Level 5 - King's College London · Assessment: 2,500-word essay (40%), 3,000-word essay 2 (60%)...

Department of Political Economy

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Optional Module Handbook For PPL students taking optional modules in the Department of Political Economy

Level 5

5SSIP005 Elections and Political Communications in Modern Britain: Voters, Parties and Public Opinion Semester 1 15 credits Module Convenor: Professor Roger Mortimore Assessment: 2,000-word essay (50%), 1-hour examination (50%) Pre-requisites: None Teaching Format: 1-hour lecture, 1-hour small group seminar What’s it about? In democracies, politicians gain power by winning elections, so one of the most important elements in understanding politics is understanding why voters vote as they do, and how they can be persuaded to change their minds. The politicians may try to persuade the voters that the policies they believe in are best, or they may follow the public mood and promise to do what they think the voters want. They may also try to convince the voters they are more trustworthy or competent than their opponents, or that what their party stands for is more worthy or more practical than what the other parties stand for. The voters may be influenced by this, and they may also be influenced by the media or by the opinions of families and friends. Looking at how all these factors have operated in practice, and how the nature of elections and election campaigns has changed and is changing, helps understand how politics works today, and how it might work in the future. This course gives an overview of British electoral politics over the last eighty years, considering some of the most important elections in that period, the issues those elections they were fought over, how the politicians campaigned and what they hoped to achieve, why the voters voted the way they did. It traces the gradual modernisation of campaigning techniques and changes in whole approach of politicians, the media and the voters to elections. But it concentrates in particular on the relationship between politics and public opinion – what we know about it and how political scientists and others go about studying it. How does it work? The course consists of weekly one-hour lectures and weekly one hour small group seminars on topics related to that week’s lecture. The seminars allow for discussion, debates, consideration of thematic questions and critical engagement; students will need to complete the relevant reading to participate fully in the seminars, and may be asked to present the conclusions they draw from their reading to stimulate the discussion. What’s in it? Each lecture will cover the main events and context of a single election, together with a key innovation or event at that election which is related to the wider themes of the course; the seminar will explore that theme in more depth. For example, the second lecture covers the general election of 1945: we look at the reasons for Labour’s victory in that election, why it was unexpected and what it meant for the country and the Labour Party. (There is still much disagreement on the answers to these questions, and the differing interpretations have affected the way Labour politicians have seen their role ever since.) But the 1945 election was also the first to be studied as it happened by political scientists and was written up in the first of the “Nuffield election studies”, and we will also therefore discuss some of early methods of analysis and the conclusions that they drew.


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In particular, it was the 1945 Nuffield election study that first explained the newly-discovered idea of “swing”, showing how the apparently chaotic electoral system in fact worked in a much more straightforward way than anybody had previously realised: we will look at what swing is, how it works and how it can be used to help us understand what is happening in an election and what the voters are doing (applying these lessons not only to 1945 but to more recent elections). Topics covered during the course will include:

• the nature of public opinion and how it is measured;

• theories about why voters vote the way they do and what factors influence them, with an introduction to the methods that political scientists use to study this;

• how Britain’s unusual electoral system works in practice, and the impact this has had on British politics;

• the influence of the media on public opinion and how politicians try to communicate with the public through the media;

• why modern election campaigns cost so much, and the attempts that have been made to reduce the influence of money in British politics;

• the tension between “image” and “substance” in modern democratic decision making;

• the democratic implications of modern trends including falling turnouts and lower engagement with politics.

A background reading list There is no single course textbook, but these books provide a readable introduction to some of the topics the course covers: David Denver, Christopher Carman, and Robert Johns, Elections and Voters in Britain, 3rd ed. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012. David Butler, British General Elections since 1945, 2nd ed. Making Contemporary Britain Series. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1995. Martin Rosenbaum, From Soapbox to Soundbite: Party Political Campaigning in Britain since 1945. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1997. David Broughton, Public Opinion Polling and Politics in Britain, 2nd ed. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1996. 5SSPP201 Political Economy: Approaches, Concepts and Issues Semester 1 15 credits Module convenors: TBC Assessment: 2-hour examination (50%) and 2,500-word essay (50%) Pre-requisites: None Teaching Format: 1-hour lecture, 1-hour small group seminar This module introduces a number of approaches to understanding the relationship between politics and economics, the state and markets. The module focuses on different perspectives on, and key concepts in, political economy, as emphasised or challenged in major works in the field. The themes which the module looks at include (i) the role of class and interests, (ii) culture and the economy, (iii) the embeddedness of markets, (iv) markets versus hierarchy, (v) the role of institutions, and (vi) the distribution of capital. Within each theme, we will discuss key contributions to the different approaches, including works by Smith, Marx, Weber, Keynes, Polanyi, Hayek, Olson, Ostrom, and Piketty. We will focus on the main arguments of these authors, their underlying assumptions, their methodology, and their contribution to our understanding of the field. We will also link the (modern) classics to contemporary applications of the different approaches.


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Learning Outcomes At the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Be able to identify the specific assumptions and characteristics of different approaches in political economy

• Be able to compare these different approaches and their ability to explain real-world phenomena

• Be able to use the theoretical tools acquired in the module to analyse and compare concrete empirical cases.

Key Readings Adam Smith (1776) An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (1848) The Communist Manifesto. Mancur Olson (1982). The Rise and Decline of Nations: Economic Growth, Stagflation, and Social Rigidities. Max Weber (1905). The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit Of Capitalism. Karl Polanyi (1944). The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time. James M. Buchanan and Gordon Tullock (1962) The Calculus of Consent. Thomas Piketty (2014). Capital in the Twenty-First Century. 5SSPP202 History of Political Thought Semester 1 15 credits Module Convenor: Dr Paul Sagar Assessment: 2,500-word essay (40%), 3,000-word essay 2 (60%) Pre-requisites: None Teaching Format: Lectures for this module are expected to be 50 minutes in total. Classes will also run, for the discussion of the assigned reading material. This course will introduce you to some central figures in the history of political thought: Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Rousseau, Marx, and Schmitt. We’ll look at why they wrote what they wrote, what they meant, and how well their arguments work. We’ll ask why they give different answers to questions such as: What does it mean to be truly free? Is democracy possible or desirable? Should we educate citizens, or take them as they are? Are there absolute moral truths, and what sort of politics should we have in light of that? What rights do we have? What place should religion have in politics? Should citizens dedicate themselves to the state? The module will particularly suit students who enjoy political theory and the history of political thought. There is a lot of reading, and much of it is very challenging. Great emphasis will be put on understanding primary texts, which are usually dense and difficult. Don’t take this module if you dislike reading books that are difficult to understand. Do take this module if you want to gain first-hand appreciation of some of the most impressive and important contributions to western intellectual culture. Lectures and seminars will help you to learn the critical skills you need for this module, e.g. using historical evidence, handling ambiguity and contradictions, probing texts philosophically, seeking contemporary insights. Not sure if you’ll enjoy this course? Try one (or more) of the following:


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Quentin Skinner, Machiavelli: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2000). This is a very short, very cheap (£6.50), and very good introduction to Machiavelli. Hannah Dawson, Life Lessons from Hobbes (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013). What can we learn today from the nasty, brutish political theory of Thomas Hobbes? (Just £7) Robert Wokler, Rousseau: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2001). What the title says. Pretty sure you’re going to take this course? Try Alan Ryan, On Politics (Penguin, 2013) – a history of Western political thought from the Ancient Greeks to the present day. It covers most of our thinkers, and many more. At only £13, it is a real bargain. 5SSPP204 Extended Essay Semester 2 15 credits Module Convenor: Dr Rod Dacombe Assessment: 4,500-word essay (100%) Pre-requisites: None Teaching Format: 1-hour lecture, 1-hour seminar This module is intended to give students the opportunity to explore an area of political science in depth through an extended piece of coursework. Students will be encouraged to draw on their experiences in other modules to develop a sustained piece of work which will develop their knowledge in a particular field as well as considerably enhance their abilities to write well and successfully manage an original research project. The course will be taught through a mixture of lectures and small seminar groups and workshops. The lecture sessions provide an overview of the issues which students will face in preparing a paper of this kind. The seminar sessions are there to track student progress and provide bespoke feedback and advice on their papers as they develop. In the seminars, all participants will be expected to prepare a presentation on their research and its progress, according to weekly milestones that will help to guide their work through to completion. They will also be required to provide a brief written account of their progress at each seminar. In this module students are assessed on the basis of one essay of 4,500 words (100%). The course will particularly suit students who are self-motivated and passionate about a specific subject area. The workload involved will be intensive but the support structures in place as part of the module will ensure that committed students are in an ideal position to begin the final year dissertation. A copy of the current year’s module outline is available on request. Last year’s class schedule:

1. Introducing the Extended Essay (lecture) 2. Topic ideas (seminar session) 3. Finding topics and questions. Searching and reviewing the literature (lecture) 4. Finding a question (seminar session) 5. Work schedules and topic presentations (seminar session) 6. Reading week 7. Progress reports and plans for draft papers (seminar session) 8. Testing (lecture) 9. Writing up and writing well (seminar session)


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10. Presentations of draft papers (seminar session) 11. Getting the most from the Extended Essay (lecture)

5SSPP205 Political Change in Europe Semester 2 15 credits Module Convenor: Dr Anna Gwiazda Assessment: 2-hour examination (50%), 2,500-word essay (50%) Teaching Format: This course provides a distinct approach to political change and comparative politics in a European context. First, this module adopts a broad understanding of political change and analyses issues such as: institutional change, party system change and electoral change, in addition to changes in political representation, participation and accountability. Moreover, it examines different causes of political change such as international, economic or institutional. Second, this course takes a comparative perspective rather than a country-by-country approach. Comparing European countries across space and across time offers an opportunity to explore a variety of vital issues and observe political change or stability. By examining a series of common issues in a comparative context, the course aims to deepen the student’s understanding of the politics of individual European states. Third, it focuses on political change in both West European and East European democracies. European politics has changed considerably since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. It no longer makes sense to divide Europe into East and West when trying to examine issues and patterns in European politics. Within one Europe, there are distinct political systems, yet the institutions of politics share some fundamental similarities. Lecture Schedule

Week 1: Introduction Week 2: Democratization in Europe Week 3: Europe’s twin crises: the economic crisis and the migration crisis Week 4: Democratic quality and democratic backsliding in Europe Week 5: Populism and the extreme right Week 6: Reading Week Week 7: Party system change Week 8: Changing patterns of political representation: minorities and women Week 9: Elections, electoral change and accountability Week 10: Changing patterns of political participation Week 11: European democracies and institutional change Week 12: Revision

5SSPP206 Research Methods for Politics Semester 1 15 credits Module Convenor: Professor Sarah Birch Assessment: 2,500 word essay (50%), 2,500 word essay (50%) Pre-requisites: None Teaching Format: 1-hour lecture, 1-hour seminar This module introduces you to the research design and methods used in the study of politics. The aim of the module is twofold: (1) to provide you with the knowledge and skills needed to understand,


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compare and evaluate the design of, and methods used in, research in the field of politics, and (2) to provide you with the knowledge and skills needed to design your own research project and to make informed choices with regards to the methods of research. The module focuses on the logic behind various types of research design and the key features of different methods used in research in the field of politics. We will discuss these issues using key chapters and articles on methodology as well as examples of (empirical) studies in which choices in terms of design and methods are – implicitly or explicitly – made. The topics which are covered include description and explanation, concept analysis and typologies, experimental vs non-experimental methods, the comparative method, case studies and case selection, and historical and ethnographic research. “Research Methods in Politics” is a compulsory module in the second year of the BA/BSc Politics, and builds on some of the knowledge and skills which you have developed in the module “Studying Politics” (Year 1). 5SSPP208 The International Politics of Energy Semester 2 15 credits Module Convenor: Dr Tomas Maltby Assessment: 2-hour examination (45%), 2,500 word essay (45%), Participation (10%) Pre-requisites: None Teaching Format: weekly 1-hour lectures and 1-hour seminars This module provides an introduction to the role of energy in developments in politics and international studies. The course introduces the main contemporary issues related to the energy sector in terms of the history and development of conventional and also renewable energy resources, and how the global governance of energy has evolved. Using case studies, challenges such as resource wars, the resource ‘curse’, and climate change will be examined as well as the links between energy policy and foreign policy. In doing so the importance of ideas, ideology and power relationships in determining national and international policy outcomes will be examined. How actors understand their energy security will also be considered (supply security, price security and environmental security). The learning outcomes of this module are to:

• enable students to understand and critically assess the importance of energy to developments in politics and international studies, with awareness of its regional and historical context;

• enable students to analyse the role of energy in international politics and the politics of international energy and environmental negotiations;

• introduce students to the concept of energy security and situate international energy policy and issues in theoretical debates in International Relations and International Political Economy;

• develop an understanding of how political institutions, the political environment, and the economic system interact and how energy policy is made at both the national and international levels.

Lecture Schedule Part one: Introduction: Concepts, conflict and cooperation

1. Welcome and introduction 2. International Energy Politics and Security (theory and concepts) 3. Conflict: Oil Embargoes and Resource Wars 4. Cooperation: International Energy Governance

Part two: Country and regional case studies 5. Energy Security as National Security Strategy: The United States 6. Reading week – no classes 7. Rentier States and Resource Curse: Africa and the Gulf States


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8. Energy Policy and Foreign Policy: Russia (and China) 9. Energy Policy as Normative Policy: The EU

Part three: Environmental security and energy transitions 10. Climate Change governance and Environmental Security 11. A green future? Renewable energy and decarbonisation 12. Current trends and future challenges: The role of nuclear and shale gas/oil.

Key Readings No textbook is ideal for this module, but a number of readings are from: Kuzemko, C., Keating, M. F. and Goldthau, A. (2016) “The Global Energy Challenge: Environment, Development and Security”, Palgrave. There are 8 copies in the Franklin Wilkins library (HD9502.A2 KUZ), and some chapters have been digitised. The following are also useful:

Bradshaw, M. (2014) Global Energy Dilemmas, Cambridge: Polity.

Dannreuther, R. and Ostrowski, R. (eds.) (2013) Global Resources: Conflict and Cooperation, Palgrave Macmillan Online access - http://kcl.eblib.com/patron/FullRecord.aspx?p=1249625

van de Graaf, T. (2013) The Politics and Institutions of Global Energy Governance, Palgrave Macmillan. Online access - http://kcl.eblib.com/patron/FullRecord.aspx?p=1514299

Yergin, D. (1991/2011) The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power (New York Free Press).

Yergin, D. (2012) The Quest: Energy Security and the Remaking of the Modern World, Penguin Books. 5SSPP209 Political Theory of Capitalism Semester 2 15 credits Module Convenor: Dr Adam Tebble Assessment: 2-hour examination (50%), 2,000 word essay (50%) Pre-requisites: Introduction to Political Theory (4SSPP104), or any 1st Year Philosophy module Teaching Pattern: 1-hour lecture, 1-hour seminars This module is designed as an in-depth study of the work of key thinkers in the history of political thought, arranged around the theme of the nature and justification of private property rights and free markets. Specifically, the educational aims are to:

• Provide students with knowledge of the ideas of key contributors to these debates such as John Locke, Adam Smith, Karl Marx, Friedrich Hayek and John Rawls

• Enable students to place the contributions of these thinkers within the broader context of the ubiquitous problems of politics and in particular the challenge of justifying private property rights and free markets.

• Provide students with the skills required for engagement with and critical analysis of original works and secondary source material in political theory/philosophy.

• By the end of this module students will be able to:

• Demonstrate advanced knowledge of the ideas of key contributors to debates about the feasibility and desirability of private property rights and free markets.

• Show an understanding of the underlying presuppositions and assumptions informing philosophical debate about capitalism, private property rights and markets.

http://kcl.eblib.com/patron/FullRecord.aspx?p=1249625

http://kcl.eblib.com/patron/FullRecord.aspx?p=1514299


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• Demonstrate an ability to critically analyse and evaluate key original texts and secondary source material in political theory/philosophy.

Lecture Schedule 1. Locke on the state of nature 2. Locke on private property 3. Smith on the division of labour and self-love 4. Smith of the invisible hand the extent of the market 5. Marx on historical materialism 6. Marx on capitalism, exploitation and alienation 7. Hayek on the knowledge problem and economic liberty 8. Hayek on spontaneous order and social justice 9. Rawls on the original position and the veil of ignorance 10. Rawls's principles of justice

5SSPP210 Post-Colonial Theory Semester 2 15 credits Module Convenor: Dr Humeira Iqtidar Assessment: 2-hour examination (50%), 2,500-word essay (50%) Pre-requisites: None Teaching Format: weekly 1-hour lectures and 1-hour seminars This module is designed to introduce students to the modalities of post-colonial transition primarily in the previously colonised countries but with some emphasis on changes in the colonising countries as well. The module clarifies the difference between post-colonialism as a period and as a theoretical position and allows a broader comparison between the different versions of European colonialism from the Spanish, to Dutch and British. This leads into a detailed discussion of particular aspects of political development in the post-colonial states. Two case studies supplement these discussions. This module offers a historical and analytical look at a broad range of issues related to developments in the post-colonial world. It aims to:

• Introduce students to definitional questions regarding colonialism, the post-colonial period and post-colonialism as field of study

• Provide a comparative perspective on European colonialism particularly between the Spanish, British and Dutch.

• Highlight the political and economic structures that newly independent post-colonial nation states inherited

• Discuss the changes within the economic and political structures since independence

• Provide a thematic overview of some of the key challenges faced by post-colonial nations

• Provide an understanding of these dynamics in specific case studies Lecture Schedule

1. Colonialism and post-colonialism: Different Definitions 2. Colonialism in Comparison: British Colonialism 3. Colonialism in Comparison: Spanish, French and Dutch colonialism 4. Constructing Nationalism and a Nation State 5. Development and Underdevelopment 6. Aid vs. Trade? 7. Democracy and Human Rights 8. Law and Governance


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9. Case studies: India and Egypt 10. De-colonization, Post-colonialism and Challenges Ahead

5SSPP215 Ethics, Economics and Environmental Protection Semester 2 15 credits Module Convenor: Mark Pennington Assessment: 2-hour examination (50%), 2,500-word essay (50%) Pre-requisites: None Teaching Format: weekly 1-hour lectures and 1-hour seminars This module aims to equip students with the capacity to think critically about ethical and economic approaches to environmental protection issues and the relationship between the two. It will examine human rights, eco-centric, utilitarian and economic perspectives both at the theoretical level and in the practical context of policy arguments over the appropriate role of regulatory, community-centred, and market-based forms of environmental decision-making. By the end of the course students should be able to:

• Show knowledge of the major ethical traditions in contemporary environmental thought and their contribution to debates concerning the relationship between human beings and the natural world

• Understand the way in which economists approach questions of environmental decision making including the concepts of collective/public goods, common pool resources, market failure, and government failure

• Appreciate the potential relationships and tensions between ethical and economic approaches to environmental protection issues

• Critically evaluate a range of economic and democratic ‘policy tools’ for environmental management

5SSPP223 Issues in International Politics Cannot be taken by students who are taking EIS module ‘5AAOB205 International Relations’ Semester 2 15 credits Module Convenor: Dr Keith Smith Assessment: 2-hour examination (50%), 2,500-word essay (50%). Pre-requisites: 4SSPP102 or 5AAOB212 Teaching Format: weekly 1-hour lecture and 1-hour seminar This module examines a range of contemporary issues in international politics across a number of areas of economics and politics. With ever greater interaction between states driven by processes of globalisation, more and more problems are emerging at an international level demanding attention from both states and non-state actors. Much of the time, however, efforts to resolve these issues are weak and understanding why this is forms a recurrent theme to the module. International relations theories are introduced at the start of the module, explored through application to specific international issues. The learning outcomes of this module are to:

• further your understanding of the complexities of international politics in the 21st century focusing on a number of key contemporary global issues;


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• develop your understanding of theories of international relations that as a means for understanding international politics;

• enable application of these theories to current issues in international politics;

• enable critical engagement with the strengths and weaknesses of theories and their applicability to key issues in international politics.

Key Readings No textbook is ideal for this module, but the following are useful. Beeson, Mark, and Nick Bisley. (2013). Issues in 21st Century World Politics. (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan). Donald Snow, (2012). Cases in International Relations. Fifth Edition. (London: Longman). Salmon, Trevor, and Mark F. Imber. (2008). Issues in International Relations. Second edition. (New York: Routledge). 5SSPP225 The Economics of Politics Semester 1 15 credits Module Convenor: Dr Colin Jennings and Dr Santiago-Pages Assessment: 2-hour examination (70%), 1,500-word essay (30%) Pre-requisites: None Teaching Format: weekly 1-hour lectures and 1-hour seminars This module is designed to introduce students to the basic concepts and issues in contemporary political economy, with a particular focus on the political economy of the contemporary social democratic state. The module will aim to:

• Introduce students to concepts of economic analysis that are most relevant to the study of government and politics

• Provide students with an understanding of the problems of market failure and government failure and provide a scholarly framework to comparatively evaluate these problems

• To provide an economic analysis of elections; voting; interest groups and bureaucracy

• By the end of this module students will be able to:

• Demonstrate an understanding of the key concepts and issues in contemporary political economy

• Show an understanding of the problems of market failure and government failure

• Demonstrate an ability to assess the policy implications that follow from the existence of market failure and government failure

Lecture Schedule

1. Social Choice 2. Two-Party Competition 3. Multi-Party Competition 4. Interest Groups and Rent-Seeking 5. Political Agency 6. Bureaucracy 7. Voting Rationality 8. Tyranny and Anarchy 9. Bicameralism, Rights and the Judiciary 10. Constitutional Political Economy

Key Readings Hindmoor, A. & B. Taylor (2015). Rational Choice. 2nd edn. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.


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Holcombe (2106) Advanced Introduction to Public Choice. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. Mueller, D. (1996). Constitutional Democracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Johnson, D.B. (1991) Public Choice: An Introduction to the New Political Economy. Mountainview, California: Bristlecone Books. 5SSPP227 Game Theory and Strategic Decision Making Semester 2 15 credits Module Convenor: Dr Paul Lewis Assessment: 3-hour examination (90%), Participation (10%) Pre-requisites: None Teaching Format: weekly 1-hour lectures and 7 tutorials (based on past exam questions and designed to develop your knowledge of, and ability to use, game theory) The module focuses on a theoretical approach that has fundamentally changed economics and political science over the past 20 years, namely game theory. We will study strategic interaction between economic agents (i.e., situations where the outcome of your actions depends on what your rival chooses to do, and vice versa, and where both of you know that to be the case). Examples of the type of situation that will be analysed include: prisoners' dilemma; arms races; the provision of public goods; competition between political parties; and the management of environmental resources. Key Readings Dixit, A.K. and S. Skeath (2004). Games of Strategy. London: W.W Norton. Schelling, T.C. (2010). 'Game Theory: A Practitioner's Approach.' Economics and Philosophy, 26: 27-46. 5SSPP228 The Economics of the Public Sector Semester 2 15 credits Module Convenor: Dr Colin Jennings Assessment: 1,500-word essay (30%), 2-hour examination (70%) Pre-requisites: Either 5SSPP217 Microeconomics or 5SSPP221 Microeconomics Teaching Format: weekly 2-hour lectures and five 1-hour seminars The module aims to provide an economic analysis of taxation and spending on the welfare state in the UK, and to introduce students to cost-benefit analysis. Lecture Schedule

1. The Role of Government in the Economy 2. Cost-Benefit Analysis 3. Health 4. Education 5. Pensions 6. Social Insurance and Poverty Relief 7. Optimal Taxation 8. Tax Reform 9. Deficit Finance 10. Fiscal Federalism

Key Readings Barr, N. (2012) Economics of the Welfare State (5th edn), OUP.


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Gruber, J. (2016). Public Finance and Public Policy (5th edn). Worth Publishers. Rosen, H.S. and T.Gayer (2014). Public Finance (10th edn). McGraw-Hill. Stiglitz, J. & J. Rosengard (2015) Economics of the Public Sector (4th edn), Norton. 5SSPP230 European Union: Power, Politics & Economics Semester 2 15 credits Module Convenor: Dr Scott James Assessment: 2,500-word essay (50%), 2-hour examination (50%) Pre-requisites: None Teaching Format: weekly hour-long lecture followed by an hour-long seminar The module provides an introduction to the politics and economics of European integration. It draws upon theories of international relations, political economy and governance to assess the origins of the European project and the politics of market integration after 1945. We analyse the EU’s evolving institutional framework by charting the constitution-building process and mapping the distribution of executive, legislative, administrative and judicial functions over time. The module then explores the expansion of EU power and legal competence in key policy fields over the past two decades. It begins by considering the history and theory of economic and monetary union, as well as the causes and consequences of the Eurozone crisis. The module also explains the rapid development of the EU as an internal and external security actor in the post-Cold War era through cooperation in asylum and immigration policy, and foreign and defence policy. It ends by reflecting on the scale and pace of the EU enlargement process and the wider political implications of the EU’s democratic deficit. Learning aims and objectives The module aims to provide students with the following:

• A detailed history of the early European integration process including the founding treaties, the revival of the single market project in the 1980s, political integration in the 1990s, and the constitutional debate

• Critical analysis of theories of European integration, political economy and governance approaches through their application to the integration process

• An understanding of the EU’s decision making process, studying the EU as an emergent political system with executive, legislative and judicial institutions

• A detailed overview of the EU’s accession process, the impact of past and future enlargements, and the strengths and weaknesses of conditionality as a policy instrument

• A critical assessment of the EU’s democratic credentials, evaluating competing claims regarding its perceived democratic and legitimacy deficits

• An exploration of the history and theory of economic and monetary cooperation since the 1970s – focusing in particular on the European Monetary System, the development of EMU after 1992, and analysis of the causes and consequences of the Eurozone crisis

• A detailed analysis of the development of justice and home affairs cooperation since the 1970s, the gradual process of supranationalisation, and a critical overview of the citizenship and ‘Fortress Europe’ debates

• An understanding of foreign, security and defence cooperation within the EU, the importance of geopolitical events, and continued weaknesses regarding the EU’s military capabilities and decision making structures

Lecture Schedule [14/15 academic year]

1. Introduction 2. The Long Road to Ever Closer Union


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3. Explaining the EU: Theories of Integration 4. Building the EU Political System 5. Regulating the ‘Social Market’ 6. The Logic of Monetary Union 7. The Crisis of the Eurozone 8. Fortress Europe and Internal Security 9. From Soft Power to Hard Power Europe 10. Enlargement and the Near Abroad 11. Euroscepticism and the Democratic Deficit

Key Readings General textbooks: Ian Bache, Stephen George and Simon Bulmer Politics in the European Union (Oxford University Press, 3rd edition, 2011) John McCormick, European Union Politics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011) Neil Nugent, The Government and Politics of the European Union Palgrave Macmillan, 7th edition, 2010) Michelle Cini and Nieves Pérez-Solórzano Borragán European Union Politics (Oxford University Press, 4th edition, 2013) Helen Wallace, William Wallace and Mark Pollack Policy-Making in the European Union (Oxford University Press, 6th Edition, 2010) Specialist texts: Desmond Dinan, Origins and Evolution of the European Union (Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, 2014) John Peterson and Michael Shackleton, The Institutions of the European Union (Oxford University Press, 3rd edition, 2012) Simon Hix and Bjorn Hoyland The Political System of the European Union (Palgrave Macmillan, 3rd

edition, 2011) Antje Wiener and Thomas Diez, European Integration Theory (Oxford University Press, 2nd Edition, 2009) Versluis, E., van Keulen, M. and Stephenson, P. Analyzing the European Union Policy Process (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011) Richardson, J. Constructing a Policy-Making State? Policy Dynamics in the EU (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012) 5SSPP231 Policy Analysis: Decision, Implementation and Evaluation Semester 1 15 credits Module Convenor: Dr John Meadowcroft Assessment: 2-hour examination (50%), 2,500-word essay (50%) Pre-requisites: None Teaching Format: 2x 1-hour lectures, 2x 1-hour seminars This module provides an introduction to policy analysis: understanding how policy is made and its impact. The module introduces the concept of the policy process – understanding policy-making in terms of decision, implementation and evaluation. We will seek to understand why governments do some things, but not others, why policy is often not implemented effectively, and how we can judge and measure policy success and failure. One of the aims of the module is to provide those students interested in writing a policy-focused dissertation in their third-year with the tools of policy analysis.


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At the end of the module, students should:

• Know the principal theoretical approaches to understanding how policy is made;

• Understand the nature of policy implementation and the pathologies often associated with implementation;

• Have a good understanding of the principal techniques via which policy can be evaluated;

• Be able to apply this knowledge to an empirical case study of policy-making. Key Readings Bemelmans-Videc, M-L, R.C. Rist and E. Vedung, Carrots, Sticks & Sermons: Policy Instruments and their Evaluation (Transaction Publishers, 1998). John, P. Analyzing Public Policy (2nd edition, Routledge, 2012) Hill, M. The Policy Process: A Reader (2nd edition, Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1997) Kingdon, J. Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies (2nd edition, Little Brown, 1995). Majone, G., Evidence, Argument and Persuasion in the Policy Process (Yale University Press, 1989). Pawson, R and Tilley, N. Realistic Evaluation (Sage, 1997). Sabatier, P. (ed.) Theories of the Policy Process (Westview Press, 1999). 5SSPP232 Mathematics for Economics Semester 1 15 credits Module Convenor: Dr Santiago Sanchez-Pages Assessment: 1-hour midterm class test (30%), 2-hour examination (60%), Participation (10%) Pre-requisites: Students are expected to have completed 4SSPP109 Quantitative Methods, but any students on Politics who have a strong interest in this module are advised to contact the module convenor to discuss. Teaching Format: weekly 2-hour lectures and 10 seminars This module will cover the mathematical tools most commonly used in economics. The focus will be on analysis and linear algebra, particularly on the topics that are most used in economics. Examples will be drawn from economics and political economy. Topics covered will include unconstrained optimisation and an introduction to linear algebra. Aims

• teach students the mathematical tools most commonly used in economics;

• show students how our understanding of economic concepts can be made more precise through their mathematical formulation;

• enable students to write their own economic models;

• topics covered will include differentiation, optimisation, further topics in calculus and linear algebra;

• provide students with the mathematical background that will prepare them for the more mathematical of the level 6 optional modules.

Lecture Schedule [indicative]

1. Partial Differentiation 2. Optimisation 1 3. Optimisation 2 4. Linear Algebra 1 (introducing matrices) 5. Midterm 6. Envelope Theorem and its applications in economics 7. Comparative Statics and examples from economics 8. Integration (concept, main techniques)


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9. Linear Algebra 2 (inverting matrices, the determinant) 10. Introduction to Dynamics (based on an Economic growth example)

Key Readings Chiang, Alpha C. and Kevin Wainwright, 2005. Fundamental Methods of Mathematical Economics, McGraw-Hill. Sydsaeter, Knut, Peter Hammond and Arne Strom, 2012. Essential Mathematics for Economic Analysis, Pearson. (easier than Chiang and Wainwright) Simon, Carl P. and Lawrence Blume, 1994. Mathematics for Economists, W.W. Norton. (more difficult than Chiang and Wainwright) 5SSPP238 Contemporary Issues in Political Theory Semester 1 15 credits Module Convenor: TBC Assessment: 2,000-word essay (40%), 2-day take home exam (60%) Pre-requisites: None. Teaching Format: 1-hour lecture, 1-hour seminar This module focuses on the philosophical and ethical arguments underlying a range of controversial real-world debates. Each week we will focus on a specific debate and assess some of the strongest arguments put forward on either side. The module aims to:

• Provide students with an in-depth knowledge of some of the main theoretical and ethical arguments behind a range of deeply contested issues in contemporary politics.

• Assess real-world problems from a philosophical perspective.

• Develop a critical and reflective approach to the study of philosophical texts. Lecture Schedule (provisional) 1. Migration: The case for open borders 2. Migration: The right to exclude 3. Markets at the margin: Drugs 4. Markets at the margin: Prostitution 5. Free speech: Hate speech and offence 7. Free speech: Pornography 8. Life and death: Abortion 9. Life and death: Euthanasia 10. Justice for children 11. Justice for animals Key Readings The following three volumes collect together important contributions on many of the topics covered. You are not required to purchase any books in advance. Please email [email protected] for the module guide from last year including a full reading list. Andrew I. Cohen & Christopher Heath Wellman (eds.), Contemporary Debates in Applied Ethics, 2nd

ed. (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2013). Hugh LaFollette, Ethics in Practice: An Anthology, 4th ed. (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2014). Mark Timmons, Disputed Moral Issues: A Reader, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013).

mailto:[email protected]


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5SSPP242 British Politics Cannot be taken by students who have taken EIS module ‘4AAOB101 British Politics’ Semester 1 15 credits Module Convenor: Dr Damien Bol Assessment: 2000-word essay (50%); 2-hour examination (50%) Pre-requisites: None Teaching Format: weekly 1-hour lectures and 1-hour seminars This module provides an overview of the British political system in theory and in practice. Students will learn about the key British institutional structures such as the Prime Minister and Cabinet, the Civil Service, and Parliament. They will learn about key areas of change: the development of devolution, nationalist movements and parliamentary reform. The module will provide an insight into the party and electoral systems. It will also consider how the British political system relates with the outside world, including the aftermath of the vote to leave the European Union of June 2016. Students will combine empirical study with the application of a variety of theoretical approaches. Aims This module introduces the key features and changes in the UK political system since 1979 and discusses the extent to which they are peculiar to the UK or similar to those elsewhere. There is a particular focus on the nature of change over time in the political system, including changes in the legal system, devolution and nationalist movements, parliamentary reform, and the causes and aftermath of the European Union referendum of June 2016. It will explore the UK political system in a comparative perspective, exploring theoretical approaches (such as the core executive approach, and federal and consociational analysis). It will explain the operation and significance of institutions, players and social forces (such as economic trends and national identity). It will provide an awareness of the connections between the external environment within which politics operates and the internal domestic political system of the UK. Learning Outcomes Having studied this module, students will be able to:

• demonstrate awareness of key features of the UK political system including the role of the Prime Minister and Cabinet government; the legal system; parties and the electoral system, and the UK’s relationship with the European Union, international organisations, and foreign states

• critically evaluate different theoretical approaches to key political issues such as: the relationships between devolution and federalism; the applicability of the core executive model to UK government; theses of the presidentialisation of UK government as compared to rival interpretations such as prime ministerial pre-eminence; theories of multipartism in the electoral system;

• analyse and assess the strengths and weaknesses of the UK political system;

• apply this knowledge in written form Provisional Lecture Schedule 1 Introductory 2 Prime Minister and Cabinet 3 The Civil Service 4 Parliament 5 The Union, devolution and local government 6 Revision week 7 Elections and referendums


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8 The party system 9 The legal system 10 Britain and Europe 11 Britain and the world Indicative reading list Blick, Andrew. Beyond Magna Carta: a constitution for the United Kingdom. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2015. Blick, Andrew. The Codes of the Constitution. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2015. Bogdanor, Vernon. The new British constitution. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2009. Elgie, Robert. "Core executive studies two decades on." Public Administration 89.1 (2011): 64-77. Hennessy, Peter. The Prime Minister: the office and its holders since 1945. Palgrave Macmillan, 2001. Heywood, Andrew. Essentials of UK politics. Palgrave Macmillan, 2015. Jeffery, Charlie. "Devolution in the United Kingdom: Problems of a piecemeal approach to constitutional change." Publius: The Journal of Federalism 39.2 (2009): 289-313. Jones, Bill, and Philip Norton. Politics Uk. Routledge, 2014. King, Anthony. The British Constitution. Oxford University Press, USA, 2007. Lijphart, Arend. Patterns of democracy: Government forms and performance in thirty-six countries. Yale University Press, 2012. Mitchell, James. Devolution in the UK. Oxford University Press, 2011. Quinn, Thomas. "From two-partism to alternating predominance: The changing UK party system, 1950–2010." Political Studies 61.2 (2013): 378-400. Rogers, Robert, and Rhodri Walters. How parliament works. Routledge, 2015. Russell, Meg. The contemporary House of Lords: Westminster bicameralism revived. Oxford University Press, 2013. Theakston, Kevin, and Mark Gill. "Rating 20th-century British prime ministers." The British Journal of Politics and International Relations 8.2 (2006): 193-213. 5SSPP243 Political Economy of Immigration Semester 2 15 credits Module Convenor: Professor Jonathan Portes Assessment: 2,000-word essay (50%); 2-hour examination (50%) Pre-requisites: None Teaching Format: weekly 1-hour lectures and 1-hour seminars Why do people move from one country to another, and what are the economic and political implications of the movement of people? This module will introduce students to the economics of immigration; how and why people decide to migrate; what the impacts of migration are on labour markets, public services, and other aspects of the countries to which they move; and what drives public attitudes and political decisions on immigration management and control. It will also examine the evolution of "free movement" within the EU, its impact on the Brexit referendum, and where next for UK immigration policy. This module is primarily empirical (covering the causes and effects of immigration and of attitudes to immigration) rather than normative (ethical questions about the desirability or undesirability of immigration from a philosophical perspective). N.B. This module does not require specific economics training, merely a basic grasp of statistics. Aims This module will give students:

• an understanding of the basic economics of immigration, and in particular the analogy between immigration and trade;


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• an understanding of how immigration affects economic and social policy across a range of issues, including the labour market, public services, and taxation;

• knowledge of techniques for estimating the impact of immigration;

• a critical appreciation of debates about the political economy of immigration;

• an understanding of the development of free movement in the EU and its impact e.g. on the Brexit debate;

• understanding of the economic and political aspects of the refugee crisis. Learning Outcomes By the end of this module, student should be able to:

• explain the key drivers of immigration flows;

• describe the empirical evidence about the impact of immigration on the labour market, public services and other aspects of the economy and society;

• critically analyse political attitudes to immigration, e.g. with respect to Brexit and the EU. Provisional Lecture Schedule

1. Introduction 2. Basic economics of immigration 3. The immigration decision 4. Immigration and labour markets 5. Immigration, public services and fiscal impacts 6. Political economy of immigration 7. Free movement in the EU 8. Immigration and Brexit 9. Refugees: economic and policy aspects 10. Revision

Indicative reading list Steven Glover et al., Migration: An Economic and Social Analysis (Home Office, 2000), https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/61131/migrationreportnov2000.pdf. Jonathan Portes, ‘Immigration after Brexit’, National Institute Economic Review 238:1 (2016), http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/002795011623800111 Jonathan Portes, Immigration and The UK’s Productivity Challenge (National Institute of Economic and Social Research, 2013), http://www.niesr.ac.uk/sites/default/files/publications/Immigration%20and%20the%20UK's%20Productivity%20Challenge.pdf. Jonathan Wadsworth et al., Brexit and the Impact of Immigration on the UK (Centre for Economic Performance, 2016), http://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/brexit05.pdf.

http://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/brexit05.pdf


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Level 6

6SSPP352 Dissertation (30 credits) Semester 1 & 2 Module Convenor: Dr James Scott Assessment: 1500-word proposal (10%) + 8000-word dissertation (90%) Prerequisites: None Teaching Format: 1.5-hour lecture and workshop This module gives you the opportunity to develop and undertake an independent research project on a topic of your own choosing, to pursue your own interests in greater depth than before. In the course of doing so, you will have the chance to draw on the skills and knowledge you have acquired earlier in the degree in order to formulate and answer a specific, focused research question. You will receive support, both in the form of lectures/workshops and guidance from you supervisor. And you will also demonstrate autonomy in carrying out your research project – a valuable intellectual skill which is also helpful in the job market. In this way, the module aims to help you develop your capacity for independent research. The dissertation thus contributes to future research and employment needs by helping you foster your skills in critical thinking, research, and extended writing. 6SSPP306 Democracy and Its Critics Semester 1 15 credits Module Convenor: Dr Rod Dacombe Assessment: 1,500-word essay (15%), 3,000-word essay (85%) Prerequisites: None Teaching Format: The term ‘democracy’ has passed into the vocabulary of everyday life, reaching beyond the sphere of formal politics into areas as diverse as education, work and family life. Fundamentally, most people who talk about democracy hold the assumption that it is a ‘good thing’, which is to be promoted as widely as possible. This is an important point; a fully-functioning democracy is held as proof of the success of developed societies, even as justification for war against nations which do not reach the democratic ideal. And so it might seem remarkable that there are those who would argue against its value as an idea, and as a means of organising society, yet an extensive body of literature has developed which raises a number of serious objections to many of the established features of democratic thought. It is this tension which provides the focus of this module. This module aims to bridge democratic theory and practice. It traces the development of the ideas of democracy with a particular emphasis on the institutions, past and present, which have been influenced by these evolving theories. Students taking the module will be encouraged to develop their knowledge and critical understanding of the place of democratic ideas and practice in modern political thought. Teaching on the module will be a little different to the kinds of class previously encountered in the degree. The term is split into two parts. The first few weeks of classes will be taken up with lectures, accompanied by either seminars or informal workshop sessions. The lectures will provide an introduction to the development of democratic thought, focusing on some of the major themes of the literature. As well as providing a foundation to the major elements of theory, these sessions will help to guide students’ reading of the prominent texts in the field. Some topics will be accompanied by a related seminar session, which will deal with institutional developments, focused on a particular question or problem which relates to the overarching theme of the week. So, for example, an


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introductory lecture on democratic theory is accompanied by a seminar session examining the competing claims over the origins of the term, and their importance to later critiques of democracy. Students will be assigned tasks to complete in advance of these sessions and will be expected to lead discussion on the topic. The workshop sessions will focus on simulations, where the class work through scenarios which examine the real-life applications of democratic theory. Students’ understanding of the issues covered will be tested via the mid-term paper. The second part of the module introduces some of the numerous critiques of democratic institutions, including, for example, those who favour minimal forms of democracy over widespread participation, the varying critiques of deliberative democracy and the results of empirical analyses of democracy in practice. This part of the module follows a more conventional lecture-seminar format, with students preparing for a group discussion of a different critique each week. This part of the module will be assessed via the coursework essay. The workload involved in the module, and the assessments, have been designed to encourage scholarly engagement with, and critical evaluation of, core literature in the field, both past and current. If you take this module you will encounter a diverse range of material, and will need to be comfortable with a reading load which is, in places, demanding. The module will suit students interested in the connections between political theory and empirical political science, as well as anyone who wonders why most people aren’t interested in democracy, and whether this matters. 6SSPP326 Culture, Identity & Justice Semester 2 15 credits Module Convenor: Dr Adam Tebble Assessment: 2-hour examination (50%), 2,000-word essay (50%) Prerequisites: 5SSPP202 or 5SSPP209 or 5SSPP238 or Political Philosophy II: Theories of Justice (for PPL students) This module in contemporary normative political theory is designed to provide students with an advanced undergraduate knowledge of some of the key contributions, from a broad range of thinkers and of schools of thought, to debates in the politics of culture and identity. It will be arranged around the theme of how the state should respond, if at all, to cultural diversity. Specifically, the educational aims are:

• Provide students with a sound knowledge of the ideas of key contributors to the question of justice and cultural diversity, such as Rawls, Young, Miller, Scruton, Kymlicka, Barry, and Tebble.

• Enable students to place the contributions and underlying assumptions of these thinkers within the broader context of the challenge of articulating and justifying institutions of justice in culturally diverse societies.

• Provide students with the skills required for advanced undergraduate engagement with and critical analysis of original works in contemporary normative political theory.

By the end of this module students will be able to:

• Demonstrate a thorough knowledge of the ideas of the key contemporary thinkers in debate about justice, culture and identity.

• Show an understanding of the underlying presuppositions and assumptions informing philosophical debate about justice, identity and the relationship between the individual and the state and between cultural and other identity-based communities and the state.

• Demonstrate an ability to critically analyse and evaluate key primary and secondary source texts in contemporary normative political theory.


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Key Readings Brian Barry, Culture and Equality Will Kymlicka, Multicultural Citizenship David Miller, On Nationality John Rawls, A Theory of Justice Roger Scruton, 'In Defence of the Nation', 'The First Person Plural' Iris Marion Young, Justice and the Politics of Difference Adam James Tebble, Epistemic liberalism: a defence

6SSPP329 The Economics of Crime

Semester 1

15 credits Module Convener: Dr Anja Shortland Assessment: 2-hour examination (50%), 1800-word essay (50%) Prerequisites: None Teaching Format:

This course uses economics to understand crime. It examines when criminals choose to commit crimes, how they respond to law enforcement, and how criminal markets are organised. The course will examine current and historical episodes of crime around the world. Anja Shortland is an internationally renowned expert on piracy and kidnap for ransom. She is looking forward to discussing the best work in economics of crime and sharing her latest research – including chapters from her forthcoming book “Kidnapping: Inside the Ransom Business”.

The course will appeal to students who are interested in economics and enjoy the economic way of thinking. It is designed to encourage students to apply the economic framework to unusual - but important - real world problems. The course does not use highly formal models or advanced statistics, but largely relies on graphical analysis and analytic narratives. Seminars are reading-intensive and discussion-based. Students who do not complete the readings each week will struggle to do well.

Preparatory reading (if you have not read it already): Levitt and Dubner. 2007. Freakonomics. Penguin. (£6.99) Preparatory listening: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-02-06/odd-lots-whynegotiating-a-ransom-is-the-trickiest-trade-in-the-world

The course will cover the following topics

1) What can economics bring to the analysis of crime?

2) How do illicit markets work?

3) How do criminals communicate and organise?

4) Criminal law and policing from an efficiency perspective. 5) Private crime control 6) Does

prison work?

7) Organised crime and mafias

8) The terror / crime nexus

9) Governance at the legal / illegal interface: the market for hostages

10) The economics of maritime piracy

11) Revision and feedback on essays

https://emea01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bloomberg.com%2Fnews%2Farticles%2F2017-02-06%2Fodd-lots-why-negotiating-a-ransom-is-the-trickiest-trade-in-the-world&data=01%7C01%7Canja.shortland%40kcl.ac.uk%7C96f86019ef8545ed7a7408d44e9b20fd%7C8370cf1416f34c16b83c724071654356%7C0&sdata=67MKtNPf3bV02vIaApV8duxsz%2BUWWNSPD%2Bxz%2FcoC%2Bpg%3D&reserved=0































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6SSPP332 Behavioural Political Economy Semester 2 15 credits Module Convenor: Professor Shaun Hargreaves Heap Assessment: 3-hour examination (65%), 1,000-word essay (25%), Participation (10%) Prerequisites: None Teaching Format: 1-hour lecture, 1-hour seminar Experiments in economics have generated new insights into how people behave. Together with earlier psychological work, they have spawned a new field in economics: behavioural economics. This module is concerned with how the insights from this new field contribute to some key debates and issues in political economy. In particular, we will examine how the experimental (and survey) evidence on behaviour contributes to the following questions.

• Was Hobbes right when arguing that in a State of Nature life would be ‘poor, short, brutish and nasty’? (In other words, do we always need a State to solve collective action problems?)

• Was Rawls right when arguing that individuals would be guided by maxi-min from behind a veil of ignorance? (That is, is there support for this foundation for the social democratic state?)

• Was Mill right to argue that freedom is essential to wellbeing? (i.e. is freedom valued intrinsically or it a means to other ends?)

• Is the ‘typical’ individual in liberal democratic societies ‘self governing’ in Mill’s sense? (Is it right, for instance, to take an individual’s preferences as ‘given’?)

• Do markets allow individuals to exercise liberty or does participation in the market change individuals?

• Do other-regarding motives depend on the existence of groups?

• Do group identifications cause harms to non-group members?

• Was Mill right to claim that democratic decision making encourages solidaristic attitudes?

• Do democratic/inclusive decision making structures yield the property of ‘wisdom of crowds’?

• To what extent do experiments support public choice insights with respect to the functioning of democracy?

Lectures and seminars focus on the key experiments and on the methodology of experiments in economics and psychology. Key Readings C. Camerer, Behavioural Game Theory D. Kahneman, Thinking Fast and Slow R. Thaler and C. Sunstein, Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth and Happiness 6SSPP335 Liberalism Semester 2 15 credits Module Convenor: Professor Jeremy Jennings Assessment: 2-hour examination (50%), 2,500-word essay (50%) Teaching Format: 1 three-hour lecture/seminar per week Prerequisites: 5SSPP202 or 5SSPP209 or History of Political Philosophy (for PPL students) This module examines the development of liberalism in the Western world from the French Revolution to the twenty-first century by analysing the works of a number of European and American thinkers. One of our tasks will be to establish what are the distinctive characteristics of liberal thought? What do different liberals have to say about key concepts like the state, the individual, freedom, equality,


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and property? Is there one liberalism or many? Liberalism is an extremely diverse ideology, and the module will examine tensions within this body of thought: between liberal thinkers of different eras and different countries, between classical and modern liberalisms, left and right liberalisms, and so on. Are liberal values universally desirable or only limited to particular times and places? Different writers have sought to justify liberal beliefs in different ways: by appealing to concepts of natural right or ideas of human welfare, by using social contract theories, or by acknowledging the contingency of liberal values. The module will also examine the relation of liberalism to other ideologies – such as republicanism, conservatism, and socialism – that liberalism developed in opposition to or sometimes in alliance with. This is a historically oriented political theory module where students are required to read and engage with primary texts throughout the module. Key Readings Benjamin Constant, Political Writings James Mill, Political Writings J.S. Mill, On Liberty and Principles of Political Economy Herbert Spencer, The Man versus the State L.T.Hobhouse, Liberalism Plus a selection of readings from more contemporary liberals such as Isaiah Berlin, John Rawls, Friedrich von Hayek, etc. 6SSPP341 Global Power Europe Semester 1 15 credits Module Convenor: Dr Tomas Maltby Assessment: 2-hour examination (45%), 3000-word essay (45%); Participation (10%). Students will each be required to produce a 1 page briefing note and 2 minute presentation on two occasions during the course. This will contribute to the Participation grade. Teaching Format: weekly 1-hour lecture and 1-hour seminars The module will provide students with a theoretically-grounded understanding of the role of the European Union as an international actor. Using theories of international relations, European integration and Foreign Policy Analysis, it will analyse and evaluate the EU’s evolving external identity and policy capabilities across a range of external relations, including membership conditionality, trade and development, international crime and terrorism, asylum and immigration, foreign, security and defence policy, climate and energy policy and democracy and human rights promotion. The module will then examine the nature of key bilateral relationships between the EU and selected countries (US, Russia and China) and regions (former colonies, regional groups), explaining the extent to which they have been institutionalised and the challenges that define them. It will end by assessing what sort of international actor the EU ‘is’ and ‘wants to be’ – namely civilian, normative or military – and evaluating the likelihood of the EU emerging as a global superpower in the future. Part one: Introduction and concepts 1. Introduction: The EU as an International Actor - IR & the EU 1/2 2. IR & the EU 2/2; EU integration theories 3. Institutions, the EU policy-making process & the Capability-Expectations Gap Part two: EU policies 4. Policy 1: Powers of Attraction: EU Membership and Neighbourhood Policy 5. Policy 2: Fortress Europe? The External Face of Internal Security


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6. Policy 3: Rapid and Robust Intervention? Foreign, Security and Defence Policy Energy Policy and Foreign Policy: Russia (and China) 7. Policy 4: Economic Power: Promoting Trade and Regional Integration 8. Policy 5: Energy, Democracy and Human Rights: Relations with Russia and China 9. Policy 6: The EU as a Global Environmental Actor Part three: The EU’s identity and course conclusion 10. The Future of Europe: The Birth of a Superpower? 11. Summary and revision session Key Readings The following edited volume constitutes the textbook for the course and many essential readings are taken from it: Hill, S. and Smith, C. (eds.) International Relations and the European Union (Oxford University Press, 2017), 3rd edition. There are also a number of excellent books which relate to many of the topics covered on the course: Carlsnaes, W., Sjursen, H. and White, B. (eds.) (2010) Contemporary European Foreign Policy Sage Publishers Howorth, J. (2014) Security and Defence Policy in the European Union Palgrave Macmillan. Keukeleire, S. and Delreux, T. (2014) The Foreign Policy of the European Union, Palgrave Macmillan. Smith, K. E. (2014) European Union Foreign Policy in a Changing World, Polity Press. For those who haven’t studied the EU before, I recommend having a look at one or more of these introductory texts: Bache, I., George S. and Bulmer, S. (2015) Politics in the European Union (Oxford University Press, 4th edition). Cini, M. and Pérez-Solórzano, N. Borragán (2016) European Union Politics (Oxford University Press, 4th edition). Wallace, H., Wallace W. and Pollack M. (2015) Policy-Making in the European Union (Oxford University Press, 7th edition). 6SSPP342 International Institutions & Global Governance Semester 2 15 credits Module Convenor: Dr James Scott Assessment: 2-hour examination (45%), 2,500-word essay (45%), Attendance & Participation (10%) Prerequisites: None Teaching Format: weekly 1-hour lectures and 1-hour seminars This module aims to provide an advanced introduction to global governance and the key international institutions that form the basis of global governance. It will give a detailed knowledge of the institutional landscape through which international political and economic interaction is mediated. The analysis is grounded in the theories of International Political Economy (IPE) / International Relations (which you are expected to be familiar with – if you have not covered these elsewhere you will need to catch up in advance). The specific aims of the module are to:

• Build upon the IPE theory undertaken in other modules (e.g. Issues in International Politics; World Politics);


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• Provide an understanding of the ways in which these theoretical traditions analyze the nature of global governance;

• Explore the range of actors that are engaged in global governance;

• Provide an historical background to the evolution of global governance;

• Engage critically with the manner in which global politics and economic issues are governed within the state system; and

• Understand contemporary challenges to existing governance structures brought about by the rising powers.

Learning Outcomes On successful completion of this course students will have:

• a sound understanding of the theoretical and methodological concepts related to the study of global governance;

• a detailed and in-depth knowledge of formative periods in the development of international political and economic governance;

• an ability to analyse current issues in global governance in a theoretically informed and critical manner.

Indicative Lecture Schedule (which may be subject to change)

1. Introduction 2. Theories of IPE and global governance 3. The Origins of International Organisations: From the League of Nations to the UN 4. The UN and the use of Private Military Contractors 5. The International Criminal Court and the Pursuit of International Justice 6. The International Labour Organisation and the governance of labour 7. Sovereign Debt Restructuring 8. Global Health Governance 9. Philanthrocapitalism and celebrities in development 10. The IMF and global economic governance.

Key Readings Thomas Weiss and Rorden Wilkinson (eds.) (2013) International Organization and Global Governance (Abingdon: Routledge). Harman, Sophie, and David Williams. (2013). Governing the World?: Cases in Global Governance. (Abingdon and New York: Routledge). Anthony Payne and Nicola Phillips, (2014), Handbook of the International Political Economy of Governance, (Edward Elgar) 6SSPP348 Comparative Political Theory Semester 2 15 credits Module Convenor: Dr Humeira Iqtidar Assessment: 2000-word essay (50%), 2000-word essay (50%) Prerequisites: None Teaching Format: 1.5-hour lecture This module is designed for students who are interested in deepening their understanding of trends in political thought and political theory from Asia, Africa and Latin America. The course engages with cutting edge research on non-western political thought. From key trends in Islamic Political Thought to the many facets of 20th century nationalist political thought, from the use of ethnography for reassessing categories to the influence of post-colonial political theory, the course is ideally suited for


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final year students focusing on political theory. A key intention is for students to read some primary texts in detail. Further, the course will help students open up categories of analysis commonly used for analysing politics. However, please note that it is NOT a comparative politics course in the sense that we do not discuss questions of political dynamics and comparison across different countries. Moreover, the course is structured as a seniors seminar where the expectation is that students will engage in a wide ranging discussion of the material selected. Students in the course will:

1. Develop a nuanced understanding of the limitations of existing approaches to Political Theory and Political Thought.

2. Develop an understanding of key trends in political theory and political thought from Asia, Africa and South America

3. Develop an understanding of trends across select religious traditions with a special focus on Islamic political thought.

4. Develop an understanding of new methodological options in political theory Lecture Schedule

1. Introduction: The History of Debates about Religion and Politics 2. Modernity, Secularism and Apolitical Religion? 3. The Politics of Religious Resurgence 4. Evangelical Christianity, Colonialism and Globalization 5. Hindutva 6. Political Islam 7. Islamism in South Asia 8. Religion in the US 9. Religion in Europe 10. Violence and Religion

6SSPP355 Ethics, Economics, and Public Policy Semester 1 15 credits Module Convenor: Dr Carmen Pavel & Roberto Fumagalli Assessment: 2000-word essay (40%), 3000-word essay (60%) Teaching Format: 1-hour lecture, 1-hour seminar The instructors recommend that students who enroll in Ethics, Economics and Public Policy have taken at least ONE module in BOTH economics and political theory/ethics. The course will focus on different areas of public policy to show that moral theory and economic theory is essential in understanding how to set goals for public policy and how to measure their success. Moral theories have a practical role in guiding people’s choices between alternative goals, and also provide constraints for policy-makers. For example, programs for mandatory redistribution of organs may address organ shortages, but violate individual’s right to their own bodies. Economic theories are equally important. They model human behaviour, help us understand human choice in the context of resource scarcity and incentives problems created by different rules. How to increase tax compliance given people’s rational calculations of cost and benefit is one question economic theory can offer insights into. Most of the policy questions of our time have economic, moral and political dimensions we must understand in order to participate as informed voters or actors involved in political decision-making. This module will apply insights and tools from ethical theory, economics, and political science to policy-making and policy analysis.


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Aims

• Introduce students to questions and puzzles in different areas of policy making.

• Draw on complex policy analysis tools such as cost-benefit analysis, targets as performance measures, counterfactual policy analysis.

• Show the way in which rights and moral values operate as goals and constraints on public policy.

• Explain the role of political actors and their incentives in shaping public policy. Learning Outcomes By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Have a good command of the conceptual vocabulary of policy-making and policy-analysis.

• Distinguish between ethical, economic and political dimensions of public policy.

• Be able to produce two independent analyses of public policies of their own choosing from a PPE perspective.

Lecture Structure Week 1: A PPE Public Policy Framework: Economics, Morality and Public Policy. Week 2: Environmental Damage and Cost Benefit Analysis Week 3: Nudge and Paternalism Week 4: Provision of Healthcare and Utilitarianism: Randomized Control Trials. Week 5: Business Decisions, Sweatshops and Exploitation. Week 6 Reading week Week 7: The Coase Theorem and the problem of smoking in enclosed public places Week 8: Counterfactual analysis, off-setting behaviour and safety belt legislation Week 9: The Blackboard Economics of Policy-Makers’ Response to a Crisis: the 2001 Foot and Mouth Epidemic in the UK Week 10: Explaining Policy Failure: the UK Poll Tax Week 11: The bombing of Hiroshima and the ethics of utilitarianism in policy-making Key Readings Daniel Hausman, Michael McPherson, Debra Satz, Economic Analysis, Moral Philosophy and Public Policy, Cambridge University Press, 2017. Philosophy, Politics and Economics: An Anthology edited by Jonathan Anomaly, Geoffrey Brennan, Michael C. Munger, Geoffrey Sayre-McCord, (Oxford University Press, 2015). Philosophical Frames on Public Policy, Andrew I. Cohen Editor, Rowman and Littlefield, forthcoming, 2018. Paul Cairney (2012) Understanding Public Policy: Theories and Issues, Basingstoke: Palgrave. Recent textbook with a UK focus, principally covers policy decisions. Thomas A. Birkland (2005) An Introduction to the Policy Process, 2nd edition, London: M. E. Sharpe. US-focused textbook, covers decision and implementation. Robert E. Goodin, Martin Rein and Michael Moran (2006) ‘The Public and Its Policies’, in Moran, Rein and Goodin (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Public Policy, Oxford: Oxford University Press. 6SSPP356 Authoritarianism Semester 2 15 credits Module Convenor: Professor Sarah Birch Assessment: 2500-word essay (50%), 2500-word essay (50%) Prerequisites: None Teaching Format: 1-hour lecture, 1-hour seminar


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This module provides a comparative introduction to the topic of political authoritarianism. Authoritarianism, understood as non-democratic governance, is one of the main scourges of modern politics. Though there was a wave of democratisation following the collapse of the Soviet Union, authoritarianism has persisted in numerous guises, including the semi-authoritarian regimes that have developed in many of the so-called 'democratising' states. In gaining an understanding of contemporary authoritarianism, students will develop a more nuanced appreciation of the variety of different ways in which power can be exercised. The module will be of interest to those whose primary focus is on comparative politics, political economy, human rights, sociology and/or political history. Aims

• To understand the concept of authoritarianism and its principal sub-types

• To analyse how authoritarianism research is conducted

• To appreciate the factors that have contributed historically to the

• contemporary distribution of authoritarianism around the world

• To understand how the three main sub-types of authoritarianism function

• To understand the common causes and consequences of authoritarianism

• To examine critically common strategies employed in the aim of reducing

• authoritarianism and promoting democracy Learning Outcomes By the end of the module, students should be able:

• To demonstrate a command of the principal findings of research in the field of authoritarianism

• To evaluate critically the design and implementation of authoritarianism research

• To explore the determinants of authoritarianism in the contemporary world using relevant databases

• To conduct rigorous analysis using relevant research sources

• To advance reasoned and factually supported arguments in both written and oral formats

• To identify and locate scholarly works and other resources relevant to the study of authoritarianism

Lecture Schedule Week 1: Introduction: Authoritarianism and democracy Week 2: The development of authoritarianism in historical perspective Week 3: Contemporary authoritarianism: distribution and trends Week 4: Varieties of authoritarianism I: Single and dominant party systems Week 5: Varieties of authoritarianism II: Military regimes Week 6 Reading week Week 7: Varieties of authoritarianism III: Personalistic and neo-patrimonial regimes Week 8: Representative institutions and authoritarian systems Week 9: The democratisation of authoritarian regimes Week 10: The failure of democratisation in authoritarian regimes Week 11: Aid, conditionality, intervention and international pressure on authoritarian regimes Key Readings Acemoglu, Daron and James A. Robinson, Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy,

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006 Brooker, Paul, Non-Democratic Regimes: Theory, Government and Politics, 3rd ed., Macmillan, 2014 Brownlee, Jason, Authoritarianism in an Age of Democratization, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007


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Jennifer Gandhi, Political Institutions under Dictatorships, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008

Levitsky, Steven and Lucan A. Way, Competitive Authoritarianism: Hybrid Regimes after the Cold War,

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010. Linz, Juan J., Totalitarian and Authoritarian Regimes, Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2000 Svolik, Milan W., The Politics of Authoritarian Rule, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012 6SSPP357 Political Sociology of Social Networks Semester 1 15 credits Module Convenor: Dr Florian Foos Assessment: 1,500-word essay (30%); 3,500-word essay (70%) Prerequisites: None, but students are expected to have knowledge in either Statistics or Quantitative Methods Teaching Format: 1-hour lecture, 1-hour seminar This module introduces students to the study of political influence within social networks, both real-live networks and networks that connect citizens online. It starts by questioning the assumption underlying classical rational choice theory that citizens take political decisions in isolation. Instead, we are looking at how citizens social environment, family, friends, neighbours and colleagues, influence their political decisions. While citizens often choose to be close to others that are similar to them, a mechanism, which is known as sorting or selection, citizens also change their attitudes and behaviours because they interact with other citizens. But how can we be confident that citizens really influence each other’s decisions? During the semester, students will read some of the foundational works that define the social citizen from a theoretical perspective, learn about the different theoretical mechanisms through which social influence may be exerted, and gain knowledge about different methods that can be applied to identify causal effects within various types of social networks. Aims The aims of this module are to introduce students to the literature on social influence in politics, and to introduce some of the key theoretical debates about mechanisms through which influence is exerted. Moreover, the module critically evaluates published papers on the basis of the theoretical and methodological assumptions that these papers make in relation to the nature of networks and the identification of causal effects. The aim of the module is to enable BA thesis research on the effects of online and offline interactions between citizens and political actors, as well as postgraduate study in political behaviour. Learning Outcomes

• Critically discuss and compare key texts on the social logic of politics ranging from classics such as Lazarsfeld, over Manski and Huckfeldt to recent work by Zuckerman and Sinclair.

• Evaluate similarities and differences between real-world networks such as the household and online networks/social media.

• Critically compare and evaluate different theoretical mechanisms that can explain social influence.

• Understand methods of causal inference and networks analysis in the context of identification challenges within networks (e.g., the reflection problem, questions of self-selection and sorting).

• Formulate relevant research questions about political influence in social networks.

• Apply theoretical knowledge and methods in two essays (2000 words and 4000 words)


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Lecture Schedule

1. Introduction 2. Individualistic versus social decision-making 3. The reflection problem 4. Causality in social networks 5. Real-life networks: The household and beyond 6. Online networks: Social media 7. Mechanisms: Information 8. Mechanisms: Social norms and social pressure 9. Political Talk and Political Disagreement 10. Persuasion and Participation

Key Readings Berelson, Bernard R., Paul F. Lazarsfeld, and Willian N. McPhee. 1954. Voting: A Study of Opinion Formation in a Presidential Campaign. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Huckfeldt, R. Robert, and John Sprague. 1995. Citizens, politics and social communication: Information and influence in an election campaign. Cambridge University Press. Manski, Charles. 1995. Identification Problems in the Social Sciences. Harvard. Rolfe, Meredith. 2012. Voter Turnout: A Social Theory of Political Participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Sinclair, Betsy. 2012. The Social Citizen: Peer Networks and Political Behavior. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Zuckerman, Alan S. 2005. The Social Logic of Politics: Personal Networks as Contexts for Political Behavior. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. 6SSPP358 The Politics of International Trade Semester 1 15 credits Module Convenor: Dr James Scott Assessment: 1650-word book review (30%), 2,500-word essay (45%), 1350-word negotiation on briefing (25%) Prerequisites: None Teaching Format: 1-hour lecture, 1-hour seminar Trade is an issue that has always sat at the heart of political economy. While Adam Smith famously made the case for free trade, arguments in favour of an interventionist state that actively seeks to change areas of comparative advantage have never gone away. Meanwhile, other critics have argued that the trade system is exploitative of the developing world and reflects the dominance of Western, industrialised countries. This module engages with these timeless debates, exploring them through the lenses of IPE theory. It also provides a detailed examination of the World Trade Organisation and the crisis that it has experienced for the last decade. By completing this module, you will understand the contours of current tensions within the trade system, the debates concerning the distributional impact of global trade and why trade has been such a controversial topic since the creation of the discipline of political economy. As an integral part of this module you will be engaging in a transatlantic negotiation of a trade deal (likely to be a Canada-UK free trade agreement) with the students at the University of Western Ontario. This will enable you to put into practice some of the more abstract material we look at in the lectures and seminars.


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Aims This module aims to provide third year students with a detailed and advanced examination of the politics of international trade. It will engage critically with the evolution of the global trade system post WWII, the institutions that have governed that system, particularly the WTO and GATT, and the tensions that characterise this highly political process. Students will use the theories of International Political Economy (IPE) that they have learnt in other modules (notably 4SSPP106 World Politics and 5SSPP223 Issues in International Politics) and will finish the module with an in-depth knowledge of the trade system. Learning Outcomes By the end of the module, students will be able to demonstrate the skills, knowledge, and methodological awareness commensurate with expectations for level 6 module participation. In particular, they will develop:

• An understanding of how the global trade system is understood through key theoretical traditions of IPE;

• An understanding of the contemporary problems of the global trade system and why the WTOs ability to function as a site of trade negotiations is in crisis;

• The ability to think critically about how trade is governed and in whose interests;

• The ability to situate their own thoughts about how the trade system should function within established academic literatures and analytical approaches;

• Enhanced employability skills such as Group work, Problem-solving, Critical thinking, Verbal communication and Negotiation and Persuasion.

Lecture Schedule Lecture 1: Liberal Trade Theory, comparative advantage and the gains from trade Lecture 2: Industrialisation and protectionism Lecture 3. From GATT to WTO: The institutions of global trade governance Lecture 4. Trade and agriculture Lectures 5. Trade and Intellectual Property Rights Lecture 6: Trade in Services Lecture 7: The failure of the Doha Development Agenda and the collapse of multilateralism Lecture 8: Global Value Chains Lecture 9: Mega-regionals Lecture 10: Dispute Settlement Key Readings

• George, Clive. (2010). The Truth About Trade. (Zed Books)

• Wilkinson, Rorden. (2014). What's Wrong with the WTO and how to Fix it. John Wiley & Sons.

• Chang, Ha-Joon. (2008). Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism.

• (New York: Bloomsbury)

• Amrita Narlikar, Martin Daunton, Robert M. Stern (2012). The Oxford handbook on the World Trade

• Organization. (New York: Oxford University Press).

• Sonia Rolland. (2012). Development at the World Trade Organisation. (Oxford: OUP) 6SSPP362 International Trade Semester 1 15 credits Module Convenor: Dr Pierre-Louis Vézina


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Assessment: 2-hour examination (90%); Participation (10%) Prerequisites: 5SSPP221 (Intermediate Microeconomics) or equivalent. Teaching Format: 1-hour lecture, 1-hour seminar Educational Aims This module provides an introduction to models of international trade and their predictions of trade patterns, with some consideration of empirical studies and policy issues. The goals of this module are to:

• Introduce students to classical and new theories of international trade

• Use examples and empirical evidence to introduce students to the methods most commonly used in the economic analysis of international trade.

• Enable students to engage with trade theory in a critical manner, understanding the arguments used both in favour and against trade liberalisation.

Learning Outcomes By the end of the module the students will be able to:

• demonstrate general knowledge and understanding of international trade theory and policy

• understand and manipulate simple economic models, both graphically and analytically

• read and engage critically with the empirical literature on international trade Key Reading All compulsory readings are chapters from: International Economics, Theory and Policy, Paul Krugman, Maurice Obstfeld, Marc J. Melitz., 9th or 10th Edition, Pearson. Lecture Schedule Week 1. An overview of world trade, gravity, and borders: Chap 2 Week 2. Ricardian model of comparative advantage: Chap 3 Week 3. The specific factors model: Chap 4 Week 4. The Heckscher-Ohlin model: Chap 5 Week 5. Economies of scale and trade: Chap 7 Week 6. Monopolistic competition and trade: Chap 8 Week 7. Firms in the Global Economy: Chap 8 Week 8. Trade policy: Chap 9 Week 9. The political economy of trade policy: Chap 10

Week 10. Trade policy in developing countries: Chap 11

6SSPP371 The Thought of Friedrich Hayek Semester 1 Credits: 15 Module Convenor: Adam Tebble Assessment: 2200-word essay (50%), 2200-word essay (50%) Prerequisites: 5SSPP202 or 5SSPP209 or 5SSPP238 or Political Philosophy II: Theories of Justice (for PPL students) In this module, students will engage in detail with the thought of Friedrich Hayek and the secondary source literature relevant to it in a seminar format. The seminar format will require close reading on their part of the key texts set out below in the Provisional Reading List. The core text in this respect, and the text that will be most closely read over the duration of the Semester, will be his 3 volume Law, Legislation and Liberty.


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Aims:

• An advanced UG understanding of the thought of Hayek, including his epistemology, economics and political and legal theory.

• The ability to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the ideas and arguments under consideration

• The ability to convert these assessments into well-structured essays

• The ability to recommend improvements to the texts ideas and arguments. Learning Outcomes:

• To understand the philosophical underpinnings to Hayek’s contributions to debates in economics, politics and law

• To critically assess, at length and in essay format, the strengths and weaknesses of his contributions to these debates

Indicative Reading list & seminar structure: Required text: Hayek, F. A., Law, Legislation and Liberty, vols. I, II & III

1. Course Requirements

All required readings are from Law, Legislation and Liberty which will be the principal text for this seminar.

A required reading reference such as v. I, 1 means: Law,Legislation and Liberty, Volume One, Chapter One

Each reading selection to be read in advance of each class; i.e. week 2s reading is to be read before class 2.

At the start of each seminar a pre-selected student will outline the major issues raised by each reading. Depending on the size of the class students will be required to do this either individually, or in small groups.

2. Reading

WEEK 1 Introductory

LEAD TOPIC: Philosophy and Social Theory WEEK 2 Reason and Evolution - understanding the social world Required Reading: LLL vol. I, chap. 1 Recommended Reading Primary Sources The Counter-Revolution of Science: Studies in the Abuse of Reason, Part One: Scientism and the Study of Society ‘The Facts of the Social Sciences’´, in Hayek, F. A., Individualism and Economic Order, pp.57-76 ‘Individualism: True and False, in Hayek, F. A., Individualism and Economic Order pp. 1-32 The Constitution of Liberty, Chapters 2, 4 Secondary Sources Gray, J., Hayek on Liberty, pp. 21-26 Kley, R., Hayek´s Social and Political Thought, Chap. 6 Kukathas, C., Hayek and Modern Liberalism, pp. 46-59


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Petsoulas, C., Hayek’s Liberalism and its Origins, chap 2 Tebble, A. J., Hayek, chap. 2

WEEK 3 Cosmos and Taxis - spontaneous orders, organisations and how they differ Required reading: LLL vol. I, chap. 2

Recommended Reading Primary Sources The Constitution of Liberty, Chap. 10 Secondary Sources Gray, pp. 27-34, 118-125 Gamble, A., Hayek: The Iron Cage of Liberty, pp. 36-39 Kley, Chaps. 1, 5 Kukathas, pp.86-105 Petsoulas, Chap. 1 Tebble, A. J., Hayek, pp. 28-32.

LEAD TOPIC: LEGAL THEORY WEEK 4 Nomos - the law of liberty as law for the spontaneous order Required reading: LLL vol. I, chap. 5

Recommended Reading Primary Sources The Political Ideal of the Rule of Law The Constitution of Liberty, Chaps. 10, 14 Secondary Sources Gray, Chap. 3 Gamble, pp. 98-99 Kley, Chap. 3 Kukathas, Chap. 4 Tebble, pp. 89-98, 99-102

WEEK 5 Thesis - the law of legislation as the law of the organisation Required reading: LLL vol. I, 6 Recommended Reading Secondary Sources Kley, Chap. 3 Tebble, pp. 98-9, 99-102

WEEK 6 – READING WEEK

LEAD TOPIC: POLITICAL THEORY WEEK 7 General Welfare and Particular Purposes - the nature of justice


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Required reading: LLL vol. II, chaps., 7 & 8 Recommended reading Secondary Sources Galeotti, A. E. ‘Individualism, Social Rules, Tradition: The Case of Friederich A. Hayek’, Political Theory, vol.15, no. 2, 1987, pp. 163 - 181.

WEEK 9 Social Justice - the critique of the welfare state Required reading: vol. II, chap. 9 Recommended Reading Secondary Sources Gray, pp. 71-75 Gamble, pp. 46-49 Tebble, pp. 63-72

WEEK 10 The Market Economy as a Spontaneous Order Required reading: LLL. vol. II, chap. 10 Recommended Reading Primary Sources ‘Economics and Knowledge’, in Hayek, F. A., Individualism and Economic Order, pp. 33-56 ‘The Use of Knowledge in Society’, in Hayek, F. A., Individualism and Economic Order, pp. 77-91 ‘The Meaning of Competition’, in Hayek, F. A., Individualism and Economic Order, pp. 92-106 Secondary Sources Gray, pp. 34-40 Gamble, Chap. 3 Kley, Chaps. 2,4 Tebble, 51-62

LEAD TOPIC: Democracy and The Constitution WEEK 11 Majority Opinion and Contemporary Democracy - the critique of unlimited democracy Required reading: LLL vol. III, chaps. 12-13 Recommended Reading Primary Sources The Constitution of Liberty, Chap. 7 Secondary Sources Gamble, pp.91-98 Tebble, pp. 107-113


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WEEK 12 A Model Constitution - the institutions of a free society Required reading: LLL vol. III, chap. 17 Recommended Reading Secondary Sources Gray, pp. 125-129 Gamble, pp. 145-150 Tebble, pp. 113-121

6SSPP372 Prime Ministers and Leadership Since Thatcher: Theory and Practice Semester 2 Credits: 15 Module Convenor: Jon Davis Assessment: 5000-word essay (100%) Teaching Format: 1-hour lecture, 1-hour seminar This module, in partnership with No. 10 Downing Street, examines how British Prime Ministers have governed in the period 1979-2015, and the role of the Prime Minister in the British system. The first half of the module will focus on key themes relating to the office of Prime Minister and the machinery of government, with the second half providing specific historical case studies, onto which the frameworks and theories discussed in the first half of the module can be applied and used for analysis and evaluation. Special attention will be given to the memoirs and diaries of the prime ministers, cabinet ministers and senior officials involved in managing the central machinery of government. The use of historical sources, and debate around the historiography of the subjects being discussed will be interwoven into each week’s teaching. The module will also make use of? case study? documents to aid discussion in seminars, on key related themes that will provide insights into the practicalities and realities of the premiership. Aims:

• An intricate understanding of British central government between 1979 and 2015;

• The theoretical framework to analyse how decisions were implemented at the top of government and the challenges to this;

• A critical understanding of debates around how government action and key political events are interwoven;

• Historical knowledge of the domestic, foreign, economic, defence and security issues faced by Prime Ministers between 1979 and 2015;

• The ability to use primary and secondary historical sources to answer research questions. Learning Outcomes:

• Identify the key actors in the British policy process and the formal role of the prime minister;

• Evaluate the role of the prime minister in a select number of high profile cases of policy-making;

• Analyse the factors contributing to successful and unsuccessful policy management by the prime minister;

• Engage with historiographical debates surrounding the role of British Prime Minister;

• Use primary and secondary source materials to produce a finished piece of analysis in the form of an essay answering a specific question.


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Indicative Reading List:

Prime Ministers Reading: Tony Blair, A Journey James Callaghan, Time and Chance Alastair Campbell, Diaries 1994-1997, 1997-1999, 1999-2001, 2001-2003 Peter Hennessy, The Prime Minister Peter Hennessy, Whitehall John Major, The Autobiography Charles Moore, Margaret Thatcher: The Authorised Biography, Volume One: Not For Turning Charles Moore, Margaret Thatcher: The Authorised Biography, Volume Two: Everything She Wants John Rentoul, Tony Blair: Prime Minister Steve Richards, Whatever it Takes Anthony Seldon, Blair Unbound Anthony Seldon & Guy Lodge, Brown at 10 Anthony Seldon, Cameron at 10 Anthony Seldon, Major: A Political Life Margaret Thatcher, The Downing Street Years Hugo Young, One of Us Theory reading: Peter Burnham, Karin Gilland Lutz, Wyn Grant and Zig Layton-Henry (2008). Research Methods in Politics. Second edition. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, Chapter 7 on “Documentary and archival analysis” (pp. 187–212); Peter John (2012). Analyzing Public Policy. Second edition. Abingdon: Routledge, Chapter 3 on “Institutions”; Christoph Knill and Jarle Tosun (2012). Public Policy: A New Introduction. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, Chapter 3 on “The context for policy-making: Central institutions and actor”; Robert Leach, Bill Coxall and Lynton Robins (2011). British Politics. Second edition. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, Chapter 1 on “Politics, democracy and power”. 6SSPP373 Political Economy of Inequality Semester 2 Credits: 15 Module Convenor: David Hope Assessment: 1500-word essay (35%) & 3000-word essay (65%) Prerequisites: No specific prerequisites, but students should be willing to engage with quantitative research and economic concepts. Teaching Format: 1-hour lecture, 1-hour seminar It is one of the enduring political-economic puzzles of our time that the advanced democracies of Western Europe, North America and the Asia-Pacific region have such widely different levels of income inequality, despite being similarly rich and prosperous. Among the advanced democracies, the UK and the US stand out as particularly unequal, while the Nordic countries occupy the other end of the scale. This module takes a comparative perspective and uses insights from both economics and political science to shed light on these dramatic cross-national differences in income inequality. It also looks at the economic, political and institutional factors that have shaped the evolution of income inequality over the entire post-WWII period, such as technological change,


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education, industrial relations, partisanship, electoral systems, and the welfare state. Additionally, the module investigates how the transition to the knowledge economy in the advanced democracies has affected inequality on many different dimensions, such as income, gender and race. The latter part of the module assesses the political and economic consequences of rising income inequality, as well as the policy options for addressing it. Aims: This module aims to give final year undergraduate students all the tools necessary to thoroughly examine the political economy of income inequality in advanced democracies. Students will critically engage with literature from a range of disciplines, such as comparative political economy, macroeconomics, labour economics, and political science. The literature will introduce students to the main theoretical explanations for the cross-country and over time differences observed in income inequality. The module also aims to give students a good grasp of the data on income inequality, as well as highlighting its strengths and weaknesses. The module is closely linked to the real-world and takes an empirical and comparative approach. It aims to provide students the competencies, knowledge and empirical evidence necessary to carry out a detailed analysis of the causes and consequences of inequality in advanced democracies, and to critically evaluate the potential policy responses. Learning Outcomes:

• Summarise the similarities and differences in the evolution of income inequality across the advanced democracies over the post-WWII period.

• Identify and critically evaluate the competing theories in economics and political science on the determinants of income inequality.

• Assess the links between income inequality and political and economic institutions, such as electoral systems, trade unions, and the welfare state.

• Explain how the transition to the knowledge economy has affected inequality on many different dimensions, such as income, gender and race.

• Demonstrate knowledge of the political and economic consequences of rising income inequality, as well as the identifying the underlying mechanisms.

• Evaluate the policy options for addressing income inequality while taking account of national context.

• Conduct rigorous analysis on income inequality in the advanced democracies using the academic literature and relevant empirical evidence.

Indicative Reading List and Lecture Structure: Lecture 1. Income inequality in the advanced democracies: distribution from Fordism to the knowledge economy Indicative readings:

• Piketty, T. (2014). Capital in the 21st Century. Harvard University Press.

• Pontusson, J. (2005). Inequality and prosperity: Social Europe vs. liberal America. Cornell University Press.

Lecture 2. Economic explanations for distributive outcomes

Indicative readings:

• Goldin, C. D., & Katz, L. F. (2009). The race between education and technology. Harvard University Press.

• Goos, M., Manning, A., & Salomons, A. (2009). Job polarization in Europe. The American Economic Review, 99(2), 58-63.


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Lecture 3. Political explanations for distributive outcomes


• Hacker, J. S., & Pierson, P. (2010). Winner-take-all politics: How Washington made the rich richer--and turned its back on the middle class. Simon and Schuster.

• Bartels, L. M. (2016). Unequal democracy: The political economy of the new gilded age. Princeton University Press.

Lecture 4. Taxation and government spending over the post-WW2 period


• Scheve, K., & Stasavage, D. (2016). Taxing the rich: A history of fiscal fairness in the United States and Europe. Princeton University Press.

• Tanzi, V., & Schuknecht, L. (2000). Public spending in the 20th century: A global perspective. Cambridge University Press.

Lecture 5. Models of redistribution: Does democracy lean against markets?


• Meltzer, A. H., & Richard, S. F. (1981). A rational theory of the size of government. Journal of political Economy, 89(5), 914-927.

• Moene, K. O., & Wallerstein, M. (2001). Inequality, social insurance, and redistribution. American Political Science Review, 95(4), 859-874.

Lecture 6. Unpicking the Robin–Hood paradox: Institutions, coordination and partisanship


• Iversen, T., & Soskice, D. (2009). Distribution and redistribution: The shadow of the nineteenth century. World Politics, 61(3), 438-486.

• Alesina, A., & Glaeser, E. L. (2004). Fighting poverty in the US and Europe: A world of difference. Oxford University Press.

Lecture 7. Technological change, globalization and spatial inequality


• Moretti, E. (2012). The new geography of jobs. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

• Autor, D., Dorn, D., & Hanson, G. H. (2015). Untangling trade and technology: Evidence from local labour markets. Economic Journal, 125(584), 621-46.

Lecture 8. Gender and racial inequality in the knowledge economy Indicative readings:

• Iversen, T., & Rosenbluth, F. M. (2010). Women, work, and politics: The political economy of gender inequality. Yale University Press.

• McCall, L. (2001). Complex inequality: Gender, class, and race in the new economy. Psychology Press.

Lecture 9. The economic consequences of income inequality



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• Stiglitz, J. (2012). The Price of Inequality: How Today’s Divided Society Endangers Our Future. W. W. Norton & Company.

• Wilkinson, R., & Pickett, K. (2010). The spirit level: Why equality is better for everyone. Penguin UK.

Lecture 10. The political consequences of income inequality


• Gilens, M. (2012). Affluence and influence: Economic inequality and political power in America. Princeton University Press.

• Solt, F. (2008). Economic inequality and democratic political engagement. American Journal of Political Science, 52(1), 48-60.

Lecture 11. Policies to tackle inequality: What can be done?


• Atkinson, A. B. (2015). Inequality: What can be done? Harvard University Press.

• OECD (2015), In it Together: Why Less Inequality Benefits All, OECD Publishing, Paris. 6SSPP376 Women and Politics Semester 1 Credits: 15 Module Convenor: Anna Gwiazda Assessment: 2500-word essay (50%), 2-hour exam (50%) Teaching Format: 1-hour lecture, 1-hour seminar This module introduces students to the area of gender and politics through the lens of Comparative Politics. This module examines central topics in the study of women and politics, covering issues such as women’s participation in social movements and political parties, women as voters and candidates in political elections, representatives and leaders, in addition to women’s descriptive and substantive representation. It will also discuss gender equality, gender mainstreaming and public policy. This module will draw on examples from various world regions and time periods to analyse similarities and differences across cases around the world. Studying gender and politics through comparing and contrasting political outcomes in a variety of different cultural settings, at the national or sub-national level, offers an opportunity to explore a variety of vital issues in the field of women and politics. Aims:

• Introduce students to concepts and debates in the field of women and politics

• Develop their skills in systematic comparison and methodology that will add rigour to their research and help achieve valid and well-founded generalizations

• Highlight the importance of conceptual and theoretical analyses

• Equip students with a good knowledge of issues in comparative politics examined from a gender perspective

• Provide students with a thorough understanding of political representation and public policies promoting women’s interests

• Analyses the issue of gender politics in countries around the world Learning Outcomes:

• have an enhanced understanding of main debates in the field of gender politics

• critically evaluate the impact of gender on politics


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• be able to approach the study of gender politics in a systematic, comparative and social-scientific way

• examine key issues in gender politics in different countries around the world

• be able to apply different theoretical frameworks and analytical toolkits using case studies and focused comparisons, compare and contrast gender issues, and reflect critically on the strengths and weaknesses of comparative analysis.

Indicative Reading List and Lecture Structure:

Lecture structure:

1. Introduction to ‘Women and Politics’ 2. Theories and methods in comparative politics 3. Feminism and political representation 4. Women’s movements and political parties 5. Women and elections: voters, candidates, representatives and leaders 6. Descriptive representation: do gender quotas work? 7. Descriptive representation: cultural explanations 8. Substantive representation: do women make a difference? 9. Gender equality and gender mainstreaming 10. Gender and public policy 11. Revision

Reading list Beckwith, K. (2007) ‘Numbers and newness. The descriptive and substantive representation of women’, Canadian Journal of Political Science 40(1):27–49 Bergqvist, C. (ed.) (1999) Equal Democracies: Gender and Politics in Nordic Countries. Oslo: Scandinavian University Press. Birch, A. H. (1971) Representation. London: Macmillan Boix, C. and S. C. Stokes, eds. (2009) The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press Caramani, D. ed. (2014) Comparative Politics Third Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press Cohen, M.G. and J. Pulkingham (eds) (2009) Public Policies for Women: the State, Income, Security and Labour Markets Issues. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Celis, K. (2009) ‘Substantive representation of women (and improving it): What it is and should be about?’ Comparative European Politics Vol. 7, 1, 95–113 Celis, K., Childs, S., Kantola, J. and Krook, M. L. (2008) ‘Rethinking women’s substantive representation,’ Representation, 44:2, 99 — 110. Conway, M.M. and D.W. Ahern (eds.) (2004) Women and Public Policy. Sage Publications Dodds, A. (2012) Comparative Public Policy. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan Dahlerup, D. eds. (2006) Women, Quotas and Politics. London and New York: Routledge. Duverger, M. (1955) The Political Role of Women. Paris: UNESCO European Parliament (2011) Electoral gender quota systems and their implementation in Europe. Brussels: Directorate General for Internal Policies, Policy Department C: Citizens' Rights and Constitutional Affairs Gwiazda, A. (2015) ‘Women’s Representation and Gender Quotas: the case of the Polish Parliament’ Democratization, Volume 22, Issue 4 (July 2015): 679- 697. Gwiazda, A. (2017) ‘Women in Parliament: Assessing the Effectiveness of Gender Quotas in Poland,’ Journal of Legislative Studies, Volume 23, Issue 3, 326-347.


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Inglehart, R. and P. Norris (2003) Rising Tide: Gender Equality and Cultural Change Around the World. Cambridge University Press. Judge, D. (1999) Representation: theory and practice in Britain. London: Routledge Kanter, R.M. (1977) ‘Some effects of proportions on group life’, American Journal of Sociology 82(5): 965–990.

Krook, M., and F. Mackay (eds.) (2010) Gender, Politics and Institutions. Towards a Feminist Institutionalism. Palgrave Macmillan.

Krook, M. L. and Childs, S. (2010) Women, Gender, and Politics: A Reader. Oxford University Press. Krook, M. L. (2009) Quotas for Women in Politics. Oxford University Press Landman, T. (2008) Issues and Methods in Comparative Politics: An Introduction London: Routledge. Lovenduski, J. (2005) Feminizing Politics. Cambridge: Polity Press. Lovenduski, J. (ed.) (2005) Feminism and Politics. Ashgate. Matland, R. E. and K. A. Montgomery, eds (2003) Women’s Access to Political Power in Post-Communist Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Mansbridge, Jane (1999), ‘Should Blacks Represent Blacks and Women Represent Women? A Contingent ‘Yes’, Journal of Politics, 61 (3), 628-57. Mansbridge, Jane (2003) ‘Rethinking representation,’ American Political Science Review, Vol. 97, No.4, November 2003. Meier, P. (2012) ‘From Laggard to Leader: Explaining the Belgian gender quotas and parity clause’, West European Politics, Vol. 35, No.2, 362-379, March 2012. Norris, P. (2004) Electoral Engineering: Voting Rules and Political Behaviour. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Norris, P. (2006) ‘The impact of electoral reform on women’s representation’, Acta Politica, 2006, 41, pp.197-213. North, D. C. (1990) Institutions, Institutional change and Economic Performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Okin, Susan Moller (1989) Justice, Gender and the Family. USA: Basic Books Parsons, W. (1995) Public Policy. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Phillips, A. (1995) The Politics Of Presence. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Pitkin, H. (1967) The Concept of Representation. Los Angeles: University of Press. Praud, J. (2012) ‘Gender Parity and Quotas in European Politics’, West European Politics, Vol. 35, no. 2, 286-300, March 2012 Rosenbluth F, Salmond R, Thies MF. (2006) ‘Welfare works: explaining female legislative representation’, Politics and Gender 2(02):165–92 Studlar D. T., McAllister I. (2002) ‘Does a critical mass exist? A comparative analysis of women’s legislative representation since 1950’, European Journal of Political Research 41: 233–53. Schwindt-Bayer, L. A. (2006) ’Still Supermadres? Gender and the Policy Priorities of Latin American Legislators’, American Journal of Political Science, 50(3): 570-585. Swers, M. L. (2002) The Difference Women Make: The Policy Impact of Women in Congress. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Thomas, S. (1991) ‘The impact of women on state legislative policies’, Journal of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 4, November 1991. Wängnerud, Lena (2009) ‘Women in Parliaments: Descriptive and Substantive Representation’, Annual Review of Political Science 2009, 12: 51–69


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Weldon, Laurel S. (2002) ‘Beyond bodies: institutional sources of representation for women in democratic policymaking’, Journal of Politics, 64(4):1153–74 Williams, M. (1998) Voice, Trust, and Memory. The Failings of Liberal Representation. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Young, I. M. (1990) Justice and the Politics of Difference. Princeton: Princeton University Press

Level 5 - King's College London · Assessment: 2,500-word essay (40%), 3,000-word essay 2 (60%)...

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