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Another World is Possible: Order and Revolution in Political Ideology

  • Module code: PO4004
  • Year: 2018/9
  • Level: 4
  • Credits: 30
  • Pre-requisites: None
  • Co-requisites: None

Summary

This module for first year undergraduates in the Department of Politics is designed to support them in adjusting to higher education studies. It contains four main components which are meant to work together towards this goal:

1. Study and research skills section;

The module introduces key study and research skills at university, working closely with the LRC, Careers and Employability, Student Engagement and Enhancement teams, as well as featuring the possibility for relevant guest speakers from the working political world. The module contains sessions on using the library, referencing and plagiarism. It offers self-management techniques, and practices preparation for assessments in other modules, as well as using feedback on assessments in other modules for improvement. The module emphasizes the transferability of study skills to professional work environments and incorporates employability in all of these sessions. The module also practices formal debating and presentation skills that bridge the academic and the professional world,

2. Substantive section on political ideologies and revolution;

The module provides an introduction to some of the major strands in radical political thought, in both their historical and contemporary contexts. The focus is on political ideologies which have sought to bring about widespread political, social and economic reform. The dynamic of the substantive section delivery is around contextualizing the status quo (both historically and in the contemporary world) and outlining the radical paradigm that aimed to change it. This module is well-suited as a basis for commencing studies in Politics (International Relations and Human Rights), but can serve as an introduction to Politics for History, Sociology, Criminology, Economics and Law students.

3. Personal tutorship scheme;

The module incorporates that personal tutorship scheme in the first year, as the seminars are led by the students' personal tutors, who will remain the same by the end of a student's undergraduate degree. The idea is to create, through small group work and individual meetings, a strong basis for communication and trust between the tutor and the student, which will provide a first point of contact for students in any academic or non-academic related difficulty.

4. Academic peer mentor scheme;

The module also incorporates the academic peer mentor scheme, implemented with the support of the Student Engagement and Enhancement team. The scheme is meant to provide an additional layer of support on a peer-to-peer basis, encourage students to be proactive about their skills portfolio, and enable them to receive first-hand insight into what lies immediately ahead of them from their mentors.

Aims

  • To develop students' study and research skills, in preparation for written and oral assessments in their other modules.
  • To introduce students to some of the major strands of radical political thought, and their relationship to competing sets of ideologies;
  • To develop students' critical and analytical skills in reading and working with a range of primary documentation;
  • To assist in the orientation of students during their first year, including provision of a 'safe space' where students and tutors can discuss transition into a university setting

Learning outcomes

On completion of this module, students should be able to:

  • Identify some of the major ideological debates in historical and contemporary times, and understand some of the principal positions taken in these debates;
  • Work with increased confidence with both primary and secondary sources, and use these in a range of formative and summative assessments;
  • Understand how to locate and critically engage with academic sources for a range of assessed work;
  • Understand and have had practice in the steps necessary in producing an academic essay;
  • Outline their current skills set and experience, and identify areas for personal development.

Curriculum content

  1. Introduction: 'radical political thought' in history
  2. Major contemporary ideological debates: am I ideological?
  3. How do I learn in politics: library resources, referencing, plagiarism
  4. Building an argument, finding the evidence: for an essay;
  5. Building an argument, finding the evidence: for debate or a presentation;
  6. What can I do with a politics degree: now, tomorrow, and in 10 years
  7. Liberalism as revolution I: The rights of man
  8. Liberalism as revolution II: The rights of money
  9. Class and radical politics I: Chartism, Marxism, and 1848
  10. Class and radical politics II: anarchism and the Paris Commune
  11. Gender and radical politics I: the Suffragette movement
  12. Gender and radical politics II: radical feminism
  13. Race and radical politics I: the Civil Rights Movement
  14. Race and radical politics II: anti-colonialism
  15. War and radical politics: nationalism
  16. War and radical politics: the peace movement
  17. The neoliberal revolution and the rise of globalism
  18. Radical environmentalism I: Silent Spring to the Rainbow Warrior
  19. Radical environmentalism II: the climate change debate
  20. Alter-globalisation I: sweatshops, free trade and global justice
  21. Alter-globalisation II: the Occupy! movement and the financial crisis

Teaching and learning strategy

Teaching and learning on this module takes place in five different contexts.

1. A weekly programme of lectures, taken as one large group. Lectures will be organised into thematic blocks, providing an introduction to various study or research skills, or a major ideological debate around which radical strands of thought coalesce;

2. A series of seminars, taken in smaller groups (16-20 students), where students will have the chance to practice the research skills they were introduced to in the lecture, and discuss what they have read, as well as engage each other in informed and rigorous debate about the major issues and questions; individual with the personal tutors meant to ensure that personal tutees check in with their personal tutors individually on a regular basis, to raise any issues around their own progress.

3. A series of mentor sessions, in seminar groups, with one or two 'academic peer mentors'. These are students in the second or third year who have taken this module previously, and who have been trained to support first-years during their first semester at university.

4. Independent study will form a major part of how students will learn.

Breakdown of Teaching and Learning Hours

Definitive UNISTATS Category Indicative Description Hours
Scheduled learning and teaching Lectures 22
Scheduled learning and teaching Seminars 22
Scheduled learning and teaching Personal Tutors / Individual Tutorials 4
Scheduled learning and teaching Mentor sessions 22
Guided independent study Independent study 230
Total (number of credits x 10) 300

Assessment strategy

The LOs for this module will be assessed through:

  • A reflective exercise on the Political Compass (1000 words) - 20%
  • A portfolio of 2500 words  (2500 words) - 80%

Mapping of Learning Outcomes to Assessment Strategy (Indicative)

Learning Outcome Assessment Strategy
Identify some of the major ideological debates in historical and contemporary times, and understand some of the principal positions taken in these debates Formatively through class participation, debate and discussion Summatively by seminar presentation
Work with increased confidence with both primary and secondary sources, and use these in a range of formative and summative assessments Formatively through class participation, debate and discussion Summatively by portfolio
Understand how to locate and critically engage with academic sources for a range of assessed work Formatively through class participation, debate and discussion Summatively through essay preparation report and portfolio
Understand and have had practice in the steps necessary in producing an academic essay Formatively through class participation, debate and discussion Summatively through essay preparation report and porfolio
Outline their current skills set and experience, and identify areas for personal development Formatively through class participation, debate and discussion and meetings with the Personal Tutor Summatively through the portfolio

Elements of Assessment

Description of Assessment Definitive UNISTATS Categories Percentage
Coursework Essay Preparation 20
Coursework Portfolio 80
Total (to equal 100%) 100%

Achieving a pass

It IS NOT a requirement that any element of assessment is passed separately in order to achieve an overall pass for the module.

Bibliography recommended reading

Heywood, Andrew (2012)  Political ideologies: an introduction. Basingstoke; Palgrave Macmillan

Festenstein, Matthew and Michael Kenny. (2005) Political ideologies: a reader and guide. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Baradat, Leon and John Philips. (2017) Political Ideologies: their origins and impact. London: Routledge.

Paine, T. (1791) The Rights of Man. Harmondsworth: Penguin.

Smith, A. (1789), An Enquiry into the Nature and the Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Hobsbawm, E. (2011) How to Change the World: reflections on Marx and Marxism. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Millet, K. (1977) Sexual Politics. London: Virago

Carson, R. (1963) Silent Spring. London: Hamish Hamilton.

Fanon, F. (1965) The Wretched of the Earth. London: Penguin.

Chomsky, N. (2012) Occupy! London: Penguin.

Harvey, D. (2007) A Brief History of Neoliberalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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