Politics and Philosophy BA (Hons)

Modules

• Year 1 at Sussex

  Your modules

  Core modules

  Core modules are taken by all students on the course. They give you a solid grounding in your chosen subject and prepare you to explore the topics that interest you most.

  Autumn teaching

  • British Political History
  • Explaining Political Systems
  • Reason and Argument
  • Truth & Morality

  Spring teaching

  • Freedom, Power, Justice: Foundations of Political Theory
  • Research Skills and Methods in Political Science
  • Science & Religion

  Your degree

  In your first year, you’ll look at the fundamentals and cornerstones of political and philosophical analysis. This is what you’ll need to know to undertake more detailed analysis as you progress through your degree. You’ll:

  • deepen your understanding of contemporary politics and philosophy
  • find out about the key terms, ideas, approaches, concepts and thinkers
  • develop the intellectual and analytical skills you need for a deeper understanding of political theory and philosophical analysis
  • learn to analyse political systems and philosophical issues in a variety of different contexts
  • explore how philosophical thinking skills can be applied in a real-world, industrial context.

  Teaching

  Teaching methods typically include lectures, seminars and workshops.

  

  25%: Lecture
  25%: Seminar
  50%: Practical

  Assessment

  Assessment methods typically include essays, a blog, class and video presentations, and a data report.

  Contact hours and workload

  This year of study includes approximately 1,200 hours of work. This breaks down into about 180 hours of contact time and about 1,020 hours of independent study.

  Engage and actively participate throughout your studies to get the most out of your course.

• Year 2 at Sussex

  Your modules

  Core modules

  Core modules are taken by all students on the course. They give you a solid grounding in your chosen subject and prepare you to explore the topics that interest you most.

  Autumn teaching

  • European Politics
  • Modern Political Thought

  Options

  Alongside your core modules, you can choose options to broaden your horizons and tailor your course to your interests. This list gives you a flavour of our options, which are kept under review and may change, for example in response to student feedback or the latest research.

  While it’s our aim for students to take their preferred combinations of options, this can’t be guaranteed and will be subject to timetabling. Options may be grouped and if so, students will be able to choose a set number of options from the selection available in any particular group.

  Autumn teaching

  • Ancient Philosophy
  • Early Modern Philosophy
  • Epistemology and Metaphysics
  • Philosophy and Professional Life

  Spring teaching

  • Capitalism and Democracy
  • Communicating Politics
  • Divided Island? Irish Politics from Partition to the Present
  • Feminism and the Politics of Gender
  • Governing India: Institutions, Actors and Challenges Amidst Social Diversity
  • Italy Between Political Crisis and Social Change
  • Kant
  • Phenomenology
  • Philosophy of AI
  • Philosophy of Language
  • Philosophy of Mind
  • States of Disunion: Power, Polarisation and Protest in US Politics
  • The Challenge of Being a Reluctant Hegemon; German Politics Today
  • The EU Between Integration and Disintegration
  • The Making of Modern Turkey: The Struggle Between Authoritarianism and Democracy

  Trips abroad

  We organise trips to Germany and France so you can learn more about the current political scene and meet with politicians and academics there.

  If you study German politics, you can go on a trip to Berlin to visit the German parliament for discussions with politicians from all major parties.

  You also visit other prominent historical landmarks such as the Holocaust Memorial, Checkpoint Charlie and the Berlin Wall.

  Your degree

  In your second year, you’ll apply the ideas, methods and approaches from the first year to look at power. How do we govern ourselves? How do political systems work? You’ll:

  • consider some of the key issues that increasingly divide people politically
  • examine political and philosophical ideas and frameworks in greater depth
  • look at countries, regions and institutions and the social forces that are shaping politics in these places
  • explore the underlying ideas underpinning Artificial Intelligence, how it might change our world, and how philosophy can be applied to real-world issues and professional life
  • choose specialised options to design your degree to match your interests.

  Teaching

  Teaching methods typically include lectures, seminars and workshops.

  

  25%: Lecture
  25%: Seminar
  50%: Practical

  Assessment

  Assessment methods typically include longer essays, an in-person and take-home examinations, and a podcast.

  Contact hours and workload

  This year of study includes approximately 1,200 hours of work. This breaks down into about 180 hours of contact time and about 1,020 hours of independent study.

  Engage and actively participate throughout your studies to get the most out of your course.

• Experience Year

  Study abroad (optional)

  Apply to study abroad – you’ll develop an international perspective and gain an edge when it comes to your career. Find out where your course could take you

  If your application to study abroad is successful, you’ll have to meet the academic requirements at Sussex and also at the partner university. Find out more about studying abroad as a Sussex student

  Placement (optional)

  To help you gain experience and increase your employability, you can apply for an optional placement as part of your course. You’ll be responsible for applying for and securing your placement. Our dedicated careers team can provide you with information and advice. If you’re successful in obtaining a placement, this will form part of your course.

  Find out more about placements and internships

  Please note that if you’re receiving – or applying for – USA federal Direct Loan funds, you can’t transfer to the version of your course with an optional study abroad period in any country or optional placement in the USA if the number of credits for the placement/internship exceeds 25% of the total credits for your course. Find out more about American Student Loans and Federal Student Aid

• Year 3 at Sussex

  Your modules

  Options

  You choose options to broaden your horizons and tailor your course to your interests. This list gives you a flavour of our options, which are kept under review and may change, for example in response to student feedback or the latest research.

  While it’s our aim for students to take their preferred combinations of options, this can’t be guaranteed and will be subject to timetabling. Options may be grouped and if so, students will be able to choose a set number of options from the selection available in any particular group.

  Autumn and spring teaching

  • Philosophy Dissertation

  Autumn teaching

  • Analytic Philosophy
  • Authoritarianism and its Critics
  • Environmental Politics in the Anthropocene
  • Global Crisis and European Political Economy
  • Indian Politics Since Independence: Between Dominance and Fragmentation
  • Modern European Philosophy
  • Parties and Party Systems
  • Philosophy of Art & Literature
  • Political Psychology
  • Social & Political Philosophy
  • The Politics of Euroscepticism
  • The Rise of Anti-politics

  Spring teaching

  • Ethics
  • Immigration and the Liberal State
  • Independent Study/Internship Option
  • Islamic Philosophy
  • Parties and Voters in the UK
  • Political Corruption
  • Populism and Politics
  • Post-Kantian Philosophy
  • The Making of Modern Turkey: The Struggle Between Authoritarianism and Democracy
  • The Neoliberal Age? Understanding Modern Britain
  • The Politics of (Post-)Truth
  • The Politics of Feeling

  Your degree

  In your final year, you’ll choose options to match your interests. Our specialist options map on to what your lecturers are currently actively researching – you’re taught by leading experts in their field. You’ll look at the ideas, movements, social forces and issues, and philosophical ideas that are challenging the existing political order. What form do they come in and what are their impacts?

  In Philosophy, you can choose to take an independent research project across the whole year.

  In Politics, you can design your own independent research project for one term. As part of this, you could also undertake one of our work placement internships with local MPs and a wide range of other organisations.

  Teaching

  Teaching methods typically include lectures, seminars and one-to-one consultations with your module tutors.

  

  30%: Lecture
  70%: Seminar

  Assessment

  Assessment methods typically include long-form essays, dissertations and research projects.

  Contact hours and workload

  This year of study includes approximately 1,200 hours of work. This breaks down into about 120 hours of contact time and about 1,080 hours of independent study.

  Engage and actively participate throughout your studies to get the most out of your course.

We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2026/27. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum. We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.

We’ll do our best to provide as much optional choice as we can, but timetabling constraints mean it may not be possible to take some module combinations. The structure of a small number of courses means that the order of modules or the streams you choose may determine whether modules are core or optional. This means that your core modules or options may differ from what’s shown here.