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Summer School: Politics

Browse our Politics modules below. If you’re unsure what to study this summer, follow our top tips for how to choose a module.

Module information

Choose from a variety of modules:

Session One 

• The Politics of Crisis

  Module code: IS443

  This module evaluates global political questions emanating from the Coronavirus pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and the response to climate change. These crises paradigmatically shift the political agenda; alter the reception to dominant political ideologies; modify the behaviour of political actors; challenge political governance; and oppose the credibility of abstract theoretical concepts. Additionally, the response to crisis events provides the greatest challenge to the resilience of the global political system. Students will explore these questions from the perspective of Political Science and Political Theory, understand the implications of the Politics of Crisis, and attempt to articulate viable responses to these problems.

  Inspired by the research interests and pursuits of academics from the nationally renowned Law Politics and Sociology School at Sussex University, the module immerses itself with cutting edge political research, and modern methodological approaches. On top of informative lectures and discussion-based seminars, the interactive workshops will make use of the state-of-the-art archive centre based on Sussex campus, ‘The Keep’, to evaluate data regarding the lived experience of coronavirus via the National Observation Archive. Students will also carry out political scientific data analysis using the renowned political statistics and data program, SPSS. Also, students can expect to reconstruct and simulate parliamentary and international governmental debates on real world political issues, shedding light upon the processes and challenges involved in finding solutions for the seminal political issues of our time. This module will appeal to students with an interest in Politics, Sociology and other Social Scientific fields. A previous understanding of or experience with academic Politics is not required in order to study this module.

  Learning outcomes:

  • Understand how to analyse and interpret statistical data by using political scientific methods.

  • Form arguments and critically assess received political scientific consensus. This will involve recognising the value of challenging hypotheses, scrutinising conclusions, and criticising methodological approaches of different political scientists and theorists.

  • Show awareness of the interconnectedness between practical and theoretical political issues, and how these have received new significance.
  • Demonstrate the ability to construct and sustain arguments in written form.

  Teaching method: Lectures, seminars and workshops
  Assessment: 25% group presentation, 75% essay
  Contact hours: 40 hours 
  Credits: 15 Sussex Credits
  Level: 4

Session Two 

• A Post-Liberal World?

  Module code: IS444

  In the 21st century, the challenges facing liberal democracies are unique and wide-ranging. The challenges to the liberal world are thought no longer to be external, much like the challenges to liberal democratic states from Fascist and Communist ideologies in the previous century. Rather, there are reasons to explore the possibility that the very “achievements” of Liberalism, for example, the freedoms individuals now enjoy as a result of living within liberal democratic societies, have mutated. This means that the way these freedoms have been expressed, or the justifications of these freedoms and government attitudes associated with them are no longer relevant in the modern era. Subsequently, it could be that liberal values and norms pertaining to political authority, and the justification of individual freedoms, have overrun their social purpose. This may threaten to undermine the legitimacy of liberal societies themselves. If this is true, then the case for moving towards a post-liberal world, or indeed, the reality that we already on this trajectory or at the end of it, is strengthened.

  In this module, students will interrogate these issues from the perspective of Political Theory, and examine the extent to which we are moving to a post-liberal world. Primarily, the module will explore whether the claim that we are moving towards a post-liberal world is true. Encompassed within this interrogation, students will look at real world political problems and trends that make this trajectory possible, as well as what form a post-liberal world might take, and whether this is desirable. Students will be encouraged to argue critically as to whether a post-liberal world is desirable or not, and explore the ways through which this might be prevented. This will culminate in a critical analysis of the ways in which liberal theory could be re-imagined or justified to respond to modern world issues.

  On top of informative lectures, the chief way in which these themes will be addressed is through close readings, and eleven two-hour, discussion-based seminars. These will critique and evaluate modern concepts in Political Theory, and draw upon cutting-edge research in the discipline. Through these seminars, the question of whether we are heading towards or existing within a post-liberal world will be consistently referred to, and critically evaluated. This module should appeal to any student with an interest in Politics, Political Theory, or those with an interest in the Social Sciences more generally. A previous understanding or experience of the themes this module addresses is not required to select this module.

  Learning outcomes:

  • Critically analyse and communicate ideas about how liberal political theory and its methodology has changed and adapted throughout history
  • Show awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of liberal theory, and debate about how academic and real-world challenges to the perspective might be addressed
  • Analyse the concept of a ‘post-liberal world’ and critically evaluate whether the implications of moving towards this should be embraced
  • Develop sophisticated and critical arguments and communicate these through written expression.

  Teaching method: Lectures, seminars and tutorials
  Assessment: 100% essay
  Contact hours: 40 hours 
  Credits: 15 Sussex Credits
  Level: 4

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