Core modules
This joint degree is 50:50 between Politics and Modern Languages, with an optional split of 75:25 in the final year. It is four years and includes a year of study or work placement abroad in the third year in Italy.
Subjects within each discipline include:
- Italian society and culture
- Political theory
- Comparative politics
- Democratisation
- Italian literature
- Italian cinema
- International political economy
Year One
Introduction to Politics
Introduction to Politics gives you a broad overview of the main issues and theoretical perspectives within Politics. You'll learn first to understand and then apply the core concepts of comparative political science and theory to processes, institutions, ideologies and practical policy-making. You'll conduct a comparative study of different political systems and political change, both in writing and in open debate.
Read more about the Introduction to Politics moduleLink opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).
World Politics
In this module, you'll be introduced to world politics and the role that international relations plays in the interactions between nations. You'll gain a solid understanding of the historical underpinnings of the structure and systems of states, and become familiar with major theories of international relations post-1945. You'll analyse contemporary writings on world politics and engage critically, both orally and in writing, with key concepts and theoretical debates on the nature of international political systems.
Read more about the World Politics moduleLink opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).
Modern Italian Language 1 (at beginners, intermediate or advanced level):
Modern Italian Language for Beginners
Would you like the challenge of learning a new language at university? This foundation module for absolute beginners combines the acquisition of core language skills with knowledge of broader aspects of Italian culture, equipping you with the tools to engage with a wide range of relevant, contemporary topics in Italian. Opportunities to practise your Italian vary from role play to quizzes, working both individually and in your group. Successful completion will mean you are able to hold a conversation in Italian, read newspapers and get the gist of TV and radio programmes in Italian.
Read more about Modern Italian Language for BeginnersLink opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).
Modern Italian Language 1 (Intermediate)
Do you need to consolidate and expand your competence in Italian while enjoying talking about culture and society? If so, this is the module for you. You’ll be given opportunities to revise fundamental grammar and vocabulary before acquiring more complex grammatical constructions, including through translation. We will integrate cultural topics with your linguistic studies, so you have the chance to explore areas such as tourism, the arts, the environment and Italian traditions. You will have opportunities for individual and group presentations and to engage in activities that integrate the skills of listening, reading, writing and speaking. By the end of your course, you’ll be expected to be able to write competently in several registers, using appropriate styles and terminology, and to converse in Italian to a good standard.
Read more about Modern Italian Language 1 (Intermediate)Link opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).
Modern Italian Language 1 (Advanced)
Would you like to use your Italian A Level (or equivalent) language skills creatively? This module will develop your linguistic and intercultural competence in Italian by means of advanced activities, including creative writing, translation, debates, presentations and drama. You will explore linguistic structures using resources in a variety of media and engage with authentic and sophisticated texts to compare cultural systems and express your opinion critically and creatively. In translation, you will experiment with different genres, registers and styles to enhance your cultural appreciation of Italian. Finally, you will have opportunities to explore cultural subjects and lead group discussions.
Read more about Modern Italian Language 1 (Advanced)Link opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).
Introducing Italy: Local and Global Perspectives
How do we define Italy? What do we mean by Italian culture and identity? One of the defining features of Italy has been how it has engaged with other countries, powers and cultures throughout its history, even before it officially became a nation state in 1861.
This module examines how Italian identities have been formed through interaction with other cultures and how Italian thought and culture has shaped the world around us from medieval times to the present day. The module traces the development of a standard Italian language and its relationship with dialects and local identities. It examines the processes leading to the establishment of an Italian nation state. We will consider internal diversity within Italy (regional and linguistic diversity, ethnic diversity, gender and sexuality), before moving on to look at Italy's cultural influence globally, from anglophone receptions of Dante's Divine Comedy and the influence of Renaissance thought in Europe, to stardom in Italian film.
The last section of the module questions the impact of mobility on questions of belonging, examining Italian emigration, the colonial period, and contemporary immigration. The module aims to situate the study of Italy within a global perspective, whilst maintaining a focus on local specificities.
Read more about Introducing Italy: Local and Global Perspectives, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).
Year Two
You can spend this year studying abroad, or on a work placement. Alternatively you can study the following modules this year, and spend the next year abroad instead.
Foundations of Political Theory
The aim of this module is to introduce you to some of the foundational arguments and debates in modern (mainly) European political theory, as well as some of the discipline’s most important primary texts. To this end, you will critically examine claims about freedom, equality, democracy, revolution and crisis made by some of the most important political thinkers from 1640 onwards.
Read more about the Foundations of Political Theory moduleLink opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).
Topics in Political Theory
Politics considers how the political world operates, and how it ought to operate. In this module, we consider the “oughts” of politics. Building on Foundations of Political Theory, the module examines key thinkers and topics in contemporary normative political theory. The module is divided into two parts: key thinkers in contemporary normative political theory, including John Rawls, Robert Nozick, and Susan Moller Okin; and key topics in contemporary normative political theory, including issues such as immigration, education, representation, microaggressions, and climate change.
Read more about the Topics in Political Theory moduleLink opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).
Modern Italian Language 2
This module will extend and refine your competence in Italian. With an emphasis on the key skills of reading, listening, speaking and writing, you will consolidate your proficiency in both new and familiar grammatical and linguistic structures, and expand the range and sophistication of your vocabulary and use of register in spoken and written discourse. In addition to classroom exercises, advanced discursive written work and oral projects, you will also be directed to appropriate activities for self-study.
Read more about Modern Italian Language 2Link opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).
or
Modern Italian Language 3
On this module, you will develop your translation, writing and oral communication skills to advanced level. You will engage in translation as a practical skill, working to produce translations of literary, journalistic and academic texts with a focus on conveying nuances of meaning and culturally specific terms. You will develop greater fluency in different writing styles and genres. Oral sessions will increase your familiarity with more sophisticated registers of spoken Italian and raise your awareness of recent developments in Italian society so that you can discuss aspects of contemporary Italy in relation to your personal experiences.
Read more about Modern Italian Language 3Link opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).
Year Three
Your third year will normally be spent abroad. If you did not spend your second year abroad, you will spend this year studying abroad, or on a work placement. If you spent your second year abroad, you will then follow the syllabus below for your third year.
Modern Italian Language 2
This module will extend and refine your competence in Italian. With an emphasis on the key skills of reading, listening, speaking and writing, you will consolidate your proficiency in both new and familiar grammatical and linguistic structures, and expand the range and sophistication of your vocabulary and use of register in spoken and written discourse. In addition to classroom exercises, advanced discursive written work and oral projects, you will also be directed to appropriate activities for self-study.
Read more about Modern Italian Language 2Link opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).
or
Modern Italian Language 3
On this module, you will develop your translation, writing and oral communication skills to advanced level. You will engage in translation as a practical skill, working to produce translations of literary, journalistic and academic texts with a focus on conveying nuances of meaning and culturally specific terms. You will develop greater fluency in different writing styles and genres. Oral sessions will increase your familiarity with more sophisticated registers of spoken Italian and raise your awareness of recent developments in Italian society so that you can discuss aspects of contemporary Italy in relation to your personal experiences.
Read more about Modern Italian Language 3Link opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).
Year Four
Modern Italian Language 4
Building on Intermediate year language, you will deepen your writing, speaking and translation skills, paying particular attention to register and style and learning some of the underpinning translation theory. We approach translation not just as a linguistic exercise but as a practical skill, so you will work to produce translations of literary, journalistic and academic texts, and explore techniques for conveying semantic nuances, culturally specific terms and more sophisticated registers of spoken Italian. Both the writing and oral components of the course will raise your awareness of recent developments in Italian society and enable you to discuss relevant aspects of contemporary Italy in relation to your personal experience.
Read more about Modern Italian Language 4Link opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).
Optional modules
Year Two
Optional modules in Politics
Optional modules can vary from year to year. Example optional modules may include:
- Politics of International Development
- Politics in the UK
- Politics of the USA
- Theories of International Relations
- Politics of Contemporary China
- States and Markets: An Introduction to International Political Economy
- International Security
- Core Issues in Comparative Politics
- Themes in European Integration
- Capitalism and its Alternatives
- Political Economy and the Liberal Democratic State
- Introduction to Comparative Public Policy
- 21st Century Challenges and Public Policy Solutions
- The Political Economy of Southeast Asia
- Introduction to Casual Inference in Quantitative Political Analysis
- Gender Matters in International Relation
Optional modules in Italian Studies
Optional modules can vary from year to year. Example optional modules may include:
- Italian Cinema: Individual Perspectives
- Italian Cinema: Envisioning the Nation
- Present Futures: Questions of Marginality in Contemporary Italy
- Legends, Conspiracies and Fake News in Italian Contemporary Culture
- Modern Italian Culture in Dialogue with Europe
- Transnational Stories in Italy
- Destination Italy: The Ethics of Travel and Travel Writing
- Introducing Dante's Hell
- Introducing Dante's Purgatorio and Paradiso
- With and Beyond Books: Theory, History and Practice
- Topics in Renaissance Thought and Culture
- Experiments in Narrative: Telling the Past
- Renaissance Rivalries: Power, Magic, and Language
- Renaissance Rivalries: Courts and Learning
- Love, Desire and Poetry in Dante and the Italian Middle Ages
- Medieval and Renaissance Short Fiction in Italy and England
- Short Stories and Storytelling (17th-21st centuries)
Year Three
Optional modules in Politics
Optional modules can vary from year to year. Example optional modules may include:
- Politics of International Development
- Politics in the UK
- Politics of the USA
- Theories of International Relations
- Politics of Contemporary China
- States and Markets: An Introduction to International Political Economy
- International Security
- Core Issues in Comparative Politics
- Themes in European Integration
- Capitalism and its Alternatives
- Political Economy and the Liberal Democratic State
- Introduction to Comparative Public Policy
- 21st Century Challenges and Public Policy Solutions
- Introduction to Qualitative Methods
Optional modules in Italian Studies
Optional modules can vary from year to year. Example optional modules may include:
- Italian Cinema: Individual Perspectives
- Italian Cinema: Envisioning the Nation
- Present Futures: Questions of Marginality in Contemporary Italy
- Legends, Conspiracies and Fake News in Italian Contemporary Culture
- Modern Italian Culture in Dialogue with Europe
- Transnational Stories in Italy
- Destination Italy: The Ethics of Travel and Travel Writing
- Introducing Dante's Hell
- Introducing Dante's Purgatorio and Paradiso
- With and Beyond Books: Theory, History and Practice
- Topics in Renaissance Thought and Culture
- Experiments in Narrative: Telling the Past
- Renaissance Rivalries: Power, Magic, and Language
- Renaissance Rivalries: Courts and Learning
- Love, Desire and Poetry in Dante and the Italian Middle Ages
- Medieval and Renaissance Short Fiction in Italy and England
- Short Stories and Storytelling (17th-21st centuries)
Year Four
Optional modules in Politics
Optional modules can vary from year to year. Example optional modules may include:
- Gender and Development
- European Union Policy-Making
- Politics of Globalisation
- United States Foreign Policy
- Critical Security Studies
- Vigilant State: The Politics of Intelligence
- State, Power, Freedom: European Political Theory
- The Political Economy of Money
- International Relations of the Americas
- Latin America: Democratisation and Development
- War in the 21st Century
- Politics and Culture in the Middle East
- Violence, Rights, Justice and Peace in the Middle East
- The Global Energy Challenge
- The Politics of Climate Change
- Public Opinion
- Determinants of Democracy
- Dissertation
- The Politics of Religion
- Gender, War and Militarism
- Race and International Politics
- The Political Economy of Islam in Southeast Asia
Optional modules in Italian Studies
Optional modules can vary from year to year. Example optional modules may include:
- Italian Cinema: Individual Perspectives
- Italian Cinema: Envisioning the Nation
- Present Futures: Questions of Marginality in Contemporary Italy
- Legends, Conspiracies and Fake News in Italian Contemporary Culture
- Modern Italian Culture in Dialogue with Europe
- Transnational Stories in Italy
- Destination Italy: The Ethics of Travel and Travel Writing
- Introducing Dante's Hell
- Introducing Dante's Purgatorio and Paradiso
- With and Beyond Books: Theory, History and Practice
- Topics in Renaissance Thought and Culture
- Experiments in Narrative: Telling the Past
- Renaissance Rivalries: Power, Magic, and Language
- Renaissance Rivalries: Courts and Learning
- Love, Desire and Poetry in Dante and the Italian Middle Ages
- Medieval and Renaissance Short Fiction in Italy and England
- Short Stories and Storytelling (17th-21st centuries)
Find out more about Politics modulesLink opens in a new window
Find out more about Italian Studies modulesLink opens in a new window
