Module overview
Politics of the ¸£Àû×ÅƬ South examines how political order, authority, and representation are produced, contested, and transformed in contexts often characterised by weak or uneven state capacity, deep inequality, and hybrid institutional arrangements. Rather than treating the ¸£Àû×ÅƬ South as a residual or deficient category, the module critically interrogates how political science has historically conceptualised—and often mischaracterised—politics outside the ¸£Àû×ÅƬ North.
The module combines two core strands. First, it offers a critical engagement with the intellectual history of political science and comparative politics, examining how dominant theories in comparative politics have approached (and sometimes obscured) political realities in the ¸£Àû×ÅƬ South. Second, it explores substantive political dynamics that are central to many ¸£Àû×ÅƬ South contexts, including informal governance and representation, clientelism, corruption, criminal governance, informal resistance, lobbying, and the coexistence of formal and informal institutions.
Throughout the module, students will engage comparatively with cases from Latin America, Africa, Asia, and beyond, and will be encouraged to reflect on how concepts developed in and for the ¸£Àû×ÅƬ South travel to, challenge, or reshape political analysis more broadly. The module places particular emphasis on analytical clarity, conceptual critique, and research design, preparing students to develop independent research on politics in the ¸£Àû×ÅƬ South.