topics like gender, race, sexuality, disability and age. Specific emphasis will be placed on representation as a political practice that influences and is influenced by the wider political narrative, with students encouraged to explore the political impact of film and television.

This module explores the revolutionary transformations (political, economic, social, and cultural) that occurred in China during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This tumultuous period saw the decline and overthrow of China’s last imperial dynasty, the creation of two Chinese republics (the Republic of China [1912–49] and the People’s Republic of China [1949–]), and China’s emergence as an economic superpower during the post-Mao era. Moving beyond traditional approaches that reduce historical revolutions to the study of high politics, this module examines the many ways in which revolutionary transformations affected the lives of the Chinese people who experienced them.

This module will explore key social policy areas and discuss ways to resolve prevalent issues such as inequality, poverty, homelessness, and social care crisis.

This module will explore the pace of change over the last 25 years in the UK public sector, and assess the impact of these fundamental changes and reform programmes, such as: privatisation/contracting out; austerity; new public management; e-governance; consumerism; multi-agency working; and co-production.

Espousing ideologies of holy war, discrete Christian powers went on the offensive in the late eleventh century conquering Muslim peoples in Iberia, Sicily and the Holy Land. The resultant history of the interaction between the Crescent and the Cross is much richer than one might expect. As this module reveals, the greatest centres of political and military power in the medieval Mediterranean: Cordoba, Palermo and even the ‘crusader state’ of Jerusalem, produced great moments of cultural interchange and relative tolerance. Holy War was dispersed with long periods of peaceful coexistence. Muslims and Christians fought each other, but they also lived, worked, played and even prayed together in surprising and little known ways.

The Creation of Tudor England examines the establishment of the Tudor dynasty in England and Wales by Henry VII, Henry VIII and Edward VI in the period 1485-1553. Henry VII’s seizure of the throne in 1485 was a turning point in English history, ending the Wars of the Roses and creating a new dynasty – the Tudors. This module examines how Henry VII gained control of the kingdom and how Henry VIII and Edward VI established Tudor rule throughout England and Wales. Using primary sources, it examines the social, political and artistic world of the Tudor Court and Tudor England.

This module examines the origins and history of modern terrorism. The assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881 saw the emrgence of political terrorists onto the world stage. Over the next fifty years, these women and men committed acts of extreme violence in the name of ideologies from nihilism and anarchism to nationalism and fascism. This module examines terrorists’ motivations, tactics, counter-terrorism and how our own contemporary terrorism can be traced back to this first ‘war on terror’. Students on the module will take a global approach to terrorism, examining case studies from America, Asia, and Europe. The themes of race and gender feature throughout.

This module evaluates the changing character of politics and society in Britain during the 1980s. It adopts a broad perspective and examines a wide variety of themes: the dynamics of issues and ideology, the transformation of the political parties, the process of government itself and aspects of foreign policy. It considers debates surrounding the role of the state, the economy, organisation of industry and defence policy.

Historians are interested in the stories that we tell about the past. We want to know what it was like to be there: how the past looked, and sounded, and smelled. And we make use of texts, and photos, and images to pick our way through the past. But what if documents aren’t the only way to try and ‘be there’?

This course will provide an object-based history of Britain (and occasionally the British Empire) to think about hidden histories and alternative narratives of the past. We will start way back with the first burial in Britain in the middle of the last Ice Age, 30,000 years ago. Moving forward, we will take in an exceptional series of objects that speak to the unique and enigmatic history of Britain – from golden hair ornaments from the Bronze Age landscape around Stonehenge, to the earliest personal letters from Britain (party invites to a fort at the edge of the Roman world on Hadrian’s Wall), and Saxon hoards that tell of the strife of the Migration Period. We will end up on the moors around Manchester in the aftermath of the First World War, where a veteran of the bloodiest encounters on the Western Front used his traumatic experiences to shape our understanding of the past forever.

This module will provide you with the long view of the development of Britain and British society. It uses a wide range of case study objects to provide not only temporal perspectives, but an introduction to the methods of material culture analysis that will be invaluable for history students used to more traditional document-based analysis. In examining objects we will focus on pluralist approaches to the past, and survey hidden histories. The module will provide you with new approaches to research methodologies, and with a wider perspective beyond traditional approaches to historical research. By situating these objects in their wider, global histories, as well as in the contexts of discovery, we will introduce ideas about the political context of the analysis of material culture, of knowledge production, and of historiographic research.

The module focuses on the government and society of female rulers and leaders in seventeenth and eighteenth century Europe. It analyses the development of the relationships between gender and social, political, and cultural aspects of history, and the increasing visibility of women as writers, scientists and political players in the Age of Enlightenment.

You will work with a supervisor to define an independent project on an appropriate topic of your choosing. You may focus on an academic subject or work with an external partner. Preliminary research will generate a detailed proposal, which will form the basis of a guided independent research-based project to produce an extended piece of work that presents a thesis. Your final submission will be an individual project that builds upon the skills you have developed on your course.

This module examines the contested nature of security through a critical lens, and engages with the politics and power relations of security construction. It analyses the various theoretical approaches that challenge conventional conceptualisations of ‘security’ in what is often called ‘the critical turn’ in Security Studies, and studies their methodological implications.

The module will consist of chronologically-ordered case studies, with a broad scope addressing different geographical areas, and events related to the phenomena of civil war and revolution through 20th Century history. The syllabus will be flexible to allow for the future incorporation of new advancements in the area, but indicative content might include the Mexican and Cuban revolutions, Ireland 1916, the Russian, Spanish and Greek civil wars, the cultural revolution in China, the Prague Spring, Berlin 1989, revolutionary Iran. With a particular focus on the connections between civil war and revolution, the course will provide students with the opportunity to explore the possibilities of comparative history for a better and more nuanced understanding of the past. The module will allow for the identification of similarities, differences and transnational connections among different events and nations. 

This module explores the everyday lives and concerns of 'the other 99%' of the populations of the Ancient world. Antiquity, more than most other periods of history, has predominantly been studied from the 'top down', with a focus on great battles, great cities, and great men. In this module we will approach the ancient world from the 'bottom up', examining daily, economic, and religious life from the perspectives of those voices silenced by the elite, male sources from Antiquity. We will focus on the lives and concerns of the diverse populations of the ancient Mediterranean world: women; the oppressed; the poor; the enslaved; children; the aged; religious minorities; non-citizens; foreigners; migrants; and refugees. We will consider historical approaches to a range of themes and topics, including popular culture and entertainment, sex and sexuality, gender, the body, poverty, enslavement, and oppression.

This module examines a turbulent period in the history of France and its Empire. The French struggled to come to terms with the losses of the First World War and confront the political and social challenges of the interwar years. As democratic governments came and went, fascists and communists fought for control of the street. In the imperial territories, violent repression attempted to snuff out nationalist challenges. Many French diagnosed a deep rot in society, evident in seemingly irreversible cultural and social decline, racial tension and anti-Semitism, a crisis in gender roles, and challenges to the imperial status quo. The defeat to Nazi Germany opened the darkest chapter in the history of France, the Occupation. The collaborationist Vichy regime persecuted opposition and helped to deport thousands of Jews to their deaths while resistance groups fought to liberate the country and Empire. The module thus covers a period popularly known as the ‘French Civil War’.

History concerns both the study of the past, and critical consideration of how we think about the past. This has been shaped by a series of great archaeological discoveries, which have changed how we think about the past. These discoveries include the:

• recognition of the ‘Deep Time’ age of the Earth and the fabulous Palaeolithic cave art of sites such as Altamira;
• first contact between Indigenous people and European people as a result of colonialism in north America and Australia;
• recognition of the sophisticated societies that were capable of producing artefacts such as the Rosetta Stones, and monuments such as the Sphinx and Great Zimbabwe.

While the history of discovery of important objects and sites has affected how we think about humanity more broadly, these discoveries have been manipulated for political purposes. We can see this in the ways regimes such as the Nazis in 1930s Germany adopted explicit ideological interpretations of the past for political purposes, and the ways in which Victorian ethnographic museums naturalised social Darwinism as an excuse for racist colonialist policies.

This module will provide you with the long view of how we think about the past through key discoveries - from Napolean in north Africa, to the colonial exploits of Captain Cook, the quest for Camelot and King Arthur, to Gertrude Bell’s work in Iraq - the context of archaeological discovery and interpretation has often been highly politicised. This module will use a wide range of case sites and discoveries to explore not only the rich, international human cultural inheritance in archaeological sites, but also a critical appraisal of how we think about the past more broadly.

The module will provide you with new approaches to research methodologies, and with a wider perspective beyond traditional approaches to historical research. By situating these sites in their wider, global histories, as well as in the contexts of discovery, we will introduce ideas about the political context of the analysis of material culture, knowledge production, and historiographic research as ways to approach the study of the past.

The city of Rome has been an important political, religious and cultural centre for Europe and the Mediterranean across more than two millennia. This module will enhance students’ knowledge of Rome’s history and develop their practical skills through a heritage workplace task. The first half of the module will introduce key sources for Rome’s history and heritage, ranging from ancient archaeology through pilgrim travel guides to Grand Tour accounts. The second part will explore the ways the city’s heritage has been interpreted for visitors. The module will conclude with a practical project in which students will develop a heritage project about an aspect of the Roman past.

This module explores criminality and the criminal justice system in the London metropolis from the late seventeenth to the early twentieth century. This was a period during which the population of London underwent substantial growth, and one that witnessed the development and reform of many of its criminal justice institutions. The module not only considers continuity and change but also enables you to engage at a more micro-level with the lives of the offenders who moved through the criminal justice system.

The module accesses a lively and engaging field in the history of crime and policing, which in recent years has embraced the digitisation of many of its key primary sources. The Old Bailey Online is a fully searchable edition of the proceedings of the Old Bailey. It contains 197,745 criminal trials from 1674 to 1913 (changing to the Central Criminal Court from 1834). It also contains the Ordinary of Newgate’s Accounts between 1676 and 1772. There are also two associated resources: Digital Panopticon allows you to follow through transported Old Bailey convicts to NSW and Van Diemen’s Land; London Lives is an associated project that provides a wide range of primary sources about eighteenth-century London. Students will also draw on the British Library Newspaper Collection and the digitised Newgate Calendar, which contains popular accounts of condemned criminals from the period circa 1600 to 1850.

This module looks at the role of cities and city networks in a rapidly urbanising world and reflects on how cities might be reorganised in more socially just and sustainable ways.

This module will examine the domestic experience of the Second World War in Britain, questioning whether it was a ‘people’s war’. Taking a thematic approach, it will cover the major social and cultural effects of war on the home front.

This module offers you a new way of approaching the history of the 20th century. It asks: how have the experiences, interpretations and self-understandings of gays and lesbians changed since 1900? In this sense, ‘queer’ can be used an umbrella term for sexual and gender minorities. But queer history goes beyond gay and lesbian history. This module will introduce you to queer theory, which prompts us to fundamentally question our categories of historical analysis. So, we will dispense with supposed binaries (gay/straight, man/woman, progress/persecution) and instead focus on how historical constructions of “normal” and “natural” have changed since 1900.

The module explores the dominant paradigms in political science and is designed to equip students with the tools to study the key ways in which analysts construct understandings and explanations of political phenomena. The module combines conceptual analysis with direct application to contemporary examples.

This module surveys the main points of contact, conflict, difference and similarity between the East Roman – or Byzantine – Empire and the Latin West, including the so-called ‘Crusader States’. Adopting a chronological framework, the module addresses the period from Charlemagne, the first emperor of a revived western Roman Empire, through to the age of the crusades in the Middle East and the sacking of the greatest city in Christendom, Constantinople. Examinations of the most significant and sometimes extraordinary theological, political, societal, and military challenges, which the Latin West compelled Byzantium to confront during this period, form the heart of the module.

The moduleed Kingdom has never had a written constitution embodied in a single document. The present constitution encompasses both statutory law and landmark judicial opinions, as well as many conventions or unwritten rules of constitutional practice.

This module aims to introduce you to the politics, government and foreign policy of Russia as it has developed since 1991, in order to allow you to analyse and assess the challenges Russia faces today and its complex role in contemporary geopolitics.

Using case studies from particular moments in the history of capitalism, this module explores the evolving challenges to liberal political thought, as industrialism and post-industrialism have transformed global politics. You will develop your capacity for critical thought by exploring a series of key themes to interpret diverse forms of modernity.

The past decade has seen a rise in popularity of democratic innovations: processes, such as citizen assemblies or participatory budgeting, which try to respond to the legitimacy crisis facing representative institutions by providing opportunities for direct citizen participation in policymaking.

This module will introduce students to the Pollock Report 2013 commissioned by the Cabinet Office Civil Contingencies Secretariat reviewing persistent lessons identified relating to the joint management of Disasters and Emergencies in the United Kingdom.

Building on the work covered in Education Policy 1 and using issues and case studies, this module examines the relationship between society and its institutions with educational bodies and educational provision. The different ideological and theoretical debates surrounding the issues will be critically reviewed; and Separatism vs. Inclusion will be a key theme running throughout the module.

The module has two aims. First, to review using contemporary and historical examples the theories of leadership and to develop knowledge about different leadership models in various settings. And second through role play and other practical exercises to develop the leadership skills and competencies of students taking this module.

This course develops your knowledge of how policy-making takes place and policies are made in the European Union (EU). The course introduces principal theories of EU policymaking relating to the main stages of the policy process: agenda-setting, decision-making and policy implementation. The course discusses the theoretical claims and observable implications of public policy theories with respect to EU institutions, policymaking processes and policy outputs, and critically evaluates them from the perspective of empirical evidence provided by political science and public policy research.

This module will examine the role of housing in developing sustainable communities and how social housing providers are working to improve the opportunities of tenants and residents and impact positively on individual and collective wellbeing.

This module introduces students to key issues and major thinkers in modern Italian political thought. It provides an opportunity to explore the political tradition and culture of a bellwether European nation.

This module focusses on the development of the Enlightenment in Great Britian and France, and the long-term drive towards revolutionary change in both nations. Several strands of historical enquiry are pursued, including the creation and consumption of wealth and ‘globalisation’, the influence of increased literacy on society, and the impacts on both countries of the revolution in America. As a comparative module, weekly topics will focus on political and intellectual leaders on both sides of the Channel: Montesquieu and Voltaire; Adams and Hume; Pitt and Fox; and Robespierre and Napoleon.

This module will explore the complex world of Rome and its 'barbarian' neighbours, from the early days of the Republic to the rise of the Empire. Using classical sources and physical evidence (including the Vindolanda tablets, coins, inscriptions and archaeological remains), you will gain an in-depth understanding of the interactions between the expanding Roman state and the Celtic peoples of Iron Age Europe that they came to dominate. It will question how 'barbarian' these societies actually were.

For thirty years conflict racked Northern Ireland in what became known as the ‘Troubles’. After communal rioting broke out in the late 1960s, groups such as the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) pursued violent campaigns that spilled over into bombings in England and the Republic of Ireland.  The British army carried out controversial killings of civilians, fuelling this rise in paramilitarism. This module charts the evolution of the conflict and the shifting strategies of its protagonists. It considers motivations behind political violence, the role of ideology and attempts by the British and Irish governments to bring an end to the conflict.

An examination of the politics inherent in major professional sport.

The module provides an understanding of the ethical dimensions of politics through an examination of persistent moral problems and dilemmas concerning war, violence and political obligation. The course adopts an inter-disciplinary approach, combining elements of political theory, moral philosophy and twentieth century British and European political history. 

This module aims to give students a broad understanding of the welfare state, what factors determine its evolution and how we can explain the differences we observe across countries. It provides an introduction to the comparative study of welfare state regimes with a particular focus on the effect of welfare state regimes on social inequality.