MSc Comparative Politics

About the MSc programme

This programme is based in the Department of Government| and is a good preparation for further research work or for a career in media, political consultancy, international organisations, public administration or the private sector.

Comparative politics is the comparative study of political systems. In the MSc Comparative Politics we look for sophisticated analytical answers to such basic political questions as: 'why are some countries democratic while others are not?'; 'why are some countries torn by ethnic conflict?'; 'do constitutions matter?'; 'what is the impact of global capitalism on state sovereignty?' Addressing these and similar questions, the programme offers courses in the fields of democratisation, nationalism and ethnicity, comparative political economy as well as a wide range of country and area specific options. Our programme is methodologically eclectic yet rigorous, with an emphasis on historical approaches. Graduates from our MSc have gone on to successful careers in politics, media, NGOs, foreign service, finance and academia.

The MSc Comparative Politics is divided into streams, giving students the opportunity to study a specialisation within a broader subject area.

Students must take courses to the value of four full units as shown. All students are required to write a 10,000-word dissertation. Note that some of the courses must be taken together. Part-time students may take up to four courses in their first year. All students must apply for one of the following streams:

• Conflict Studies
• Democracy  
• Latin America
• Nationalism and Ethnicity
• Politics and Markets

and will take a minimum of one full unit from within the chosen stream.

(* half unit)

Conflict Studies

Compulsory courses

• Comparative Conflict Analysis*
• Dissertation

Options

Choose two and a half units from the following:

• Nationalist Conflict, Political Violence and Terrorism*
• The Politics of Civil Wars*
• Globalisation, Conflict and Post-Totalitarianism*
• Democratisation and its Discontents in Southeast Asia*
• Democratisation, Conflict and State-Building* 
• War, Peace and the Politics of National Self-Determination*
• Nationalism
• Local Power in an Era of Democratisation and Decentralisation*
• Conflict and Institutional Design in Divided Societies*
• Conflict and Peace Studies
• Ethnic and Religious Violence in Post-Colonial Society*
• Genocide*

Courses up to the value of one full unit from the approved options list

Democracy

Compulsory courses

• Introduction to Comparative Politics*
• Dissertation
• Comparative Democratisation in a Global Age*

Options

Choose at least one half unit from the following:

• Democracy and Development in Latin America*
• Democracy in East and South Asia*
• Democratisation and its Discontents in Southeast Asia*
• Globalisation and Democracy*

Plus:

Courses to the value of one and a half units from the approved options list

Latin America

Compulsory courses

• Introduction to Comparative Politics*
• Dissertation 
• The State and Political Institutions in Latin America*
• Democracy and Development in Latin America* 

Options

Courses to the value of one and a half units from the approved options list

Nationalism and Ethnic Politics

Compulsory courses

• Introduction to Comparative Politics*
• Dissertation
• Nationalism

Options

Choose either one full unit or two half units from:  

• Warfare and National Identity*
• Democratisation and its Discontents in Southeast Asia*
• Ethnic Diversity and International Society*   
• European Integration in the Twentieth Century
• Ethnic and Religious Violence in Post-Colonial Society* 

One half unit from the approved options list

NB Where appropriate, with the agreement of the MSc programme director and the course tutor, a student may take courses to the value of one full unit from elsewhere in the School in place of optional units listed under Comparative Politics.

Politics and Markets

Compulsory courses

• Introduction to Comparative Politics*
• Dissertation
• States and Markets*
• The Politics of Inequality and Redistribution* or Capitalism and Democracy*

Options

Choose courses to the value of one and a half units from the approved options list

Comparative Politics (All streams) - approved options list  

• Max Weber and Nationalism*  
• Legislative Politics: US*
• Legislative Politics: European Parliament*
• National and Ethnic Conflict Regulation*
• War, Peace and the Politics of National Self-Determination*
• Warfare and National Identity* 
• Conflict and Institutional Design in Divided Societies*
• Islamic Republic of Iran: Society, Politics, the Greater Middle East*
• Public Policy Responses to International Migration*
• Popular Politics in the Middle East*
• Russian Federation: Politics, Transformation and Governance*
• Partisanship in Europe* 
• Government and Politics in China*
• African Politics, Wars and Violence* 
• Anthropology of Politics*
• The Anthropology of Development*
• Government and Politics in Eastern Europe*
• The Second Europe*
• Politics of Social Policy: Welfare and Work in Comparative Perspective*
• Foreign Policy Analysis III
• The History and Politics of the Modern Middle East
• Any option listed above that has not already been taken†

A half-unit course from the Government Department or another department (with the consent of the convener of MSc Comparative Politics and the teacher of the course).

† Students registered for a stream will have automatic right of entry to courses listed as compulsory. Other students will have access subject to availability. However, some options may be closed to a student, if, in the opinion of the course convener, they lack the appropriate methodological background.