Manuscripts and Special Collections reading room, Kings Meadow campus

History and Politics BA

University Park Campus, Nottingham, UK

Course overview

Contemporary political ideas and practice are heavily influenced by modern history. For example, the political institutions and culture of contemporary America and France can only be understood with reference to the American and French Revolutions of the late 18th century.


Politics and history are complementary disciplines. Both explore the nature of power across time and offer a critical understanding of the world today. They use many different methods of research and analysis, opening the door to a wide range of exciting careers.


You will use primary and secondary historical sources to research, write and debate history. You'll also learn how to compare and contrast different political institutions, systems and behaviours.


The second year module, 'History and Politics: A Problem or Solution?', is specifically designed for this course. It explores the overlaps and tensions between the two subjects, setting you up for more advanced study in year three. It sits alongside optional modules in both history and politics, covering a wide chronological and geographical range.

Indicative modules

Mandatory

Year 1

British Constitution in Crisis

Mandatory

Year 1

Introduction to Political Theory

Mandatory

Year 1

Learning History

Mandatory

Year 1

Understanding Global Politics

Optional

Year 1

Themes in Early Modern European History c.1500-1789

Optional

Year 1

Making the Middle Ages, 500-1500

Optional

Year 1

Roads to Modernity: An Introduction to Modern History 1750-1945

Optional

Year 1

The Contemporary World since 1945

Mandatory

Year 2

History and Politics: A Problem or a Solution?

Optional

Year 2

Exile and Homeland: Jewish Culture, Thought and Politics in Modern Europe and Mandatory Palestine between 1890 and 1950

Optional

Year 2

The Tokugawa World: 1600-1868

Optional

Year 2

Conquerors, Caliphs, and Converts: The Making of the Islamic World, c.600-800

Optional

Year 2

A Tale of Seven Kingdoms: Anglo-Saxon and Viking-Age England from Bede to Alfred the Great

Optional

Year 2

British Foreign Policy and the Origins of the World Wars, 1895-1939

Optional

Year 2

Central European History: From Revolution to War, 1848-1914

Optional

Year 2

Consumers & Citizens: Society & Culture in 18th Century England

Optional

Year 2

De-industrialisation: A Social and Cultural History, c.1970-1990

Optional

Year 2

Environmental History: Nature and the Western World, 1800-2000

Optional

Year 2

European Fascisms, 1900-1945

Optional

Year 2

Heroes and Villains in the Middle Ages

Optional

Year 2

Imagining 'Britain': Decolonising Tolkien et al

Optional

Year 2

International History of the Middle East and North Africa 1918-1995

Optional

Year 2

Kingship in Crisis: Politics, People and Power in Late-medieval England

Optional

Year 2

Liberating Africa: Decolonisation, Development and the Cold War, 1919-1994

Optional

Year 2

Poverty, Disease and Disability: Britain, 1795-1930

Optional

Year 2

Rule and Resistance in Colonial India, c.1757-1857

Optional

Year 2

Sex, Lies and Gossip? Women of Medieval England

Optional

Year 2

Sexuality in Early Medieval Europe

Optional

Year 2

'Slaves of the Devil' and Other Witches: A History of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe

Optional

Year 2

Soviet State and Society

Optional

Year 2

The British Empire from Emancipation to the Boer War

Optional

Year 2

The Rise of Modern China

Optional

Year 2

The Second World War and Social Change in Britain, 1939-1951: Went The Day Well?

Optional

Year 2

The Venetian Republic, 1450-1575

Optional

Year 2

The Victorians: Life, Thought and Culture

Optional

Year 2

Travel and Adventure in the Medieval World

Optional

Year 2

A Protestant Nation? Politics, Religion and Society in England, 1558-1640

Optional

Year 2

The Early Modern Global Spanish Empire (1450-1850)

Optional

Year 2

Rethinking the Tudors: Monarchy, Society and Religion in England, 1485-1603

Optional

Year 2

Gender, Empire, Selfhood: Transgender History in Global Context

Optional

Year 2

Commodities, Consumption and Connections the Global World of Things 1500-1800

Optional

Year 2

In the Heart of Europe: Histories of Modern Poland

Optional

Year 2

Villains or Victims: White Women and the British Empire c.1840-1980

Optional

Year 2

France and its Empire(s) 1815-1914

Optional

Year 2

The politics of memory in postwar Western Europe

Optional

Year 2

British Party Politics

Optional

Year 2

Democracy and its Critics

Optional

Year 2

Global Security

Optional

Year 2

How Voters Decide

Optional

Year 2

International Political Economy and Global Development

Optional

Year 2

International Politics in the 20th Century

Optional

Year 2

Politics and Public Policy in China

Optional

Year 2

Social and Global Justice

Optional

Year 2

The Transformation of European Politics

Optional

Year 2

Experiencing National Identity

Optional

Year 2

Life and Demise of the GDR

Optional

Year 2

Screening Russia: Film and Society from the Tsars to Putin

Optional

Year 2

Employing the Arts

Optional

Year 2

Arts Work Placement Module

Optional

Year 3

Dissertation in History

Optional

Year 3

Dissertation in Politics and International Relations

Optional

Year 3

Overseas Exploration, European Diplomacy, and the Rise of Tudor England

Optional

Year 3

China in Global Politics

Optional

Year 3

Politics Placement

Optional

Year 3

The Politics of Ethnic Conflict

Optional

Year 3

African Politics

Optional

Year 3

Theories of the Modern State

Optional

Year 3

The Politics of Human Rights

Optional

Year 3

Responding to Extremism: Politics, Power, and Ethics

Optional

Year 3

Gender and Political Representation

Optional

Year 3

The Middle East and the World

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

Political Parties and Party Systems Around the Globe

Optional

Year 3

Left and Right in Contemporary Politics

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

Optional

Year 3

European colonialism and the boundary of the human in the long eighteenth century

Optional

Year 3

The 1960s and the West, 1958-1974

Optional

Year 3

Russia in Revolution 1905-21

Optional

Year 3

The Reign of Richard II

Optional

Year 3

'World wasting itself in blood': Europe and the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648)

Optional

Year 3

Rebels Against Empire: Anticolonialism and British Imperialism in the mid 20th Century

Optional

Year 3

The British Civil Wars c.1639-1652

Optional

Year 3

Sexuality and Society in Britain Since 1900

Optional

Year 3

Alternatives to War: Articulating Peace since 1815

Optional

Year 3

Windrush and the (Re)Making of a Nation: Myth and Memory

Optional

Year 3

Zero Hour: Germany, Poland, and post-war reconstruction in Europe, 1945-1955

Optional

Year 3

Britain in the Age of the French Revolution: 1789-1803

Optional

Year 3

Victorians in Italy: Travelling South in the Nineteenth Century

Optional

Year 3

Faith and Fire: Popular Religion in Late Medieval England

Optional

Year 3

The Black Death

Optional

Year 3

The Chimera: British Imperialism and Its Discontents, 1834-1919

Optional

Year 3

Disease and Domination: The History of Medicine and the Colonial Encounter

Optional

Year 3

The past that won’t go away: The Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939

Optional

Year 3

Plague, Fire and the Reimagining of the Capital 1600-1720: The Making of Modern London

Optional

Year 3

Slavery, Caste and Capitalism: Labouring Lives in Global History, 1750-2000

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About modules

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 Thursday 23 January 2025. Due to timetabling availability, there may be restrictions on some module combinations.

From Britain's Prime Ministers to the works of Plato and Aristotle, the history of Modern Medicine to the historical significance of street lighting; studying History and Politics has opened my eyes to a plethora of topics I had previously not considered researching. I have been afforded the opportunity to develop my independent research, source analysis, and presentation skills thanks to friendly and approachable tutors in both departments. 

Emily Oxbury

History and Politics BA

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Open Day June 2022