Module manager: Dr Sean McDaniel
Email: s.mcdaniel@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) View Timetable
Year running 2025/26
PIED2126 The Conservative Party Since 1945
This module is not approved as a discovery module
Britain is in flux; the effects of the 2008 crisis and austerity are still being felt, Brexit has taken the UK out of Europe, while Westminster has become destabilised. The UK faces many new challenges too, from tackling the cost-of-living crisis to Net Zero, which it is ill-equipped to respond to. To better understand Britain today, this module explores the evolution of the British political economy in the post-1945 period through periods of crisis and upheaval.
The module is designed to:
1- Provide insights into key challenges/crises that have marked the past several decades and which loom over British politics and its political economy today – e.g. post-Brexit governance, climate change
2- Provide alternative perspectives on British politics that go beyond a focus on Westminster to consider broader structural shifts in the economy/society that can help students make links to ongoing/reoccurring issues and themes in British politics, society and economic life
3- Draw upon traditions of British Political Economy to help understand the nature of the British state and how this has shaped Britain’s development in the post-War period
On successful completion of the module students will have demonstrated the following learning outcomes relevant to the subject:
1. Critically assess the character and historical development of the British state
2. Demonstrate grasp of power relations involving the economic, society and British politics.
3. Critically discuss the links between economic trends and contemporary political developments.
4. Evaluate the significance of past crises in British politics and its political economy to future global challenges Britain will face including post-Brexit governance and climate change
Skills Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of the module students will have demonstrated the following skills learning outcomes:
1) Retrieve, organise, and produce complex summaries of information and/or data relating to broad issues and theories relating to British politics
2) Assemble complex arguments and assessments of British politics to empirical case studies, and be able to evaluate and criticise the arguments of others.
3) The ability to analyse texts, think critically and generate ideas/arguments beyond expected or accepted ideas.
Details of the syllabus will be provided on the Minerva organisation (or equivalent) for the module.
| Delivery type | Number | Length hours | Student hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lecture | 11 | 1 | 11 |
| Seminar | 11 | 1 | 11 |
| Independent online learning hours | 178 | ||
| Private study hours | 0 | ||
| Total Contact hours | 22 | ||
| Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) | 200 | ||
A formal formative assessment opportunity will be provided for each summative assessment task, which is specifically pedagogically aligned to that task. As part of this, each student will receive feedback designed to support the development of knowledge and skills that will be later assessed in the summative task.
| Assessment type | Notes | % of formal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Coursework | . | 0 |
| Coursework | . | 100 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Coursework) | 100 | |
Resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt.
Check the module area in Minerva for your reading list
Last updated: 27/03/2025
Errors, omissions, failed links etc should be notified to the Catalogue Team