Course summary

Foundation Year courses have been designed for students who do not have the necessary academic qualifications needed to enter directly into the first year of a degree but who have the ability and commitment to do so. Once the Foundation Year has been completed successfully, you can then go on to complete your degree. Look behind media headlines and explore the underlying political issues of both past and present, as you question how we structure our society and how it structures us. Politics at Chester is both theoretical and applied. It is about decision-making, conflict resolution and power, and explores the role of the state, government and institutions. This course asks how we structure society and how society structures us, and presents opportunities to engage with and critique key political ideas, processes and institutions both domestically and internationally. On this course you will look past the assumptions that surround power politics. We explore the underlying political issues and ask age old questions, such as ‘How do we achieve the good society?’; ‘Do the strong do as they please, while the weak suffer?’; and ‘Is the point of politics to change the world?’. The teaching team brings a wealth of experience and knowledge. We may also invite guest lecturers to provide specialist sessions and where appropriate, facilitate visits to political institutions and events with regional MPs and local authorities. Our course has taken students out of the traditional classroom and into a wide variety of field trips, even visiting the EU parliament in Brussels in the past. We have also arranged activities such as voter registration drives.