International Politics and Economics MA: Who teaches this course

• Staff teaching on this course

The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences teaches this course. Students benefit from a lively study environment, thanks to the wide range of postgraduate courses on offer.

Programmes cover everything from English literature and music to human rights and politics.

The Faculty provides a vibrant and forward-thinking environment for study with:

• courses designed in collaboration with industry professionals – keeping you up to date with the latest developments;
• established connections with the London arts and media scene – with a range of guest speakers, professors and lecturers visiting the University; and
• committed and enthusiastic staff – many of whom are expert practitioners as well as leading academics and researchers.

The Faculty's combination of academics and practitioners makes it a unique environment in which to further your studies and your career.

Where is the Faculty based? Most students are based at the University's Penrhyn Road campus, with our music and education courses taught at the Kingston Hill campus.

Dr Willy Spanjers

Dr Willy Spanjers is the MA course director and deputy head of the School of Economics. Willy obtained his doctorate in mathematical economics from Tilburg University in the Netherlands and now lectures on economic analysis in various contexts. His main research focus is the economics of uncertainty, particularly of incalculable risk.

Willy has published in the Royal Economic Society's Economic Journal and in other academic journals.

Dr Paul Auerbach

Paul Auerbach obtained his PhD in Economics from the University of Wisconsin in 1973 and since 1990 he has been Reader in Economics at Kingston University. He is the author of Competition: the Economics of Industrial Change (Oxford: Basil Blackwell 1988). Recent work has been directed at the relationship between education (and human development, broadly considered) and economic development. He is completing a book on socialism.

Dr Ted Hyett

Dr Ted Hyett gained his PhD from Imperial College, London. His teaching expertise includes financial risk management, environmental economics and global economics.

Dr Ali Shamsavari

Dr Shamsavari obtained his PhD from Vanderbilt University in the US. His teaching includes development economics and transnational entreprises.

Ali's current research focus is on the impact of transnational business on economic development. He has previously written on the history of economic thought and is the author of Dialectics and Social Theory - The Logic of Capital.

Dr Robin Pettitt

Dr Robin Pettitt's research focuses on political organisations that serve as conduits between civil society and the state, particularly political parties. His interests have been largely based on national politics, but he is moving into the politics of representation at the EU level. Robin also has an interest in the uses and abuses of marketing techniques in politics and in research methodology.

Dr Andy Higginbottom

Andy Higginbottom co-ordinates the masters programme in the politics and international relations area. He holds an Economics and Sociology BSc(Hons) from Bristol University (1979) and his PhD thesis was on Globalisation and Human Rights in Colombia (2005). He attained a Postgraduate Certificate Higher Education from Kingston University in 2007 and is engaged in pedagogic issues. His research interests are in human rights, Latin American studies, conflict and mass violence; and is oriented to solidarity action. Current research is focused on the political economy of foreign investment, especially the social and environmental impacts of extractive industries.

Dr Ilaria Favretto

Title: Professor in Contemporary European History
Email: i.favretto@kingston.ac.uk 

Specialist subjects:

• 20th century Italian history
• 20th century British history
• The European Left
• Protest and industrial conflict in 20th century Europe
• Cultural history

Recent publications:

• 'Red Scare: 'Pericolo Rosso' e Gran Bretagna nel Ventesimo Secolo' (transl: 'Labour and the 'Red Threat' in 20th Century Britain'), in Fulvio Cammarano and Stefano Cavazza (eds), in Il Nemico in Politica. La Delegittimazione dell'avversario nell'Europa Contemporanea (Bologna: Il Mulino, 2010)
• 'The parties of the Centre Left', in James Newell (ed.), Italian Political Elections 2008 (London: Routledge, 2009), pp. 85-101
• Socialism and Social Reform in the Twentieth Century: Cultures of Social Democracy in Historical and Comparative Perspective, co-editor (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2006)

Dr Atsuko Ichijo

Dr Atsuko Ichijo's research interests are found at the intersection between nationalism studies and European studies, and the relationship between contemporary nationalism and development of European integration has been a major focus of my research. She has two monographs on the topic. In relation to this, she is also interested in theories of nationalism, the 'West'-'East' contrast in nationalism and nationalism's relationship to modernity. Currently Atsuko is co-ordinating a European Commission funded collaborative research project with nine partners across Europe on European identities.