This module is designed to support you in embarking on advanced historical research, and it aims to help you develop the skills needed to complete your undergraduate dissertation. Through this module, you will be guided through the cognitive and analytical steps you will need to take to define your future dissertation topic, construct a detailed research proposal, conduct a reflexive feasibility study for your project, present your preliminary findings, and respond to feedback from academics in the department.

The module aims to guide you to design your research proposal, locate it in its relevant historiographical field, test its viability and scope of available sources, as well as produce outlines, detailed structures and bibliographies for your project. The module makes use of both standard and innovative forms of delivery, with a combination of lectures, online talks, drop-in consultation sessions, and one-to-one consultation sessions with potential supervisors and course convenors.

What our students say:

‘The lectures greatly helped me in understanding how I will accomplish the dissertation.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

‘The guest speakers were particularly interesting and provided a lot of insight [...] which helped me understand how to use the archives themselves.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

This module aims to provide you with a solid introduction to the discipline of history at the beginning of your Part-II studies. The module, accordingly, explores the discipline at large, including: its characteristic practices, methods and traditions; its use of different source materials; and its relation not just to the past, but also to the present and the future.

The module includes three thematic blocks. The first section (Contexts of History) provides an overview of different types of historical scholarship, focusing on the methods, theories and intellectual tendencies that characterise them. The second section (Sources and Evidence) examines the use and application of different types of sources as evidence in historical research. The third section (History in Public) considers the public role and function of the discipline, as well as the challenges that historians have faced in the public spotlight, and, finally, the role that the study of history can play in your future.

What our students say:

‘I appreciated the perspective each lecturer brought on how history is written in their area of expertise. It was both fascinating and highly informative. The seminars were also very helpful and overall very good.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

‘I liked the seminars, and I liked the range of sources we learned about.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

This module invites you to explore the history of an object that is of crucial importance to our ideas about both human health and human identity – the mind. A Global History of the Mind will give you the opportunity to explore how societies across a wide range of times and places have sought to understand, cure and control the mind. Drawing on materials and case studies from around the world, whether modern-day Polynesia or the medieval Middle East, this offers a truly global perspective on the history of the mind.

At the same time, the module encourages you to explore the connections between changing ideas about mental health and sickness to broader questions about human identity – most notably those concerning race, gender and the potential loss of human distinctiveness in a world where artificial intelligence is possible. Unlike traditional courses on mental health, which almost invariably focus on the emergence and spread of western psychiatry, this module offers a decentered perspective. We will examine the mind from a wide range of disciplinary perspectives, bringing together philosophy, medicine, religion, race, gender, and social control. In so doing, we will explore questions of urgent relevance to our own society – most notably the ways in which ideas about the mind have featured in the racialization and gendering of people through systems of patriarchy and colonialism. In addition, this module will use case studies from history to give you the resources to consider and question modern ideas about the mind and its role in society.

As well as completing a traditional essay assignment, this module includes a group podcasting assignment. Working together with your classmates, you will develop the skills to put together your own podcast on the history of the mind.

What our students say:

‘The seminars were wonderful. We looked at some quite complicated ideas, but the lecturer led them in a way that enabled us to think for ourselves and come to our own understandings on the topics, without making us feel stupid for not getting things straight away.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

‘I really enjoyed how the module looked at a lot of different periods/countries. It had a good range and was fascinating.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

This module examines how culture and religion impact on the national identity and political culture in Asian countries, and focuses on beliefs, values and ideas people have about their political system and authority. Political culture is built on shared historical (colonial) experiences, cultural symbols and collective memory, which unites as well as motivates people to participate in political movements and nation building. By using case studies, the course looks at how democracy is conceptualised and political authority legitimated in many Asian countries. In doing so, the module aims to generate a culturally-embedded understanding of the diverse political landscape in Asia. Students are introduced to political culture in Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Japan and China, and topics cover Asian values, colonialism, millenarian movements, religious fundamentalism, Sangkum socialism, Brahmanical kingship, state Shinto, Maoism, and the failure of democratic ideals of Aung San Suu Kyi.

20th-century British history is largely a story of change. The impact of democratisation, war, economic decline, the loss of empire, and internal fragmentation has resulted in a nation seemingly in constant flux, often unsure of its identity and its values.

In this module you will explore the patterns of social, economic, cultural and political change which have most affected the lives of the British since 1900. The overarching themes are the formation and reformation of identities based on class, gender, race, empire, nation, and the dual process by which the British were integrated into the state as citizens, and into the market as consumers. As well as being introduced to the key historiographical debates, in this module you will be encouraged to explore the subject through an eclectic mix of primary sources, including cartoons, posters, fiction, press reports, and advertisements.

What our students say:

‘The lectures were incredibly informative and helped me to understand core themes and historiography so I could go away to research it myself.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

‘Material was presented to both support and disprove ideas we were covering and well fleshed out. These were also the most detailed and interesting lectures I had this term, focusing on a specific decade on each but never forgetting to cover broader trends of history. It also allowed us to use alternative primary sources like posters, fiction and news coverage from the period in depth and showed them to be just as valuable as textual sources.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

The module describes and analyses the modern politics of the Gulf in a number of ways. It offers a country-by-country analysis of the countries overlooking the Persian Gulf: Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Bahrain, the UAE, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar. It also applies the main approaches in understanding each country such as institutionalism (formal, descriptive analysis of institutions such as parliament, executive and legislative), structuralism (relations between these units of the political system), functionalism (how these units functionalise or de-functionalise such as relations between the president and the supreme leader in Iran), political culture (public opinion, receptiveness of politics, socialisation through interest groups, and historical approach (patterns of history, development of Gulf states from the Ottoman Empire, British occupation all the way to independence and moving closer to the US).

What does it mean to die? Does it hurt? Is it frightening? Will I see those I love again? What does it mean to kill, whether an enemy, a friend, or myself? Death is a universal human experience, a cataclysm, triumph or adventure we all confront. But how we do that has varied vastly across history. In the European Middle Ages, the Church’s doctrines shaped ideas of death, from burial in the consecrated ground of churchyards to the theology of heaven, hell and purgatory. The living and the dead were a community: those on earth could speed the dead through their passage in the afterlife, and those in heaven could intercede for the living. Yet at the margins lay a shadowy world, in which the restless dead returned to haunt those left on earth, and the despairing took their lives in an act known as ‘self-murder’.

In this module, we explore varied experiences of death across the medieval centuries in the Christian West, from end-of-life care to execution, and from battlefields to the Black Death. We discover the different means of investigating death, from the chronicles that describe the walking dead, to the archaeology of burial practice, and from murder trials to palaeogenetics, unlocking the passage of disease. This is, by nature, a disturbing field of study. But what we learn cuts to the heart of what it means to be human – in the past and today.

This course introduces students to the politics surrounding a key challenge of our time: climate change and environmental collapse. We will consider the how environmental concerns are reflected and framed in political debate and behaviour, as well as the unequal distribution of the effects of climate change and how domestic and international institutions have responded to the crisis. The module will consider both current and future environmental issues, as well as the policy making in this area.

During the 16th century, Europe witnessed some of the most important developments in the shaping of the modern world. Although you will learn about these events, the module will focus on the broader historical processes through which you can understand them. At the same time, you will engage with the methodologies and debates that historians of the present-day find most interesting, critically appraising their strategies for assessing patterns of historical change and continuity.

You will therefore examine the work of environmental historians, asking whether transformations in society and the economy can be explained by changes in climate. The module will also ask whether colonial expansion led people to develop new ideas about racial and cultural difference, while at the same time trying to understand how newly colonized people tried to navigate their way through new hierarchies and relationships.

In addition, it will ask whether long-standing questions about transformations in religious life, popular culture, and the centralization of government, can be enriched by approaching them through the prism of new approaches. When you study the body, health, and disease, for instance, you’ll discuss the unexpected role of medical expertise in the development of a renewed form of Catholicism at the end of the 16th century. Meanwhile, focusing on the history of printed news may enable you to understand why rumours and religious bigotry spread so rapidly during the Reformation and Wars of Religion.

What our students say:

‘I really loved working with the lecturer for this module, he made the lectures interesting and chose to approach the topics in ways which I had personally not encountered. The seminars too were informative with proper discussion going on, really expanding on the lectures while still being relevant to them.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

‘This was my favourite module I did this term. An area of the module I valued was the fact that it was not taught in any type of chronological order, with every week being about a different topic about the early modern period, it kept me engaged every week. The lecturer was excellent; it was clear that he not only loves the material based on how enthusiastic he was, but also that he wanted us to love the material as well.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

This module focuses on the politics and international relations of the European Union. This includes a focus on the political systems of key EU member states (especially Germany, France and Poland) and the wider dynamics of European integration. The module will also offer an account of the activities of the various European institutions in Brussels, Strasbourg and Luxembourg (Council, Commission, Parliament, Court of Justice).

Religions as involving the control of symbolic and sometimes coercive power, thereby intersecting with politics, International relations and philosophy. Religions as involving values expressed in norms, laws, and institutions which exercise social and political power,

locally and globally. The crucial impact of religious identities, practices, values, arguments and multidimensional ways of life on politics, international relations and philosophical thought. Religions as diverse traditions in different regions of the world undergoing global changes in different ways. Globalisation of religion and its interweaving with social, political and philosophical developments

The module will introduce students to International Political Economy (IPE): the study of the interaction of economics and politics at the international level. It aims to discuss the political economy of the evolution of world capitalist by focusing on central questions, issues, and events that have shaped it. It examines the relevance and validity of different and competing approaches in the IPE, including, classical and neoclassical economics, historical materialism, critical approaches. We also examine key issues and concepts, such as globalisation, international trade, gender and race in global production, role of multinational corporations, and unevenness between and within countries.

The aim of this course is look at the main political and economic trends and security concerns of the Asia Pacific. The term, ‘Asia Pacific’ is a contested term but here it refers primarily to countries from both South Asia and East Asia. The course will introduce students to issues/debates in Asian politics and cover topics like Asian nationalism, Asian democracy, Asian regionalism, Asian bureaucracy and governance, gender and sexuality in Asia, Asian values and Asian security. The course takes a strong case studies approach and every lecture will be backed by a single case study from the region.

HIST215: Introduction to Latin Translation for Undergraduates

This is a special intensive course for students who have little or no previous knowledge of Latin. The course concentrates on the basics of Latin Grammar and vocabulary as used in the Medieval period. However, it will also be very useful for students of the Roman and Renaissance periods. By the end of the course, students should be able to read sources such as title deeds, court rolls, government records, wills, and inscriptions.

This module considers a range of issues currently being debated by political philosophers and political theorists. Specific topics may change slightly, but the current plan is cover the following, with attention to questions of freedom and justice throughout:

• Business corporations and employment
• Racism and sexism
• Democracy
• Climate politics
• Structural injustice and sweatshop labour
• Public health and state interventions

Perhaps more formative for the modern British state than any before or since, the years 1660 to 1720 saw Britain’s territorial boundaries and infrastructure forged, with constitutional monarchy, expanding state bureaucracy, and political parties as its principal tenets. During the same period, political power in England changed hands; new political personnel operated within novel political institutions and voiced innovative political economies.

Making Modern Britain will challenge participants to analyse and debate formative changes to British literature, commerce, art and architecture as well as to discuss the changed relationship between Britain and the world during this period. Participants will therefore receive a broad understanding of late 17th and early 18th century British history; they will also develop expertise in the following subfields: cultural, art, political, parliamentary, global, economic, constitutional, gender, and business history.

What our students say:

‘The access to databases for sources was very useful. The structure of the module was very valuable and easy to follow. The workshops were really useful, with them being more than an hour, because I felt like they improved my understanding of all the reading and all the content in the lectures.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

‘Learning more about the economic state of Britain; the way the connections between lectures and readings were handled. Even if it was more challenging to do, it really forced you to think about the module and its contents critically.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

This course explores ideas central to any understanding of politics. It focuses on two related themes: Equality, and Community. In the course we will explore the thought of thinkers who are associated with these ideas of equality and community (Rousseau, Marx, the Fabians, and Rawls). By the end of the course, you will have an understanding of the key ideas of the thinkers under review and be able to assess the contribution that these thinkers have made to our wider understanding of politics. You will also be able to recognise the relevance of these thinkers to our current political debates, and be able to employ their ideas within those debates. Additionally, you will be able to evaluate the key features of an argument, be confident to express your own views, and evaluate the responses of others.

Moral philosophy is the systematic theoretical study of morality or ethical life: what we ought to do, what we ought to be, what has value or is good. This module engages in this practice by critical investigation of some of the following topics, debates, and figures: value and valuing; personhood/selfhood; practical reason; moral psychology; freedom, agency, and responsibility; utilitarianism and its critics; virtue ethics and its critics; deontology and its critics; contractarianism and its critics; the nature of the good life; the source and nature of rights; the nature of justice; major recent and contemporary figures such as Bernard Williams, Martha Nussbaum, Peter Railton, Christine Korsgaard, Philippa Foot, Allan Gibbard, Simon Blackburn; major historical figures such as Aristotle, David Hume, Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill, G. E. Moore.

The social and cultural consequences of the Norman Conquest of England were deep and enduring. A foreign, Francophone regime displaced the native élites: many of the former rulers, women as well as men, fled the kingdom. Enlisting in the Varangian Guard, some English warriors even went as far as Byzantium and the Crimea. The new regime was inclusive as much as it was eager to recruit foreigners of all kinds — Frenchmen, Bretons, Lotharingians, Italians, Spaniards, and even Jews — so long as they were serviceable and loyal; but racist as much as it strove to deny persons of English descent access to high office. The English were denigrated as barbarians and peasants, but because the Conquest was not followed by sustained settlement from the Continent, many natives clung on in sub-altern positions, just below the foreigners who held the highest offices and the best estates. The English were also far from being the only victims: the regime also continued the later Anglo-Saxon state’s efforts to subjugate Wales and northern Britain.

As a wide-ranging introduction to the history of Norman England and the debates that it has inspired, this module allows you to consider the history and effects of this transformative event.

What our students say:

‘Paul is an amazing tutor who always provides relevant information and details’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

‘I enjoyed learning about one of the most fateful events in British history since the Anglo-Saxon conquest and settlement of the Great British lowlands.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

After a survey of the main events leading to the declaration of war against Nazi Germany, this module explores the development of resistance and collaboration in countries that were first occupied, namely, Poland, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, France and the Netherlands. The transition between active collaboration to increasing resistance is traced through Vichy France. The module next moves to the Eastern Mediterranean (Greece and Yugoslavia), where resistance became effectively organised, and then to the USSR, focusing on Belarus, Russia, Baltics and Ukraine. Lastly, the module looks briefly at countries that were first part of the Axis and eventually switched sides from 1943 onwards (Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania), paying special attention to Italy.

Although the last segment of the module concentrates on the Holocaust, the fate and treatment of Jews is looked at in each of the countries and regions analysed. Seminars deal with the analysis of sources, including political documents, photographs, posters, letters, films, documentaries and personal memoirs.

What our students say:

‘The lecturer was very good at giving advice and providing extra reading when asked.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

‘I found I gained the most from workshops, they really helped to build on my knowledge and I had a really interactive seminar.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

This module examines some theoretical issues involved in gaining knowledge about human societies. We will look at the role of theories and models in economics and political science, the special nature of "social institutions," and whether economic and political knowledge can be separated from value-judgments:

• Rational choice theory and models based on it
• Social norms and cooperation
• John Searle’s theory of “institutional facts”
• The nature of money and different accounts of power
• Whether values can or should be kept out of economics and political science
• Some ways in which states and markets are related

In the few years that have passed, the Middle East has experienced momentous changes. Most notable of these changes are the so-called ‘‘Arab Spring’’ uprisings, which started in late 2010, and the following consequences of these uprisings on the international relations of the region. Topics include the early emergence of Arab states, origins and sustainability of authoritarian regimes, state types and personality cult, masculinity and constructions of identity and belonging, women’s movements, social mobilization and the Arab uprisings. The course offers students from a variety of backgrounds the opportunity to engage with the most important themes in the study of the politics of the Middle East and to locate and contextualise them within wider debates and scholarship of international politics.

This module will introduce students to the politics of Ireland, both Northern Ireland and the Republic. It will give them a grounding in the historical events that lie behind key issues and controversies in present-day Irish politics, as well as showing how the memory and interpretation of those events is shaped and contested as part of present-day debates. It will explain the workings of the constitutions of both Northern Ireland and the Republic, as well as the political parties, and the interaction of politics with social and economic factors. It will look at the roles that nationalism, religion, and sectarianism have played in Irish politics. It will also explore the position of Ireland and the Irish in relation to the rest of the world, including the role of the Irish diaspora in other parts of the world, and the relationship of Ireland to Britain, the EU, and other international bodies.

This course explores British politics by focusing on the role of its central figure – the Prime Minister. Judging by media coverage, it would seem that the Prime Minister dominates the decision-making process, dwarfing other institutions such as the Cabinet, Parliament and the judiciary. But does this impression reflect reality? Does Britain really have a system of ‘Prime Ministerial’ – or, as some commentators have claimed – even ‘Presidential’ government? The course attempts to answer these crucial questions through case-studies of recent Prime Ministers and an examination of the sources of Prime Ministerial power, such as the ability to appoint ministers, to influence public opinion and to shape Britain’s foreign policy.

The goal of this course is to introduce students to the key concepts of public policy both in theory and practice. The course is designed to give students a rich understanding of the actors, mechanisms and processes that underpin public policymaking, as well as a comprehensive overview of different public policies. The module will enable students to identify how and why public policy is made, the actors and factors that explain policy outputs and policy failures, and to be able to assess the explanatory power of different theories that seek to explain differences in policy outputs. Students will be able to assess policy outcomes associated with different policies and policymaking regimes. In addition, students will gain an understanding of a range of public policies as well a comprehensive understanding of a specific public policy arena, including the debates surrounding such policy, through their policy briefing assessment. The course will touch on a number of questions and themes related to public policy, including why does policy change? Who makes public policy? How can we explain differences in policy outputs? What explains the gap between policy outputs and outcomes (or policy failure)?

This module will explore how the religious process in South Asia (India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Tibet) was imbricated with the political from the ancient to the modern period. In particular we will look at issues that continue to impact contemporary South Asian culture and trace their genealogy, to see how ruptures and transformations shaped their long journey from the ancient to the modern. The issues focused on as having continued impact are (i) heterodoxies, heretics and religious others (ii) mythology and history (iii) ritual and power (iv) pilgrimages (v) religion, religious orders and state formation (vi) women and the religious economy (vii) the Goddess, gender and power (viii) caste, pluralism and identity (ix) gurus, matas and saints and (x) religion and sexuality. The understanding of these central issues of religious life and experience in South Asia today remains partial without a deeper understanding of their earlier backgrounds.

The module equips students with the skills they need to carry out independent research in politics. In doing so, it prepares students for their final year dissertations and significantly improves their employability by developing skills that are highly valued by employers. Students will learn how to come up with an original research question and will learn to employ one of the research methods taught on the course to answer their question. The course is designed to provide an accessible introduction to both qualitative and quantitative research methods. In the first part of the course, students will have the opportunity to use a large dataset on politics and explore the relationship between variables such as political ideology, class, voting behaviour and many more. They will learn how to analyse data and test for statistically significant relationships between variables using various regression methods. In the second part of the course, students will learn about three major approaches to qualitative research. They will learn how to conduct standard and elite interviews, how to analyse the discourse of political actors, and how to conduct case studies. At the end of the module, students will be asked to design their own piece of research and use one of the methods taught on the course to answer their research question.

Few country’s histories have been more tumultuous over the past two centuries than that of Germany. Dictatorships, revolutions, the launching of and defeat in two world wars, responsibility for war crimes and genocide on an unparalleled scale, foreign occupation and re-education, and political division for four decades have made German history, and the ways in which Germans have remembered it, contentious and of broad public concern. In few countries have visions of the nation's history been so varied and contested, and few peoples have created and faced such challenges when confronting their 'shattered' past.

This module will examine the reasons for the failure of the Weimar Republic and the rise of National Socialism, the character of National Socialism, and the challenges its two successor states, the German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany, faced in their attempts to come to terms with their difficult and contentious pasts. We will do this by looking at Germans’ lived experiences: how did Germans deal with the different cataclysmic events they faced, and how did this impact their behavioural patterns?

What our students say:

‘The lecturer provided us with a great range of sources. Not only was the quantity really useful in providing greater insight into the different topics/events but it enabled us to see many different types of primary sources - for example, cartoons, films, photographs and written sources etc. The lectures were also great and I found the slides really useful as plenty of information was provided which will also be very helpful for exam revision. This has been one of my favourite modules whilst at Lancaster University and I would definitely recommend it.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

‘Bastiaan himself is very interesting and pushes students to answer even when unsure, but with prompts. The most comfortable I have ever felt expressing my opinions and answering questions in a workshop. Very interesting course, lecturer and even coursework.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

This module examines the domestic and the external sphere of Russian politics. At the end of the module students will better understand some doctrines of Russian politics and its wide-ranging effects on Russia’s engagement with the EU, the US, NATO, countries in the former Soviet space and the Middle East. It assesses Russia’s response to the Arab Spring and its engagement in the conflict in Syria.

The course introduces students to Russia, an actor which gained presence and influence over several issue areas and regions. It prepares students for more extensive analyses of conceptualising Russia as an actor in their future studies.

For some the free-market economy has produced the greatest levels of freedom ever experienced by human society while other see it as the source of social ills, poverty and crisis. How can we reconcile the needs of the masses, or the demos, with those of a profit-driven economy? Can the state balance the two? Can the state intervene in the economy without undermining it? How should the state respond to demands for greater equality? Do we need more state or more market? The module examines the various answers that have been given to these questions by historical figures within the tradition of political economy. It introduces students to the main political economy approaches to the relationship between the state the market and raises some key issues regarding the state’s governance of the market economy. The module draws from liberal and critical state theories of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries and discerns their implications for understanding main challenges facing the modern state today. The main themes scrutinised by the module are: (a) the theoretical evolution of liberal and critical approaches to the state; (b) the relationship between the state and the economy, (c) the relationship between liberalism and democracy; (d) the state management of market and democratic imperatives.

The module will allow you to study the Cold War in Europe, from its emergence in the immediate post-war period to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the disintegration of the Soviet Union. You will be encouraged to question the rapid breakdown of the alliance between the victorious powers of the Second World War and how this could lead to the division of Europe into two blocs; to understand and put the role of the superpowers into perspective by studying also the role of medium and small European powers, and thereby show the room for manoeuvre that existed within the blocs; to analyse how the nuclearisation of the Cold War eventually led to a ‘long peace’ in Europe; and to assess how the East-West struggle was eventually overcome.

During the lectures and seminars, you will have the opportunity to engage with the vast and diverse historiography of the Cold War in Europe; study the conflict at the political, diplomatic, military, economic, and cultural levels; and focus on themes ranging from the origins of the East-West struggle in Europe to the challenges to authority in the Eastern bloc and the end of the Cold War.

What our students say:

‘The lecturer was an engaging interesting lecturer who managed to condense the Cold War into ten weeks. He was also incredibly helpful when it came to the essay, suggesting books to read and even lending me one of his when I found that it was out of print. He would often also go on tangents which ended up being a good thing as they were always high informative and often helped add a bit of depth to the subject.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

‘Focusing on the European aspect of cold war history as too often there is a focus on solely the US, and adding different countries definitely diversified this topic and made it more enjoyable.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

Knowledge is an essential aspect of our social lives. This module focuses on a range of real world social, ethical and political problems involving knowledge. Topics include: problems of epistemic injustice (where people are not believed because of identity prejudice); whether virtues of open-mindedness might provide a solution to epistemic injustice. A proper understanding of the ethics and politics of knowledge requires us to examine both doubt and ignorance. We consider whether systemic racism is sustained by an active kind of “wilful” ignorance. We explore how powerful corporations seek to deliberately engineer doubt to further their interests. We examine political deception and the idea of “Post-truth” politics. In the final section we turn to the limits of seeking knowledge and how to balance the interests that states and corporations have in knowing personal information, against our interests in keeping such information private.

This course serves as an introduction to the government of the United States and its historical foundations, ideologies, institutions, and political processes. Students will develop a detailed understanding of how the American government works, its development, and its challenges. The course will examine the founding ideologies of the United States, how the United States developed from a small colony into a global superpower, the three branches of the federal government, state governments, the influence of parties and interest groups, and the United States’ contemporary challenges. The course encourages students to think critically about the underlying assumptions about American politics.

Some twenty years ago, the mass digitisation of historic materials catapulted historians from the ‘Age of Scarcity’ into the ‘Age of Abundance.’ Vast amounts of printed text, images, maps, objects and ephemera have since been digitised and delivered to audiences in keyword searchable form. Digital archives, such as British Library Newspapers, Early English Books Online, Eighteenth-Century Collections and Nineteenth-Century Periodicals, have long been the first point of call for historians. Ancestry and Findmypast’s capitalisation on the well-documented boom in family history means we can now access the census, birth, marriage and death records and other social and personal records at the touch of a button. Add in publicly funded, open access resources such as Old Bailey Online, Slave Voyages, Digital Panopticon and countless others to the mix, digital historians have been particularly well-served by the creation of the Western print archive 2.0.

But an over-reliance on digital collections has the potential for historians to be less critically reflexive about online resources, so we need to open the ‘black box’ of digital archives and develop new forms of source criticism. On the module, you will evaluate the ‘infinite archive’ and experiment with a range of tools, that may include artificial intelligence, heritage mapping, crowdsourcing, and data visualisation. You will develop a digital historians’ toolkit that provides a beginner-level introduction to the debates, concepts, and techniques used in digital history. These techniques can be applied to a wide range of historical topics. As well as providing you with an understanding of the new ways in which historians are researching their discipline, these skills can be applied to other modules, such as your dissertation, and provide transferable skills that can enhance employability.

What our students say:

‘I really enjoyed the module. [...] It offered an insight into a different approach to studying History.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

This module explores both the broad contours and the key events of American history, from the passage and implementation of the US Constitution (1789) to the conclusion of the Civil War (1865). Using a variety of primary source material, we will look closely at the culture and politics of race, class and gender in this rapidly industrialising and expanding nation and will consider how and why different groups struggled to extend the promises of democracy defined in the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights to all Americans.

This module combines a lecture series that offers an overview of the history of the United States in the 19th century with a closely linked set of seminars that focus on the construction of race, class and gender difference over the same period. Seminars are structured around primary readings and recommended secondary texts that offer critical and historical insight into the topics under consideration. This combination allows students to explore important thematic aspects of world history while simultaneously providing grounding for further study and research into the history of the United States in the 19th and/or 20th centuries.

The century following the American Civil War was one of profound social and political change. This module explores the period from post-Civil War reconstruction to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, following the history of the United States from a divided nation to one considered a ‘World Power’. In this period, industrialisation, consumerism, and war changed the face of American society and culture. This module will focus in particular on the construction of race, class and gender in the United States, and the intersections between society, politics, and culture. Using a range of primary sources – including great works of American literature – we will consider contrasting perceptions of ‘modernity’ in this period, and the impact this had upon the United States and its people.

This module combines a lecture series that offers an overview of the history of the United States in the 20th century with a closely linked set of seminars that focus on the construction of race, class and gender difference in over the same period. This combination allows students to explore an important thematic aspect of world history (the construction of race, class and gender difference) while simultaneously providing grounding for further study and research into the history of the United States. Seminars are structured around primary readings and recommended secondary texts that offer critical and historical insight into the topics under consideration.

This module allows you to explore the story of the German Kingdom from the mid-9th century until the early 12th. Formed amid the collapse of the Carolingian Empire, it came close to collapse in the early 10th century, yet it was saved by the Magyar crisis, emerging triumphant under the leadership of a new and charismatic dynasty, the Liudolfings. They re-founded the kingdom, turning it into the most dynamic state in 10th-century Europe. The vast empire they created — the so-called ‘Holy Roman Empire’ — would endure until 1804 when it was finally suppressed by Napoleon Buonaparte; but in the mid-eleventh century the power of its monarchs was hollowed out by a savage crisis from which the realm would never entirely recover — a devastating civil war that lasted five decades, from the mid-1070s until 1122.

This stunning narrative raises many questions. Why did it all go ‘right’? Why did it then go so ‘wrong’? This dramatic story provides fundamental insights into the nature of the medieval kingdom, its capacities and its limitations.

What our students say:

‘This module was very enjoyable; the period was engaging and interesting; the seminars were very beneficial in helping to decipher interesting yet challenging sources which I can use later in my degree.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

‘Lectures were informative and well-organised, seminar readings were easy to access’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

This module aims (a) to provide students an introduction to issues within the philosophy and politics of higher education, and (b) to help students to reflect about their own position in, and aims while at the university. During the modules, students will consider key questions regarding the aims of university education and its political context and history, as well as dedicate time to thinking about how their own studies fit into those aims and context, and what they wish to achieve during their undergraduate degrees. Twice weekly lectures will be supplemented by seminars, but also by regular ‘keynotes’ in which those working within and alongside higher education will present their own views and approach to higher education. Invited figures may include senior figures from within Lancaster University, representatives of UCU, the Student Union, and local stakeholders.

This is a critical introduction to the underlying themes of development in the global South, such as debt, aid, inequality, migration; and how the state, the economy, national social movements and powerful external actors, including international NGOs, interact with each other. It begins by looking at how neoliberalism came to dominant development thinking and practice in institutions like the World Bank from the late 1970s onwards and its impact on development and then provides in-depth case-studies of recent alternative development models in Latin America and Syria. This course helps to broaden students’ understanding of Politics and International Relations away from a Western focus on the UK, Europe and the US in preparation for third-year modules such as PPR.336: The Global Politics of Africa.

Race has played a central role in shaping the political agendas of many nations around the world – and has acted both as a mechanism of political exclusion and as a form of politicised identity. In this module, we critically examine the notion of race, and its connection to other identities like gender, ethnicity and class. We examine the role race has played, and continues to play, in the determination of domestic policies and in the relations between states. We look at the way in which race is politicised and de-politicised and consider the nature of various forms of racism in politics and society. Taking a broad narrative arch from “race” to “post-race,” this course pursues three interconnected approaches to the subject: 1.intersectionality in that we analyse not only the multiple and shifting functions of racial classifications, but connect them to other forms of differentiation such as gender, class, sexuality, geography, the environment, and more; 2.interdisciplinarity in that the problem of race takes us directly to historical and ongoing processes of defining the human being and, as such, if we are to take race and its politics seriously, we need approaches from philosophical, historical, sociological, international relations literatures; and 3.the topics of each week together constitute an extensive toolkit of lenses through which to think about race, racism and the contexts of slavery, colonialism, exploitation, rebellion, expression, resistance and much more.

The Vietnam War remains the only war that the United States has definitively lost in its 240-year history. This course explores the political, social, and cultural effects that the fighting in Southeast Asia triggered back home on American soil, specifically between the years 1964 and 1975.

Utilising a range of sources from memoirs to music and films to television coverage, you will gain a greater understanding of the forces that shaped ‘the Sixties’ and why the Vietnam War deeply affected American society for decades to come. We will engage with the presidencies of Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon, while exploring the anti-war movement, female and Black American involvement in the war, and how veterans fared when they came home to the United States.

The module, of course, will not eschew the war itself, and the first lectures will ground you in the key figures, decisions, battles, and massacres that led to a conflict which killed an estimated two million Vietnamese civilians, and 58,000 American soldiers.

What our students say:

‘Mark did an absolutely stellar job teaching this course. His lectures were well structured and informative. They never ran over the allotted time and allowed for good engagement and used a large range of media to convey the necessary information. The seminars were likewise amazing, a lot more free...allowing for more open discussion and spread of ideas among coursemates. History 269 is an outstanding module.’ (Anonymous student feedback)

‘The lectures were incredibly interesting and informative, fast paced but not too fast. The content was very interesting and I found the seminars helpful and aided my learning. I was very engaged in the module. Everyone I've spoken to really enjoyed the module’ (Anonymous student feedback)

The Roman Empire stretched from Britain to modern-day Syria, from Morocco to Romania. How did Rome control an empire which ranged from the societies of the Mediterranean basin to those of Arabia and temperate northern Europe? How did the peoples of these regions adapt to, or indeed resist, ‘becoming Roman’?

This module will give you a thorough foundation in the history of the Roman Empire from the first emperor Augustus in the 1st century BCE to late antiquity and the rise of Christianity in the 4th century CE. You will study the immense social, economic and religious changes that occurred across Europe and the Near East in this period, as well as the political and military history of the Empire. You will confront the challenges of writing Roman history from textual sources that are often fragmentary or have political and rhetorical agendas which are alien to us today. You will also learn to integrate material evidence, from coins and inscriptions to archaeology, into your understanding of the Roman Empire.

What our students say:

‘As someone who didn't know a lot on the topic, the lectures were very informative in helping me to build up my knowledge and the readings were accessible but still challenging... Reading about archaeology was also a very different approach to what I'm used to and greatly helped me with analysing physical sources rather than only written works.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

‘Eleri is a phenomenal lecturer and seminar tutor. She is very engaging, attentive, and helpful... I think the most valuable aspect of the material itself was how well-rounded it was. Rather than just focusing on the city of Rome, or on religion, or culture, or otherwise, we got a well-rounded overview of the entire empire.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

Between 1500 and 1865, Europeans embarked twelve and a half million captive Africans on slave ships for transportation to the Americas, the largest forced trans-oceanic migration in human history.

In this module, you will study the slave trade in the broader context of Atlantic history. You will first see how slavery diminished in Europe during the late Middle Ages, just as Europeans began to systematically explore the Atlantic basin. You will then study the rapid expansion of the trade after Columbus’ voyages, as Europeans enslaved increasing numbers of Africans to work in the fields, mines, and ports of the Americas. Focusing on the 17th and 18th centuries, you will look closely at how the trade operated, and how Africans experienced their enslavement.

You will also study north-west England’s connections to the slave trade by investigating how Liverpool and Lancaster merchants outfitted slave ships and profited from the trade, and the slave trade’s influence on industrialization. In the concluding section of the module, you will see how the slave trade was abolished in the early 19th century, and the persistence of a clandestine trade until the end of the American Civil War.

What our students say:

‘The lectures and seminars were both great and extremely helpful in thinking critically and from a new perspective, which was invaluable in helping me to write the course's essay, but also helped me with my other coursework.’ (Anonymous student evaluations)

Virginia was the founding point of the presence of English people in North America, and of the first Africans in English-speaking America. This module considers the problems of founding a new society in the Americas during the earliest years of English adventurism. We will explore topics such as slavery, the ethics of land claim, the relations between pre-settled peoples and newcomers, trade, commodities like tobacco, and the emerging tensions between England and the colonies.

The module begins, chronologically, with the earliest voyages to the North American mainland, the adventurism of Sir Walter Raleigh and the settlements on Roanoke Island and Chesapeake, the relationship with the Powhatan Confederacy, and the Lost Colony. It then moves its attention to the Virginia Company and the settlement of Jamestown and explores the different experiments by successive governors – John Smith and Sir Thomas Dale in particular – to build a stable and workable community. It looks at the introduction of tobacco, the switch towards a plantation economy and society using slave labour, and the fall of the Company. Finally, it explores the problems of proprietary government, and ends with the governorship of Sir William Berkeley and the rebellion for ‘liberty’ under Nathaniel Bacon, which marked the enslavement of indigenes and Africans.

What our students say:

‘The sources included within the lectures were excellent in terms of highlighting broader themes and the overall narrative. The seminars were also particularly useful in terms of reflecting on the entire module’. (Anonymous student evaluations)

‘[I enjoyed] the innovative approach Sarah took to the historiography, and the emphasis on the primary source material’. (Anonymous student evaluations)

You will spend this year working in a graduate-level placement role. This is an opportunity to gain experience in an industry or sector that you might be considering working in once you graduate.

Our Careers and Placements Team will support you during your placement with online contact and learning resources.

You will undertake a work-based learning module during your placement year which will enable you to reflect on the value of the placement experience and to consider what impact it has on your future career plans.

The gods are encountered at every turn in the Roman Empire, but seldom in the same way or in the same places. This module explores the immense diversity of religious experience, practice, and belief in the Roman world in order to understand religion’s role in the shaping of society and identity across the Empire. You will learn to use a broad range of archaeological, epigraphic, iconographic and literary evidence to reconstruct the lived experience of religion in the Roman Empire, from gods worshiped by German soldiers on the rain-swept Romano-British frontier, to domestic shrines in the kitchens of Pompeii, to the great Greco-Roman pilgrimage sanctuaries of Asia Minor.

How can we use site plans to think about the experience of moving through a sanctuary? How do animal bones and pottery assemblages allow us to reconstruct the dynamics of religious sacrifice and ritual feasting? What insights do first-person accounts of encountering gods through dreams and visions by authors such as Aelius Aristides or Cicero give into personal relationships with the divine?

Through detailed analysis of primary material and in-depth engagement with modern scholarship on Roman religion, we will explore the complex role played by divine cults, sacred spaces, and religious identities in the construction of society across the vast geographic and chronological span of the Empire. You will also have the opportunity to take part in a field trip to sites and museums on Hadrian's Wall, to experience a range of temple locations and material evidence for Roman religion in person.

What our students say:

‘The lecturer’s enthusiasm and dedication was obvious – there was never a dull moment in the classroom and I really valued every single minute of those seminars. Genuinely some of the most fun I have had throughout my degree.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

This module explores the origins of modern consumer society in Britain, introducing you to an exciting and innovative field of historical research. In the hundred years from the abolition of advertising tax in 1853 to the birth of commercial television in the 1950s, advertising became an omnipresent feature of modern capitalism. In this module, you will explore the causes and consequences of this process of commercialisation using a range of primary sources, from press reports and cartoons, to business archives, social surveys, and, of course, the advertisements themselves.

You will explore the changing relationship between people and their possessions, the impact of new shopping environments like the department store and the supermarket, and the rise of ethical consumerism. Advertising is political, and you will also examine how it helped Britain win two world wars and market the Empire to its own people. You will learn how advertisements work by designing your own advertising campaign in a particular historical context. By the end of the module, you will understand how advertising sells us much more than simply clothes or food, how it shapes the way we view gender and race, and how it creates support for a market economy based on the principles of freedom and choice.

What our students say:

‘I thoroughly enjoyed the module! My favourite aspects were to do with the psychology of advertising and how this impacted gender roles.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

‘I really enjoyed the variety that this module offers. Every week was a new topic and a new way to analyse different perspectives from the module period.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

‘I think the range of coursework styles for this module were really fun to complete.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

This course provides a historical and thematic introduction to the issues facing Africa in the international system today. The course is divided into two sections. The first section explores the historical incorporation of the continent into the emerging international system centred on Europe from the sixteenth to the twentieth century. It focuses on the impact of colonialism and independence in terms of the economy, the state and the politics of race and the implications these have for the region’s prospects for democracy and development today. The second section looks at key contemporary issues and agents shaping the continent. The latter includes ‘top-down’ actors such as the Chinese state, as well as grassroots actors such as unionised South African workers.

On 6 January 2021, the US Congress was attacked in a chaotic offensive of fire and fury that led to five deaths and countless injuries. After decades of gradual polarisation, the United States – the preeminent world power and self-proclaimed beacon of democracy – was coming apart in dramatic fashion as the world looked on. Three weeks later, the US Capitol witnessed the arrival of a new president and heard an inaugural address which focused on the need for unity and warned of democracy’s fragility.

This course will examine the reasons why, and the extent to which, American society, culture, and politics polarised in the years since 1960. To do so, it will examine a wide range of issues, such as: race relations, class conflict, gender and sexuality, socioeconomic policy, media, the ‘culture wars’, the modern American presidency, and political polarisation between Democrats and Republicans.

What our students say:

‘The quality of teaching is by far the best that I have received whilst at Lancaster, the lecturer’s seminars were engaging and thought provoking and readings set were informative about the various topics from week to week. In my opinion I have written my best essay work whilst doing this module as it has given me a thorough understanding of post war American history.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

‘The most interactive class I've taken. Encouraged me to want to research the topics each week in detail.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

This course examines the interaction between society & the visual arts, whether such interaction is explicit and intended or is implicit and revealed through analysis. The course situates this interaction into an (albeit partial) history of the last 200 years of visual art(s). While requiring no previous academic knowledge of art, the course does pre-suppose some interest in the history of art, social science(s) & their interaction. The course should allow you to solidify and further develop your ideas about how best to understand this interaction while also expanding your knowledge of visual culture and (specifically) art (widely understood). This hybrid course is delivered through a weekly two-hour workshop & your contribution to a moderated weekly online forum where you will (each week) offer a short analysis of a work of art of your choosing in response to the week’s theme/question

This module investigates Europe’s ‘dark years’ mostly, but not only, through films produced from the 1940s to the present. We study individual and collective attitudes towards the occupation, taking into consideration political beliefs, and contextualising the fate of European Jews prior to and during the Holocaust. We also explore conflicting memorialization of resistance, collaboration and the Holocaust. Although the module is open to include other countries, we look especially at the USA, UK, France, Poland and the USSR, in addition to Nazi Germany.

The module starts with a brief introduction to the relationship between film and propaganda in Nazi Germany, followed by its use in the UK and the USA to canvas support for ‘the people’s war’ or to counter US isolationism. We then explore photojournalism and the role of film and documentary in constructing the ‘foundational narrative’ of Gaullist France as a ‘nation of resisters’, and the challenge to that view with France becoming a ‘nation of collaborators’ from the late 1960s.

Towards the end of the module, we investigate films, photographs and Jewish testimonies on the USSR’s Great Patriotic War that were released during Khrushchev’s Thaw or Gorbachev’s Glasnost. Throughout the second term of the module, we chart the development of Holocaust testimony through documentaries and fiction films that focus sequentially on Gentile rescuers, Jewish victimization, survival, and resistance. We read them through the lens of Levi’s ‘grey zone’, as well as Lanzmann’s and Hilberg’s definitions of perpetrators, victims, or bystanders. Throughout this segment, students lead class discussions about a film or topic of their choice. The module deploys methodologies from social and cultural history, as well as film and media studies.

What our students say:

‘A very well organised module overall that suited to everyone’s strengths and aided everyone’s weaknesses. Great selection of film and reading materials, I could not recommend this special subject more.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

‘The best course I’ve done at the university.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

This module examines gender and other related concepts such as the body through the lens of politics. Islam is the context and the approach is case study based. A wide range of religio-political movements within specific Muslim contexts, past and present, will be explored during the module, for example: the early gender egalitarianism of the Kharijite protest movements (especially 7th to 9th Centuries); the mystical (Sufi) contestations of dominant gender norms in the late classical period (13th to 16thth Century); the politicisation of gender in nation-based Islamism since the Iranian revolution in the 20th Century; and the rise of transnational Islamic feminism in the 21st century and the challenge of decolonial critique. These case-studies will enable students to understand the broader impact of relations of power on the production and life of particular readings of gender in Islam. The module will be delivered in weekly workshops, consisting of a lecture followed by workshop style discussion of designated readings, films, and documentaries.

This course presents a detailed analysis of the major developments in British foreign policy since 1945. It explains these developments within a global context, offering rival interpretations of Britain’s changing role and status – issues whose importance has been underlined by the debates surrounding the 2016 ‘Brexit’ referendum. The major themes include: the consequences of Britain’s participation in the Second World War; the retreat from Empire after 1945; the ‘special relationship’ with the United States; and the prolonged attempt to redefine Britain’s global role in the context of perceived economic and geopolitical decline.

The module will introduce students to processes and dynamics on how ‘first ladies’ provide unique case studies for political leadership and how can they forge unprecedented models of women’s leadership and advocacy. The module places contemporary politics and power dynamics, identities and roles related to the ‘first ladies’ within a broader historical, social and political context. The module allows students to trace how changes in the roles of ‘first ladies’ over the past two centuries track historical trends towards gender equitable marriages, women’s entry into workforce and expanding political participation in societies globally. The topics which the module cover also include gender, feminism, agency, power and politics Comparing ‘first ladies’ across authoritarian and democratic countries as they offer different opportunities, resources or constraints. Countries include Egypt, China, the US, Argentina and the Philippines

As is now commonly recognised, the world is becoming increasingly connected and complex. Just as policy and socio-political actors can no longer view the state, market and society as distinct and separate entities, we can no longer see the global as neatly divided between powerful and distinct nation-states. Global interaction via economics, the media and the internet overwhelm these earlier rigid barriers. But how do we understand this new world and, equally important, how do we act within. To try to answer that question we will explore complexity theory its applications to politics, policy and society. The module will begin with an introduction to the development of the earlier ‘orderly/Newtonian’ framework played in shaping 19th and 20th century social science and public policy. It will then go on to examine the paradigm shift in the natural sciences beyond the limits of that framework and towards a more complexity oriented paradigm. Following this the module will begin to explore how complexity has spilled over into the social sciences in the end of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st. It will then explore how complexity overlaps with some of the main concepts from pragmatist philosophy and its implications for ethics and values

Who killed John F. Kennedy? Did the moon landing really happen? Was Covid-19 caused by the erection of 5G network masts? Factual answers to such questions are easily accessible. And yet many people eschew documented facts in favour of conspiracy theories, which explain events and complex phenomena with reference to nefarious forces and alleged hidden machinations of powerful actors. Such narratives are nothing new, but they used to be regarded mostly as a curiosity rather than a serious subject of research. Today communities of conspiracists are no longer considered so benign. As they thrive online, they attract increasing interest of scholars and policymakers, who study their digital influence, their links with political movements and their status as participants in democratic public spheres. This module introduces students to the developing body of research on the origins, spread and the political and social effects of conspiracy theories, including multidisciplinary work seeking to explain why people embrace conspiracies, what (if any) are the harms of such beliefs, what insights can we draw from the study of historical conspiracies (19th and 20th century) and what is the relationship between conspiratorial thinking and other political beliefs.

This module uses case studies from across the world to provide an insight into the role and relevance of decolonisation in the contemporary world, by examining the legacies of slavery, racism, colonialism and empire. The emphasis is on foregrounding the voices and experiences of citizens and communities from the Global South and unpacking the role that western European nations have played and continue to play in politics, economics and state-society relations in large parts of the post-colonial world. By using critical pedagogy and an interdisciplinary lens, the module highlights how various identities of race, class, gender, ethnicity, sexuality and religion intersect in different historical contexts to produce diverse outcomes. These outcomes are examined in relation to various current and emerging themes ranging from climate change and sustainable development to migration, borders and human rights to artificial intelligence, security, geopolitics and social justice.

PPR.399 provides an opportunity for students to choose a topic related to some aspect of Politics and International Relations, Philosophy and Religious Studies which particularly interests them, and to pursue it in depth. The topic may be related to work that is being done on a formally taught course, or it may be less directly linked to course work. The intention is that students will develop their research skills, and their ability to work at length under their own direction.

Students write a dissertation of 9,000-10,000 words. They are expected to start thinking seriously about the dissertation towards the end of the Lent term of their second year, and to submit a provisional topic by the end of that term. Work should be well advanced by Christmas in the third year. The completed dissertation must be submitted at the start of Summer Term in the third year. To help students prepare for work on the dissertation, there will be an introductory talk on topics relating to doing one's own research and planning and writing a dissertation. A course handout will be available setting out in more detail the requirements for the dissertation and giving full details of lectures, supervision arrangements and assessment.

The Dissertation is a module that progresses from the methodological understandings acquired in Second-Year courses.

You will write a 10,000-word dissertation exploring a challenging historical problem. While, in many cases, we expect that the topic chosen will arise from courses you are studying, it should also be possible to accommodate topics which do not have a direct bearing on your taught courses. The aim is to give you the opportunity to work in depth on a topic of your choice, and to gain the satisfaction of working independently and of making a subject your own. Research for dissertations will usually combine work on secondary literature with the use of primary sources (in translation where necessary). You are expected to demonstrate knowledge of the wider historical context of the subject being explored by including a critical review of relevant published work and to show an awareness of the limitations of primary sources used.

The aim of this module is to allow students to pursue independent in-depth studies of a topic of their choice, within the scope of their scheme of study. The topic will be formulated in dialogue with one or more external collaborator(s) and may be related to work that is being done on a formally taught course, or it may be less directly linked to course work. Students will develop their employability and research skills, and their ability to work independently at length under their own direction with input from external collaborators and an academic supervisor. The external collaboration will enhance students’ ability to reflect on the impact of academic work. One option is to incorporate work done through the Richardson Institute Internship Programme, but students may also discuss other forms of collaboration with their supervisor.

Students are expected to start thinking seriously about the dissertation towards the end of the Lent term of the second year, and to submit a provisional topic by the end of that term. Work should begin during the Summer term of the second year and a draft plan must be approved by the end of the Summer term. Work should be well advanced by Christmas in the third year. The completed dissertation must be submitted at the start of Summer Term in the third year. To help students prepare for work on the dissertation, there will be an introductory talk on topics relating to doing one’s own research and planning and writing a dissertation. A course handout will be available setting out in more detail the requirements for the dissertation and giving full details of lectures, supervision arrangements and assessment.

The aim of this module is to allow you to pursue independent in-depth studies of a topic of your choice, within the scope of your scheme of study. The topic may be related to work that is being done on a formally taught course, or it may be less directly linked to course work. You will have the opportunity to develop your employability and research skills, and your ability to work independently at length under your own direction with input from an academic supervisor. The fieldwork element will give you the chance to enhance your ability to reflect on the impact of academic work. One option is to incorporate a study trip typically organised by the University, via the Global Experience office, but you may also discuss other forms of field studies with your supervisor. The completed dissertation is usually submitted at the start of Summer Term in the third year. To help you prepare for work on the dissertation, typically there is an introductory talk in second year on topics relating to doing one’s own research and planning and writing a dissertation.

On the 17 July 1936, a group of Spanish generals launched a military coup against Spain’s democratically elected Second Republic. The following three years would witness a bitter struggle to determine the future of the Spanish nation. Ending just months before Germany’s invasion of Poland in September 1939, the Spanish Civil War has since been dubbed a ‘dress rehearsal’ for the Second World War. On the rebel side, General Francisco Franco enlisted the help of Hitler and Mussolini to defeat his domestic opponents. Meanwhile, the Republic was supported by Soviet Russia.

Yet the Civil War was also a Spanish conflict with important local dimensions. Republican Spain enjoyed a rich culture of mass politics, and Spanish socialists, communists, anarchists, liberals and feminists fought to the last against Franco’s reactionary coalition of ‘Nationalists’. Following his victory in April 1939, Franco would outlive his international fascist allies by several decades, and the difficult legacies of the war remain keenly present within modern-day Spanish politics and society.

Drawing on a large range of sources, including autobiographies, oral histories, novels, films, songs, and political speeches, students taking this module will gain an in-depth knowledge on the domestic and international origins, outcomes, and legacies of the Spanish Civil War. Indicative topics will typically include the origins of the Civil War, The Second Spanish Republic, 1931-1936; Republican militias, including anarchist and communist factions; the Army of Africa: Legionnaires and Moroccan Regulars; militiawomen, the Sección Femenina and gender on both sides; diplomacy, non-intervention, and the International Brigades; fascists abroad – Hitler and Mussolini; the aftermath of war, victors, vanquished, and repression in Franco’s New State; the legacies and historical memory of the Civil War.

What our students say:

‘Spending 20+ weeks learning about a relatively short time period (3 years of war plus build-up and aftermath) meant that I was offered a thorough understanding of the topic. The thematic approach to the module was well-structured. I have definitely developed better skills at scanning texts and absorbing the most relevant information since the start of the module, as a result of the two points above. Constant exposure to primary source material each week has benefited my historical analysis skills. Finally, the learning environment in each seminar is engaging and enjoyable; I always looked forward to attending and rarely felt reluctant to contribute to discussions.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

The 13th century began with a rebellion that sought to cast a tyrant from the throne of England, followed after fifty years by a revolution, in which a party of barons and bishops backed by a vast popular following seized power from the king and set up a council to govern in his stead: a move that was utterly radical. This period has been hailed as the foundation of the enlightened democracy we enjoy today – but the reality is far darker. This was a world in which religious leaders had the power to punish kings, where rebels fought as sworn crusaders, and where people willingly went to their deaths for a political cause believing themselves martyrs. This world was not democratic, but theocratic.

In this module you will explore the major events of the period, in England and across Christendom; from the making of Magna Carta and the Fourth Lateran Council, to the Albigensian Crusade, the seizure of power in 1258, and the bloody Battle of Evesham that brought the end of England's First Revolution. You will meet the people who shaped this world – from powerful queens like Blanche of Castile and Eleanor of Provence, to leading knight William Marshal and the masterful pope Innocent III; from tyrannical and hapless kings to the churchmen who defied them and were recognised as saints; and from Simon de Montfort, the revolution's charismatic and brutal leader, to the low-born men and women who flocked to his banner. You will be able to uncover their stories through their letters, testimonies, and eye-witness accounts, and a wealth of other primary sources.

Through a range of topics, you will be able to explore your particular interests – whether in the political, religious, military, gender or social aspects of this period – and consider the big questions arising from this module: what can move women and men, poor and rich, to risk their livelihoods, to take life and give their own to decide who ruled the realm?

What our students say:

'Teaching is excellent and the seminars were a great opportunity to discuss our own ideas and talk things through with an expert in the field. The seminars were something I looked forward to every week and we had the opportunity to explore many of the primary source material for ourselves.' (Anonymous student evaluation)

'Many parts [were the most valuable] – from the development of a close-knit group, to the challenging yet interesting assessment work, to the feeling of really ‘mastering’ the subject.' (Anonymous student evaluation)

The labelling of the Second World War as the People’s War in Britain draws attention to the importance of the men and women who waged it. With the blurring of the Home and Battle Fronts, the conventional gender contract in which men fight to protect the vulnerable at home and women keep the home fires burning was challenged, not least by the revolutionary act of conscripting women to the war effort.

In this module you will examine how the Second World War was experienced by a wide spectrum of British men and women, some of whom identified with the war effort, some of whom were deliberately excluded, or chose to challenge gender conventions in their choice of role. You’ll consider different categorisations of experience (military/civilian; home front/battle front; male/female) and explore whether there was a hierarchy of service and subsequently of remembrance.

Were gender roles in Britain really transformed by the exigencies of war? Through a wide range of written and visual sources, including autobiographical materials, poems, photographs, films, parliamentary minutes, newspapers, posters and cartoons, we will seek to understand individual and collective experiences of the war, and their gendered dimensions.

What our students say:

‘The lecturer for the module has been incredible. He has made each seminar interesting and engaging, and a genuinely enjoyable experience each week. Also, the lecturer’s feedback in class and on assignments has been both constructive and encouraging, and it is thanks to him that I have seen a huge improvement in my work throughout the year’. (Anonymous student evaluation)

‘This is by far my favourite module I have done during my time at Lancaster, the content was engaging and the module was very well structured. The lecturer’s enthusiasm for his subject made each lesson exciting and especially informative. We were given excellent guidance for each assessment and consistently encouraged to think independently and imaginatively about each topic’. (Anonymous student evaluation)

This module aims to introduce and familiarise students to the interplay between politics, society and religion in the world’s largest democracy, India. At a time when India is emerging as a global power and economic powerhouse despite persistent poverty and various socio-political fissures, a critical balance must be struck in our understanding between its potential and its problems. India offers powerful lessons on the challenges and achievements of democracy in a deeply pluralistic and unequal society. An examination of these issues opens up our conceptual preconceptions about democracy, competing political philosophies, religion, secularism, discrimination, globalization and political mobilization, which tend to be structured by knowledge of Western polities.

Today the claim that God designed everything in the universe has given way to the theory of evolution. The usual story of this change is one of conflict between science and religion. This module, however, will challenge the popular narrative.

Focusing on the period 1450 –1800, we will reconsider the rise and fall of the idea that nature was the work of a divine intelligent designer. As well as trying to understand why the design argument became so important in the early modern period, we will seek to understand why it fell out of favour during the 18th century – long before the theory of evolution.

But we will not simply be studying the history of ideas. To understand the role of design in early modern science, we will study a wide range of disciplines and practices – from intellectual disciplines like philosophy, rhetoric and theology, to material practices including chemistry, architectural design, archaeology and art.

What our students say:

‘The course structure, teaching and seminars were the most engaging and useful I’ve had over my three years at university’. (Anonymous student evaluation)

‘The engaging and interactive seminars allowed for a comfortable environment which made the subject more interesting and enjoyable’. (Anonymous student evaluation)

This module will address central issues in contemporary ethical (including meta-ethical), legal and political philosophy, and will allow a systematic critical exploration of the connections between ideas and arguments in each of the three areas of the subject.

Topics covered will include some of the following: modern theory of moral motivation, value theory, contractualism, the 'moral problem'; responsibility and criminal liability, the justification of punishment, the proper scope of the law; democratic theory, egalitarianism, justice, nationalism, multiculturalism, liberty and human rights.

In recent years the existing Parliamentary institutions of the UK have come under unparalleled stress. Brexit, devolution, scandal and the decline of public trust in politics have led many to question and challenge the fundamental structure of UK institutions. However, Parliament remains at the centre of political life in the UK and is fundamental to the development of public policy. This leads to key questions about the extent to which the UK Parliament is fit for purpose in the 21st Century and whether it can balance competing interests within the classic debates about continuity and change in British Politics.

This unique module, delivered in partnership with Parliament itself, gives you the opportunity to explore these vital questions of policy formation and constitutional reform interacting directly with Parliamentary officials, researchers and officers. In doing so you will be developing key employable communication skills and critically analysing highly relevant topics in the UK politics such as;

• House of Lords Reform
• Devolution
• Equality of Representation
• The Parliamentary Policy Making process

This module is capped at a capacity of 30 students and a waiting list will operate once full.

The emergence and consolidation of world capitalism has been marked by its uneven character in terms of development. This uneven development has created a polarisation between the Global North mainly consisting of advanced Western capitalist countries, and the Global South mainly consisting of underdeveloped/developing countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. This module focuses on the historical roots, present pillars, and empirical issues of the global interaction and integration regarding the making of the Global South. It traces the colonial and post-colonial history, politics, and power relations through which societies of the Global South have been integrated with the profoundly unequal, gendered, and racialised process of development of capitalist relations on a world scale.

This course examines central themes in the liberal branch of contemporary Anglo-American analytic political philosophy. The liberal positions on justice, liberty, equality, the state, power, rights and utility are all explored. The approach is philosophical rather than applied; its focus is on the ideas of liberal politics: how individual liberty can be maximised while not harming others; how an individual philosophical position can guide political determinants of a society and places the developments of liberal ideas in their appropriate historical contexts. The course also examines the connection between the ideas of liberalism and the idea of democracy to explore the philosophical tensions between the two and how these might be resolved. The course is a survey of major topics and concepts in Anglo-American liberal political ideas. The syllabus will include the following topics: questions about justice; visions of the state; negative and positive liberty; equality, utility and rights; toleration and multiculturalism; neutrality and the market.

Culture is, one of the most contentious features of contemporary politics and policy. Whether it be the perception of cultures, religious schism and ethnic conflict, migration, cultural diversity impacts on politics and policy. The aim of this module is to challenge and re-orient assumptions about culture and to provide students with the conceptual and analytical resources to understand and assess the politics of cultural diversity. The module grapples with how cultural identities play out in the politics of policymaking with a particular focus on conceptions of the ‘Other’, calling into question cultural categories which emanated from Western scholarship and legacies of colonialism. Using case studies. this module will comparatively study the politics of cultural diversity across nation-states e.g., UK, Canada, China and India to understand different approaches to cultural diversity in policymaking.

This course examines the changing character of war and security in a time of rapid and disruptive technological and geopolitical change. The course combines analysis of contemporary policy documents with the interdisciplinary insights of intellectuals that have examined how war has changed in the modern age. Students are introduced to a range of concepts that are currently significant in the policy debates about the future of war – concepts such as ambiguous war, the gray zone, the third offset strategy and the three block war. While the course is grounded in broader debates from social and political thought about war and modernity, it explores a range of evolving and inter-related case studies that are central to understanding how war is changing: cybersecurity/artificial intelligence; cities and urban war; drones and the future of robotics; climate change and ecological insecurity. Each year we try to bring a guest lecturer from the Ministry of Defence or the FCO to discuss questions relevant to the course – and to discuss how the course can be relevant to a broad range of careers.

This course offers employability-focused teaching and combines academic and practical skills. During the module students will have the opportunity to develop a critical understanding of key theoretical frameworks and concepts in policy analysis and development, and to gain in-depth knowledge of the policymaking process within different political contexts. The placements during Lent Term encourage students to apply this knowledge to real-world scenarios, while developing their employability skills and gaining a comprehensive understanding of how the knowledge they acquire during their degree can be translated to different policymaking contexts. By the end of the module, students will be able to conduct thorough policy research using various methodologies and tools, evaluate the ethical implications of policy decisions, and advocate for ethics and value-based approaches to policymaking.

This module helps provide a comparative analysis of the historical and ideological development of sectarian identities in different countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Scotland, Ireland and India. It also engages with continuing debates related to divisions and boundary-making across political institutions, structures or political culture of different countries.

Topics will typically be the Sunni-Shia divide, the Muslim-Christian divide in Egypt, everyday practices of sectarianism in Kuwait, sectarianism divisions in Lebanon and Iraq, and Protestant-Catholic tensions in Northern Ireland.

The module provides a comparative perspective drawing on the fields of religion and politics. It analyses how the rise of the modern nation-state impacted and reconstituted religion in a post-colonial, global context. It addresses questions such as: What place does religion have in diverse political systems in the modern world? How have religious ideologies and commitments shaped modern conceptions and practices of governance? To what extent has religion been engaged in supporting/contesting discourses of liberal democracy and human rights? And why does it remain a site for political protest in non-western contexts? These questions will be explored across various traditions such as Hinduism, Christianity, Islam as well as in diverse regional contexts, such as Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and South Asia. Key topics will typically include: Secularism, Religion and the Postcolonial Nation-State; Religion and law-making in modern nation-states; State, Religion, and human rights, with a focus on women’s rights or religious minority rights; State, Religion and Rebellion; and Civil Religion: Interrogating America’s Nationalism.

The English East India Company (founded 1600) was the most famous corporation in world history: its business connecting the British Isles across the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans. It was a protagonist of globalisation. Its longevity – from Elizabeth to Victoria – provides a common thread with which to illuminate the broader English/British story and the separate histories of the territories with which the Company engaged. Historians have debated what the Company represented. It did much to stimulate global trade, but was it a private business in the modern sense? It ruled British territory on behalf of the British state, but was it a state in its own right?

This module encourages you to engage with these (and other) large and important questions and digest the high-quality literature that the Company has rightly attracted. But the core of this class will be the challenge and joy of digesting the remarkable corpus of documents and writings that the Company issued or provoked from well-known political economists like Karl Marx and Adam Smith, to managers like Elizabeth Dalyson and non-European writers such as Mirza Abu Taleb Khan. You will be introduced to translated Persian documents, the correspondence of Company factors in Japan, charters, board room minutes, pamphlets, and histories and will explore art and architecture in the cities it did so much to develop. You will gain a broad understanding of 17th-, 18th-, and 19th-century British, Indian, and global history; and develop expertise in cultural, art, political, parliamentary, global, economic, constitutional, gender, and business history.

What our students say:

‘The seminars really got the whole group involved and we've all really bonded as a result. The information was so valuable and really helpful for revision!’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

‘I really appreciated the one-on-one meetings for essay feedback. Having twenty minutes set aside specifically for it made the feedback feel much more comprehensive.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

This module critically explores a range of key topics in the ethics and politics of communication. In the first half of the course, we begin by an introduction to some basic concepts in linguistics and philosophy of language – especially to do with the practical side of communication. We then focus on (a) how certain kinds of communication can bring about ethical change (e.g. making something permissible); (b) upon whether lying and other kinds of deception are permissible, and if so, when. In the second half we turn to some broadly political issues: whether political lying is justified in a way that everyday lying is not. We consider three domains where freedom of communication is both important and contentious: freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom on social media, including the challenges posed by “content moderation”.

Global capitalism is at crossroads. It faces a deepening crisis in the world of work, its engine of growth is sputtering out while the climate emergency is aggravating. For some the 2008 recession, COVID-19 and the 2022 cost-of living of crisis offered tragic glimpses of the world that is to come if radical change is not pursued. How can we govern a world characterised by perpetual emergencies and chronic economic crises? Can capitalism be reformed? What does it take to address inequality, precarity or biodiversity collapse? What are the challenges and constraints faced by governments today? The module offers an opportunity to discuss these questions by examining a range of political economy approaches to the study of global capitalism. In doing so the module analyses the most important transformations of the past 50 years that radically transformed the global economy and the issues they raise for economic policy. It examines the constraints, limits and opportunities facing the governance of the global economic order and explores the governing dilemmas that arise in the era of so-called late capitalism.

Many writers have described the years of unprecedented historical change that surrounded the turn of the twentieth century as a time of 'cultural crisis'. This interdisciplinary module in US cultural history explores that so-called crisis through the close reading and analysis of a variety of important written and visual texts, including fiction and non-fiction, architecture and urban design, painting, photography and cinema. Module themes include: technology and culture, labour and capital, imperialism and the 'myth of the west', immigration and urbanisation, celebrity and consumer culture, reform politics, the Great War, and cultural modernism.

What our students say:

‘The lecturer made an effort to make the course a way to equip us with a richer view of life rather than just a tick-box exercise to pass an exam. He also actively took our advice and concerns throughout the course.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

‘The lecturer’s overall teaching style is brilliant. Both his deep understanding of the course and his passion for it are contagious. The module also gave me a new perspective on history, learning, and life (not to sound too dramatic.)’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

‘The most valuable part of the module was the genuine attempt to get us to critically think about the world around us, using the modernity of 19th and 20th century America as a base. It really helped to broaden my mind on culture as a whole, and I am much more willing to fill my future with books and art, far more so than before.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)