Government & Politics

In this course, Dr Clodagh Harrington (De Montfort University) examines the presidency of Barack Obama. We begin in the first module with Obama’s strategy and performance in the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries and then the ...

In this course, Professor Matthew Humphrey (University of Nottingham) thinks about ecologism as a political ideology by surveying five key thinkers to illustrate both the diversity of ecological thought, and its core unifying themes. We begin in...

In this course, Dr Catherine McGlynn (University of Huddersfield) explores the politics of Northern Ireland, from the opening of the first Northern Irish Parliament in 1921 to the present day. We begin in the first module by tracing the history of...

In this course, Dr Mark Garnett (University of Lancaster) introduces the core political idea of conservatism. We begin in the first module by thinking about the origins of conservatism in Edmund Burke’s reaction to the French Revolution. In the...

In this course, Dr Matthew Cole (University of Birmingham) explores the British constitution. In the first module, we think about the four sources of the British constitution – legislation, conventions, treaties and authoritative works – as well...

In this course, Dr Matthew Cole (University of Birmingham) explores the history of the Liberal Party – and the later Liberal Democrat Party – from its foundation in 1859 until 2017. We begin by thinking liberalism as a political ideology, from the...

In this course, Dr Richard Heffernan (Open University) thinks about the office of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. We begin in the first module by thinking about the three essential qualifications that the UK Prime Minister must hold. In...

In this course, Dr Jon Herbert (University of Keele) thinks about the office of the Presidency of the United States, focusing in particular on the extent of the president’s powers. We begin in the first module by thinking about how the Founding ...

In this course, Professor Keith Laybourn (University of Huddersfield) considers the early history of the Labour Party from its foundations in the trade union movement of the late nineteenth century to the achievements of Clement Attlee’s post-war...

In this course, Dr Kevin Hickson (University of Liverpool) examines the history of the Labour Party from its founding as the Labour Representation Committee in 1900 to the present-day leadership of Jeremy Corbyn. In the first module, we think...

In this course, Professor David Denver (University of Lancaster) examines the electoral systems in operation across the United Kingdom. We begin by thinking about the basic functions that an electoral system performs before briefly introducing ...

In this lecture, Dr Simon Usherwood (University of Surrey) thinks about the European Union and its relationship with the United Kingdom, focusing in particular on Brexit. We begin in the first module by thinking about how the EU came into ...