European Politics and Policy

Study mode:On campus Study type:Part-time Languages: English
Local:$ 7.4 k / Year(s) Foreign:$ 16.4 k / Year(s)  
StudyQA ranking:6784 Duration:12 months

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You will engage with key contemporary debates in the study of European politics, concerning the relationship between the European and national levels, institutional studies, politics and policies, and the ongoing search for a stable equilibrium in all these areas.

Programme overview
The programme is composed of three pathways. The European Politics and Policy pathway provides you with a deep understanding of the EUs main policy areas. The second pathway, European External Relations, offers the opportunity to focus on the EUs role in the international system. Finally, the European Practitioner pathway equips you with an excellent understanding of EU politics and policy and allows you to spend three months working in the field of EU politics.

Students across the three pathways take a common set of compulsory modules (including modules on research methods and Politics of the European Union). Two further compulsory modules are taken for each pathway, allowing you to select three optional modules from a range of European and/or international politics topics.

The programme provides you with the skills necessary to design and complete a dissertation or placement project on a specialist topic, including formulating research questions, conducting a literature review, selecting appropriate methods of data collection, engaging with data analysis to provide answers to the research questions, and presenting research according to scholarly conventions.

Compulsory Modules
Introduction to Research
This module provides an introduction to the design and conduct of social science research. Throughout, examples are drawn from recent research in the areas of politics and policy. However, emphasis is also placed on the applicability of these methods to other subject areas across the social sciences. This module develops students understanding of the ways in which social research is designed and conducted. It provides a broad overview of both qualitative and quantitative approaches to research in the social sciences. In addition, it develops students capacities to design research questions and select appropriate methods of data collection and analysis to enable them to answer their research questions.

Research in Practice
The module has a strong practical focus and students gain experience of using both qualitative and quantitative research methods, and apply their knowledge on a research area of their choice. Students also gain experience in using SPSS for statistical analysis. As part of the course, students conduct an individual research project, explore the methodological issues which emerge through their work, and engage in group-work to discuss the similarities and differences in their individual approaches and choices.

Politics of the European Union
This module considers how the European Union functions and the range of what it does. By looking at the key institutions of the Union and building an understanding of the ways in which citizens, interest groups and states use their voice in the system, students develop an appreciation of the worlds foremost example of regional integration. Coupled to a review of the EUs policies and policy-making, the module offers an essential introduction to a key site of contemporary political action.

Optional Modules
European External Relations
This module examines the political dynamics of the European Union as an actor in global politics from the perspective of the member states, the EU itself as a unique political entity and the rest of the world. To that extent, the module explores the nature of the EUs leverage in world affairs and how it can exercise its pressures, as well as its impact on the foreign policies of the member states. By using theories of European integration, as well as more traditional foreign policy analysis and theories, the module examines the development of a common foreign, security and defence policy framework for the EU and its wider external relations, such as the relations with NATO and other global powers, and issues of the immediate neighbourhood (ENP), trade and development, security and terrorism, as well as specific regional contexts.

Theorising European Integration This module introduces students to the theoretical debates surrounding European integration. It investigates the different purposes and kinds of theory that exist in the study of politics before discussing the various perspectives that have been advanced to understand, assess and explain European integration. The module addresses the different vogues in theorising European integration, using a sociology of knowledge approach to link the rise and fall, and sometimes the second coming, of particular theories with both prevailing understandings of the purpose of theory in the study of politics and the debate about whether European integration is best studied using conceptual lenses from International Relations (IR) or Comparative Politics (CP).

Institutional Architecture of the European Union
This module provides an introduction to the institutions of the European Union, analysing it as a political system. The European Union presents a novel form of governance, integrating national systems into a structure that transforms them. Working from an introductory framing of the Union in both historical and theoretical terms, the module focuses on exploring and understanding the key institutions of the Union, their structures, operations and interactions. It also asks whether the EU has the institutions that it needs for effective, legitimate governance.

European Economies and Economic Integration
This module addresses theoretical and applied economic and public policy issues. The module introduces students to the economics of integration primarily within the European Union (EU). Attention is also given to EU trade and aid policies for Eastern Europe and for Less Developed Countries. A contrast with the problems of transition in the context of EU eastern enlargement is included. The module equips students to understand general models of economic integration and to account for the particular route taken by economic integration and economic policies in Europe over recent decades.

The EU and Its Neighbourhood
This module considers the EUs perception of threats and opportunities, and the methods it employs in order to reduce threat and maximise potential. Identity is a particular focus: what it means to be European and how much of that identity is shaped by the EU versus other actors. Specific policy areas are examined, including the European Neighbourhood Policy, Eastern Partnership, Union for the Mediterranean and Black Sea Synergy. Russia is treated as a particular case that reveals the successes of the EUs multilateral activities and the complexities engendered by its member states bilateral relationships.

Comparative Regional Integration
This module introduces students to the debates surrounding the comparative study of regional integration and regionalism. It explores the epistemological, theoretical and methodological issues surrounding such comparison, and sets them in their sociology of knowledge context. The module pays special attention to issue of the comparability of the European Union, asking whether the EU and the acquis académique on it are capable of application to other regions in the global polity. The module also investigates the extent to which the EU and those studying it can benefit from an engagement with the scholarship on other global regions such as ASEAN, NAFTA or Mercosur.

The European Social Dimension
This module assesses the development of a European Social Dimension as part of the process of European integration. It seeks to develop students understanding of various integration theories, and therefore engage with topical debates about the present and future of European integration. It explores the impact of Europeanization and globalisation on the European societies, uncovers the complexities of social, political and cultural dynamics that determine the boundaries of the European project, and assesses the social and political framework underpinning the development of a European Social Dimension thus raising important questions about the overall aims of the EU vis-à-vis its member states.

International Security and Defence
This module enables students to examine different types of state, non-state and international, regional and sub-regional security and defence providers in the context of new security threats, including the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, failed states and the new interventionism. Actors include the UN, the EU, NATO, ECOWAS, the US, France, Germany, the UK, Poland, NGOs and private military companies. Students engage with a variety of relevant theoretical approaches which in turn provide them with the tools to analyse how these different security actors have evolved, how they cooperate or conflict with each other and the role each plays in the new international security environment.

A first or 2.1 undergraduate degree in a relevant social science or humanities discipline (or an equivalent qualification).English language requirementsIELTS minimum overall: 6.5IELTS minimum by component: 6.0We offer intensive English language pre-sessional courses, designed to take you to the level of English ability and skill required for your studies here. English Language Requirements IELTS band: 6.5 IMPORTANT NOTE: Since April 2014 the ETS tests (including TOEFL and TOEIC) are no longer accepted for Tier 4 visa applications to the United Kingdom. The university might still accept these tests to admit you to the university, but if you require a Tier 4 visa to enter the UK and begin your degree programme, these tests will not be sufficient to obtain your Visa. The IELTS test is most widely accepted by universities and is also accepted for Tier 4 visas to the UK- learn more.
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