Philosophy and Politics (BA HONS) VLM2 | Courses | Queen's University Belfast (2023)

Topics in Epistemology (20 credits)

Topics in Epistemology

General description

This module explores some of the main issues in contemporary epistemology, especially the epistemology of testimony, contextualism and their rivals.

learning outcomes

Upon successful completion of this module, students will: Acquire the ability to critically discuss some of the most central issues and arguments in contemporary epistemology.

Skills

Asylum and migration in global politics (20 credits)

Asylum and migration in global politics

General description

gun control (20 credits)

gun control

General description

The module will introduce the student to gun control as part of national security policy and strategy. The focus of the module is primarily on strategic arms control in the 20th and early 21st centuries. The focus of the module is on nuclear weapons control and world order structures. The Nuclear Non-Proliferation regime will serve as a basis for the analysis of arms limitation and reduction treaties from the 1970s to the 2000s. Thus, the module will deal with SALT I, SALT II, ​​​​START, New START and the INF Treaty. The MBFR negotiations and the CFE treaty will provide a bridge to the broader spectrum of arms control. Humanitarian arms control, biological and chemical weapons control regimes, and the control or prohibition of space weapons will also be included. The module will provide a classic and critical introduction to gun control theory.

Challenges to contemporary party politics (20 credits)

Challenges to contemporary party politics

General description

This module focuses on two themes: party system change and contemporary challenges affecting political parties. Why and how do new parties emerge? Why do old parties survive the crises and challenges of new parties? Who subscribes to political parties and how can the decrease in party affiliation be explained? How can parties and their representatives be more representative of society at large? Should parties be financed with our taxes or with private money? Do political parties make a difference in terms of public policy? These are some of the questions that will be addressed in this module.
The module is comparative in nature, focusing on European and North American countries, but discussions of other cases are welcome.
The assessment is designed to enhance students' presentation, writing, critiquing, and knowledge transfer skills: students deliver a presentation that is assessed in part through peer review, write a case study report, and a book review and write a policy paper advising a (fictional) political party on how to address a contemporary challenge (representation of women and minorities, party funding or membership).
Alumni of this module enjoyed the presentations and the benefits of peer review (presenting to the whole class, focusing more on content and giving a good presentation, and exercising your critical skills through review). ), as well as the style of the seminars and the ability to write a policy paper rather than an academic essay.

learning outcomes

Upon successful completion of the module, students
acquire knowledge and participate in the main debates in the literature on political parties, their interaction with other parties and their internal organization;
be able to identify and discuss the functions and roles played by political parties in modern representative democracies;
 be able to compare contexts of party formation and party systems and forms of party organization;
be able to identify the challenges that political parties are currently facing;
use comparative qualitative and quantitative data to support arguments and assess relationships between variables/factors that help explain parties and party systems;
develop and improve your oral and written communication skills through seminar activities, presentations, essays and research papers and feedback provided by the module coordinator.

Skills

Security and technology (20 credits)

Security and technology

General description

Security policy has been associated with the development, use, and regulation of new technologies, from the "nuclear revolution" to contemporary cybersecurity and surveillance practices. This module focuses on the interrelationships of technology and security and seeks to develop an advanced understanding of the complexities of the "technopolitics" of security. This includes both new technologies and the mundane materialities of security (fences, walls, weapons). Introduces students to the role and political significance of science and technology from different theoretical perspectives, ranging from political realism to the contemporary "material turn" in critical security studies. Seeks to engage students in contemporary policy debates and practices involving science and technology and security policy, which may include topics such as cybersecurity, UAV/Drones, disarmament, nuclear terrorism, critical infrastructure protection, technologies to kill, biotechnology, biometrics, surveillance, border control, food security, health and medical technologies, and bodily (military) technologies, among others. The module incorporates theoretical perspectives (including IR/Security theory and a broader philosophy of technology and science, technology and society approaches) and detailed empirical material.

learning outcomes

Skills

world politics energy economy (20 credits)

world politics energy economy

General description

This module examines the role of natural resources in modern societies, with a particular focus on energy resources and how they have shaped international politics and economics. Specific topics include: the transition from coal to oil and the emerging role of multinational energy corporations in international politics; the link between natural resources and development in the Global South; the nature and consequences of the “resource curse”; the geostrategic implications of the dispute over natural resources; a series of case studies, which may include the following: post-colonial petro-states in the Gulf of Guinea; land policy in Africa; the global impact of the US shale revolution; energy and authoritarianism in Russia and Venezuela; and the future of fossil fuels and the capitalist world order.

learning outcomes

By the end of this module, students will be able to identify key developments in the modern era of resource politics and how national and international competition for natural resources such as oil, gas, minerals and land has shaped global economic and political developments. Students will also be able to relate a range of issues and developments in global resource policy to other aspects of international politics and economics, including the rise of the post-colonial world and the emerging powers of the Global South, socio-economic development, conflict and environmental sustainability. .

Skills

Think conceptually and conduct rigorous and systematic investigation of various aspects of the political economy of natural resources in a global context; build lucid and theoretically and empirically grounded arguments, both in the form of critical and essay analysis; present concise, clearly articulated oral arguments in a group setting. Development of intellectual skills, including knowledge management and prioritization, analytical thinking and critical and independent thinking. Professional and career development skills, including communication, self-reflection and time management skills. Organizational skills including efficient and effective work practice, clear organization of information, communication and entrepreneurial thinking.

Philosophy of Technology and Environment (20 credits)

Philosophy of Technology and Environment

General description

This module critically addresses key issues in the philosophy of technology and environmental philosophy through the analysis of historical and contemporary texts and arguments. The module could include discussion of the following questions: Should we improve ourselves and future generations? What is artificial intelligence and how does it affect knowledge? How should we be responding to the climate crisis? How should human beings understand their relationship with nature? How does climate justice intersect with refugee justice? How can we best address the epistemic issues involved in understanding climate change? The module incorporates attention to epistemological and metaphysical issues, as well as ethical and political issues, and will encourage students to appreciate the interconnections between them. The precise topics covered in the module may vary from year to year, but will likely include philosophy of enhancement, artificial intelligence, algorithm bias, privacy and digital surveillance, urban and territorial philosophy, animal philosophy, global climate crisis, climate justice and refugee justice .

learning outcomes

Upon successful completion of the module, students will be able to: * Demonstrate a critical analysis of key debates in philosophy of technology and environmental philosophy; * Apply relevant philosophical theories and case information in discussing and responding to contemporary practical technological and environmental problems; * Demonstrate critical understanding of diverse technology and environment accounts within philosophy and society.

Skills

Intellectual skills • Knowledge management and prioritization: identify relevant topic-specific knowledge, sources and data; manage this information independently. • Analytical thinking: Identifying, understanding, interpreting and evaluating relevant subject-specific arguments presented by others; build independent arguments. • Critical and independent thinking: ability to think critically and build your position in relation to existing and ongoing debates in the field. Career and Professional Development Skills • Communication Skills: Ability to communicate clearly with others, both orally and in writing. • Teamwork: Ability to work as a team, negotiate conflicts and recognize different ways of learning. • Diversity: ability to recognize and be sensitive to the variety of cultural differences present in the learning environment. • Self-reflexivity: ability to reflect on one's own progress and to identify and act on one's own development needs with regard to lifelong learning and professional development. • Time management: ability to negotiate diverse and competitive pressures; Deal with stress; and achieving a work/life balance. Organizational Skills • Efficient and Effective Work Practice: Demonstrate the ability to work efficiently within deadlines. • Clear organization of information: Show efficiency in organizing large amounts of complex information and ability to identify, describe and analyze key information resources. • Organization and communication: demonstrate ability to use evidence to develop clear and logical arguments; Show aptitude for the effective use of information in a direct and appropriate way. • Entrepreneurial Thinking: Demonstrate the ability to think and argue in new and entrepreneurial ways, show originality of thinking and argumentation, and the ability to clearly support arguments in innovative ways.

Political party in the 21st century (20 credits)

Political party in the 21st century

General description

Political parties define how we see and understand politics. Schattschneider (1942) wrote that "democracy is unthinkable except in terms of parties". But is it still like that? Political parties are central actors that mediate voter preferences and policy outcomes. At the same time, many parties in Western democracies experienced party disalignment, declining membership, and increased competition from protesters and populist actors. This module aims to explore the challenges faced by political parties in the 21st century. How did the political party evolve? Has the role of political parties diminished, and if so, what could fill that void? Have parties been supplanted by personalities? How do parties respond to media/social media? Themes may vary from year to year, allowing flexibility in capturing important events and elections, but may include: customizing party politics; departures in the era of climate emergency; populism and nationalism; Social networks and the party. The course emphasizes both theory and practice, with a weekly qualitative analysis exercise relevant to the week's theme.

learning outcomes

Skills

placing (20 credits)

placing

General description

This module offers students the opportunity to do an internship for a total of 1.5 days a week for 12 weeks (18 days in total) in a host organisation. Assessment will be through a portfolio, a research case study and an applied policy summary, allowing students to use their workplace design more laterally to achieve the Module requirements.

learning outcomes

Upon successful completion of this module, students will have significantly developed their administrative knowledge and skills; obtained a clear understanding of the work, organization and functioning of the host institution; produced a body of work that is academically sound and, ideally, of practical use to the host institution; and developed and acquired a variety of skills, including teamwork and adherence to the ethical norms and standards of a professional work environment. Students will also have learned to align their applied experience with academic interests and concerns.

Skills

This module will help develop students' skills in several key areas. This includes: Intellectual skills * Knowledge management and prioritization * Analytical thinking * Critical and independent thinking Professional and career development skills * Communication skills * Teamwork * Diversity * Self-reflection * Time management Technical and practical skills * Information technology * Regulations and standards Organizational skills * Efficient and effective work practice * Clear organization of information * Organization and communication * Entrepreneurial thinking

National and ethnic minorities in European politics (20 credits)

National and ethnic minorities in European politics

General description

learning outcomes

Upon successful completion of this module, students will be able to:
• Situating minority situations in a broader context of national and European politics
•Compare the differential impact that European integration had on minority groups in the different waves of enlargement
• Determine the importance of national minorities as guarantors of geopolitical stability.
• Understand and be able to discriminate the impact that new and old minorities have on the likelihood of ethnic conflict in contemporary Europe.
• Clearly and concisely communicate, orally and in writing, the contemporary European situation.
• Rigorously pursue intellectual issues in an academic way, using analytical skills and critical thinking.

Skills

Political Parties and Elections in Northern Ireland (20 credits)

Political Parties and Elections in Northern Ireland

General description

learning outcomes

Understanding the nature of party competition and electoral choice in Northern Ireland

Skills

Dissertation (Politics and International Studies) (40 credits)

Dissertation (Politics and International Studies)

General description

The dissertation is a research project that the student develops, designs and implements. There is a dissertation synopsis of approximately 700 words and the final product is a substantial written work of 12,000 words on a topic that has been agreed between the student and their supervisor.

learning outcomes

At the end of the dissertation, students will be able to: (a) develop a sustained argument, test a hypothesis and/or write an original narrative; (b) carry out research, including the search for sources of information appropriate to the matter in question; (c) review theories appropriate to the topic.

Skills

Students attend a workshop prior to registering for the dissertation, which focuses on how to frame a dissertation question, how to research the dissertation, and how to organize and write the dissertation. More consulting and skills development with individual consultants. Another workshop is held at the beginning of the second semester. Students will work closely with an individual supervisor during the research, writing, and writing of their dissertation. The necessary skills for ongoing research and for writing a dissertation are acquired and supervised through liaison with the supervisor.

Gender and Politics (20 credits)

Gender and Politics

General description

This module introduces students to the centrality of gender and sexuality in shaping political dynamics at the local, national and global levels. It addresses the issue from three perspectives: feminist political thought; political mobilization and change strategies; and the relevance of gender in international relations. The module aims to provide an introduction to the contribution of intersectional feminist scholarship to challenging the understanding of politics and international relations as gender-neutral, and draws attention to the often overlooked experiences, actions, and political claims of gender minorities. It considers major contemporary issues such as intersectionality and feminist politics, sexuality and reproductive justice; anti-gender political and social movements; war, peace and security; climate change and the politics of global crises.
The lectures will trace the development of feminism in its various ideological currents and "waves".
Students will have the opportunity to discuss theoretical perspectives and empirical examples as entry points into the gendered complexities of global politics.

learning outcomes

Provide a political perspective on gender; clarify the diversity of feminist thought; analyze and explain the causes of women's inequality in the public and private spheres; and provide an understanding of the inequalities women face.

Skills

The ability to understand sex and gender policies in a historical and theoretical framework; develop a gender policy perspective; debate positions; participate in small group activities; to improve oral presentation and writing skills.

Internship (40 credits)

Internship

General description

This module offers students the opportunity to do an internship for a total of 3 days a week for 12 weeks (36 days in total) in a host organisation. Assessment will be through a portfolio, a research case study and an applied policy summary, allowing students to use their workplace design more laterally to achieve the Module requirements.

learning outcomes

Upon successful completion of this module, students will have significantly developed their administrative knowledge and skills; obtained a clear understanding of the work, organization and functioning of the host institution; produced a body of work that is academically sound and, ideally, of practical use to the host institution; and developed and acquired a variety of skills, including teamwork and adherence to the ethical norms and standards of a professional work environment. Students will also have learned to align their applied experience with academic interests and concerns.

Skills

This module will help develop students' skills in several key areas. This includes: Intellectual skills * Knowledge management and prioritization * Analytical thinking * Critical and independent thinking Professional and career development skills * Communication skills * Teamwork * Diversity * Self-reflection * Time management Technical and practical skills * Information technology * Regulations and standards

philosophical theology (20 credits)

philosophical theology

General description

This module will provide a systematic philosophical approach to understanding and addressing a range of issues in Christian theology. Topics to be discussed will include divine eternity and God's relationship to time, divine foreknowledge and human freedom, theological anthropology, and Christology. In the search for these themes, we will deal with historical and contemporary sources.

learning outcomes

Students should familiarize themselves with some basic topics in philosophical theology.

Skills

Literacy and communication skills; understanding, formulating and evaluating lengthy arguments, together with their written and oral exposition.

Land, energy, ethics and economy: the policy of unsustainability (20 credits)

Land, energy, ethics and economy: the policy of unsustainability

General description

The ongoing problematic relationship between the key dynamics of modern economic and social systems and the non-human world is one of the most pressing issues of the 21st century and will continue to shape the political agenda nationally and globally. This module will examine some of the key sustainable development policy debates, including: green ethics and political theory; the role of the environment and nature in political theory; the economic and political alternatives to unsustainable development and the normative foundations of a sustainable society.

learning outcomes

Upon completion of this module, students will: Have a solid understanding of key ethical, political, and economic dimensions of green theory. They will be able to identify and understand the varieties of schools of thought with green theory. Have a solid understanding of sustainable development; Be able to relate green theory with sustainable development policy; Be able to relate green political theory to other schools of thought within contemporary political theory; Be able to articulate and defend their own understandings of both green political theory and sustainable development; Be able to relate empirical and scientific arguments and debates on sustainable development with normative theory on sustainable development; Be able to defend and explain interdisciplinary methodological approaches to the study of sustainable development.

Skills

Knowledge of key issues, thinkers, schools of thought and debates within green ethics and political theory; knowledge of the political, economic and ethical dimensions of debates on sustainable development; capacity for independent research and study; critical, analytical and independent thinking; present informed arguments in the classroom; independent and reasoned critical judgment and evaluation and appreciation of the arguments of others; awareness and appreciation of the complexities and nuances of different normative positions; Relate the issues, thinkers and schools of thought covered in this module to other modules that students have taken in politics or other careers.

European cultural identities (20 credits)

European cultural identities

General description

An examination of the range of concepts related to the notion of identity in modern and contemporary Europe. The module offers an interdisciplinary study of the construction of identity in Western European localities, regions and states, with particular emphasis on the role of identity in cultural integration and diversity.

learning outcomes

Introduce students to the notion of identity and the various factors (linguistic, ethnic, national, social, historical) that have contributed to the identity of Western Europeans.

Skills

Development of critical and analytical skills. Emphasis on comparative methodology and the ability to synthesize knowledge in both written and oral form in a transnational (European) context.

The Far Right in Western Europe and North America (20 credits)

The Far Right in Western Europe and North America

General description

learning outcomes

Students will gain knowledge of and participate in key debates in far-right literature. Students will be able to apply right-wing extremism definitions and classifications to case studies to compare and contrast the ideologies of right-wing extremist parties in Western Europe. Students will be able to identify and assess the reasons why some far-right parties have had more electoral success than others and will be able to assess the impact of right-wing extremism on public debate, policy-making and inter-party competition across the Europe. and linking the academic study of right-wing extremism to issues of public and political concern.

Skills

global economy policy (20 credits)

global economy policy

General description

This module examines how politics conceived as relationships between governments and with and between various interests and socioeconomic groups shape the global economy and the power relations it represents. Several topics covered in the module include: how to think about power and authority in the global economy; contrasting national models of capitalism; the United States as the world's economic hegemony in the post-9/11 era; the political economy of the rise of the BRICs; the Doha Round of trade negotiations; Credit Crunch (causes, implications and responses); the geopolitics of currency rivalry; global oil governance; and a new global economic order to replace the old order?

learning outcomes

Skills

Dissertation (40 credits)

Dissertation

General description

The student will research and write an 8-10,000 word essay on a suitable philosophical topic agreed between the student, the coordinator and an assigned supervisor.

learning outcomes

At the end of the dissertation, students will be able to:
a) Develop a sustained argument, test a hypothesis and/or write a reasoned philosophical analysis;
b) Carry out investigations including the search for adequate sources for the subject in question;
c) review the appropriate approaches to the theme.

Skills

Students attend a workshop prior to registering for the dissertation, which focuses on how to frame a dissertation question, how to research the dissertation, and how to organize and write the dissertation. Another workshop is held at the beginning of the second semester. Students work closely with an individual supervisor during the research, writing, and writing of their dissertation. The skills necessary for ongoing research and dissertation writing are acquired and supervised through liaison with your supervisor.

Contemporary Political Philosophy (20 credits)

Contemporary Political Philosophy

General description

This module examines issues in contemporary normative political philosophy. Topics may vary from year to year, but will typically include questions about the interpretation of values ​​such as freedom, equality and well-being, principles of distributive justice, equal respect and social recognition, pluralism, tolerance and democracy.

learning outcomes

Upon successful completion of this module, students will:
-be able to think critically about the normative aspects of political life,
-Understand and be able to construct normative arguments about moral and political problems.
-Be able to structure logical arguments involving abstract ideas both in discussions and in written work.

Skills

Take notes at lectures and during private study of key texts; ability to structure arguments closely related to abstract ideas both orally and in writing; debating and other oral communication skills; teamwork in small groups; Staging.