Module LAW3155 for 2024/5
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Undergraduate Module Descriptor
LAW3155: Law, Politics and Power
This module descriptor refers to the 2024/5 academic year.
Module Content
Syllabus Plan
Whilst the precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover all or some of the following topics. Your study will be focused on, and organized around, key linking questions and problems, in order to support continuity and cohesive coverage.
- Introduction to the module: working with legal and political theories; working with legal and political history; key terminology and skills; understanding descriptive and normative approaches; developing critical thinking; developing and expressing an informed opinion.
Module topics:
- Classical liberalism and the social contract, the emergence of democracy and modern liberal democracy, from the 1600s to today
- The theories of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in the 1800s and the ways in which the subsequent theory and practice of communist systems built on and adapted them
- The emergence of fascism in Italy after the First World War (1914-1918), the rise of the Italian fascist state, the development of Italian fascist ideology and fascism in practice
- The emergence of National Socialism (Nazism) in Germany after the First World War, the end of the Weimar Republic, the rise of the Nazi state, Nazi ideology and the ongoing debate about the nature of Nazi law
- Theoretical models of fascism and comparing fascist and other sorts of authoritarian state systems
- Questions of law, history and memory, transitions between types of state system, and the debate about shadows of the undemocratic past on law and politics today
Learning and Teaching
This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 54.5 | 245.5 | 0 |
...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled Learning & Teaching activities | 44 | 1 x 2 hour lecture per week for 11 weeks in term 1 and 11 weeks in term 2. |
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activity | 10.5 | 7 x 1.5 hour workshops (1 on the introduction plus 1 per topic cycle, making a total of 4 in term 1 and 3 in term 2) |
| Guided Independent study | 69 | 3 hours reading before and/or after each 2 hour lecture |
| Guided Independent Study | 28 | 4 hours reading before and after each workshop |
| Guided Independent study | 148.5 | Reading, revision and preparation for assessments |
Online Resources
This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).
Web based and electronic resources including video clips and audio material will be provided on ELE.
Other Learning Resources
Lecture/ topic outlines, reading lists, further URL links and other material will be provided on ELE.
