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States impose many demands upon their citizens through the law and the magistrates and police who enforce it. But are there good reasons why citizens should comply with these demands, or do they act merely out of a fear of punishment? Some states we seem to see as exercising illegitimate forms of power over their peoples; so what distinguishes those states from those we believe merit obedience? Or might the very idea of 'governmental authority' be a nonsense, as some anarchists have claimed?

This module will explore some of the most influential attempts that have been made to answer these fundamental philosophical questions. We will explore a range of accounts of what government is for - Is it there to help us achieve our own selfish ends? Or to help us to live good lives? We will ask what life would be like without a state: for example, would it be 'solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short', as Hobbes argued? The module will explore and evaluate such claims, along with the fundamental conceptions of human nature and of human flourishing that inspire them.

States impose many demands upon their citizens through the law and the magistrates and police who enforce it. But are there good reasons why citizens should comply with these demands, or do they act merely out of a fear of punishment? Some states we seem to see as exercising illegitimate forms of power over their peoples; so what distinguishes those states from those we believe merit obedience? Or might the very idea of 'governmental authority' be a nonsense, as some anarchists have claimed?

This module will explore some of the most influential attempts that have been made to answer these fundamental philosophical questions. We will explore a range of accounts of what government is for - Is it there to help us achieve our own selfish ends? Or to help us to live good lives? We will ask what life would be like without a state: for example, would it be 'solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short', as Hobbes argued? The module will explore and evaluate such claims, along with the fundamental conceptions of human nature and of human flourishing that inspire them.

This political psychology and electoral behavior postgraduate module introduces you to key theoretical and empirical debates these two fields. This module explores how psychological processes influence political attitudes, decision-making, and participation, and how leaders, parties, and media shape electoral behaviour. Topics include identity, ideology, emotion, personality, leadership, impression formation and decision-making in politics. Through contemporary examples, case studies and comparative analysis, you will learn to apply psychological frameworks to pressing political challenges, such as grievance politics, populism, mis/disinformation, and political polarisation. The module develops your ability to critically evaluate public opinion and behavioural data and to connect individual-level motivations with collective political decisions and outcomes.

An introduction to political thinking, focusing on major thinkers and themes and exploring how to engage in political theorising.

Pre-requisite for PAIR3015

An introduction to political thinking, focusing on major thinkers and themes and exploring how to engage in political theorising.

Pre-requisite for PAIR3015

Politics is often about conflict, but sometimes that conflict takes place within legislative bodies and other times in the streets. Most of what we study in political science courses focuses on conflict within the electoral framework, but this course asks what happens when citizens take conflict into their own hands. It asks : How are people mobilised into potentially dangerous activism and how do state responses (such as heavy-handed policing) affect them? What role do social movements play in political protests and how are they affected by long-term structural changes?
This module will examine the conditions that prompt people to organize on behalf of their collective interests, how protest movements evolve and under what conditions they succeed. The goal is to use the scientific method to move beyond specific examples and, ultimately, understand the broader causes, strategies, and consequences of protests. Following the module, students will be able to see protests through an analytical lens that allows them to look past the noise and media frenzy.

Politics is often about conflict, but sometimes that conflict takes place within legislative bodies and other times in the streets. Most of what we study in political science courses focuses on conflict within the electoral framework, but this course asks what happens when citizens take conflict into their own hands. It asks : How are people mobilised into potentially dangerous activism and how do state responses (such as heavy-handed policing) affect them? What role do social movements play in political protests and how are they affected by long-term structural changes?
This module will examine the conditions that prompt people to organize on behalf of their collective interests, how protest movements evolve and under what conditions they succeed. The goal is to use the scientific method to move beyond specific examples and, ultimately, understand the broader causes, strategies, and consequences of protests. Following the module, students will be able to see protests through an analytical lens that allows them to look past the noise and media frenzy.

Politics is often about conflict, but sometimes that conflict takes place within legislative bodies and other times in the streets. Most of what we study in political science courses focuses on conflict within the electoral framework, but this course asks what happens when citizens take conflict into their own hands. It asks : How are people mobilised into potentially dangerous activism and how do state responses (such as heavy-handed policing) affect them? What role do social movements play in political protests and how are they affected by long-term structural changes?
This module will examine the conditions that prompt people to organize on behalf of their collective interests, how protest movements evolve and under what conditions they succeed. The goal is to use the scientific method to move beyond specific examples and, ultimately, understand the broader causes, strategies, and consequences of protests. Following the module, students will be able to see protests through an analytical lens that allows them to look past the noise and media frenzy.

Politics is often about conflict, but sometimes that conflict takes place within legislative bodies and other times in the streets. Most of what we study in political science courses focuses on conflict within the electoral framework, but this course asks what happens when citizens take conflict into their own hands. It asks : How are people mobilised into potentially dangerous activism and how do state responses (such as heavy-handed policing) affect them? What role do social movements play in political protests and how are they affected by long-term structural changes?
This module will examine the conditions that prompt people to organize on behalf of their collective interests, how protest movements evolve and under what conditions they succeed. The goal is to use the scientific method to move beyond specific examples and, ultimately, understand the broader causes, strategies, and consequences of protests. Following the module, students will be able to see protests through an analytical lens that allows them to look past the noise and media frenzy.

Politics of the Global South examines how political order, authority, and representation are produced, contested, and transformed in contexts often characterised by weak or uneven state capacity, deep inequality, and hybrid institutional arrangements. Rather than treating the Global South as a residual or deficient category, the module critically interrogates how political science has historically conceptualised—and often mischaracterised—politics outside the Global North.
The module combines two core strands. First, it offers a critical engagement with the intellectual history of political science and comparative politics, examining how dominant theories in comparative politics have approached (and sometimes obscured) political realities in the Global South. Second, it explores substantive political dynamics that are central to many Global South contexts, including informal governance and representation, clientelism, corruption, criminal governance, informal resistance, lobbying, and the coexistence of formal and informal institutions.
Throughout the module, students will engage comparatively with cases from Latin America, Africa, Asia, and beyond, and will be encouraged to reflect on how concepts developed in and for the Global South travel to, challenge, or reshape political analysis more broadly. The module places particular emphasis on analytical clarity, conceptual critique, and research design, preparing students to develop independent research on politics in the Global South.