Politics | www.essex.ac.uk/government


| E admit@essex.ac.uk | T +44 (0)1206 873666 What is the


Department like? The Department of Government at Essex is internationally acknowledged to be one of the most active and prominent politics departments in the world. We are ranked first in the UK, with 45 per cent of our research rated as ‘world-leading’. We are also the only department in the UK to have consistently received the highest research rating in every Research Assessment Exercise (RAE).


In addition, the collective skills and expertise across the social sciences, confirmed by the most recent RAE (2008), has emphatically substantiated Essex’s position as the leading social science university in the UK.


We offer a wide range of courses and modules relating to virtually all aspects of politics. Our large size, in terms of students (around 600 students study politics at all levels) and staff (27 full-time members of academic staff), allow students to select from a number of distinctive courses.


In the 2010 National Student Survey, we achieved an overall student satisfaction score of 95 per cent, placing us sixth in the UK.


First in the UK for research.


Why study politics? In an ever changing and increasingly globalised world, few academic subjects are as central to our everyday lives as government and politics. Politics and political events dominate domestic and international news, while political decisions themselves affect diverse areas of our lives, including the ways in which we are educated, housed, cared for in hospital, and kept secure from crime and violence, as well as how our basic rights are protected.


192 | Undergraduate Prospectus 2012


The study of politics is concerned primarily with analysing how and why governments interact with society, as well as how countries interact with each other. Those who study politics address such important questions as: why people vote the way they do; how political decisions are made; why citizens become involved in violent and non-violent movements; why governments and regimes rise and fall; and why international conflicts arise and how they can be prevented in the future.


Academic staff, eminent visiting scholars, post-doctoral, doctoral, graduate and undergraduate students from all over the world are attracted by the Department’s high standing. Our academic staff, as well as visiting scholars and teaching assistants, includes individuals from Britain, the United States, Canada, Germany and South Africa, among other countries. Members of the Department have distinguished themselves in various ways. Several members of our staff have acted as media commentators (Anthony King and John Bartle on British politics), have written textbooks widely used by undergraduates across the world (David McKay on American politics and Todd Landman on comparative politics), or have been involved in practical training for new democracies in Eastern Europe (Sarah Birch and Frances Millard).


We have collectively produced two books on British Government, The Changing British Political System in the 1990s and The New British Politics, both of which are used at A-level and undergraduate level.


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