Overview

Gain the skills, experience, and knowledge to understand and influence the world around you with our BA (Hons) Politics course.

Politics is an incredibly diverse and varied subject, and our degree explores politics in the UK, EU, and further afield.

With a politics degree, you develop transferable skills sought by employers, including effective communication in a range of verbal and written forms, critical thinking, and time management. You learn frameworks, skills, and concepts to be able to explain and practice politics in the outside world.

The degree mixes the study of core theories and concepts with the study of concrete events. The range of modules enables you to analyze contemporary political developments at home and abroad, and you are offered the opportunity to take a dedicated careers module.

You explore vital issues such as political violence, international relations, political ideologies, gender and politics, political communications, revolution, social movements, and electoral and parliamentary politics in the UK and USA.

Course structure

Year 0 (foundation year) core modules

This module will assist you in developing the personal and academic skills that you will need for undergraduate study. It focuses on developing skills such as information retrieval, evaluation, critical thinking, note-taking, presentation skills, and group work.

Contemporary Issues in Social Sciences

This module will introduce you to the historical and contemporary development of social science disciplines and will provide examples of theoretical challenges and the ways in which research is applied in society. You will gain an understanding of the critical differences between disciplines and how interdisciplinary research is fostered through collaboration. You will also be introduced to academic standards, ethical guidelines and research protocols, personal development planning, and a range of study and transferable skills relevant to your degree course and beyond.

Fake News: Propaganda and Polemics, Past and Present

This module provides you with the opportunity to develop your skills in thinking critically about the information and analysis presented in an array of media in today’s digital world, drawing on the methodologies of a range of disciplines within the social sciences, humanities, and law. You will explore examples of the debates over fake news in both the past and present, and look at how fake news can be used to both support and undermine the status quo, enabling you in the process to become more savvy and engaged citizens.

Historical and Popular Crimes, Justice, Laws, and Psychology

This module introduces you to the history of crime and justice, using media representations and crime fiction as a way of exploring crime over time, including aspects such as changes in society, law, and education in this context.

Project

This module allows students to identify an area of interest related to their undergraduate degree and to explore this through a small-scale research project where students will be required to produce an analysis of an area of focus.

Teesside: History, Literature, Culture and Society

Year 1 core modules

The United States is more divided now than it has been for quite some time – or so goes a popular theory. You explore the factors that have led to the current political situation in the US, where Republicans and Democrats are embroiled in a political struggle and culture war that centers on issues surrounding women’s rights, immigration, healthcare, climate change, and science, taxation, the media, the powers of Congress, and the presidency. You examine the idea that the divisions among the political elite and the most politically active are mirrored within US society as a whole.   

Britain From The Boer War to Brexit

You gain overview of Britain from the Second Boer War (1899-1902) to Brexit. The module takes a largely chronological approach, emphasising the impact of two world wars on British politics and society, the implications of the introduction of the welfare state and Keynesian economic policies during the ‘consensus period’, and the shift towards neo-liberal forms of governance and politics in the late twentieth century and beyond.

Introduction to International Relations

You acquire an understanding of the development of international relations, and the core concepts and theories. You will focus on how the political ideas and international organisations that shape global politics reflect and try to embody core values such as freedom, justice, security, order and welfare. Key theories examined include liberalism, realism, international political economy, social constructivism and post-positivism.

Introduction to Politics

You gain an introduction to the skills and analytical frameworks needed to study contemporary global politics. The module demonstrates why politics matters and showcases different approaches that are taken to the discipline. Themes include political power, authority and the state, elections and political institutions, democracy and political obligation, civil society, and the frameworks of global politics.

Politics Ideologies

Understanding the political ideologies that motivate political actors is key to understanding politics. You gain an introduction to the core political ideologies that have shaped, and continue to shape, the political world in which we live, and the political debates going on around us. Themes include liberalism, conservatism, socialism, nationalism, feminism, green politics, multiculturalism, and secularism. You also look at how recent developments have overturned the idea that we live in a post-ideological world.

War, Revolution, Union: Eutope 1914-2017

Europe after 1914 was characterised by a struggle between competing political, economic and social systems. This module surveys these struggles. Consideration is given to the emergence of authoritarian and totalitarian dictatorships in interwar Europe, above all in Italy, Germany, Spain and the USSR. Following the defeat of fascism in the Second World War, the Cold War led to the division of Europe into two mutually hostile blocs with fundamentally different political, economic and social systems. Our understanding of Europe has continued to develop into the twenty-first century with the expansion of the European Union and Britain's exit from this bloc in 2019.

How you learn

The course makes use of a variety of teaching methods including classes, lectures, seminars, tutorials and group work, with an emphasis on participatory and active learning. You will be taught by a range of research-active academic staff, lecturers and professors.

How you are assessed

Modules are continuously assessed so that you receive regular feedback to help you develop your skills and abilities. Methods of assessment include essays, presentations, knowledge exchange projects, and examinations. There will be a mix of formative assessment such as in-class presentations, essay plans, and draft work. Work will be marked according to University timelines, and feedback will be available both electronically and in personal tutorials.

Career opportunities

A variety of career paths will be open to you, including national and local politics, local government, law, accountancy, social work, librarianship, journalism, public relations, teaching and retail management.

Work placement

You have the option to take a School of Social Sciences, Humanities & Law careers module at either Level 5 or Level 6.