Personalise your degree
At Plymouth, your degree really is what you make it. Choose to study optional modules from across the school.
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Careers with this subject
Key features
Course details
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Year 1
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Investigate the most pressing issues facing our world, where they have come from and the international systems and political and economic ideas that shape our contemporary world. You’ll explore the evolution of politics, current affairs, climate crises and major political events in historical and regional contexts.By the end of year one you will be equipped with the skills and knowledge to help you thrive in your degree programme, having gained vital research techniques and analysed the relationship between politics and international relations via innovative and engaging forms of assessment.
Core modules
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Democracy and Democratization (PIR4001)
This module provides the foundation for the study of democracy and democratisation in politics and international relations, with a focus on competing theories of democratic governance and how these can be applied in a critical analysis of political practices and institutions both within states and in transnational global governance.
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Discovering World Politics (PIR4002)
The team-taught immersive module introduces students to key concepts and contemporary issues in the fields of Politics and IR and provides them with the necessary skills and tools to write essays and engage with academic debates.
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Imagining World Order (PIR4003)
This module introduces the essential terms, concepts and processes of international relations analysis. It describes the main features of the international system since its evolution from the Treaty of Westphalia, continuities and discontinuities with earlier international systems, plus the move from state sovereignty to global governance in the contemporary context. It also introduces the primary theories of international relations analysis, whilst putting their emergence and development into historical context.
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Comparative Democracies (PIR4004)
This module introduces students to the key themes involved in the study of democracies. It examines each of these topics within a comparative framework. The application of the key themes will be achieved through the medium of theoretical approaches and case study application. This module will include two 2-hour talks that introduce our School and programme level employability related opportunities and support, including details of the optional placement year.
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International Relations Since 1945 (PIR4005)
This module provides an introduction to the historical development of the international political system since 1945. It provides a crucial background to the major processes and actors that have shaped the contemporary international system.
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One Planet? Society and Sustainability (PIR4006)
This module addresses some of the most pressing challenges of the 21st century from a variety of ideological and political perspectives. Through real-world case studies and critical reflection of lived experiences, we explore and debate the complex, interdependent processes underpinning sustainability and global inequality and insecurities. You develop an understanding of key drivers and public policy impacts and consider future alternative scenarios. The emphasis is on active, collaborative, learning via field trips and debates.
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Year 2
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Immerse yourself in the issues that you care about in the world and use your newfound knowledge and skills to analyse global systems. Learn how to do foreign policy analysis and explore concepts of national and human security, identity and global political economy. You will explore contemporary debates and develop a critical mindset, evaluating evidence and scrutinising arguments to take your knowledge further in ways that you can apply in your future career.Or you can put your global mindset into practice, studying abroad with our international student exchange programme.
Core modules
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Politics and International Relations of the Global South (PIR5006)
This module takes a critical approach to politics and international relations in the Global South. Students will interrogate labels associated with the Global South, state emergence and postcolonialism, and themes that highlight complexity in the Global South. These may include issues of race, legitimacy, democracy, revolution, connectivity, climate change, and development and inequality.
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Global Political Economy (PIR5007)
This module analyses how the governance of international economic affairs has developed from the Mercantilist expansion of early modern Europe to the present day. It introduces four alternative approaches to the study of IPE. It presents the leading historical narratives of the evolution of the modern world political economy, and then investigates its development since 1945.
Optional modules
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The Politics of the European Union (PIR5001)
This module introduces students to the history, structure, tensions and potential future development of the European Union. It examines these within the context of theories of democracy and power. There is a specific focus on the unique supranational element of the EU and the multilevel politics involved. It also offers case studies of key policies and the experience of specific states within the EU. Furthermore, Brexit and the process of leaving the European Union is covered.
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Global Governance and the United Nations (PIR5002)
This module explores the transformation of political community in the 21st century through the prism of international institutions such as the United Nations. The module offers an overview of international institutions and considers various theoretical approaches to understanding the resulting regimes of global governance. The aim is to evaluate the nature of ‘governance’ in world politics.
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Democracy in the UK: An Introduction to British Politics (PIR5005)
This module presents an introduction to a basic understanding of how governance and democracy is organised in the United Kingdom. We explore the post war history of the UK, its evolving constitutional settlement, political institutions, regions, political parties, and devolution. We apply theoretical notions of democracy to the empirical reality of political life in the United Kingdom in the present day, against the backdrop of declining trust in institutions and eroding political engagement.
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International Security Studies (PIR5008)
This module considers the issue of security in contemporary international relations. It examines a variety of different security concepts from deterrence and the security dilemma to arms control, peacekeeping, terrorism, regional security complexes and governance. It then seeks to relate these to practical examples from world politics.
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Stage 2 Professional Development, Placement Preparation and Identifying Opportunities (SSC500)
This module is for students in the School of Society and Culture who are interested in undertaking an optional placement in the third year of their programme. It supports students in their search, application, and preparation for the placement, including developing interview techniques and effective application materials (e.g. CVs , portfolios, and cover letters).
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Politics Beyond Parliaments (PIR5013MX)
This module analyses the role of civil society and the public sphere in democratic governance and in democratization from a variety of theoretical perspectives.
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Harm in the 21st Century (CRM5003MX)
This module explores the global challenges of harmful behaviours and activities in contemporary society by considering specific areas of concern for criminologists. By drawing on real-world examples in everyday life, the module examines how social problems and issues have arisen due to processes of globalisation that have changed the social, political and economic landscape of the 21st century.
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Crime, Harm and Culture (CRM5009MX)
The module aims to provide students with a critical appreciation of harm and crime by exploring relevant issues from film, television, music, fiction literature and art. By applying a criminological lens to different forms of popular culture, students will be able to examine a variety of media forms in terms of its content and its contemporary political, social and economic context using different theories and concepts.
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Writing Genre Fiction (ENG5017MX)
This module takes students into in-depth engagement with prose fiction writing in various genres, with possibilities including fantasy, science-fiction, period/historical, young adult fiction, horror, comedy, romance, crime, and thriller. The module is taught through lecture, seminars, and workshops where students are asked to submit and feedback to peers and tutors on a regular basis.
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Law in Context: Commerce and Intellectual Property (LAW5019MX)
This module focuses on the work of commercial lawyers in practice in helping businesses to trade. It analyses a range of contractual agreements dealing with the manufacture, sale, supply and distribution of goods, assets and services in general and intellectual property in particular.
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Play and Games for Performance (PER5008MX)
This module will introduce students to practical methods for designing games and play structures for participatory performances that invite audiences to become actively involved in the work. In addition to learning new tools for designing and facilitating play, students will be prompted to consider playfulness from a theoretical perspective, recognising the connection between the play of mimesis and theatrical performance.
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Gothic Fictions: Villains, Virgins and Vampires (ENG5002MX)
This module looks at eighteenth- and nineteenth-century novels to trace the variety and scope of literary contributions to the Gothic. It begins by discussing the origins of the Gothic novel, then moves to the heyday of the genre in the revolutionary 1790s, on to authors writing in the early and mid-nineteenth century, through to the decadence of the 1890s.
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‘Hurt Minds’: Madness and Mental Illness in Literature (ENG5013MX)
This module considers changing attitudes towards, and a variety of theories of, the mind, examining how different cultures have understood ‘healthy’ and ‘unhealthy’ mental states. It will look at how the experience and treatment of mental illness has been represented in fiction. The mind is at its most fascinating when it behaves outside of expected social norms. By considering a variety of literary texts over several centuries, this module explores shifts in the definition, understanding, evaluation, and management of exceptional mental states.
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Voter Behaviour and Effective Election Campaigning (PIR5014MX)
This module undertakes an advanced examination of contemporary trends and developments in theories of electoral behaviour globally; then more specifically the relationship between electoral rules, electoral systems and election outcomes; the evolution of campaign techniques, and the role, mechanics, and accuracy of opinion polls in modern electoral politics. These global understandings are applied directly to the case of British politics.
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Optional placement year
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Undertake an optional placement year where you can build a number of key employability skills. Put theory onto practice, get a taste for your chosen career and expand upon your professional network.
Core modules
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School of Society and Culture Placement Year (SSC600)
Students have the opportunity to gain work experience that will set them apart in the job market when they graduate by undertaking an optional flexible placement year. The placement must be a minimum of 24-weeks (which can be split between a maximum of two different placement providers) and up to a maximum of 48-weeks over the course of the academic year. The placement is flexible and can be undertaken virtually, part or full time and either paid or voluntary. This year allows them to apply and hone the knowledge and skills acquired from the previous years of their programme in the real world.
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Final year
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In your third year, you’ll do comprehensive research on a topic of your choice with expert supervision that helps bring together the skills developed on your journey so far. You’ll deepen your knowledge of politics and IR by studying topics including NATO, the media, understanding conspiracies and post-truth politics, environmental politics, the politics of the USA, the Middle East, the EU, or Africa. Or you can make your degree your own, choosing modules from across our school that interest you the most.By the end of your degree, you will be making your mark, ready to be a part of the change.
Core modules
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Dissertation in Politics and International Relations (PIR6000)
This module provides students with the opportunity to demonstrate their attainment of the aims and objectives of the Honours Programme. It requires the design and execution of a dissertation of 12,000 words in the field of political science, together with the submission of a 2,000 word formative Literature Review detailing the aims and objectives of the dissertation together with a consideration of the extant academic literature in the field of the research question.
Optional modules
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Work Based Learning in Politics or International Relations (PIR6001)
This module provides students with opportunities to gain practical insights into the workings of organisations whose role and function have clear relevance to the focus and subject matter of their undergraduate degree in Politics or International Relations, and to link such insights to their acquired knowledge and understanding of social science theories and concepts. In addition the module will prepare students for the graduate job market and encourage their autonomous engagement in personal development planning.
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NATO after the Cold War and Beyond (PIR6002)
This module proposes to study the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) from a theoretical as well policy point of view. The aim is to investigate the relevance of NATO in the 21st century by looking at how NATO survived and developed in the aftermath of the Cold War as it appeared to have lost its original purpose of containing the Soviet Union. By looking at key developments within NATO in the post-Cold War period, this module also looks at the challenges which NATO has faced and overcome but it also critically reflects on the contemporary relevance of NATO.
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Africa in the International System (PIR6003)
This module provides an introduction to African politics, examining the historical, economic and socio-political developments of over fifty states with a strong regional emphasis, and a particular focus on political economy, state-society relations, foreign policy and conflict analysis. The module’s regional focus allows comparison between different approaches to international relations. It also seeks to provide the tools to analyse and understand what is going on in Africa today.
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Europe in the World (PIR6004)
Europe includes the European Union (the world’s major trading bloc and its most integrated regional institution) as well as many states of importance in their own right. This module takes a holistic look at the EU’s role in the world and the link between its economic and political presence. Furthermore it analyses the role of individual European states (inside and outside the EU). Apart from the policies and strategies of European actors vis-à-vis Russia, the US, China and countries in the Middle East and Africa it will also cover these states’ opinions of Europe and the European Union.
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The Politics of the United States (PIR6006)
This module introduces students to the fundamental principles of politics in the United States. While domestic politics are privileged, consideration is given to the foreign policy of the US. Specific emphasis placed on the role of the Constitution and institutions of governance in promoting (or inhibiting) democracy both domestically and abroad.
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Mao to Now: the Politics of Modern China (PIR6009)
This module introduces students to politics in China. It provides them with the analytical skills and historical understanding to examine the structure of the contemporary Chinese state, looking in particular at Maoist legacies, nationalism and ideology, the relationships between party, law, state and market, and China’s involvement in international affairs.
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American Crime Writing (ENG6005MX)
This module considers the development of twentieth-century American crime fiction from hard-boiled detectives, to myths of the mafia, and postmodern reinventions of the genre. This module will explore the cultural contexts of American crime writing, prevailing conventions of the genre, as well as challenges to those conventions.
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Features Journalism Workshop (ENG6008MX)
This module offers students an in-depth experience of professional writing. We will explore technique in features and literary journalism; music reviews, opinion columns and longer immersion features as well as other contemporary works of non-fiction feature writing, both short- and long-form, from sub-genres including profiles and interviews, autobiography and columns, travel writing, and reportage. We will learn to research and produce our own works of professional nonfiction and critically evaluate them.
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Every undergraduate taught course has a detailed programme specification document describing the course aims, the course structure, the teaching and learning methods, the learning outcomes and the rules of assessment.
The following programme specification represents the latest course structure and may be subject to change:
The modules shown for this course are those currently being studied by our students, or are proposed new modules. Please note that programme structures and individual modules are subject to amendment from time to time as part of the University’s curriculum enrichment programme and in line with changes in the University’s policies and requirements.
Personalise your degree
Politics and International Relations with Anthropology
Modules
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Decolonising the Social Sciences (ANT5006MX)
This module responds to contemporary calls to decolonise the social sciences. It reads the history of social science through the lens of post-colonial and indigenous studies. How have non-western voices been marginalised and silenced by academia? What does academia look from the perspective of the subaltern? Can the social sciences shed their colonial robes, or are they doomed to remain racialised and exclusionary disciplines? We explore these questions in regard to emerging disciplines aimed at constructing better and more inclusive futures, including 'indigenous criminology', 'participatory ethnography', and the 'anthropology of the otherwise'.
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Brave New Worlds: Ethnography of/on Online and Digital Worlds (ANT5008MX)
This module teaches students how to use ethnographic methods to make sense of the internet, which we now increasingly inhabit. Students learn how to navigate and analyse platforms such as Facebook or TikTok. They study how these technologies transform our relationships, identities, and ideas of truth. The module also examines the socio-cultural and ethical aspects of digital worlds (e.g. Second life).
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Coastal Cultures: Marine Anthropology in the age of climate change and mass extinction. (ANT6008MX)
Using ethnography, we analyse how coastal communities use the sea – not only as a source of livelihood, but as a key ingredient in the construction of their identity and place in world. Drawing on a range of cases from across the world – from Polynesian sorcerers, to Japanese whale mourners, to Cornish surfers – we study how coastal communities are responding to climate change, sea level rise, pollution, and extinction.
Politics and International Relations with Art History
Modules
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Painting Sex and Power (ARH5008MX)
The module examines the link between the perception of sexuality and power in a variety of media, and from diverse historical and geographic contexts. Critical approaches from gender studies will be combined with visual analysis in order to contextualize the biased and stereotypical nature of the imagery.
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Imagery in Online and Offline Worlds: Film, Television and Video Games (ARH5002MX)
This module provides students with a comprehensive understanding of current approaches towards mass media and visual culture. Particular emphasis will be put on medium-specificity, content analysis and audience studies.
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Questions in Contemporary Art (ARH6002MX)
The module introduces and examines selected questions raised in the last three decades in contemporary art. Case studies drawn from art history, critical and cultural theory, and where appropriate related disciplines, will be examined.
Politics and International Relations with Creative Writing
Modules
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Writing Creative Nonfiction: Autobiography, Travel Writing, Reportage (ENG5010MX)
This module introduces students to the key concepts and issues in contemporary works of creative nonfiction, or 'life writing'. Included in our readings will be works of memoir and autobiography, travel writing, personal essays and reportage. The module is entirely taught in workshops where we experiment with producing our own works of creative nonfiction and learning to refine them, as well as critically evaluate and contextualise them.
Politics and International Relations with History
Modules
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Global Cold War: Politics, Culture and Society (HIS5004MX)
This module is an introduction to major themes in the political, social and cultural history of the modern world with special focus on the 20th century and the Cold War.
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Eighteenth-Century Empires (HIS5007MX)
This module is designed to explore the ‘long eighteenth century’ with a broad geographical focus, encompassing, but not limited to the Atlantic Isles, Atlantic world, formal and informal empire, and trading connections. It takes in the slave trade and impact of slavery globally, studies voyages of exploration, examines the scientific and political enlightenment, and wider cultural and social impacts of imperialism.
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Middle Kingdoms: Themes in Early Modern Asia (HIS5009MX)
This module introduces the history of early modern Japan (c.16th-19th centuries). At one level, it explores key questions shaping the histories of the late Sengoku (‘Warring States’) and Tokugawa Japan. Building on these questions, it then situates the Japanese experience in a trans-regional perspective with reference to early modern China, Korea, Ryukyu, as well as Europe.
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Dunkirk to D Day: The Second World War in Europe (HIS5014MX)
The module examines the Second World War in Europe and the Atlantic Ocean from 1940 to late 1944.
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Piracy and Privateering, c.1560-1816 (HIS6002MX)
This module explores piracy and privateering activity in the seas around the British Isles and further afield from the reign of Queen Elizabeth to the end of the second Barbary War in 1816. This course focuses on the social history of piracy and privateering, the organisation of pirate society, and the economic impact of piracy and privateering.
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America, the United Nations and International Relations 1945 to the present (HIS6006MX)
This module provides a detailed examination of the relationship between the United States of America and the United Nations in the management of international relations from 1945 to the present.
Politics and International Relations with Criminology
Modules
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Green Criminology (CRM6010MX)
This module will address theoretical perspectives, methodological issues, and empirical research related to the field of green criminology, including applied concerns, such as policy and social/political praxis, through a range of concepts, topics, and themes that are central to green criminology.
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Contemporary Issues in Criminology (CRM5007MX)
This module focuses upon a contemporary criminological or criminal justice-related issue that has received attention in the media and in official reports but may not be well covered yet in an established academic literature. The purpose of the module is for students to collect data on the issue and to subject it to a criminological analysis appropriate to the topic.
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Security and Policing Today: Debates and Issues (CRM5008MX)
This module provides students with a contemporary overview of debates and issues in policing and security environments that inform practice and development in the field. The module examines how modern policing and security function, the impact of professionalization on all aspects of policing tasks and the tensions and benefits attained from multi-agency working. The module considers policing legitimacy, the ethics of crime control and associated engagement with the diversity of contemporary society, competing community interests and professional practice.
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Security Management (CRM6011MX)
This module provides students with a critical insight into the professional domain of security management. It provides an overview of the theories, policies, procedures and practices that underpin the work of the security manager, and focuses upon a career-relevant knowledge and understanding of this significant area of expertise.
Politics and International Relations with Law
Modules
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Environmental Law (LAW5009MX)
The module provides an examination of key themes in environmental law, with a focus on the generation, application and enforcement of this law within a critical and applied context.
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Law, Literature and the Screen (LAW5012MX)
To introduce students to fictional and factional representations of the legal order in prose, film and TV, and to examine the inter-connections between law, literature and the screen.
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Public International Law (LAW6012MX)
A module that focuses on the primary legal principles of the public international legal order, before exploring a range of substantive areas, such as, for example, the use of force, the law regulating the conduct of war, International Human Rights, International Criminal Law and International Environmental Law.
Politics and International Relations with Sociology
Modules
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Globalisation and Social Justice (SOC5005MX)
This module investigates the key debates of globalisation and critically evaluates, in terms of its economic, political, socio-cultural and legal dimensions, the causes and consequences of a globalising world. It furthermore explores a range of international social justice issues to examine the relationships (causative and ameliorative) between policies and (in)justice
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Gender, Sex and Sexuality (SOC5006MX)
This module introduces students to the sociology of gender, sex and sexuality. It interrogates these concepts with particular reference to identity, activism, social justice and social change. It develops an understanding of the similarities, differences and intersections between gender, sex, sexuality and other social signifiers of difference/diversity including ‘race’, ethnicity, dis/ability, class and age.
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Health, Medical Power and Social Justice (SOC6004MX)
This module considers a range of issues concerning health, illness and medical power in contemporary society. The module seeks to develop an understanding of the impact of ‘medicalisation’ on everyday life, as well as the importance of social divisions, such as age, gender, ethnicity and socio-economic status. There will be a focus on a range of sociological perspectives on health with an opportunity to focus upon areas of particular interest.
Politics and International Relations with Policing and Security Management
Modules
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Security Management (CRM6011MX)
This module provides students with a critical insight into the professional domain of security management. It provides an overview of the theories, policies, procedures and practices that underpin the work of the security manager, and focuses upon a career-relevant knowledge and understanding of this significant area of expertise.
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Security and Policing Today: Debates and Issues (CRM5008MX)
This module provides students with a contemporary overview of debates and issues in policing and security environments that inform practice and development in the field. The module examines how modern policing and security function, the impact of professionalization on all aspects of policing tasks and the tensions and benefits attained from multi-agency working. The module considers policing legitimacy, the ethics of crime control and associated engagement with the diversity of contemporary society, competing community interests and professional practice.
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Forensic Criminology: Social Investigations (CRM5006MX)
This module focuses on how social science can contribute to criminal investigations. This involvesforensically investigating the backgrounds and experiences of individuals involved in criminal or deviantbehaviour. The sociology of the police who are tasked to conduct investigations is also analysed. Students will be encouraged to apply criminological techniques and theory to scenario-based examples which will focus on victims, offenders and the police, and their positions in society.
Entry requirements
UCAS tariff
104 - 112
104-112 points including a minimum of 2 A levels. General studies considered.
18 Unit BTEC Extended Diploma: DMM in any subject.
If you hold a BTEC qualification it is vital that you provide our Admissions team with details of the exact modules you have studied as part of the BTEC. Without this information we may be unable to process your application quickly and you could experience significant delays in the progress of your application to study with us. Please explicitly state the full list of modules within your qualification at the time of application.
Pass a named Access to HE Diploma in any subject with at least 33 credits at merit/distinction.
26-28 overall to include 4 at any Higher Level subject. English and Maths accepted within: Higher Level = 4 Standard Level = 5.
All applicants must have GCSE (or equivalent) mathematics and English at grade C or above.
Other
14-19 Diplomas: accepted – please enquire. Other combinations and non-A level qualifications will also be considered.
Fees, costs and funding
Student | 2023-2024 | 2024-2025 |
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Home | £9,250 | £9,250 |
International | £16,300 | £17,100 |
Part time (Home) | £770 | £770 |
Undergraduate scholarships for international students
To reward outstanding achievement the University of Plymouth offers scholarship schemes to help towards funding your studies.
Additional costs
Tuition fees for optional placement years
How to apply
Progression routes
International progression routes
Help & enquiries
- Admission enquiries
- admissions@plymouth.ac.uk
- +44 1752 585858
- PlymUniApply
Explore politics and international relations at Plymouth
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"At Plymouth we don’t just focus on understanding, we hone in on your critical thinking, helping you build a portfolio of skills that allows you to shape change."
Watch lecturers James Goulbourn and Dr Shabnam Holliday talk about what you'll study and the skills you'll learn from our politics and international relations courses at Plymouth. Second-year student Josh talks about his experience of studying politics at an exciting time for global political change.
Learn from experts
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Dr David Brockington
Lecturer in Politics (Education)
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Mr James Goulbourn
Lecturer in Politics & International Relations (Education)
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Dr Patrick Holden
Associate Professor (Reader)
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Dr Lorenzo Cladi
Lecturer in International Relations
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Dr Shabnam Holliday
Associate Professor in International Relations
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Dr Hannah Theaker
Lecturer in History and Politics
Foundation-year courses
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