Crises of the 21st Century

Learning Outcomes

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• This module will introduce students to the analysis of concrete political problems drawing on, and practising, a range of disciplinary intellectual and research skills.

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• This module will engage students in team work through groups projects.
• The module will develop students research and communication skills through project work.

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• The module will enable students to acquire knowledge and understanding of some of the key political challenges of our time.

The content of the module will be determined by student choice of 3 topics from a menu of options specifying particular political challenges. Examples include:

Social media and 'fake' news

Populism

Independence movements.

War and political violence.

Digital governance and the rise of algorithmic society.

Refugee Crises/Violent Borders.

Climate Change.

World Poverty.

AI, Robots, and the future of work.

The options may vary from year to year as new issues become salient and may be partly dependent on staff availability.

There will usually be two in-person lecture sessions per week. The majority of these will be conventional lectures delivered by the module team. These will be recorded unless the technology fails.

We may occasionally bring in guest speakers, depending on availability. These sessions may be in-person or online depending on the location of the speaker. It is up to each speaker whether their session is recorded, but this will be discussed with them and announced to students in advance so you can make decisions accordingly.

There will be a fortnightly student-led seminar. We expect students to attend these unless they have a very pressing reason not to, since being able to discuss the issues covered is a crucial part of the learning process.

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Repeat

An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.