Students will engage in the course reading and intensive seminar discussions in order to broaden and deepen their appreciation of the role, function, structure, processes, and power of the state in the contemporary world.  We shall examine from a range of perspectives and competing theories what the state is, what it does, how it does it, and why it does it. 

Students will gain:

General

• Enhanced skills of academic enquiry and independent library research relevant to the subject;
• Enhanced ability to communicate in writing and orally, and to work independently;
• Enhanced time-management and self-organisation skills;
• Advanced skills of analysis and argumentation;
• The opportunity to further hone critical skills.

Subject Specific

• A comprehensive appreciation of the nature, development, function, structure and power of the state;
• A critical appreciation of a variety of theoretical approaches to state analysis;
• An enhanced appreciation of ontology and epistemology;
• An enhanced appreciation of the scale and scope of state analysis.