Course Catalogue

View Specification Document | Reading List

This course will expose students to the governing process in Scotland in a comparative perspective.

This course may not be running this year. For further information please check the Politics Moodle page or contact the subject directly.

Mandatory Entry Requirements

Grade D3 in Politics 2A and Politics 2B.

None

None

1. Group project: podcast documentary on an aspect of Scottish politics (30%)

2. Essay (2,500 words) (50%)

3. Policy briefing (1,500 words) (20%)

In assessment 1 students will work as a group to produce a documentary podcast on an area of Scottish politics, seeking to explain the phenomenon and present their explanations in an engaging way. In the second assessment, students will write a 2,500 word essay selected from a range of options. The final assessment will be a short policy briefing, laying out a proposal for Scotland's future from an academic perspective.

This course will explore politics in Scotland, especially in the period since devolution, and with a particular focus on how Scottish politics compares to that of other countries and substate entities. The course will look at the Scottish party system, the Scottish Parliament, local government, nationalism and unionism and the politics of class. It will critically examine the extent to which Scottish politics has been transformed in recent decades, and look forward to Scotland's political future, appraising the constitutional debate through an academic lens.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

• Analyse and explain the key dynamics of Scottish politics

•Evaluate the works of scholars who have written about the role of political institutions and actors in Scotland

•Apply the knowledge gained in the process of evaluating and discussing the literature

• Advance reasoned and factually supported arguments, orally and in writing

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.