Doing a dissertation is compulsory but it can be in either Politics or American and Canadian Studies.
University Park Campus, Nottingham, UK
Qualification | Entry Requirements | Start Date | UCAS code | Duration | Fees |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
BA Jt Hons | AAB | September 2025 | TL72 | 3 years full-time (also available part-time) | £9,250 |
Qualification | Entry Requirements | Start Date | UCAS code | Duration | Fees |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
BA Jt Hons | AAB | September 2025 | TL72 | 3 years full-time (also available part-time) | £9,250 |
6.5 (no less than 6.0 in any element)
As well as IELTS (listed above), we also accept other English language qualifications. This includes TOEFL iBT, Pearson PTE, GCSE, IB and O level English. Check our English language policies and equivalencies for further details.
For presessional English or one-year foundation courses, you must take IELTS for UKVI to meet visa regulations.
If you need support to meet the required level, you may be able to attend a Presessional English for Academic Purposes (PEAP) course. Our Centre for English Language Education is accredited by the British Council for the teaching of English in the UK.
If you successfully complete your presessional course to the required level, you can then progress to your degree course. This means that you won't need to retake IELTS or equivalent.
Check our country-specific information for guidance on qualifications from your country
GCSE
English grade 4 (C).
All candidates are considered on an individual basis and we accept a broad range of qualifications. The entrance requirements below apply to 2024 entry.
Please note: Applicants whose backgrounds or personal circumstances have impacted their academic performance may receive a reduced offer. Please see our contextual admissions policy for more information.
We recognise that applicants have a wealth of different experiences and follow a variety of pathways into higher education.
Consequently we treat all applicants with alternative qualifications (besides A-levels and the International Baccalaureate) on an individual basis, and we gladly accept students with a whole range of less conventional qualifications including:
This list is not exhaustive. The entry requirements for alternative qualifications can be quite specific; for example you may need to take certain modules and achieve a specified grade in those modules. Please contact us to discuss the transferability of your qualification. Please see the alternative qualifications page for more information.
RQF BTEC Nationals
Access to HE Diploma
International students must have valid UK immigration permissions for any courses or study period where teaching takes place in the UK. Student route visas can be issued for eligible students studying full-time courses. The University of Nottingham does not sponsor a student visa for students studying part-time courses. The Standard Visitor visa route is not appropriate in all cases. Please contact the university’s Visa and Immigration team if you need advice about your visa options.
At the University of Nottingham, we have a valuable community of mature students and we appreciate their contribution to the wider student population. You can find lots of useful information on the mature students webpage.
GCSE
English grade 4 (C).
All candidates are considered on an individual basis and we accept a broad range of qualifications. The entrance requirements below apply to 2024 entry.
Please note: Applicants whose backgrounds or personal circumstances have impacted their academic performance may receive a reduced offer. Please see our contextual admissions policy for more information.
We recognise that applicants have a wealth of different experiences and follow a variety of pathways into higher education.
Consequently we treat all applicants with alternative qualifications (besides A-levels and the International Baccalaureate) on an individual basis, and we gladly accept students with a whole range of less conventional qualifications including:
This list is not exhaustive. The entry requirements for alternative qualifications can be quite specific; for example you may need to take certain modules and achieve a specified grade in those modules. Please contact us to discuss the transferability of your qualification. Please see the alternative qualifications page for more information.
RQF BTEC Nationals
Access to HE Diploma
We make contextual offers to students who may have experienced barriers that have restricted progress at school or college. Our standard contextual offer is usually one grade lower than the advertised entry requirements, and our enhanced contextual offer is usually two grades lower than the advertised entry requirements. To qualify for a contextual offer, you must have Home/UK fee status and meet specific criteria – check if you’re eligible.
If you have already achieved your EPQ at Grade A you will automatically be offered one grade lower in a non-mandatory A level subject.
If you are still studying for your EPQ you will receive the standard course offer, with a condition of one grade lower in a non-mandatory A level subject if you achieve an A grade in your EPQ.
At the University of Nottingham, we have a valuable community of mature students and we appreciate their contribution to the wider student population. You can find lots of useful information on the mature students webpage.
In your department
Become 'workplace-ready' with our Work Placement and Employability programme tailor made for students in the School of Cultures, Languages and Area Studies. It helps you develop skills and experience that allow you to stand out to potential employers.
The School of Politics and International Relations also offers valuable placement and internship opportunities. There are currently over 25 placement partners providing 100+ placements a year, including internship opportunities in Westminster and even overseas.
Internships, placements and other work experience
Our reputation means we can work with top employers to offer high quality opportunities to gain experience and build employment skills. Check out our Careers and Employability Service for what’s on offer.
Nottingham Advantage Award
Boost your employability with a range of employer-led projects and career development opportunities. See the Nottingham Advantage Award website for what’s available.
In your department
Become 'workplace-ready' with our Work Placement and Employability programme tailor made for students in the School of Cultures, Languages and Area Studies. It helps you develop skills and experience that allow you to stand out to potential employers.
The School of Politics and International Relations also offers valuable placement and internship opportunities. There are currently over 25 placement partners providing 100+ placements a year, including internship opportunities in Westminster and even overseas.
Internships, placements and other work experience
Our reputation means we can work with top employers to offer high quality opportunities to gain experience and build employment skills. Check out our Careers and Employability Service for what’s on offer.
Nottingham Advantage Award
Boost your employability with a range of employer-led projects and career development opportunities. See the Nottingham Advantage Award website for what’s available.
For full details including fees for part-time students and reduced fees during your time studying abroad or on placement (where applicable), see our fees page.
If you are a student from the EU, EEA or Switzerland, you may be asked to complete a fee status questionnaire and your answers will be assessed using guidance issued by the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA) .
All students will need at least one device to approve security access requests via Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). We also recommend students have a suitable laptop to work both on and off-campus. For more information, please check the equipment advice.
Essential course materials are supplied.
Books
You'll be able to access most of the books you’ll need through our libraries, though you may wish to buy your own copies of core texts. A limited number of modules have compulsory texts which you are required to buy. We recommend that you budget £100 per year for books, but this figure will vary according to which modules you take. The Blackwell's bookshop on campus offers a year-round price match against any of the main retailers (e.g. Amazon, Waterstones, WH Smith). They also offer second-hand books, as students from previous years sell their copies back to the bookshop.
Volunteering and placements
For volunteering and placements e.g. work experience and teaching in schools, you will need to pay for transport and refreshments.
Optional field trips
Field trips allow you to engage with source materials on a personal level and to develop different perspectives. They are optional and costs to you vary according to the trip; some require you to arrange your own travel, refreshments and entry fees, while some are some are wholly subsidised.
For additional costs relating to Politics, please see the Politics and International Relations BA course page.
Our Alumni Scholarships provide support with essential living costs to eligible students. Find out more about eligibility and how to apply.
We offer a range of international undergraduate scholarships for high-achieving international scholars who can put their Nottingham degree to great use in their careers.
Find details about international scholarships here
For full details including fees for part-time students and reduced fees during your time studying abroad or on placement (where applicable), see our fees page.
All students will need at least one device to approve security access requests via Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). We also recommend students have a suitable laptop to work both on and off-campus. For more information, please check the equipment advice.
Essential course materials are supplied.
Books
You'll be able to access most of the books you’ll need through our libraries, though you may wish to buy your own copies of core texts. A limited number of modules have compulsory texts which you are required to buy. We recommend that you budget £100 per year for books, but this figure will vary according to which modules you take. The Blackwell's bookshop on campus offers a year-round price match against any of the main retailers (e.g. Amazon, Waterstones, WH Smith). They also offer second-hand books, as students from previous years sell their copies back to the bookshop.
Volunteering and placements
For volunteering and placements e.g. work experience and teaching in schools, you will need to pay for transport and refreshments.
Optional field trips
Field trips allow you to engage with source materials on a personal level and to develop different perspectives. They are optional and costs to you vary according to the trip; some require you to arrange your own travel, refreshments and entry fees, while some are some are wholly subsidised.
For additional costs relating to Politics, please see the Politics and International Relations BA course page.
Our Alumni Scholarships provide support with essential living costs to eligible students. Find out more about eligibility and how to apply.
Over one third of our UK students receive our means-tested core bursary, worth up to £1,000 a year. Full details can be found on our financial support pages.
* A 'home' student is one who meets certain UK residence criteria. These are the same criteria as apply to eligibility for home funding from Student Finance.
Are you passionate about politics, or even want to be a politician? Do you want to make the world a better place?
This course will provide the intellectual training to understand a range of political ideas. It will also give you a deeper knowledge of how governments work in today's world, alongside sharpening your research, presentational and analytical skills.
We offer a wide variety of modules in both politics and American studies, covering:
Are you passionate about politics, or even want to be a politician? Do you want to make the world a better place?
This course will provide the intellectual training to understand a range of political ideas. It will also give you a deeper knowledge of how governments work in today's world, alongside sharpening your research, presentational and analytical skills.
We offer a wide variety of modules in both politics and American studies, covering:
You will also study American and Canadian history, literature, culture, film, music and art.
This course is perfect for a career in the creative industries. At Nottingham, you can gain valuable experience through internships, placements, and work opportunities. No more so though than with our prestigious Hollywood Internships programme, unique to Nottingham. Previous internships have involved:
Indicative partner organisations include A24, CAA, Disney, Warner, Paramount, Sony, Lionsgate, UTA, and WME.
Our partners, and the number and nature of the internships, change each year. Vacancies are advertised in the Autumn term for students in years two and above. These are highly competitive positions, and places are not guaranteed. Terms and conditions apply.
The internships are supported through the generosity of Peter Rice, Nottingham graduate and former Chair of Disney General Entertainment Content
The awards are competitive and open exclusively to our students.
Find out more about what it's like to study with us:
Mandatory
Year 1
American Freedom? Empire, Rights and Capitalism in Modern US History, 1900-Present
Mandatory
Year 1
Approaches to American Culture 1: An Introduction
Mandatory
Year 1
Approaches to Contemporary American Culture 2: Developing Themes and Perspectives
Mandatory
Year 1
Political Theory in Practice
Mandatory
Year 1
Problems in Global Politics
Mandatory
Year 1
Race, Power, Money and the Making of North America, 1607-1900
Mandatory
Year 1
Understanding Global Politics
Optional
Year 2
African American History and Culture
Optional
Year 2
American Radicalism
Optional
Year 2
Arts Work Placement Module
Optional
Year 2
British Party Politics
Optional
Year 2
Business in American Culture
Optional
Year 2
Contemporary North American Fiction
Optional
Year 2
Democracy and its Critics
Optional
Year 2
Employing the Arts
Optional
Year 2
Global Security
Optional
Year 2
Immigration and Ethnicity in the United States
Optional
Year 2
Key Texts in American Social and Political Thought
Optional
Year 2
North American Regions
Optional
Year 2
Politics and Public Policy in China
Optional
Year 2
The CIA and US Foreign Policy 1945-2012
Optional
Year 2
The Hollywood Musical
Optional
Year 2
The Transformation of European Politics
Optional
Year 2
The US & the World in the American Century: US Foreign Policy, 1898-2008
Optional
Year 3
African Politics
Optional
Year 3
American Magazine Culture: Journalism, Advertising and Fiction from Independence to the Internet Age
Optional
Year 3
China in Global Politics
Optional
Year 3
Dissertation in American and Canadian Studies
Optional
Year 3
Dissertation in Politics and International Relations
Optional
Year 3
Gender and Political Representation
Optional
Year 3
Left and Right in Contemporary Politics
Optional
Year 3
North American Film Adaptations
Optional
Year 3
Political Parties and Party Systems Around the Globe
Optional
Year 3
Politics and Visual Culture
Optional
Year 3
Responding to Extremism: Politics, Power, and Ethics
Optional
Year 3
Special Relationship? Anglo-American Security Relations
Optional
Year 3
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly: The Morality of Capitalism
Optional
Year 3
The Politics of Ethnic Conflict
Optional
Year 3
The Politics of Human Rights
Optional
Year 3
Theories of the Modern State
Optional
Year 3
Troubled Empire: The Projection of American Global Power from Pearl Harbor to Covid-19
Optional
Year 3
US Foreign Policy, 1989 - present
Optional
Year 3
Varieties of Classic American Film, Television and Literature since 1950
Optional
Year 3
Jazz: Origins and Styles
Optional
Year 3
Prohibition America
Optional
Year 3
Sexuality in American History
Optional
Year 3
Popular Music Cultures and Countercultures
Optional
Year 3
Art Criticism in Twentieth-Century America
Optional
Year 3
Political Challenges and Multiple Crises in the Global Economy
Optional
Year 3
The EU as a Global Power
Optional
Year 3
The Middle East and the World
Optional
Year 3
Race and Politics
Optional
Year 3
Ideas and Politics in Contemporary Britain
Optional
Year 3
The Struggle for Democracy
Optional
Year 3
Political Violence
Optional
Year 3
Inside Out: The UK and the EU
Optional
Year 3
The Politics of Inequality
Optional
Year 3
The Russo-Ukranian War
The above is a sample of the typical modules we offer, but is not intended to be construed or relied on as a definitive list of what might be available in any given year. This content was last updated on Tuesday 10 September 2024. Due to timetabling availability, there may be restrictions on some module combinations.
Doing a dissertation is compulsory but it can be in either Politics or American and Canadian Studies.
Discover the history of the United States in the 20th century.
You will explore the changes in the lives of American people, focussing on:
This module is worth 20 credits.
Challenge your assumptions through exploring key aspects of American culture, across a broad historical range.
We introduce a variety of cultural issues and controversies within contemporary US society. You will explore how contemporary cultural forms and phenomena can deepen our understanding of American history and national identity.
Topics include:
You will also consider a variety of forms, which might include:
This module is worth 10 credits.
This module develops the themes from ‘Approaches to Contemporary American Culture 1’.
You will explore how contemporary American culture has become an arena of fierce political disagreement and polarisation. You'll also analyse the way specific cultural forms engage with social issues and respond to key moments in American history.
Topics include:
You will focus on how art, entertainment and communications technologies intervene in and spark political debates and controversy.
This module is worth 10 credits.
Political Theory in Practice acquaints you with the political concepts that are central to the theoretical, normative, and interpretative analysis of politics. The meanings of political concepts are essentially contested, and the definitions we give to these concepts set the terms of our political debate.
This module interrogates concepts such as ‘democracy’, ‘legitimacy’, ‘freedom’ and ‘decolonisation’, while assessing the normative questions that animate them. While doing so, this module aims to equip you with skills in analytical reasoning, consistency, and justification in argument-building central to the discipline of political theory.
This module explores some of the major problems that exist in contemporary global politics. It introduces you to a wide range of challenges faced by states and non-state actors in the international system and engages with topics ranging from security concerns to economic issues.
The module draws on a wide range of ideas and examples from around the world to help you to better understand global politics.
Discover the history of North America, from European contact through to the start of the 20th century.
You will explore how the interactions of European colonizers with Native Americans shaped the future of the region, as well as the rise of Atlantic slavery, its development over time and the eventual emergence of distinctive African-American cultures.
We cover a broad chronological period, which includes European colonization, independence and Civil War. You will also examine the influence and development of attitudes towards race, class, gender, democracy and capitalism.
This module is worth 20 credits.
This module provides an introduction to the study of international relations.
It focuses on some of the main theoretical approaches in the discipline: ways of explaining and understanding global politics, each of which has developed over time rival accounts both of the features of world politics on which we ought to concentrate and of the concepts that we ought to bring to bear in our analyses. It illustrates each of these broad theoretical approaches - and some of their pitfalls - by introducing the study of some 'structural' aspect of global politics, such as conflict, peace, institutions and globalisation.
The module therefore supplies the introduction to international relations that will be necessary for those who go on to study contemporary global affairs and more advanced modules such as those on international political economy, global security, or foreign policy analysis.
This module examines African American history and culture from slavery to the present through a series of case studies that highlight forms of cultural advocacy and resistance and thus indicate how African Americans have sustained themselves individually and collectively within a racist, yet liberal society. These will illustrate the resilience of African American culture via music, literature, art and material culture. Examples may include the persistence of African elements in slave culture, the emergence of new artistic forms in art, religion and music during the segregation era, and the range and complexity of African American engagement with US public culture since the 1960s across art, literature and popular culture. Weekly topics might include material culture in the Gullah region of South Carolina; or the growth of urban black churches in the North during the period of the Great Migration highlighted by the development of Gospel choirs and radio preaching.
American radicals have been dismissed as impractical, wild-eyed, and subversive - even "un-American"- although many of their most visionary aims have been realized. This module will consider these paradoxes, beginning with the American Revolution in the late 18th century. 19th century subjects will include the abolitionists, early feminism, utopian socialism, anarchism, and farmer populism. 20thcentury subjects will include the Socialist Party in the 1910s, the Communist Party and the anti-Stalinist left in the 1930s, opponents of the Cold War, the 1960s New Left, Black Power militancy, and more recent radicalisms, including the gay liberation movement, women's liberation, and resistance to corporate globalisation.
This module involves employability skills training in the Autumn semester followed by a part-time placement (one day a week, or equivalent, up to eight weeks) in an external organisation in the spring semester. The module is aimed at developing hands-on work experience and enhancing employability skills in a workplace relevant to arts graduates. Skills developed during the placement will be intrinsically relevant to various work environments.
Students will apply for placements in relevant local organisations from an established list created by the faculty placement team, but may also use personal contacts to arrange their own placement, subject to approval. Placements will be provided across a range of sectors relevant to the arts including the creative and cultural industries, media, marketing, heritage and museums, the music industry, education, charitable and third-sector organisations, but are subject to change each year. In the autumn term lectures and workshops will be organised across the faculty, with input by the Careers and Employability Service to provide learning support on professional development and skills assessment, networking, successful applications and interviews, self-presentation and self-reflection.
Assessment will comprise an online portfolio of materials, including application materials, reflective writing and a research report situating the work and function of the placement organisation in the context of the wider sector of which it is a part. Throughout, students will be encouraged to reflect individually and in groups on their own employability, and plan for their ongoing professional development.
Political parties were central to the British political system throughout the 20th century and remain so at the beginning of the 21st. Despite persistent criticism, and perennial claims of their 'decline', parties are an essential component of any student's understanding of British politics and remain the central means by which the electorate passes judgement on the government. This module examines the structure, ideology and history of British political parties.
This module introduces students to the conflicting views about business that can be heard echoing through American literature and culture in the last two centuries. These views are evident when literature and culture directly represent the business culture-its executives, managers and employees, or the physical and mental conditions of employment and entrepreneurship; they are also evident in the narrative unconscious of works appreciated for qualities other than their treatment of business. This module aims to try and understand not only what drives American culture's preoccupation with business, but also to study the various strategies used as literature and culture represents what the module calls the discourses of business: the way that business as a theme is written and talked about in the United States by presidents, by social critics, by journalists, and by writers and other cultural producers; the way that the historical accumulation of this collective input has fashioned a set of rules that govern the way successive generations can think about business; the way that specialised and professionalised languages of business become tropes and metaphors to be used outside of a strictly business environment. The module examines these discourses in a variety of representational forms from the mid-nineteenth century through to the present day: shorts stories and novels; newspapers, magazines and illustrations; speeches, autobiographies and memoirs; film and television.
This course will consider the contexts and development of contemporary fiction and the novel in the United States and Canada since the 1990s. It will do so by positioning literary works within their wider historical, political and cultural context. The course will examine the dominant ideas and concerns of a number of fictions and novels by writers from a range of ethno-cultural backgrounds. Issues for discussion will include the impact of race, ethnicity, gender, class, generation and sexuality on North American fiction and the novel; the bearing of technology on contemporary fiction; and various debates about the nature of the historical novel in the twenty-first century.
Democracy is a contested concept and organising principle of politics both ancient and modern. Its appeal seems to be universal, yet it has always had its critics.
This module investigates the nature of democratic principles, the arguments of democracy's opponents and the claims of those who say that contemporary life is inadequately democratised. A particular feature of the module is the use of primary sources to investigate historic and contemporary debates.
Doing an arts and humanities degree means you’ll gain the skills which are essential for changing the world we live in. Not only that, you are uniquely positioned to understand people, processes and culture.
This module lets you apply that knowledge to solve a real-life problem. The aim is for you to develop your understanding of your degree, and the range of careers open to you.
You will work in an interdisciplinary team on a real project connected to impact, which we define as our ability to ‘make change happen’. These projects have been designed by individuals, groups and organisations that are looking to make a difference to our world. This might be about sustainability, business, equality, culture, politics or society.
Teams will be given a project brief. You will then be guided through how to shape a project, and how to work as a team and deliver results. This will give you the employment skills and experience to show how you can make an impact as an arts and humanities graduate.
This module is worth 20 credits.
This module explores issues in global security since the end of the Cold War. It focuses on security in a broad sense, from issues relating to the use of force by states, through to violence by non-state actors, such as terrorist groups, and on to the concept of human security.
The module builds on the first year modules, Understanding Global Politics and Problems in Global Politics, challenging you to deepen your theoretical as well as empirical knowledge in international security. It is also a preparation for the research-led third year modules that require a much more developed capacity of analysing empirical developments from a range of different theoretical perspectives.
This module examines the history of immigration to the United States from Europe, Asia, and Latin America. We trace the making and remaking of immigrant communities, cultures, and identities from the nineteenth century to the present day. You will analyse models of race, ethnicity, culture, and nation by focusing on the perception and reception of immigrant groups and their adjustment to US society. We will ask questions such as: How have institutions and ideologies shaped the changing place of immigrants within the United States over time? How have immigrants forged new identities within and beyond the framework of the nation state? And how has immigration transformed US society?
American history, from the period of colonisation to the nation's emergence as a global superpower, has always involved intense social and political debate.
This module analyses key texts in the history of American political and social thought, from the settlement period to the present day.
You will be introduced to debates over issues such as:
We analyse primary sources by a diverse range of thinkers and writers to interpret these debates, showing how they continue to shape American society and politics in the present.
This module is worth 20 credits.
This module will deploy the concept of "region" and, more broadly, “place” to explore key North American texts— drawn primarily from the spheres of film, television and literature. The notion of the "regional" will be applied expansively as well as conventionally to incorporate everything from the urban to the suburban/exurban; border territories; the transnational. Possible areas of study may include the American West; the Pacific North-West; New York City; the black inner city “ghetto”; "mountain" people and the Appalachians; Hispanic-America; first nations; French-Canada; Texas; Chicago; New Orleans; California; and the transnational impact of extensive US military occupations (post-war Japan; South Vietnam; twenty-first century Iraq).
This module provides a comprehensive introduction to the politics and public policy of contemporary China. Students will be familiarized with useful approaches to the study of Chinese politics. In the first part of the module, they will develop knowledge and understanding of the evolution of authoritarianism in China, the structure of the party-state and the role of its major branches, changes or main policies in the recent decades, and crisis and epidemic management.
In the second part, students will compare and contrast the genesis of mainland China's rudimentary welfare state with the example of Bismarck's German Empire, which is widely credited as the birthplace of the welfare state in Europe. Following an overview of the policy-making cycle and public administration in China, students will explore the challenges of implementing regulatory and redistributive policies under authoritarian conditions. They will put insights into practice by critiquing public policies in China, ranging from labour and migration through education to health.
The module examines the contribution made by the CIA to US foreign policy from the Cold War to the ‘war on terror’. The course begins by examining the role of a secret intelligence agency in a democratic state and the functions and duties it is given. It considers the origins and purpose of the CIA in the early Cold War and how the role of the CIA evolved subsequently; how different Presidents viewed the Agency; the extent to which intelligence influenced the formation of policy during the Cold War; the successes and failures of covert operations and their wider significance in Cold War strategy; the extent to which the CIA was able to adapt to a post-Soviet world; and finally, the impact that the ‘war on terror’ has had on the CIA.
This module surveys the development of the Hollywood musical from the invention of “talkies” to the present day. Through a series of case study films ranging from The Jazz Singer (1927) to The Greatest Showman (2017), it considers the specific issues associated with staging a musical in screen. Topics will include theatricality and “backstage narratives”, star casting, dance on screen, and the role of animation in developing the form.
This module aims to provide you with a systematic introduction to current debates in the comparative analysis of European politics.
The module adopts a thematic approach and focuses on both traditional fields of comparative enquiry, such as the study of party systems and representation, elections and voting behaviour, party competition and government formation, executive-legislative relations, as well as emerging fields of interest, such as political participation, extreme right politics, immigration, political corruption and the political and social challenges of globalisation and European integration.
The diverse experiences of liberal democracy in European countries and the political and social changes that they have undergone are discussed thematically in the seminars. In the seminars, a country-expert system is used whereby you are assigned a particular country to cover. The module covers both long-established democracies in Western Europe and newer democracies in Central and Eastern Europe.
How can we understand the evolution of America's relationship with the wider world? What interests have been behind the execution of American power?
This module offers a critical introduction to understanding America's place in the world. From the war of 1898, to the conflicts of the early 21st century, we examine how America's involvement abroad has changed over time.
Through historical and political analyses of US foreign relations, we will look at the themes that have shaped America's increasing influence in global affairs.
We consider:
We will also explore contemporary trends in the history of US foreign policy, including race, gender, emotions, and religion.
This module is worth 20 credits.
This module explores key themes and debates in the study of African politics. It aims to provide a broad introduction to African domestic and regional politics as well as Africa’s evolving position within an international political arena.
The magazine has been one of the most accessible and influential cultural forms in America since the mid-18th century. From the wide-ranging political and literary magazines of this founding period through the emergence of specialised and mass-market periodicals in the 19th century to the counter-cultural and consumerist magazines of the 20th century, this distinctive mode of publication has reflected the tensions and ideals of a rapidly developing society.
Using a broad range of representative magazines from different eras, this module will encourage students to get to grips with how American culture has shaped, and been shaped by, the periodical, and it will also introduce them to some of the unique literary and institutional qualities of the magazine. Primary sources covered on this module are likely to include The Dial (est. 1840), Harper's (est. 1850), The New Yorker (est. 1925), Life (est. 1936) and Rolling Stone (est. 1967).
Looked at in the context of their times, such sources show us how Americans have long engaged with and debated their own identity through the prism of print, as well as the ways in which this self-definition has changed across time. Moreover, alongside the magazine's regular testing of new political and cultural concepts we will be able to see how the periodical form itself embraced other emerging media, including illustration, photography, and popular music.
The main content-spine through each week will be a focus on changes in the nature of American journalism, the rise of modern advertising, and the development of the short story as a form, as well as the interactions between these three elements. In addition to the standard lecture/seminar set-up, the module will also incorporate a series of workshops focusing on hands-on study of hard copies of particular publications.
China, as the new and upcoming superpower, has become a focal point of global attention. This module introduces students to the major topics in China's interaction with the evolution of China's foreign policy since 1949 as well as its role in the international affairs and international political economy.
Much of the module will be an examination of China's political and economic relations with major powers and regions such as the US, the EU, the UK, Russia, Asia, and Africa, major initiatives of China, the responses towards China from these powers and regions, and major issues in their relations. This module will also survey main aspects of China's power and its role in critical global issues.
The module will explore how domestic politics and other developments have contributed to the rise of China as a great power of the first league on the one hand, and to the emergence of strong nationalism or its manifestation on the other.
This module involves in-depth independent study of a subject in American and Canadian Studies. It encourages both student-centred and student-initiated learning. The topic you choose must be appropriate for your course and must be approved by the module convenor. You are assigned a supervisor with expertise in your chosen area of study.
The completed dissertation should be 5,000-7,000 words in length for the 20 credit module and 10,000-12,000 words in length for the 40 credit module. The 20 credit dissertation is for one semester only and the 40 credit version is year-long.
Recent dissertation titles include:
This module enables you to undertake a sustained piece of research and analysis into a subject within the discipline of politic and international relations.
What does it mean to be represented in politics? This module uses gender as a prism through which to view intersectional debates on political representation. We ask what women’s representation is, what it looks like in political institutions, how gender norms shape access to and participation in political institutions, why women's representation matters for policy outcomes, how it impacts on social movements and voting behaviour, and how it matters in global governance.
Our approach is broadly comparative, focussing on theories and case examples from both high-income countries in the Global North and low- and middle-income countries in the Global South. Our wide selection of countries also allows us to consider what role women’s participation can have in quality of governance and democracy. We recognize that global norm diffusion is key to boosting women’s representation, from gender quotas and gender mainstreaming in the UN's Beijing Platform for Action to the gender equality provisions in the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, and our discussions will also be of interest to students of international relations. The module engages with diverse perspectives and methodologies and will enable students to develop transferable skills in analytical literacy that can be applied across the social sciences.
Contemporary politics often shows two seemingly contradictory phenomena. On the one hand that many political analysts and political actors proclaim that ‘left’ and ‘right’ are outdated and not relevant anymore in contemporary politics as organising principles. On the other hand, that these terms are persistently and ubiquitously used to describe and interpret policies, events, and behaviours.
The module focuses on the question of the role of ‘left’ and ‘right’ as structuring principles in a variety of political domains, ranging from party competition, policy formation (domestic as well as foreign policy), public opinion, public political discourse, voting behaviour, media production and consumption, etc.
This module examines North American short stories and novels and their film adaptations, paying attention to the contexts in which both the literary and the cinematic texts are produced as well as to the analysis of the texts themselves. In particular, the module takes an interest in literary texts whose film adaptations have been produced in different national contexts to the source material.
This course will offer an overview of political party development and the functioning of party systems in democratic states around the world, with a special focus on post-transitional democracies in Eastern Europe, Latin America and Asia.
Applying a variety of analytical concepts, theoretical approaches, and empirical indicators to the study of party politics, the course will highlight the institutional and sociological determinants of party organisation development and system stability as well as the consequences of party failure and party system collapse.
This module will explore, in the broadest sense, politics and visual culture:
We will be looking at different genres, modes, forms and styles to examine how we can understand the interaction of politics and visual culture.
This module will bridge the gap between academic study and pragmatic policy. It will consider how extremist ideas come into politics through extremist versions of ideology and religion, based on theories of prominent writers in the field.
It will consider political ideologies’ reliance on power and the role of violence through past case studies such as anarchism, Nazism and religious extremism. The module will also look at responses to terrorism utilising a case study approach that explores the United Kingdom’s and United States of America’s methods.
The Anglo-American so-called 'Special Relationship' has provoked controversy since the term was coined after World War Two. To some commentators it has represented an attempt by the UK to hide its decline by lofty rhetoric and becoming the 'poodle' of a Superpower. To others, it has been a relationship that has served the interests of both countries and provided a foundation for Western cooperation. This module explores the salient aspects of a relationship that has been built around security, conventional and nuclear.
Is it possible to provide Capitalism with solid ethical foundations and moral justifications? Many critics argue no. They point to resulting phenomena such as poverty, exploitation, North-South divides, discrimination, and many other ills. But at its inception Capitalism swept away the privilege of birth-right and ossified socioeconomic structures that condemned all but a tiny percentage of the world’s population to inescapable and grinding poverty, misery, illness, and premature death as the tools of others. It was widely praised as socially and politically progressive, particularly for the poorest in our societies. Its institutions of free markets and open productivity released those individuals into a world of opportunity, potential financial security, and rapid rises of the standard of living. Capitalism was a significant step in the pursuit of social justice. But what has gone wrong? Those early hopes evaporated for many.
This module asks whether capitalism can be given an ethical justification – one that would fulfil what it means for societies to be fair and just – and what that world would have to look like; how would it differ from our current world in terms of practices, laws, norms, and attitudes? It examines the good, the bad, and the ugly of capitalism and its associated practices.
This is a module in applied political theory. It brings the tools of analytical political philosophy to bear on contemporary economic problems and arrangements. It develops the skills of rigorous philosophical analysis and develops knowledge and understanding of contemporary political economy. It builds on those skills previously introduced in earlier levels. It applies abstract reasoning to concrete real-world problems.
Questions relating to nationalism and ethnic conflict have become more prominent in political debate since the end of the Cold War, and the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan demonstrated the continuing importance of constitutional crafting as a means to manage ethnic diversity within states.
This module evaluates differing definitions of the 'nation' and 'ethnic group', examines different state strategies to manage diversity such as multiculturalism, assimilation and integration, and considers different explanations of conflict between different ethnic groups.
It then examines in more detail strategies adopted by particular states to manage their diversity. The countries of India, America, France, Afghanistan, the UK, and Germany are focused upon, but students are encouraged to use material relating to other countries if they have particular knowledge of these cases.
Why are some states better at protecting, respecting, and fulfilling their human rights obligations, while others are not? Understanding the conditions under which governments protect human rights is crucial for the field of International Relations and policy makers alike. This module will discuss cutting-edge research within and beyond the human rights field.
You will learn about autocratic state behaviour, safeguards within democratic systems, the campaigns and challenges of NGOs and international organisations, and the wide-ranging effects of globalisation across the different categories and dimensions of human rights. The module will apply theory and empirical insights from these different fields of inquiry in order to understand the relative protection and enjoyment of human rights across different country contexts.
By the end of the module, you will have a clear understanding about human rights research and its effects on the real world.
The state is the predominant site of power and authority in the modern world. Where modern states do not exist there is usually civil war or occupation; where they are ineffective, politics, society and economy tend to be unstable. But the modern state is also itself a site of violence and coercion in the name of which much suffering has been inflicted on those subject to its power, at home and abroad. Modern politics, then, simply cannot be understood unless we also understand the modern state.
By taking this module, students will become familiar with some of the most important theories of the modern state in the history of political thought, from Bodin and Hobbes, through Hegel and Schmitt, to Carole Pateman and Charles W. Mills, very much in the present. Students will come to appreciate how the power and authority of the modern state have been characterised, justified and repudiated during the modern era.
This module will challenge students to critically engage with the period that Henry Luce referred to as the “American Century”. It will cover a range of case studies between Luce’s injunction and the subsequent US entry into World War Two in 1941 and the recent twin-crises marked by the 2008 Great Recession and the Covid-19 global pandemic. In doing so, it will prompt students to consider both the projection of American power on a global scale after 1941 and the considerable challenges that this project faced. Incorporating a series of focused case studies and reflections on the wider contexts relating to them, it will give students first-hand experience of weighing up the practical challenges US policymakers faced and the way that historians have subsequently assessed their efforts and understood their actions.
Explore US foreign policy in the post-Cold War period.
You will examine the historical narratives of American international relations, considering the drivers behind the foreign policies of Presidents George H W Bush, Bill Clinton, George W Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump.
More specifically, we will consider:
You'll spend around three hours per week in lectures and seminars on this module.
This module is worth 20 credits.
What is a film, television or literary classic? How has this term come under pressure and fractured over the past half century or so? In this module you will consider the concept of the mid and late twentieth century American “classic” in a variety of contrasting and overlapping contexts. These contexts will be elaborated on the basis of their formal, generic, period and/or cultural designations that will cover university and exam curricula reading lists, popular opinion and widespread critical consensus (such as the currently prevalent view, for instance, that the early twenty-first century constitutes a ‘golden age’ of US television).
Jazz covers a multitude of styles from trad to free, plus any number of contemporary ‘fusions’.
We'll start by looking at its origins in ragtime and blues and then delve into a wide range of contrasting styles from 1917 to the present day. These might include:
We'll also take a look at jazz film scores.
Throughout the module we'll explore cultural, racial, analytical and aesthetic issues at each stage in jazz's development.
This module is worth 20 credits.
Why did National Prohibition officially begin in the United States in 1920?
What were the goals and intentions of the powerful women's reform movements and religious pressure groups calling for dramatic restrictions on alcohol?
Why was there so much political support for state and national restrictions, particularly during the First World War? Why was prohibition so hard to police during the 1920s?
The restrictions on what and how you could drink reshaped American society, politics, and culture during the 1920s and 1930s. Prohibition transformed alcohol consumption, opened up new leisure activities, and increased bootlegging, smuggling, and other criminal activities. However, popular histories and media representations of the prohibition years are full of myths and stereotypes. On this module, you will challenge these to build a better understanding of an important period in the 20th century United States.
This module is worth 20 credits.
From the Puritans to Playboy, sexuality has been a focal point in the culture, politics, and society of the United States. This module will examine Americans' differing attitudes over time toward sexuality. Representative topics covered may include marriage and adultery, homosexuality and heterosexuality, nudity, abortion, birth control, prostitution, free love, and rape.
This module examines the role played by American popular music in countercultural movements. We focus on the ways in which marginalised, subordinate or dissenting social groups have used popular music as a vehicle for self-definition and for re-negotiating their relationship to the social, economic and cultural mainstream. We explore how the mainstream has responded to music countercultures in ways that range from repression to co-optation and analyse how the music and the movements have been represented and reflected on in fiction, film, poetry, journalism and theory. Among the key moments examined are the folk revival and the 1930s Popular Front, rock 'n' roll and desegregation in the 1950s, rock music and the 1960s counterculture, and postmodernism and identity politics in the music of the MTV age.
The way we write about art is as changeable as art itself.
Practiced by artists, poets, curators and art historians alike, art writing served a variety of purposes and audiences throughout twentieth-century America.
This module explores how art writing changed, examining it both as the crucial frame to understand twentieth-century American art, as well as an art form in its own right.
Each week you will focus on a different episode that provoked a change in art writing. You will look at key exhibitions (for example the Armory Show of 1913), artworks (for example Jackson Pollock’s first ‘drip’ painting in 1947), and texts (such as Tom Lloyd’s text ‘Black Art Notes’ from 1971).
You will learn about the transformations in the exhibition review, catalogue essay, and artist statement that followed in the wake of these events. We also track the wider socio-political developments that similarly put pressure on the form and content of art writing, ranging from the rise of the Popular Front to the Women’s Movement.
This module is worth 20 credits.
The global economy presents a wide variety of political challenges and can create multiple types of crisis for states and the actors within it. Most recently, the Covid-19 pandemic has put the whole system under pressure and revealed its fragility.
This module analyses some of these challenges and crises, which range from sovereign default to the global free trade system and the impact of climate change, to help us understand and explain the international political economy. It draws on scholarship from the fields of international relations theory, international political economy, security studies, and economic history to provide students with a more nuanced understanding of global politics.
Against the backdrop of increasingly tense EU-US relations, Brexit, and rising nationalism in Europe, this module analyses the European Union's international role. It first introduces concepts and decision-making processes related to EU foreign policy both, by Member States and EU institutions. In particular, we analyse the processes within the European Communities, and the CFSP (Common Foreign and Security Policies) / CSDP (Common Security and Defence Policies) frameworks.
The module then critically assesses security and economic policies towards states and regions in Africa, the Middle East, South America and Asia. Themes to explain the nature of contemporary EU foreign policies include: European integration, intergovernmentalism and supranationalism, neoliberalism and ethical foreign policy, development aid (including for health and education) and diplomacy, post-colonialism, as well as military and civilian means for conflict-management.
This module examines the relationship between the Middle East and the rest of the world across the 20th century and up to the present day. It covers the influence of empire, the experience of the Cold War, the Gulf War, Iraq War, Arab Spring and the Syrian conflict, whilst also focusing on important themes for the region including terrorism, oil, nuclear proliferation, authoritarianism and nationalism. In so doing it provides you with a deeper understanding of the history of a complex region and knowledge of the many challenges faced by the Middle East today.
This module seeks to introduce students to theories of race and racialisation, including, but not limited to, postcolonial theory, orientalism, and intersectionality. After learning the basics of these theoretical lenses, students will study the politics of race in different country contexts through countries’ histories of colonialism and imperialism as well as contemporary racial and ethnic disparities.
The aim of this module is to explain and assess the nature, role and significance of political ideas and ideologies in contemporary Britain. It examines how and why the policies and practices of the 'mainstream' British parties (Conservative, Labour, Liberal and Liberal Democrats) have been informed by ideas and ideologies, on the one hand, and pragmatic and electoral considerations, on the other.
It also examines the political ideas and practices of ‘non-mainstream’ parties and social movements (including environmentalism and feminism) and their role and significance for the study and practice of politics in contemporary Britain.
At the dawn of the 21st century, the status of democracy across the world is uncertain. In Central and Eastern Europe, it has become the only game in town, but in other regions like Russia or the Arab World it has suffered reversals. To make sense of these events, this module examines and is structured around some of the big, important questions that have long interested political scientists around the questions of democracy. What is democracy? Why are some countries democratic and others not? How did democracy emerge in different countries? What difference does democracy make for people’s lives?
The module adopts a global and comparative perspective, by focusing on countries in specific regions and by studying different data sets on the design, functioning and influence of democratic institutions.
This module will discuss political violence, including but not limited to topics on interstate war, bargaining, Thucydides traps, nuclear weapons, domestic politics of conflict, the Kantian peace, alliances, civil wars, genocide, peacekeeping, terrorism and economic sanctions.
It will present a rational choice framework, as well as explore alternative approaches, for analysing these topics and engage with the quantitative and qualitative literature to study them. It will cover a range of themes, questions, and international examples related to why and how state and non-state actors rely on power and force to achieve political goals.
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You will be taught via a mixture of large-group lectures and smaller, interactive seminars. You might also be taught through tutorials and supervisions. These are one-to-one meetings or discussions with an academic tutor.
On the American Studies side of your course, you will benefit from a wide range of learning materials. This could include reading books, online journal articles, e-book chapters, shorter review essays, newspaper and magazine articles. It could also mean watching documentary films, and, on some modules, listening to music on YouTube or Spotify.
You will also have a personal tutor from the Department of American and Canadian Studies. This is someone who can:
Peer mentor scheme
First-year students can benefit from being paired with a 'peer mentor'. This is an existing student from your department who helps you settle in, get to know your peers and advise on student life.
Find out more about the support on offer
Teaching methods
Assessment is based on a combination of coursework, including essays and dissertation projects, seminar participation and oral presentations, and formal examinations. The precise assessments vary from one module to another and across the years of your degree.
Feedback
The opportunity to discuss ideas and coursework with your tutor is an integral part of your studies at Nottingham. Whether by giving feedback on an essay plan, or discussing the results of an assessment, we help you work to the best of your ability. Each tutor offers weekly support and feedback hours, while feedback on coursework is also posted online via our tailored teaching and learning platform.
Assessment methods
You’ll have at least the following hours of timetabled contact a week through lectures, seminars and workshops, tutorials and supervisions.
Your tutors will also be available outside these times to discuss issues and develop your understanding. You will have a personal tutor from the Department of American and Canadian Studies. You will also be allocated a joint honours advisor from the School of Politics and International Relations.
We reduce your contact hours as you work your way through the course. As you progress, we expect you to assume greater responsibility for your studies and work more independently.
Your lecturers will be qualified academic staff. Some of your classes may be run by temporary teaching staff who are also experts in their field.
Class sizes vary depending on topic and type. A weekly lecture on a core module may have 50-60 students attending, while a specialised seminar may only contain 10 students.
As well as scheduled teaching, you’ll carry out extensive self-study such as independent reading and research. As a guide, 20 credits (a typical module) is approximately 200 hours of work (combined teaching and self-study) per semester. Each 20-credit module typically involves between three and four hours of lectures and seminars per week. You would ideally spend 8-10 hours a week doing preparation work.
As a Politics and American Studies graduate, you will have gained valuable transferable skills, including:
Read our American and Canadian Studies student and alumni profiles and find out more about the range of skills you will gain, as well as the careers which our graduates go into.
You can also learn more about subject-related careers opportunities from our Careers and Employability Service:
Average starting salary and career progression
82.9% of undergraduates from the School of Politics and International Relations secured graduate level employment or further study within 15 months of graduation. The average annual salary for these graduates was £27,509.*
*HESA Graduate Outcomes 2019/20 data published in 2022. The Graduate Outcomes % is derived using The Guardian University Guide methodology. The average annual salary is based on graduates working full-time within the UK.
76.3% of undergraduates from the Department of American and Canadian Studies secured graduate level employment or further study within 15 months of graduation. The average annual salary for these graduates was £24,651.*
*HESA Graduate Outcomes 2019/20 data published in 2022. The Graduate Outcomes % is derived using The Guardian University Guide methodology. The average annual salary is based on graduates working full-time within the UK.
Studying for a degree at the University of Nottingham will provide you with the type of skills and experiences that will prove invaluable in any career, whichever direction you decide to take.
Throughout your time with us, our Careers and Employability Service can work with you to improve your employability skills even further; assisting with job or course applications, searching for appropriate work experience placements and hosting events to bring you closer to a wide range of prospective employers.
Have a look at our careers page for an overview of all the employability support and opportunities that we provide to current students.
The University of Nottingham is consistently named as one of the most targeted universities by Britain’s leading graduate employers (Ranked in the top ten in The Graduate Market in 2013-2020, High Fliers Research).
University Park Campus covers 300 acres, with green spaces, wildlife, period buildings and modern facilities. It is one of the UK's most beautiful and sustainable campuses, winning a national Green Flag award every year since 2003.
University Park Campus covers 300 acres, with green spaces, wildlife, period buildings and modern facilities. It is one of the UK's most beautiful and sustainable campuses, winning a national Green Flag award every year since 2003.
Faculty of Arts
4 years full-time
Qualification
BA Hons
Entry requirements
ABB
UCAS code
T704
Faculty of Arts
3 years full-time (also available part-time)
Qualification
BA Jt Hons
Entry requirements
ABB
UCAS code
TV71
Faculty of Arts
3 years full-time (also available part-time)
Qualification
BA Jt Hons
Entry requirements
ABB
UCAS code
QT37
Faculty of Arts
3 or 4 years full-time depending on language or placement choices
Qualification
BA Hons
Entry requirements
AAA
UCAS code
Y002
If you’re looking for more information, please head to our help and support hub, where you can find frequently asked questions or details of how to make an enquiry.
If you’re looking for more information, please head to our help and support hub, where you can find frequently asked questions or details of how to make an enquiry.