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How Politics Works: From the Individual to an International Scale

An introduction to democracy, international relation, globalisation and identity politics, to prepare for politics at degree level with the University of Kent.

Duration

4 weeks

Weekly study

6 hours

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How it works

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Understand politics on an individual and global scale

This introductory course is designed to help you prepare for a degree in politics at degree level, or to introduce you to the basics of politics.

You’ll learn the basics of democracy, the machinery of government, and the political economy and globalisation. Then you’ll move on to identity politics, looking at class and economic individualism. You’ll be introduced to some key texts, and given further reading to boost your learning.

Discover the meaning and function of democracy

In the first week of this course, you’ll explore the meaning and function of democracy, and learn how to identify and assess different models of democracy. You’ll then apply your new knowledge in a debate on which model of democracy is the best, drawing on key texts and examples.

Explore the machinery of government

In the second week, you’ll learn about key parts of government, including constitutions, the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. You’ll be recommended further reading, to bolster your learning and to prepare you for future study.

Learn more about the political economy, globalisation, and identity politics

In the latter stages of the course, you’ll zoom out to look at how politics affects the economy, enterprise, social capitalism, and globalisation. Debates here include whether students should pay for their own tuition.

The last week of the course focuses on the individual role in politics. You’ll look at class analysis, economic individualism and neoliberalism, and the impacts of economic individualism. The course will be rounded off with some more recommended further reading.

Week 1
Democracy
- Welcome to Week 1
  This activity introduces you to How Politics Works: From the Individual to an International Scale.
- Conceptualising Democracy
  This activity considers what is meant by the term 'democracy', and how it is practised in different ways around the world.
- Classical and Protective Democracy
  This activity goes into further detail about different types of democracy.
- Developmental Democracy
  This activity outlines third form of democracy that Heywood characterises: Developmental Democracy.
- People's Democracy
  In this activity, you will study People’s democracy which develops certain aspects of classical democracy and fuses them with a critique of bourgeois, capitalist society.
- Weekly Wrap Up
  Here you will find some additional resources to summarise the content of the week.
Week 2
Machinery of Government
- Week 2 Introduction
  This activity introduces you to the week.
- Constitutions
  In this activity, you learn about the first institution of contemporary governance: the constitution.
- The Legislature
  Explore the basic forms of democratic legislatures and the five functions they perform.
- The Executive
  This activity discusses the different features of political executives.
- The Judiciary
  In this activity, you will learn about the fourth and final machine of governance in contemporary democratic states: the judiciary.
- Assessment
  To help you prepare for this assessment you might wish to spend some time reviewing and revising.
- Weekly Wrap Up
  Here you will find some additional resources to summarise the content of the week.
Week 3
Political Economy and Globalisation
- Political Economy and Globalisation
  This activity introduces the week ahead and helps to develop key academic skills.
- What is political about the economy?
  Discover the fundamentals behind the study of political economy.
- Enterprise and Social Capitalism
  Enterprise and social capitalism are forms of political economy found in the United States of America and Europe.
- Statist Responses
  Further information about different forms of political economy.
- Globalisation
  How has globalisation disrupted the traditional models of political economy?
- Weekly Wrap Up
  Here you will find some additional resources to summarise the content of the week.
Week 4
Identity Politics
- Identity Politics
  This activity introduces the week ahead.
- Class analysis
  How do you understand 'class'?
- Economic Individualism
  Discover the factors that lead to a focus upon the individual instead of class.
- Typologies of Individuals
  This activity focuses on the elements of identity politics.
- The Critique of Identity Politics
  What are the key criticisms of identity politics?
- Assessment
  To help you prepare for this assessment you might wish to spend some time reviewing and revising.
- Weekly Wrap Up
  Here you will find some additional resources to summarise the content of the week.