BSc Politics, Philosophy and Economics

Introduction to Political Economy moves through four stages. First, we ease our way in through some big scene setting questions. Second, different conceptual tools are explored for you to use and reuse, including liberalism, Marxism, gender analysis, and racial politics. Third, we examine how capitalism was built over the past half century, a story of bankers, bureaucrats, and barons who often made a mess of it. Fourth, all these insights are mobilised for dissecting hot current issues, such as the climate crisis (literally hot), the global financial crisis and its fallout, the politics of trade competition, socio-economic inequalities, consumerism, technology, the politics of work, and macro conversations on the future of capitalism. Bonus features include: a field trip to the City of London, one of the world's financial hubs; and social drinks (let’s extract SOAS resources for ourselves like true capitalists).

The module is organised around debates in four areas: (1) a set of scene setting questions to introduce the material; (2) conceptual frameworks, derived from the scholarly tradition of political economy and world politics, including liberalism, Marxism, gender-based approaches, and racial capitalism; (3) the post-WWII history of governing the capitalist system, including attention to finance, trade, development, and energy and the environment; and (4) contemporary issues transfixing the world economy, including the global ecological crisis, the global financial crisis and its fallout, the politics of trade regulation, socio-economic inequalities, new concerns around technology, the political economy of work, and macro debates on capitalism and its possible futures. Students are asked to think critically about how the politics of the economy is conceived, governed, and experienced, in particular through evaluating dynamics of power.

This is a session on essay writing for undergraduate students. It is meant to provide guidance for essay assignments, in the form of both readings, organising, strucutring and writing essay-based coursework. It is particularly aimed for Year 1 undergraduate (with minimal experience on essay writing), but could be openned up to other undergraduate years.

This is a first year module covering macroeconomic principles. It seeks to provide students with the basic concepts and ideas prevailing in (mainstream) macroeconomic theory. It further seeks to introduce students to basic features of macroeconomic reasoning and to develop an understanding of the workings of economic systems. The interaction of macroeconomic variables and mechanisms will be examined for the short and long period, as well as within a closed economy and in terms of the relations between nations (open macroeconomics).

This is a first year module covering microeconomic principles. It deals with the question of how societies organise resource allocation and production through prices, and with the economic behaviour of individuals and individual institutions mediated by markets.

This is a core module in both the BA Politics and BA International Relations degrees and provides a general introduction to methods of political analysis. The module provides the foundation for further study of Politics and International Relations, covering such areas as philosophy of social science, scientific methods, theoretical and methodological debates and skills key to critical reading, writing and analysis. Substantive areas of coverage include debates over structure and agency, politics and policy, historical methods, qualitative and quantitative approaches to the study of politics and international relations, measurement, inference and interpretation, the use of evidence in argumentation, narrative and language. The module is designed to complement other foundational modules in the Department of Politics and International Studies.

The module provides the foundation for further study of Politics and International Relations, covering such areas as philosophy of social science, scientific methods, theoretical and methodological debates and skills key to critical reading, writing and analysis. Substantive areas of coverage include debates over structure and agency, politics and policy, historical methods, qualitative and quantitative approaches to the study of politics and international relations, measurement, inference and interpretation, the use of evidence in argumentation, narrative and language.

This module examines approaches to a number of metaphysical questions from both Global North and Global South traditions. Students will critically approach metaphysical arguments in a comparative way, emphasising the permeable, cross-cultural way of thinking about topics such as personhood, the nature of gender, and the relationship between normativity and nature.

This module is designed to provide students with an introduction to critique of the hegemonic understanding of philosophy, and to engage with core issues, debates and challenges that the acknowledgement and discourse of philosophy as a global discipline involves. The module will introduce students to some key debates, methodological challenges, and major themes that have emerged since the deliberate or non-deliberate recognition of non-Western philosophies beyond the predominant European philosophy in global academia. Some of the debates to be examined include the place of place and the inter in philosophy, the universality and particularities of philosophy, and the problem of accent and the superiority contest among philosophical traditions. The question of method is also examined focussing on such topics as dialogue, comparison, self-critique and language. The module also critically engages with several philosophical traditions by analysing the defining features of a philosophical tradition such as textuality and individual authorship, the gender problem in historicising philosophy, and non-conventional forms of philosophy such as music as philosophy and street philosophy. The module also offers ways in which students can approach practical and theoretical philosophical issues such as bioethical issues, gender issues, and epistemological issues by drawing comparatively from several traditions of philosophy. Thus, this module will prepare students for topics and thematic issues they will encounter in other modules throughout the programme.   

The module begins by developing the central tasks of epistemology which include the formulation and analysis of theories and sources of knowledge, and the analysis of related concepts such as justification, belief, opinion and truth. It also examines the politics of epistemology which consists of the masculinisation and colonisation of the epistemology agenda evident in mainstream epistemology and how the emergence of alternative epistemologies in the last century or so has advanced the feminisation and decolonisation of the epistemology agenda. The module also examines various theories of knowledge in the various philosophical traditions such as Socratic, Cartesian, and Kantian epistemology from the West, communitarian epistemology from Africa, and the Pramana epistemology in India.

This module is designed to provide students with broad and inclusive philosophical perspectives from which to interrogate and analyse the perennial issues and debates around questions of justice and human rights. The philosophical discourse of human rights and justice consists of analysing ontological, epistemological and ethical issues arising from taken-for-granted and operational assumptions about human rights and justice. Such issues include the ontological question of the ‘human’ in human rights, the epistemic challenge of pursuing transnational and global justice, the ethics and psychoanalysis of memory, collective and transgenerational trauma in reparative and restorative justice, the moral limits of human rights vis-à-vis the non-human, the prospects and limits of cosmopolitanism, and the ethical imbalance between rights and duties. Approaches to exploring these issues often rest heavily on theories from the Global North such as egalitarianism, libertarianism, natural rights, and deontology by philosophers such as Kant, Rousseau, Rawls, Dworkin, and Nozick. But there is a lot to learn from non-European philosophies of the human and of justice that can enrich our understanding of human rights and justice. This module thus explores such themes as the Western and Global Southern ontologies and epistemologies of the human, the hermeneutics of justice, relational and communitarian approaches to (in)justice, and analyses of duties in relation to rights, It takes seriously non-Western philosophical perspectives on human rights and justice promoting inclusivity and diversity in the hermeneutics of these important concepts that essentially defines our lived experiences.

This module examines the nature, theories, key themes and debates in philosophical hermeneutics from different philosophical traditions. It also applies theories in these traditions to global issues and lived experiences. Philosophical hermeneutics takes an important place in philosophical discourses, and philosophy, by its very nature and essence, is interpretive and an attempt to understand and interpret being, knowledge and action. Therefore, an important metaphilosophical perspective is the conception of philosophy as an interpretive. But the philosophy of, and philosophy as, interpretation and understanding has often been conceived, approached, and taught in several HE curricula from a purely Western, Anglo-European perspective. This deprives students of richer multi-cultural, multi-place perspectives from various philosophical traditions such as theories and concepts of interpretation and understanding from African philosophy, Buddhist philosophy, Chinese philosophy, Indian philosophy, and Islamic philosophy. This module is designed to fill this gap by focusing on philosophies (rather than philosophy) of interpretation and understanding. It focuses on several philosophical traditions of interpretation and understanding and the dialogue and intersection between these traditions. It also applies the theories in philosophical hermeneutics to some important issues and lived experiences such as race, alterity, social media, gender, healthcare, beauty and nature.

The objective of this module is to provide students with a firm understanding of what the financial system does and how it is organised. It is designed to examine a broad series of topics, including what a financial instrument is and how it is valued; what a financial market is and how it works; what a financial institution is and how it operates. It equips students with the core principles of finance such as time has value, investors need to be compensated for taking risk and information is the basis for investment decision.

This module provides a critical overview of theoretical, empirical and policy issues relating to international trade and investment. It provides an introduction to the main theories of international trade, including standard neoclassical free trade approaches and more recent theories addressing imperfect competition, economies of scale, national competitiveness issues, and managed trade. It also discusses topics in international trade such as the effects of trade on income distribution and poverty, the debate about import substitution and trade protection, and alternative approaches to trade policy. Moreover, it analyses drivers of international factor movements, foreign direct investment, and the role of multinational corporations.

The objective of this module is to provide students with a firm understanding of financial global markets. The module will focus on topics including the role of finance in economic development, the relevance of different financial system structures, and the European Monetary and Economic Union.

This module is designed to introduce students to the major theoretical approaches and concepts in contemporary Development Economics. Both mainstream and heterodox approaches to Development Economics will be covered. Students will have the opportunity to critically engage with international development policy debates by unpicking the theories, frameworks and methods underpinning these debates. The module will apply theories to contemporary issues in low income countries, relying on a variety of case studies throughout.

This module provides a critical and pluralist analysis of macroeconomic phenomena, such as inflation, unemployment, economic growth and productivity. Particular attention is paid to how these phenomena have been analysed by different schools of macroeconomic thought, but also how they interact with the ecosystem and how this interaction differs between the Global North and the Global South. The discussion of green macroeconomic policies and strategies are at the core of the module. The module also focuses on how the macroeconomy is interconnected with the financial system, both in general and in the context of the climate crisis.

The module focuses on how mainstream and heterodox macroeconomic theories and models analyse fiscal and monetary policy, economic growth, the interactions between inequality and macroeconomic performance, the drivers of financial fragility as well as open economy issues. The model also covers how gender and race have recently been introduced in the analysis of macroeconomic phenomena and policies. Throughout the module, theories and models are evaluated based on real-world examples. This permits a critical understanding of their relevance as well as of how they can be used as tools for understanding contemporary macroeconomic phenomena and designing macroeconomic policies.

This course explores the origin, development and diversity of Buddhist philosophical thought in India (5th century BCE to 6th century CE). It examines the Buddhist interpretations of reality, the position of the individual within the wider ontological framework, idealist trends, epistemology and logic.

This module will examine the historical development of African philosophy focusing on the two key periods or phases: the precolonial period and the postcolonial period of African philosophy as well as the key approaches and trends within these periods.
It will also examine the primary concerns and key themes in African metaphysics, African epistemology and African ethics. The module will also explore some other aspects of African philosophy such as African political philosophy, African existentialism, African feminism, African philosophy of difference and disability.

Indian philosophy is often thought to mean Hindu philosophy and treated as if it is primarily theological and religious in nature rather than properly philosophical. This module challenges both of these stereotypes by considering the role of Hindu/Brahmanical and Buddhist thought in the history and formation of Indian philosophical schools and the lively history of debate between different standpoints. The aim of this course is to provide students with an overview of the principal philosophical schools, questions and perspectives that emerged in ancient India that have shaped the traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism in particular. The course challenges narrow western representations of Indian philosophy as per se spiritualistic and focuses on the competition and consequences of key ideas, individual philosophers and schools of thought in historical context.
The module begins with an exploration of the roots of Indian philosophical thought in the early Vedic texts such as the ?gVeda and the Upani?ads and also the role of the denier (nastika) traditions such as Lokayata (materialist), Jaina and Buddhist schools. We shall examine (in translation) selections from the literature of later Brahmanical schools such as Sa?khya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaise?ika and Vedanta, as well as the challenge offered by the Buddhists in particular to the Vedic/Brahmanical traditions. Themes explored include: the nature of knowledge (epistemology), Indian logic and theories of perception, the relationship of consciousness to matter, the fundamental goals of human life, the tension between householder and renunciate worldviews and metaphysical debates about the nature of reality and truth and the relationship of the individual self to the divine. The module concludes by examining the rise of Mahayana Buddhist schools, their impact on the emergence of early Advaita Vedanta, and the incorporation of devotional elements into mainstream Vedantic philosophy.

This course will discuss the many different ways in which Jews have expressed their ethnic, cultural, and religious identity historically from antiquity to modern times. Jewish identity formation and expression needs to be explored within the context of the respective historical, political, social, and economic circumstances in which Jews lived. For the respective time periods under discussion here, the various forms of acculturation and assimilation to surrounding societies and cultures will be examined. Even the more traditional religiously defined forms of Judaism functioned within and in reaction to the non-Jewish cultures Jews had contact with. We shall analyse the significance of ethnicity, nationalism, culture and religion in the definitions of Jewishness and trace developments in the expression of Jewish identity. Our approach is primarily historical and sociological. For some subject areas literary criticism and gender studies approaches will be employed.

This module offers an introductory intellectual history of Islam with especial focus on the different religio-philosophical strands that constitute Muslim worldviews. It will introduce students to the academic, particularly historical study of Islamic thought. The module will start with outlining the emergence and early development of Islam within its wider historical context, will introduce its principal textual sources and doctrines, and will then turn to major religio-philosophical disciplines, such as theology, jurisprudence and philosophy, and to some of the diverse schools of thought and movements that developed in Muslim societies. Attention will be given to the plurality of interpretations of textual sources attested among these schools of thought and to the interplay between religious texts and reasoning in various religious and intellectual contexts

The philosophy of language is the branch of philosophical inquiry concerned with questions related to the nature, use and limits of language as a medium between language-users and between them and the world.
Do words merely describe non-linguistic things in the world, or does language have more to do with expressing intentions, vulnerabilities, and the like? This module looks at a range of Anglo-American, critical theoretic, and African takes on language - with particular attention devoted to language's interrelations with a range of power dynamics.
Students will learn how these various perspectives stand in conversation with each other, how the analysis of language has been linked to and conditioned by metaphysical commitments, and how language's imbrication with power buttresses different self-understandings of the aim of philosophical discussion.

The module introduces students to key concepts, definitions, frameworks, and approaches prevalent in the study of nationalism. It will guide students to develop an understanding of the historical origins of nationalism, the common features that underpin a variety of nationalisms, and the different contexts that continue to shape specific understandings of nationalisms. The first three weeks introduce concepts, theories, and approaches to the study of nationalism. The next three weeks focus on the pivotal role played by empires, and colonial rulers in the formation of national identities, their adaptations in the post-colonial contexts, and the mobilizations for self-determination and secessions. The remaining 4 weeks focus on everyday symbols and practices of nationalism, the rise of populist and right-wing nationalisms, majoritarian nationalisms, and assess the contemporary debates and identify trajectories for future developments.

This module focuses on the domestic politics of sub-Saharan Africa since Independence and particularly the question of the state. Because of the sheer number and diversity of African states the module is structured thematically but the readings allow students to follow up regions and countries of particular interest.

This module introduces students to the phenomenon of war and demonstrates its ubiquity across time and space in human affairs, and develops an account of war as a constitutive force in the production of world politics past, present and future.

This module will impart a solid grounding in the dynamic evolution of the Chinese state and Chinese nationalism, China's self-identified problems of weakness and underdevelopment, the difficult choices made by political elites over the course of three quite different regimes of the 20th and 21st century. Throughout, this module will stress how this legacy offers both the opportunity and constraint for the present politics of China.

Building on the grounding in the dynamic evolution of the Chinese state and Chinese nationalism, established in Government and Politics of China I, this module will consider the contemporary reform era. Starting with an intensive discussion of the structure of the party-state, the contrast between urban and rural China, and then considering important questions of public policy: the environment, public health, the ongoing problem of corruption, and current prospects for the intensification or easing of authoritarianism.

This module provides an overview of the dynamics that shape state-society relations in the modern Middle East and North Africa since the late Ottoman period. It is a ten-week introduction that is followed by a second module that deepens this exploration using further in-depth country cases. Over the course of both modules, we will compare ruling regimes, economic programmes, ideological struggles, group identity categories, and modes of collective action and expression in relation to key developments across the region in the modern period. The module is organised thematically whilst maintaining a chronological integrity that follows the sequence of historical developments in the region.

This module follows on from Government and Politics of the Middle East I in providing an introduction to the dynamics that shape state-society relations in the modern Middle East and North Africa since the late Ottoman period. In this second ten-week module, students will examine processes relating to the second half of the twentieth century and lasting until the present day, and will deepen their knowledge with more in-depth country cases. Over the course of both modules, we will compare ruling regimes, economic programmes, ideological struggles, group identity categories, and modes of collective action and expression in relation to key developments across the region in the modern period. Both modules are organised thematically whilst maintaining a chronological integrity that follows the sequence of historical developments in the region.

This module is a Year 3 optional module for Economics Undergraduates. It aims at providing students with a thorough understanding of core economic policy challenges in the contemporary global economy, and to equip them with the theoretical and applied skills necessary to evaluate policy debates and challenges and contemplate policy solutions to such challenges.

The Research Project in PPE involves students engaging in a project which can take a form of an independent research on a topic related to their degree, which will in turn enhance their ability to analyse issues relating to World Philosophy, Politics and Economics. The Research Project will also provide opportunities to engage with activities that prepares students to embark on careers after graduating.

This course provides an introduction to the post-1950 evolution of the main economies of the Asia-Pacific region (China, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and the ASEAN 10). It looks at macroeconomic issues, with a particular focus on growth, trade and investment flows, and fluctuations in economic indicators since the middle of the 1990s.

This course is about the economic structures, institutions and policy challenges in the countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The course starts with a broad economic history of the region and goes on to address the emergence of the economic structures, resource endowments, and political economy institutions of the modern Middle East. The course highlights the specificities of the political economy of the region in a global cotext and covers selected aspects of economic policy in the contemporary period in these countries. The contemporary nature of the problems facing the MENA countries are addressed throughout the course.

This course looks at the interaction between China's economic transformation and world development since the late 1970s until the present time. The emphasis is on critically analyzing and assessing this interaction from alternative historical and theoretical perspectives.

This module explores economic development in post-colonial Sub-Saharan Africa, bringing together macroeconomic and microeconomic perspectives. It presents theoretical and policy-relevant debates that are of interest not only to those who want to learn about Sub-Saharan Africa specifically but also to those who are seeking to develop a global understanding of economic dynamics.

This module explores ideas developed by the most influential systems of East Asia Buddhism, with specific attention to Japan. It will interrogate the ontological, epistemological and logical positions of the Tendai, Zen and Tantric traditions, considering the discrete terminology through which each school articulates its signification of reality, as well as the concerns and interpretations they shared.

This module focuses on aspects of the intellectual history of the medieval Islamic world, above all the history of philosophy and systematic theology. It will examine various thinkers and schools of thought of the classical and post-classical periods, including Aristotelianism, Mu‘tazilism and Ash‘arism, and will introduce key concepts, problems and debates, particularly in metaphysics, natural philosophy, epistemology, ethics and anthropology. These topics will be approached analytically, situated and interpreted within their broader contexts, and read through representative primary texts in translation. Attention will be given to contemporary scholarly methodologies and debates in the field.

This module is an introduction to the main themes, arguments and debates of classical Chinese thought. We will look at its initial formative period, approximately between the sixth and the third centuries BCE, later developments during the Imperial time, and the relevance and traces in modern and contemporary China.

This module explores the impact of modernity, colonialism and Orientalism on the representation and framing of Indian Brahmanical (Hindu") and Buddhist thought in the modern period. The modern exclusion of Indian thought from the category of "Philosophy" will be explored through a range of theoretical and postcolonial approaches, examining the formation of "Hinduism" and "Buddhism" as "world religions" and the role that taken for granted concepts such as religion, mysticism and spirituality have played in the normalisation of a Eurocentric framing of South Asian intellectual traditions and identities in the late colonial/modern era. "

This course builds on ‘The Margins of Philosophy’ module in order to foreground perspectives traditionally marginalised by mainstream philosophy, many of which originate outside a western normative context. These perspectives—post- and de-colonial, gender, queer, disability, critical race, and feminist theory—pose profound challenges to the self-understanding and boundaries of Philosophy, particularly its epistemological assumptions and status, and are preoccupied with the nature of justice and freedom. Moreover, they make specific claims about the models and systems of power that underwrite philosophy’s claims to provide a holistic, universal account of the world.  We specifically attend to who the philosopher may be–racialised, gendered, embodied, political–and why the biography of the philosopher matters in order to challenge the normative ontology of western thought. Taking a lead from bell hooks’ claim that the ‘margin is a site of radical possibility’, we examine closely the importance of marginalised voices for reconfiguring the discipline of Philosophy and for offering a site ‘from which to see and create, to imagine alternatives, new worlds’ (bell hooks (2015).

This course introduces the structuralist and poststructuralist paradigm that informs the work of Jacques Derrida in order to familiarise students with the main tools of his philosophical project, and his role in inaugurating poststructuralism. We will pay attention to the intellectual oeuvres of other influential theorists of the poststructuralist school which will be shown to offer a wide-ranging, internal critique of the self-identity of Philosophy and its constitutive exclusions. The thinkers we examine pay particular attention to questions of power and knowledge in the construction of subjectivity and pose a strong challenge to the European humanist concepts of the self and western knowledge systems.

In this module we will examine forms of global governance across a range of issue areas – including security, human rights, migration, and humanitarianism. Students will be asked to critically examine how power and hierarchy is being made and remade through the idea of global governance.

This course introduces third year students in Politics degrees to diverse debates in gender and politics. Developed through a thematic, transnational approach, the module invites students to engage with majority world thinking on thematic questions and situate these intellectual debates within contemporary gender concerns

This module traces the history and politics of Palestine and the Zionist movement, within a regional and international context, from the late nineteenth century to the present. It examines Palestinian and Israeli understandings of the past and present through primary sources, scholarship, and cultural production. The module seeks to understand how and at what costs Israeli and Palestinian political institutions and nationalisms have been constructed and analyzes British and US involvement in the conflict. Key themes to be introduced and explored include imperialism, settler colonialism, nationalism, Orientalism, violence, anticolonialism, and revolution, all as understood by a variety of actors involved in the region.

This module provides a scholarly introduction to the politics of global migration, drawing on examples and case studies from around the world.

The climate crisis is clearly one of the primary existential threats facing the human species. But how we understand the roots of the climate crisis, its current and future impacts on world politics, and its possible solutions, is inherently contested terrain. Nothing less than the future of life on earth, and competing conceptions of the ‘good life’ and how we should organize our societies, is at stake. This course will investigate the global politics of the climate crisis, starting with scientific debates regarding the possible severity of climate change (how bad could it get?), and then moving through questions about climate governance, the political economy of climate change, the energy and food system transitions, migration, geoengineering, possible global futures, and activism. We can hardly hope to exhaust such a complex topic in the span of 10 weeks. Instead, we will cover some key topics and hear from a wide range of perspectives. The goal will be to give students a basic grounding in the science, politics, and economics of climate change; to enable them to critically engage with a multiple perspectives on the key causes and possible solutions to the climate crisis; and to help them think through its implications for their own lives and futures.

This module introduces final year undergraduate students to a range of key issues in contemporary world politics, centered on conflict, rights, and justice – and to what extent developments in these issues reflect, or even drive, changes in the ‘liberal’ international order. The module considers the role of war and violence in contemporary international politics, and asks what, if anything, we should make of claims of the historical decline of inter-state war and, more recently, civil wars. We also look at international efforts to manage both the occurrence and conduct of armed conflict through international law and norms, and ask why civilians nonetheless are increasingly vulnerable. We’ll also look at the focus on terrorism that long has dominated international management of global ‘peace and security’, and, more recently, to the ‘rise’ of nationalism in world politics; through both, we consider the interconnected implications for armed resistance to oppression, and demands for collective rights. In the rest of the term, we’ll look at the implications of the expansion of ‘hybrid war’ – surveillance, drone (and increasingly automated) warfare and cyber warfare; the contested politics of human rights, civil liberties, and asylum (‘protection’); the increased international focus on women, children, and sexual violence in conflict; and controversies over international justice for war crimes and mass atrocities.