Migration is a topic at the centre of political concerns on scales ranging from local to global. The central question that this module addresses is this: How should transnational migration be governed? It does so by focusing on the key normative debates surrounding migration in general and specific forms of migration in particular. There are three main parts to the module: 1)The political ethics of territorial borders which addresses issues concerning the right to regulate borders 2)The political ethics of migration which addresses the ethical claims of different kinds of migration 3)The political ethics of civic boundaries which addresses access to, and forms of, civic status in relation to migration. Structured by these foci, the module will address the main positions, arguments and debates within the contemporary political theory of migration.
It is commonplace to hear people say such things as, "You should believe that the climate is changing—that's what the evidence tells us", or "You ought not to believe that the earth is flat—that's just not true". These judgements concerning what people ought (not) to believe seem to assume that there are norms governing belief in something like the way that moral norms govern action. But what are these norms? Are they moral? If not, what kind of norms are they? The judgements about what people ought (not) to believe seem also to assume that people bear responsibility for their beliefs in something like the way that they bear moral responsibility for their actions. However, people cannot control what they believe in the way they can control what they do. Moreover, beliefs are influenced by a range of external factors ranging from upbringing to peer pressure to indoctrination. So, are people really responsible for their beliefs? And, if they are, how might such external influences make a difference to whether beliefs satisfy the norms governing them? These are among the issues this module will explore.
The climate crisis is one of the most urgent issues facing humanity. Climate change is having an increasing impact on individual lives, and on social and political relations and institutions. This module examines the moral and political philosophical issues raised by climate change. It considers, amongst other questions, what obligations individual citizens have to address the climate crisis; what present generations owe to future generations; and what a just distribution of the costs of tackling the climate crisis might look like.
The course seeks to provide an overview of the evolution of the European Union (EU) from its early stages to the present. In so doing, it examines the ideas and history of the EU, the institutions of the EU, examples of specific issue areas and the present and future challenges facing the Union. By the end of the course students should have a broad knowledge of the EU, encompassing these various dimensions. They should be able to critically reflect on the various debates, critique the established literature and present their own reasoned arguments.
Earth’s environment has undergone dramatic changes over geological time, shaped by interactions between the atmosphere, oceans, biosphere, and solid Earth. This module explores the key events in Earth’s evolution, from planetary formation to modern climate dynamics, using both geological evidence and numerical modelling. Students will develop practical skills in Earth system modelling through hands-on practical sessions. A central component of the module is an independent research project, where students will apply modelling and data analysis techniques to investigate major transitions in Earth history. The course is designed to provide an interdisciplinary perspective, relevant to students with a range of Earth and ocean science backgrounds.
At the outset of the nineteenth century the Russian Empire appeared to be at the zenith of its power. Hundred years later, the autocracy had collapsed, overthrown by the Bolsheviks in the 1917 revolutions. The emergence of new ideas and movements in Russia during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, from both the left and the right, posed new challenges to the tsarist state. This module will trace the changes that led to the collapse of the tsarist autocracy, and why the tsarist state proved unable to respond effectively to the transformation in the Russian empire. The module will consider the rise of radicalism from both left and right and the problems this posed for the longevity of tsarism. Both had important implications for the long-term sustainability of the Russian autocracy. It will explore wider social change amongst key estates like workers, peasants, and men and women. It will consider how non-Russians lived in the empire. The module will use a broad source base, considering a variety of different sources, including novels and memoirs as well as police reports and other official documents. By the end of this module, you should have a firm understanding of the processes that shaped the development of the Russian state in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and, particularly, the events that would lead to the fall of the autocracy in 1917.
By the middle of the eleventh century, the various nations of the British Isles were characterised by quite distinct cultures and political and economic systems and elites. Yet the relationships between the various nations were entirely redrawn between about 1090 and the 1170s, as the Norman political elite of England came to control each of them in turn. In Wales, Norman barons progressively took over Welsh territory in as a kind of private-enterprise expansion; in Ireland, private military interventions by the Norman elite from 1169 culminated in takeover by the king of England; in Scotland, Norman baronial involvement led to the remodelling of the kingdom and its takeover by Norman interests largely outside the ambit of the kings of England. Though the details varied considerably, the overall effect was that all parts of the British Isles came to be ruled by members of the same elite. The establishment of English-based domination of the British Isles remains central to British politics and culture.
The history of the First World War will be studied through consideration of the literature concerning its diplomatic origins, its nature as a military conflict, the social history of warfare, the nature of the home front, its impact on gender relations, its impact on the landscape, and its memorialisation and commemoration.
The Future Artisan delves into the intersection of traditional craftsmanship and contemporary innovation within the sustainable luxury textile industries. This module builds on foundational knowledge to demonstrate how artisan communities can evolve by integrating new technologies, sustainable practices, promotional strategies, and ethical considerations. Through the disciplines of knitting, weaving, and printing, you will engage in collaborations, reinterpret traditional handicrafts, and develop products for fashion, interiors, and lifestyle industries. You will examine the role of communities in co-creating and shaping the future of artisanship. Emphasising sustainability, ethical production, and luxury markets, you will learn to align your work with the personal, cultural, and social values of today's consumers.
The Future Artisan delves into the intersection of traditional craftsmanship and contemporary innovation within the sustainable luxury textile industries. This module builds on foundational knowledge to demonstrate how ethnic artisan communities can evolve by integrating new technologies, sustainable practices, promotional strategies, and ethical considerations. Through the disciplines of knitting, weaving, and printing, you will engage in community collaborations, reinterpret traditional handicrafts, and develop market-ready products for apparel, interiors, and lifestyle industries. Drawing on social theory and psychology, you will examine the role of communities in co-creating and shaping the future of artisanship. Emphasizing sustainability, ethical production, and luxury markets, you will learn to align your work with the personal, cultural, and social values of today's consumers. By the end of this module, you will possess the skills and insights necessary to thrive as an artisan in a rapidly changing world.
Understanding consumer behaviour and the trends in consumer lifestyles and sub-cultures, is at the core of creative marketing and management strategy. Being able to anticipate new consumer tribes and changing consumer segments against a set of demographic and psychographic classifications for example, enables consumer-centric decisions to be made by fashion brands. The Future Consumer module will introduce you to the underlying theories and concepts that underpin change. New technologies and a fast-changing digital landscape are critically impacting consumer behaviour and motivations. You will learn to evaluate and challenge consumer segmentation approaches as well as the visualisation of consumer groups using primary research techniques.
It is a cliché to say that football is a global game. But in the West the ‘beautiful game’ is still commonly engaged with as a primarily Western sport, dominated by the comings and goings of the Bundesliga, La Liga and, in particular, the English Premier League. This module gives you the chance to engage with the global game as a global game. This module will focus on four global regions – Latin America, Africa, Europe, and Asia – and their interconnections with one another. The focus is firmly upon placing the development of football in its socio-political contexts. What explains the ways that football has been played, supported, and discussed in the twentieth and twenty first centuries? And what impact has football had on the societies that play, support, and discuss it? Through the consideration of class, gender, race, as well as colonialism, nationalism, globalisation, consumerism, and capitalism, football provides a fascinating insight into the specificities and generalities of the modern age and, hence, the modern world.
Governments everywhere encounter several challenges in carrying out their responsibilities and appear to be "stuck" in their delivery. Both wealthy nations and those in the Global South have difficulty implementing policies and providing for their citizens. Using evidence-based academic work, the module aims to provide students with a critical framework to understand and assess the main implementation difficulties that governments are currently confronting. We shall discuss the limits of the generalisability of the results to specific situations.
The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations was an international exhibition which took place in Hyde Park, London, from 1st May to 11th October 1851. It was arguably the greatest of a series of international ‘expositions’ run throughout the nineteenth century, celebrating scientific and technological innovation, design aesthetic and the might of manufacturing. On show were some 13,000 objects from Britain, the Colonies and forty-four other nations. The Exhibition and the Crystal Palace which housed it became a British icon, symbolising free trade and national success. During its six month opening period, over six million people visited the Exhibition, turning London, in the words of the Illustrated London News, from ‘the capital of a great nation, [into] the metropolis of the world’. The effects of the Exhibition were enormous and felt well into the twentieth century and beyond. But why was the Great Exhibition so important? How did it become a turning point for the nation? And what exactly has its legacy been?
This module covers the background critical to understanding human interaction with the Earth, and particularly focused on the processes that affect the surface and upper 10s-100s of m of the subsurface
This special subject explores the development of the ‘precision ethos’ across the American military, and its representation within political rhetoric, cable news and print media, legal architecture, films, video games, and social media posts. Following the advent of airpower during WWI, strategists shared apocalyptic visions of bombers obliterating civilians as the traditional front lines of warfare were dissolved by verticality. Contra to this, a cadre of American strategists proposed an alternative vision — a precision ethos — through which a fusion of superior technology, intelligence, and training would bring military victory while sparing civilians and their environments. Part I explores the initial development of the concept of precision, tracing how the idea was formed and transmitted. Although the devastation of WWII and the subsequent conflicts of the Cold War reveal this idea failed to take root, this module examines how it only survived its initial rejection, but went on to evolve through the latter part of the twentieth century into a society-wide belief that became the foremost strategic, rhetorical, and legal framework through which the US and its NATO allies employed military force, as well as the primary lens through which Western citizens perceived warfare.
This special subject explores the development of the ‘precision ethos’ across the American military, and its representation within political rhetoric, cable news and print media, legal architecture, films, video games, and social media posts. Following the advent of airpower during WWI, strategists shared apocalyptic visions of bombers obliterating civilians as the traditional front lines of warfare were dissolved by verticality. Contra to this, a cadre of American strategists proposed an alternative vision — a precision ethos — through which a fusion of superior technology, intelligence, and training would bring military victory while sparing civilians and their environments. Part II explores the evolution of the precision ethos in the twenty-first century through the conflicts broadly labelled as the War on Terror. It considers how the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq challenged the precision ethos, raising debates about the strategic, political and legal requirements of balancing risk to combatants and civilians. It explores how the technology gave rise to a new phenomenon – the targeted killing of terrorists — which was accompanied by a special form of presidential media performance, and how the evolution of video game technology gave players the opportunity to engage in their own precision strikes against other online players, gamifying the precision ethos and embedding its tenets into a new generation of citizens.
