Course Catalogue

LJMU Partner Taught

1. To develop a critical understanding of the historical and contemporary relationship between the state, social divisions and the maintenance of social order; 2. To consider recent developments around critical theories of the state; 3. To understand the interrelationship between the exercise of state power, policy and practice; 4. To critically assess the contradictions within, and contestation around, the exercise of state power.

Outline Syllabus:• The state in its historical context; • Liberal and Marxist accounts of state power; • The relationship between state institutions and the maintenance of social order; • Security and the exercise of state power; • Contesting and resisting state policies and practices.

Additional Information:This module is concerned with the issue of the state and the exercise of state power. It will focus on the complex relationship between state institutions, their role in the maintenance of the social order of capitalism, historically and contemporaneously and their place in the reproduction and legitimation of the major social divisions within capitalist societies: social class, gender, race, age, sexuality and ability/disability. The module will introduce students to key thinkers and perspectives and will critically analyse how these thinkers have built on, and developed, the original insights of Marx and Engels around the state. Finally, the module will analyse how state power has been resisted and contested while also focussing on the ideological and material strategies through which the state attempts to absorb and co-opt radical social movements in the struggle to secure and maintain the social order of capitalism