How Politics Works: From the Individual to an International Scale

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 we’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.

This course is designed for students who have excellent high school grades or partial A-level equivalent qualifications. It gives undergraduates a flavour of studying politics at degree level, and helps mature students return to study.

• Democracy
• Welcome to Week 1
• Conceptualising Democracy
• Classical and Protective Democracy
• Developmental Democracy
• People's Democracy
• Weekly Wrap Up
• Machinery of Government
• Week 2 Introduction
• Constitutions
• The Legislature
• The Executive
• The Judiciary
• Assessment
• Weekly Wrap Up
• Political Economy and Globalisation
• Political Economy and Globalisation
• What is political about the economy?
• Enterprise and Social Capitalism
• Statist Responses
• Globalisation
• Weekly Wrap Up
• Identity Politics
• Identity Politics
• Class analysis
• Economic Individualism
• Typologies of Individuals
• The Critique of Identity Politics
• Assessment
• Weekly Wrap Up