MA in Political Communications

What you'll study Overview The programme’s core curriculum will address a range of contemporary issues, debates and theory in political communication, including work on: comparative media systems. theories of communication and democratisation. global media, international governance and transnational communication. economic, financial and industrial policy. digital media and online politics. media sociology and news production. political parties, party ideologies and party-member dynamics. public relations, political marketing and spin. government communication systems and media management. media audiences, effects and agenda-setting. public opinion and public sphere debates. interest groups, social movements and alternative media. advocacy, civil society and public affairs. new technologies and the information society. citizenship and public engagement. the policy process and government decision-making. politics and culture. social theories of power, culture and communications. Theory is usually applied to a number of case study areas on, for example: conflict and war; elections; social and environmental debates; foreign affairs; the economy, finance and business; crime and disorder. Theory and discussion is always related to current events and debates. Structure The MA in Political Communications is built up of modules that must count up to 180 credits. The programme comprises: Two core modules taught in the Department of Media and Communications (60 credits in total). A research skills module. 60 credits' worth of modules chosen from the Department of Politics or Department of Media and Communications. These can be a combination of 30 and 15 credit modules. Up to 30 of the 60 credits of options may be chosen from the departments of Sociology, Anthropology, English and Comparative Literature, and the Centre for Cultural Studies. Core modules Module title Credits. Critical Perspectives on Political Communications Critical Perspectives on Political Communications 30 credits This module covers fresh topics and new perspectives and literature developed in media sociology, political sociology, international/comparative politics and cultural theory. Work discussed includes: theories of media, culture and power; policy making, advocacy and elite decision-making; new technologies and the information society; popular culture and politics; identity and difference in global politics; interest groups and new social movements; alternative communications and forms of democracy; comparative systems work on democracies, transitional and authoritarian regimes; global governance and transnational communications and citizenship. 30 credits. MA in Political Communications Dissertation and Research Methods MA in Political Communications Dissertation and Research Methods 60 credits All students are encouraged to develop ideas for their own research projects, and are assigned a supervisor, in their first term of study. During the first and second term you will attend a series of 10 research skills workshops. Topics include: literature reviews, research design, ethics, questionnaires and surveys, focus groups, interviews, online research, textual analysis, case studies, ethnography and observation. During the second and third terms, in conjuction with your supervisor, you work on their projects with a view to producing some independent research by the end of the module. 60 credits. Option modules Media options We offer a wide range of option modules each year. For more information, please refer to our list of Media modules. Politics options Choose a total of 30 credits (1 x 30 or 2 x 15). Module title Credits. The Political-Economic Governance of the European Union The Political-Economic Governance of the European Union 30 credits Pending 30 credits. Risk in Contemporary Politics Risk in Contemporary Politics 30 credits Risk in Contemporary Politics treats risk as the core notion in framing and exploring contemporary politics. The module is aimed at exciting your interest in the relationship between politics and the assessment, communication and management of risk. You are invited to explore the ways in which the management of risk has become one of the most pressing concerns in contemporary politics and encourages them to consider the leading role ideas about risk play in shaping political debate, the formulation and evaluation of public policy and the coverage of politics in the popular media.The study of risk is a multi-disciplinary enterprise and the module takes as its starting point the proposition that: ‘Risk politics affords students a highly rewarding and stimulating opportunity to consider the ways in which political analysis interacts with and draws on social psychology, media studies, economics, sociology, legal studies, and sub-disciplines in the natural sciences, such as toxicology’. The module is designed to provide you with knowledge and understanding of key concepts and findings from empirical studies of human risk perception, risk management and the scientific analysis of risks. The significance of risk analyses and their impact upon contemporary political discourse and action serve as the prime focus for the module. Risk in Contemporary Politics aims to foster your ability to critically evaluate the growth and development of risk politics in response to specific risks and to consider the ways in which particular risks have been politicised. The module is taught with three main goals in mind: To stimulate and reward the curiosity of post graduates about the interaction between politics and the assessment, communication and management of risk;. To enable you to develop an appreciation of the extent to which risk politics has become a multi-disciplinary enterprise;. To inform and encourage the critical evaluation of contemporary risk politics and, most particularly, the growing politicisation of risk.. 30 credits. Global Political Cultures 1: Knowledge, Power and Culture Global Political Cultures 1: Knowledge, Power and Culture 15 credits This module aims to raise questions about whether the concepts and categories through which we usually study the ‘international’ or ‘global’ are adequate to the task. It critically examines categories of the social sciences and humanities that are usually simply presupposed and ‘applied’, and which, despite their Western or European origins, are assumed to be ‘universal’. It does this by closely examining some of the most important theoretical writings of the post-WWII period, focusing upon books and debates which had repercussions far beyond their immediate disciplinary boundaries, including books by Kuhn, MacIntyre, Foucault, Said, and others. Students explore the claim(s) that far from being objective and universal, our knowledge is shaped by culture, history and politics. 15 credits. Theories of International Relations Theories of International Relations 30 credits This module provides a survey of the classical, critical and newly emerging theories of international relations, namely: realism/neorealism, liberalism/neoliberalism, Marxism, constructivism, post-modernism, feminism, post-colonialism, the aesthetic turn in IR and theories of justice. You will approach each of these theories through the concept of power, seeking to explain the radical shifts that have occurred both in our understanding of power as well as the role that it plays in international politics in the last century. The module combines its examination of theory with debates on contemporary case-studies that serve to showcase the link between theory and practice. 30 credits. Government and Politics of the European Union Government and Politics of the European Union 15 credits Pending 15 credits. Continental Political Theory Continental Political Theory 15 credits This module exams two key areas from the perspective of the Continental philosophical tradition: Radical Evil and Terror. 15 credits. Global Political Cultures 2: The Body Gender and Politics Global Political Cultures 2: The Body Gender and Politics 15 credits This module examines the ways in which the body has been an important site for the articulation of larger social, political and cultural anxieties and desires. By focusing on examples from the medieval and non-western worlds it questions modern assumptions about the body, which whilst masquerading as universal, have a very specific history. 15 credits. An(Other) China: Postcolonial Theory, Postmodern Concerns An(Other) China: Postcolonial Theory, Postmodern Concerns 30 credits This subject is built around glimpses of, and insights into, the lives of ordinary Chinese people and the rules and rituals that govern their existence. You will discuss the ways everyday life was governed under socialism and the ways that control is now breaking down with the emergence of a consumer culture, enabling a close scrutiny of the politics of everyday life. Picking up on themes as diverse and quirky as Mao badge fetishists, hoodlum slang, and the role of the tattoo, the subject examines the way a range of people not only live but resist dominant social discourse. We will employ an array of critical thinking from Western social theorists and it is this that is highlighted through themes such as ‘commodities and collection’, ‘authorship and biography’, questions of power, violence and excess as well as themes of fore-thrownment, sacrifice and desire. You will gain a grounding not only in the politics of everyday life in China but also in Western theoretical engagements with the everyday. This module will give you an insight into different values systems and political forms and in taking up the issue of politics in a culturally different way gaining an understanding of the heuristic value of certain schools of social, cultural and political theory 30 credits. Assessment The MA is assessed primarily through coursework essays and written projects. Practical modules may require audiovisual elements to be submitted. It will also include a dissertation of approximately 12,000 words. Download the programme specification for the 2018-19 intake. If you would like an earlier version of the programme specification, please contact the Quality Office. Please note that due to staff research commitments not all of these modules may be available every year.