International Politics and Economics MA: Research areas

Find out more here about research that goes on connected with this course and in the Faculty or School where it's taught.

Many of our staff in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences are research active. This ensures they are in touch with the latest thinking and bring best practice to your studies.

Economics research

Economics research at Kingston University has three core themes:

• trade and development;
• money and finance, and
• political economy.

The UK national Research Assessment Exercise of 2008 judged that all of our assessed research activity met national standards in terms of significance, originality and rigour. The great majority was assessed as deserving international recognition and a significant proportion of this was judged to be 'excellent', and some 'world-leading', in relation to international standards.

A large part of our research is concerned with issues that relate to one or more of our MA courses:

• Business Economics research topics have included the contribution of SMEs to regional development; the distribution of companies' rates of profits; the link between education and labour productivity; and the role of multinational enterprise in international technology transfer.
• Development Economics research topics have included monetary policy in transition economies; international integration of developing stock markets; regional growth disparities in China; sustainability of fiscal policy in developing economies; the link between financial liberalisation and economic growth, the role of micro-credit institutions; exchange rate volatility in developing economies; and North-South trade.
• Financial Economics research topics have included the link between financial liberalization and economic growth; international integration of developing stock markets; exchange rate volatility in developing economies; interest rate volatility in banking crises; currency crises; central banking in emerging market economies; banks vs. asset markets as institutions for liquidity provision; herding behaviour in financial markets; and interest rate term structures.
• International  Economics research topics have included international integration of developing stock markets; exchange rate volatility; currency crises; linkages between migration and trade flows; the link between trade deficits and fiscal deficits; international trade theory with non-homothetic preferences; international technology transfer; trade and growth linkages; and fiscal implications of trade liberalisation.
• International Politics and Economics research topics have included international currency crises; 'north-south' trade theory; linkages between international migration and trade flows; international trade liberalisation; intellectual property rights legislation in developing economies; technology transfer in the age of globalisation; structural reforms in the EU; and monetary integration in the ex-Soviet Union. This course also benefits from the research interests of colleagues teaching the Politics component. Research topics in politics, international relations and human rights have included international conflict resolution; human rights in the modern world; political, social and cultural transformation in the European periphery and the near East; identity-reshaping within Europe; and British and US counter-insurgency strategies from Malaya to Iraq.
• Political Economy research highlights the role of effective demand, institutions and social conflict in economic analysis and thereby builds on Austrian, Institutionalist, Keynesian and Marxist traditions. Economic processes are perceived to be embedded in social relations that must be analysed in the context of historical considerations, power relations and social norms. As a consequence, a broad range of methodological approaches is employed, and cooperation with other disciplines, including history, law, sociology and other social sciences, is necessary.

Students' involvement with research

We hold regular research seminars with presentations by staff and by visiting speakers. Postgraduate students are welcome to attend these presentations.

Research and writing skills are developed within the taught portion of our MA courses. The dissertation is an extended opportunity to put these skills into practice. Student dissertations of high quality may be suitable for developing into articles to be submitted to academic journals, or to be printed as discussion papers of the School of Economics.

We have a well developed research student programme and encourage those of our postgraduate students who are considering studying for a PhD to discuss the possibility of undertaking their doctoral research with us.

You may be able to publish any research you undertake on the Kingston University Research and Innovation Reports (KURIR) website. This site gives anyone associated with Kingston University the opportunity to publish articles, which will be permanently available to the academic community.

The European Research Department unites a range of disciplines from across the Faculty, including:

• The Helen Bamber Centre for the Study of Conflict, Rights and Mass Violence - founded in 2004 to provide a focus for research and teaching in human rights and international conflict, the centre is named after veteran human rights campaigner Helen Bamber, who has devoted her life to the victims of conflicts across the world;
• The Mediterranean and Eurasian Studies Group - focusing on the political, social and cultural transformations undergone by the societies of South-eastern Europe, East-central Europe, the Mediterranean basin and the Near East since the end of the Cold War;
• The Reinventing Europe Group - promoting interdisciplinary research on collective memory and identity-reshaping processes within Europe after the end of the Cold War, the group draws together historians, sociologists, political scientists and psychologists; and
• The European Media and Culture Group - analysing the cultural parameters and upheavals of contemporary Europe as manifested in visual forms, such as film, digital media and cultural artefacts.

The ERC's strength and quality was recognised in the award of a Grade 4 in the 2001 UK Research Assessment Exercise and it has grown substantially since then.