Global Sustainable Development BA

Core modules:

Sustainability in Practice

This module provides you with an opportunity to build on and apply learning from other taught modules by undertaking a group-based project focussed on issues of global sustainable development. Working in small interdisciplinary teams, you will identify a topic of interest and learn how to focus on a specific issue related to sustainable development. You will learn how to engage with key stakeholders to develop a thorough understanding of the current situation, their aspirations for a more sustainable solution and how to develop a plan of action to achieve change. You will identify appropriate measures of success and change.  This module aims to: A1: Develop your knowledge and understanding of how to conduct group-based research on 'real world' sustainability topics; A2: Build your capacity to evaluate a contemporary practice with respect to specific sustainable development priorities and propose relevant responses; A3: Enable you to investigate stakeholder perspectives on sustainability issues and to understand diverse perspectives;  A4: Provide you with experience of both conducting a small-scale sustainability quality improvement study including using research methods, analysis, and reporting; A5: Build your capabilities to work as part of a team, sharing and planning responsibilities equitably, communicating effectively and working to deadlines.

10 credits

Climate, Environment and Sustainability

This module provides you with a foundation to develop your understanding of both the contexts for and key issues around climate, environment and sustainability policy developments. You will be introduced to a range of global and societal challenges, from both physical science and social science perspectives. Examples in the Global North and Global South will include action on biodiversity loss, climate change adaptation and mitigation, water and land-use management and food. You will explore the drivers and existing conditions of environmental issues, their impacts and responses to these, and learn how to question assumptions about environmental processes.



This module aims to support you in developing your understanding of interconnected global and societal challenges, at a range of scales and levels, including learning about key environmental and climate issues and trends, equip you with methodological and analytical tools, to both (a) understand historical and contemporary 'solutions' to challenges; and (b) creatively identify contextually appropriate responses, engage you in reflective- and practice-based learning, including chances to conduct research and  develop professional skills in exploring interconnected environmental, political, economic and societal aspects of sustainability, and actors involved therein and contribute to your self-reflexivity regarding your principles, assumptions, positionalities and aspirations relating to global sustainable development.

20 credits

Understanding Inequalities: Policy Responses From Local to Global

Through this module you will explore the extent, causes, and consequences of social and economic inequalities and how public policy may help to prevent or reduce them. The module adopts a comparative approach focusing on examples in the Global North and the Global South, beginning with a discussion of key concepts and metrics that are used to discuss and measure inequality. We then follow a life-course perspective to trace out the institutions through which inequality is structured, reproduced, and experienced such as the family, the neighbourhood, the educational system, labour markets, and the criminal justice system, attending to the roles of race, class, and gender as axes of stratification in these domains. For each institution and social stratification axis we will be looking at public policy alternatives to tackle and reduce inequalities across them using examples from the Global North and the Global South. The module will also look at the role of international institutions at shaping public policy responses to tackle inequalities worldwide.

This module aims to, provide you with an understanding of the various dimensions of inequality worldwide, enable you to critically assess the role of public policy in tackling social and economic inequalities in a comparative perspective and help you develop good presentation, report writing and critical analytical skills.

20 credits

Analysing Global Challenges

This module introduces you to core theories and concepts in global politics and global political economy, and, in turn, their application to key issues relating to global development and sustainability. By examining the complex relationships between politics and economics, and contested explanations of them, it familiarizes you with key actors and institutions in the global system working to engender sustainable development, and the real-world battles and conflicts that occur in these arenas. By surveying both classical and critical theories, it demonstrates how different theoretical and conceptual frameworks deepen our understanding of these processes in various domains, including agriculture, energy transitions, and global climate governance. In the process, you will learn about patriarchy, imperialism, Eurocentrism and slavery as well as the class-based, race-based and gender-based nature of trade, production and finance and their ecological implications.



The module aims to provide you with basic knowledge of the main theories and concepts used in the fields of Global Politics and Global Political Economy; enable you to apply these concepts and theories to analyse real-life Global Sustainable Development issues; equip you with presentation, writing and analytical skills.

20 credits

Global Development: History and key debates

This module provides you with a core grounding in the key historical and contemporary debates encompassing both classical and alternative approaches to international/global development. During this module you will develop an understanding of key theories and ideas which have shaped the evolution of global development as a field of scholarship and practice. Through this understanding you will learn to critically debate different schools of development thinking and the evolving history of the field, from colonialism through to efforts to 'decolonise' the field. You will consider a range of policy approaches and how these have evolved in relation to changing global priorities and debates, including the shift from a discourse of 'international' to 'global' development and its implications.



This module aims to:



Introduce you to the concept of development and key debates over its definition and scope, build your understanding of the historical evolution of the idea of development and of associated spheres of policy and practice. Develop your capacities to critically engage with academic literature on development from a range of different perspectives and disciplines and foster your  abilities to draw links between development debates and the questions of sustainability and global political economy raised in other L1 core modules.

20 credits

Knowledges, Power and Interdisciplinarity

Through this module, you will develop an understanding of the complexities and intersectionalities at play within global sustainable development as a field of study and practice, alongside a range of key transferable, academic and research skills. These skills underpin the ability to think and work in interdisciplinary ways, to question the power behind knowledge(s) and develop critical reasoning skills. Through lectures, workshops and small group tutorials, run by academic staff, you will develop skills in finding, presenting, analysing and critically evaluating complex information, key qualitative and quantitative research methods. 

This module aims to:1.    Introduce you to a range of core skills and methods used in global sustainable development research and practice2.    Provide key training in finding, evaluating, analysing and presenting data and information 3.    Support you in putting foundational research methods skills into practice4.    Develop your skills in self-reflection and an awareness of positionality, ethics, power and social relations inherent to global sustainable development 5.    Develop your skills and understanding of the importance of interdisciplinary approaches to framing and tackling key global sustainable development issues

30 credits

Core modules:

Research, Skills and Ethics for Global Sustainable Development

Ensuring the realisation of global sustainable development requires delivering policies and practices to achieve social and environmental justice. These policies must be underpinned by reliable, robust and ethical research. This module supports you in developing understanding and skills to design, conduct, analyse and present findings from research while being attentive to ethical, moral and logistical concerns. Beginning with understanding the philosophical background to and processes involved in designing research for global sustainable development, the module provides training in key quantitative and qualitative methods (including creative and participatory methods) as well as detailed engagement with the moral, ethical and practical complexities of delivering research. This module is delivered through lectures, small group teaching and practical activities. 



This module aims to:

Equip you with the knowledge and skills to design conduct and present findings from research and fieldworkDevelop your ethical competencies and awareness in conducting research for global sustainable developmentProvide you with a methods tool kit, and understanding of the appropriateness of these methods for conducting different research activities

30 credits

Sustainable Development and Global Justice

Development in the Global South is a major issue of international concern in the 21st century. This module explores contemporary development issues and examines the contribution that geographers, and geographical thought, can make towards understanding inequality, poverty and socio-economic change. Definitions of 'development', 'poverty' and 'the poor' shift and are invested with political meaning which reflect specific geographies and ways of seeing the world: students develop critical understandings of such terminology and the power dynamics implicit within them. This module addresses diverse theories, paradigms and contemporary critiques of development, and explores some of the central issues affecting processes of development. Case examples are drawn from Latin America, Africa and South-East Asia.

20 credits

Global Challenges: Live Policy Analysis

Through this project-based module, you will build on your knowledge of policy and discourse derived from other L2 modules to engage in a 'live' policy analysis of a prominent global issue related to GSD. You will be supported to select an appropriate current affairs issue relevant to the themes of the course, which you then track through media analysis and investigate through academic reading and any other available data. You will engage in analysis of policy frameworks relevant to a specific problem/challenge, media representation and how this changes over time, proposed solutions and how these are contested, and the role of different stakeholders seeking to promote change in relation to this particular issue. This module aims to:

Develop your understanding of policy processes and 'real world' debates on sustainable development issues Build your  skills in autonomous working and project management Develop your skills in critically analysing different sources of information Enhance your communication skills through  a range of formats

10 credits

Interventions: goals, policy and advocacy

Development is sometimes conceptualised as a process, but is also associated with a range of concrete interventions by governments, international donors, NGOs and other actors, which are aimed at stimulating particular kinds of economic and societal change. This module will focus on the forms of intervention, policy and advocacy through which actors and institutions seek to generate change in relation to GSD. You will explore debates on the principles guiding development interventions, such as the role and value of foreign aid, the policy-making process at different scales, and the processes of organizing and advocacy to promote particular agendas and realise goals relevant to GSD. This will include a focus on the process of setting global targets such as the SDGs and implementing these nationally and locally, and will introduce you to the range of key global institutions in GSD associated with different kinds of development and sustainability interventions. The module aims to introduce you to a range of key development actors involved in designing and implementing development interventions, engage you in analysis and reflection of different strategies and approaches to engineering change in a global sustainable development context. It will also help you to understand different policy-making processes at local, national and global scales, including the setting of global goals for development; and foster your self-reflexivity in relation to global sustainable development.

20 credits

Example optional modules:

International Economics

This module addresses fundamental questions in International Economics, with a particular focus on the phenomenon known as 'global imbalances'. Many countries, including the world's largest economies, have been accumulating increasingly large external debt positions or external asset positions over the last few decades. This phenomenon has important consequences for the stability of the international economy and is often a concern for policy makers. This module will introduce you to modern, microfounded tools required to understand these imbalances, based on the latest economic research.

20 credits

Statistics and Econometrics

This module introduces dual honours economics students to Statistics and Econometrics and in particular how they are used in economics, to investigate economic relationships and to test economic theories. The first part of the module describes the key statistical ideas and methods that economics students need to know, and provides opportunities to practise their use. The second part of the module focusses on econometrics, providing students with the knowledge of how to model economic data, again with opportunities to develop practical experience in this area.

20 credits

Culture, Space and Difference

This research-led module introduces students to the cutting edge of Social and Cultural Geography and dovetails with the Sheffield Geography Department’s Culture, Space and Difference research group. The module illustrates the diversity and vitality of contemporary social and cultural geography including some of the philosophical concepts and theoretical debates that have shaped the subject.  The module aims to deepen and enrich the ways in which students are able to think about geographical issues, through a critical understanding of concepts and approaches that underpin the substance and methods of contemporary human geography. The module team work with students to develop their own ‘photo essays’  - which bring the ideas of the module to students’ experiences from everyday life.

20 credits

Territory, Power and Policy

The module introduces you to contemporary debates within political geography. You will develop a detailed understanding of political processes at a variety of spatial scales, from the international, national to the local, from collective politics to individual political behaviour. You will explore questions of power, efficacy and conflict with an emphasis on the spatial and place-specific aspects of politics in relation to issues including: geopolitics and international relations; the state and territoriality; the politics of nationalism and citizenship; civic activism; and individual political participation.

20 credits

Who Gets What? Social Justice and the Environment

Environmental issues continue to be a key area of contemporary public concern and current political debate. They raise fundamental questions about the relationship between society and environment, and the politics and equity of that relationship. This module provides a geographical introduction to these issues and debates with examples from a range of scales from the global to the local. It also considers the role of stakeholders and how they benefit or are disadvantaged by policy that seeks to address issues to do with the environment-society relationship. The module then develops these core ideas through inter-related sections covering debates focused on different empirical themes.

Particular skills will be achieved including: policy analysis, ethical awareness, positive mindset, global awareness and self-awareness.

20 credits

Ecological Processes, Design & Management

This module introduces the principles and practice of landscape ecology and ecological design and their application in a variety of contexts. Key ecological concepts such as 'biodiversity' and 'ecosystems services' are introduced and the special nature of urban ecology and its relevance to the design of urban green spaces is explored. Through lectures and site visits the structure and functioning of key UK biotypes, their characteristics and application on the designed landscape are explained, and particular emphasis is placed on the creative application of these in order to deliver ecosystems services and biodiversity. Site based project work is used to allow students to develop their own ecologically inspired concepts and designs for multifunctional green infrastructure that benefits both people and wildlife and to demonstrate their ability to communicate their knowledge of ecological principles and design to different audiences.Knowledge and skills developed will build on modules taken at level 1.

20 credits

Landscape Planning for a Changing World

This module explores the relationship between landscape,planning, policy and governance at different scales and in different contexts. This ranges from international decision-making frameworks down to individual sites in different contexts. Students will learn about the impact of policy and ideas on landscape and vice versa, and explore the role of landscape planning tools, techniques and methodologies within the wider planning framework. The module will examine how decisions about landscape are made and the effects they have from the strategic to the site scale.

20 credits

The Political Economy of Global Capitalism

This module will begin by providing students with an account of the major theoretical traditions which seek to interpret and explain the global political economy. These are liberalism and interdependence theory; mercantilism, nationalism and hegemonic stability theory; and marxism, dependency and world systems theory. It then explores different aspects of the contemporary global political economy - finance, development, trade and production - and ends by reviewing the intellectual debate about the meaning of globalisation.

20 credits

Human Rights, Power and Politics

The module introduces students to the big debates about human rights. It explores the achievements of the human rights agenda, as well as its failures. The module interrogates a number of important questions about the relationship between human rights and politics. How do human rights work in domestic and international politics? What are effective strategies for realising rights? What role do non-state actors play in the realisation of human rights? Finally, by focusing on the methodological and ethical challenges of researching and measuring human rights, the module makes space for equipping students for their own future research projects.

20 credits

Migration and World Politics

Migration has been receiving more attention in international politics. This module analyses migration using a world politics lens. It will provide students with the concepts and theories - as well as the historical, contextual and critical skills - needed to understand international migration from different perspectives. It will discuss migration and problematise migration concepts and categories such as forced migration (asylum and internal people displacement), statelessness and citizenship, border control/security, labour migration, migration diplomacy, family migration and environmental migration. It will also approach case studies including the Migration and Asylum Policy of the European Union, migration politics in Latin America and the USA-Mexico border among others.

20 credits

Understanding 'Race' and Migration

This module explores the meaning of 'race' and migration in various social and political contexts. It aims to develop an in-depth understanding of sociological theories of 'race', racism and migration through an exploration of the development of 'race' as an ideology, as a concept influenced by history and politics, and through its relevance in the contemporary context. The module examines how ideas about race and migration help to shape and determine social and political relations. It also explores the role of race and migration as major sources of social divisions and how racism operates in the reproduction of structural inequalities. These issues are explored through sociological theory, as well as policy and practice areas such as theories of racialised identities, immigration regimes, education and criminal justice.

20 credits

Dynamics of Social Change and Policy

This unit adopts a 'sociological perspective on social policy' to provide a macro perspective on contemporary social and economic transformations in the UK and globally, with a particular emphasis on the challenges posed for social policy theory and practice, as well as the potential to imagine alternative social policy scenarios. Issues considered include: globalisation, neoliberalism, falling fertility and ageing societies, precarious labour markets and migration and mobility. The unit adopts a comparative and international / global perspective, variously emphasising not only the perspectives of International Organisations, but also the challenges faced by other types of welfare regimes.

20 credits

Social Problems: Policy and Practice

This team taught unit adopts a 'sociological approach to social policy'. Drawing on current examples and comparative references, it explores social and ideological constructions of social problems and the role of the state and other agencies in responses to them. It explores key concepts and themes in social policy and practice such as inequality, justice and fairness; individual versus collective responsibility; and welfare versus social control. It focuses on major contemporary issues, including welfare and work; housing and homelessness; and community participation. The unit aims to equip students with the necessary critical perspective and skills to understand and explore social problems.

20 credits

Core modules:

Global Sustainable Development on the Ground

During this module you will gain substantive knowledge and critical understanding of researching global sustainable development through fieldclass-based hands-on research activities. Working collaboratively with external partners and with intensive support and guidance from academic staff you will develop skills in research design and implementation, while exploring the everyday realities and ethics of global sustainable development policies and practices. Addressing questions relating to areas such as social and environmental justice, environmental protection, poverty and power you will gain an understanding of the intersections of local and global sustainable development approaches, with particular attention to local, grass-roots perspectives. 



This module aims to:

Provide you with substantive knowledge, understanding and skills in researching global sustainable development Enhance your transferable, research, communication and employability skills through in-depth, high-quality field research practice Provide you with a structured and supported experience in addressing the ethical complexities of global sustainable development as a field of research and practice.

20 credits

Dissertation for Global Sustainable Development

During this module you will prepare and carry out your own research project on a topic relating to global sustainable development. Under the supervision of a staff member, you will produce a research report in the style and length of an academic journal article. This work will be based upon your own primary data collection and/or analysis of existing secondary datasets.



 

40 credits

Professional practice for global sustainable development

To effectively work towards the realisation of global sustainable development, it is vital to have a key toolkit of professional skills. This module provides key training in a variety of employability-related skills that will equip you to work in various sectors including the public, policy, private and charitable realms. Through the module you will develop specific professional skills, as well as the ability to reflect upon and develop your own skills and practice, and apply analytical tools and critical thinking skills to a professional practice scenario.



This module aims to equip you with the knowledge and skills required to work in a range of professional settings linked to global sustainable development. Develop your skills and competencies with regards to both employability and self-reflection and self-development. Develop your critical awareness of professional practice in relation to global sustainable development, including ethical challenges and develop your skills in responding to and delivering on common professional demands, such as competitive tenders and/or consultancies

20 credits

Example optional modules:

Economics of Race and Gender

The Economics of Race and Gender first presents an overview of differential outcomes by gender and ethnicity in the UK labour market and discusses the possible drivers of these differences. It then presents economic theories of discrimination in labour markets before discussing the strategies that economists use to test for discrimination in the real world. The module ends with a discussion of the interplay between economics and psychology as a means to better understand when and why discrimination occurs.

20 credits

Economic Analysis of Inequality and Poverty

This module will cover the economic theories used for the analysis of inequality and poverty.
The theories will be backed by evidence from both the developed and the developing countries. The module starts off by a discussion of issues around measurement of inequality and poverty; the different measures that are used and the inherent assumptions behind these measures. We then move on to explain the existing global trends in inequality and poverty. Different theories are used to explain these trends; for example: role of human capital, poverty traps etc. Finally we discuss the policy response of different countries to address the issues of inequality and poverty, drawing on the specific examples of welfare programmes in the developed countries and the conditional cash transfers in the developing countries.

20 credits

International Trade

The first part of the course will cover neoclassical trade theories in which countries trade following their comparative advantage. The second part of the course deals with more recent trade theories based on economies of scale and/or imperfect competition that helps us to explain some recent patterns observed in the data. The third part of the course is an introduction to trade policy and the political economy of trade policy.

20 credits

Globalising Education

This module considers the extent to which education might be viewed as a global context with a shared meaning. Moving outwards from the dominant concepts, principles and practices which frame 'our own' national, or regional responses to education, the module explores other possible ways of understanding difference. By examining 'other ways of seeing difference', in unfamiliar contexts, students are able to examine the implications of globalisation for education and explore the opportunities and obstacles for the social justice agendas within a range of cultural settings.

20 credits

Decolonising Geographies

This module examines Indigenous geographies through Indigenous storytelling and film as a way to understand the need to decolonise geography. It examines how race, racism, Indigenous rights, settler colonialism, settler responsibility, white supremacy, land rights, dispossession and genocide shape geographies of place, space and landscape, as well as more affirmative visions of Indigenous futures. Topics covered include geographies of identity, emotions, memory, racism, colonialism, gender, landscape, and visual representation. The aim of this module is to centre Indigenous narratives, voices and knowledge to understand geography differently while simultaneously critiquing the current whiteness of academic geographical discourse. Trigger warning - this module engages with potentially distressing and challenging themes of rape, murder, abuse, loss and violence.

20 credits

Consumption and Sustainability

In this module we critically engage both ‘consumption’ and ‘sustainability’ and work with key debates and approaches that help us to understand what produces and maintains patterns of consumption. We will examine some key debates about material culture and mass consumption. The module studies the social relationships which come together around consumption at a variety of scales, from the body and the home to the national and the trans-national. What can different current approaches tell us about how we can move towards sustainable and socially just patterns of consumption while enjoying a good life?

20 credits

Urban Transformations

From the industrial-era modern cities of the Global North such as Manchester and Chicago to the fragmented, sprawling mega-cities of the contemporary Global South such as Lagos and Delhi, urban theorists have sought to understand the interplay of power, everyday practice, and social, political, economic, and cultural processes that both transform and are transformed by urban space. Pulling together critical social science and humanities-informed perspectives, the module draws from interdisciplinary theory and research to engage with urban transformations in both the Global North and the Global South. Topics may include transformations in urban theory, urban uprisings, urban infrastructure, and the role of film and literature in documenting and anticipating urban change.

20 credits

Democracy and Citizenship: Dilemmas and Tensions

This module explores how a geographical approach helps us to analyse issues such as controversial election results, divisive immigration policies, and contentious social activism. The two key concepts of democracy and citizenship are used to engage with contemporary debates and theories to draw out the links between geography, policy and society, and the ways in which these are shaped and responded to by citizens, communities, civil society, and political parties. The module emphasises the critical appraisal and interpretation of a variety of perspectives - including our own. Particular attention is paid to the ways in which these interactions are played out across and through multiple scales, from the global to our everyday lives.

20 credits

Landscape Planning - Urban Regeneration

This module addresses the patterns and processes of urban development, examining theories and typologies of urban form, the drivers of urban change and urban regeneration. It investigates the relationship between urban form and urban greenspace and the implications for green infrastructure. Students are expected to research and present understanding of a core component of relevant literature, and relate this to examples of urban form, and to devise a masterplan for a previously developed site in Sheffield, drawing on their understanding of history and theory of urban development and using precedent to inform their approach. The course uses a mixture of lectures, field work, workshops and studio based independent study to provide insight into planning and design approaches and languages relevant to successful urban regeneration. It aims to give students knowledge and understanding of the complex planning and design frameworks within which different aspects of urban regeneration take place.

20 credits

Green Infrastructure and Ecological Masterplanning

This module aims, through a site-based project, to apply the principles of ecological design and sustainable landscape management to a medium-large unit of urban greenspace. The integration of scientific ecological knowledge with creative design skills is central to the module. Emphasis is placed on enhancing biodiversity and developing appropriate vegetation types, while at the same time catering for the needs of site users. The importance of urban green networks and green links is stressed. Emphasis is placed on the use of locally appropriate species and habitats. The module will introduce students to knowledge and techniques applicable to specified topics within landscape ecology, ecological design, and ecological landscape management and enable students to undertake independent research into specified topics and apply their findings to tightly defined design or management scenarios. Specific focus is given to environmental engineering topics such as green roofs and water sensitive design, and their relationship with urban biodiversity

20 credits

Terrorism, Violence and the State

This module aims to provide students with an understanding of the nature and legitimacy of forms of protest against the modern state. In particular the module focuses on issues of contemporary terrorism. However, in order to understand the nature and motivations of terrorism it is necessary to understand the nature of the modern state and other, non-violent forms of protest such as civil disobedience.

20 credits

War, Peace and Justice

This module provides a practical and theoretical overview of contemporary war, peace and justice. It explores key conversations, issues and conceptual responses relating to: the challenges and ethics of researching war; the construction of ethics and notions of justice in war and peace; the politics of technology in contemporary warfare; the politics of peace, resistance and pacifism; the politics of war, memory and commemoration; embodied and emotional registers of war; and the politics of death and grievability. Students will explore the practice, experience, representation and cultural imaginary of war in the 21st century and consider implications for peace and justice.

20 credits

Pandemics and Panics: Health, Security and Global Politics

In today's globalized world, infectious diseases and other health issues have increasingly come to be seen as security threats - a shift that has challenged traditional notions of what 'Security Studies' is all about. This module seeks to provide an understanding of the contemporary politics of health and security, identifying the health issues which have been seen as security threats and the major policy responses to them. The module locates health and disease within the key approaches to Security Studies (including state-centric and human security approaches), and requires students to critically engage with the politics and ethics of securitizing health.

20 credits

Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict

This module will address when, why, and how widespread sexual violence occurs in armed conflicts. The module will
(1) examine how academics and international actors understand and research what sexual violence is and why it occurs in certain conflicts;
(2) assess the international efforts to prosecute and prevent sexual violence in armed conflict; and
(3) undertake in-depth case study analysis to assess the various long-term consequences of sexual violence in armed conflict for individuals, communities, and processes of reconciliation.
Resultantly the module will assess what can be done to address this security issue and its numerous violent consequences.

20 credits

Corporations in Global Politics: Possibilities, Tensions, and Ambiguities

Corporations are ubiquitous, affecting everything from mundane individual consumption choices, to the investment decisions of both weak and powerful states. Importantly, their authority extends beyond the economic sphere and into political, as they shape and execute policies and activities for some of the world's most pressing problems. This module explores the multifaceted political roles of corporations, and challenges students to critically reflect on their implications. Drawing upon international relations, political economy, and global governance literatures, it analyses the corporation theoretically, but also empirically drawing upon diverse case studies ranging from environmental sustainability and development, to war-making and peacekeeping.

20 credits

Water, Climate, Energy

This module explores the place of water, climate and energy in global politics. Human-induced global climate change is one of the central challenges - perhaps the single greatest challenge - of our age. It is a consequence, above all, of our insatiable appetite for fossil fuel energy resources. And many of its most serious consequences are projected to relate to water, from increased floods and droughts to rising seas. Moreover, water, climate and energy issues are deeply political, in both their causes, and their current and anticipated future consequences. Adopting a political ecology approach, this module introduces and investigates this politics.

20 credits

Peacekeeping, State-building and International Intervention

This module looks at the way international intervention has changed in recent years. It draws on a number of different areas - humanitarian intervention, peacekeeping, development and state-building. It draws these areas together by exploring what they have in common and how there has been a shift in the way that international intervention deals with these issues. In particular, the international community has moved from direct involvement towards a form of governance that operates from a distance by encouraging local ownership, capacity building and resilience.

20 credits

Practical Politics: How to Make Policy and Influence People

This course will provide a practical, hands on account of how policy is formulated, implemented and why it sometimes doesn't work. Focussing on environmental politics, the course draws on the experiences of policy experts including civil servants, lobbyists and politicians. It will an assessment that mirrors tasks routinely undertaken by those within or seeking to influence government.

20 credits

Whiteness, Power and Privilege

This unit explores the importance of studying whiteness in order to understand racism as a system of power relationships. It explains why the construction of whiteness has become a key focus in debates about race and ethnicity and examines critically some of the key themes to emerge in this field of study. This includes exploring the historical origins of 'white studies' and assessing representations of whiteness in literary and visual culture. It also includes exploring the racialised, classed and gendered boundaries of whiteness by examining, for example, the socially and politically constructed categories of 'white trash' and the 'chav'.

20 credits

Protest, Movements and Social Change

The unit is an introduction to the study of the ways in which protest and social movements drive social change. The unit will take an historical overview, tracing the development of theoretical and empirical approaches to the study of social movements, matched with historical and contemporary case studies of movements from around the world. By focusing on what function movements play in society, as well as how they have been studied, students will be equipped with the tools to both analyse movements, and engage with sociological debates surrounding larger questions of inequality, identity, democracy and social justice.

20 credits

Children, Families and Welfare States

This module examines welfare state support and services for children, parents and families, informed by sociological and social policy theories, concepts and research. Adopting a comparative approach, the module critically reviews different approaches to, and configurations of, welfare state support and services for children, parents and families across the UK and Western/Northern European welfare states. Four policy and provision domains are examined, namely cash support for children and families; childcare and early years' services; parental leave and work-family balance policies; and child welfare and family support services.

20 credits

Perspectives on inequalities

This module is co-taught with local agency, community and family members. It asks students to think about the everyday experiences of inequality. It explores some of the core theoretical frameworks for interrogating inequality, and then explores everyday reality to apply the theories and concepts. The involvement of practitioners, community members and families means that the module is interactive and requires full attendance, in order to ensure a respectful experience for external contributors.

20 credits