Explore the possibilities and challenges of taking gender seriously within both international relations and international political economy. You will study key theoretical, conceptual, empirical, and practice debates surrounding the role of gender in international politics and global political economy.
Gain an advanced critical understanding of the key concepts and contemporary theoretical approaches to policing. This module will provide you with in-depth knowledge of the social, historical and economic development of policing within national and international contexts. We’ll explore myths around the ‘golden age’ of policing and the move towards more coercive, militarized forms of policing. You’ll then analyse issues of race, gender and patriarchy in this context and critically examine police powers, weaponry, technologies and culture.
This module interrogates the concept of insecurity and draws on a range of theories and understandings of security, and how this has evolved from a focus on the state to incorporate human security. You will explore the relationship between conflict, security and development, including the roles of key actors, agencies, policies and interventions, and key intersections of gender, ethnicity, poverty and exclusion. You will also examine responses to traditional and new security threats from a human rights perspective via a range of local and global case studies.
Consider the United States (US) as a country shaped by confinement. We'll explore different forms of confinement from enslavement, relocation and internment to incarceration, institutionalisation, and detention. This will enable us to consider how these spaces structure and define life in the US. We'll examine how they began and how they have grown and developed over time, and the ways in which they interact with and inform each other. We'll theorise both the physical and psychological forms of imprisonment that manifest in each space and the ways in which they reflect and reinforce social hierarchies and prejudices. Crucially, alongside this, this module will examine each form of confinement as a space for creativity and cultural expression. We'll explore a range of primary sources including autobiography, podcasts, art, and film, to consider how these spaces construct ideas of community and identity and how cultural tools can be used as a form of resistance. In doing so, the module will analyse the spatial, social and political confinements that have developed throughout US history and the forms of cultural expression used to challenge them in order to question the limitations and possibilities of American freedom.
Gain a deeper understanding of the power dynamics behind contemporary crime control policies of national and global reach. You will be able to identify and critically analyse discourses, narratives and policies of crime control and security, and develop an insight into how these impact the changing relationship between the individual and the state in its latest neo-liberal modification.
Study the key theories and concepts that are used to understand violence, conflict, and peace. By examining existing case studies, you'll gain an overview of various approaches that have been applied to manage or resolve conflict and to build peace. You'll gain an understanding of the key actors and processes associated with conflict resolution and peacebuilding, as well as key achievements and obstacles to building peace.
Critically explore acts of war, political violence and 'crimes of aggression' through the lens of criminological discourse. You will gain an in-depth critical understanding of war and its relationship with 'crime'; by critically evaluating the role of individual states, international communities, as well as victims, bystanders and known perpetrators or combatants.
Bringing together recent research in environmental history and the histories of food and eating, you will look at how food has been grown, transported and consumed in the western world since the Columbian Exchange of 1492.