BA Middle Eastern Studies and Politics

Programme overview

Entry requirements

Entry Requirements are available on the Course Search entry

Programme specification

The information on this page is accurate for students entering the programme in 2023/24 or before. For students entering the programme from September 2024 or after, you can find the details of your programme: BA Middle Eastern Studies and Politics(For students entering from September 2024 onwards)

The programme will:
- enable students to work across more than one discipline by providing the flexibility to study three disciplines
- allow the study of two disciplines to the same depth as any single honours student but with less breadth in each discipline;
- provide a basis for further advanced study in either of the disciplines or in a cognate interdisciplinary area.

General
- The distinctiveness, appeal and strength of University of Leeds joint honours programmes lie in the unusual combination of depth, breadth and flexibility which they offer, as well as in the exceptional range of degree combinations available.
- They permit students to study two disciplines, in depth and to degree level while acquiring a broader range of skills than is typically possible within a single honours degree.
- They are emphatically joint honours programmes, rather than integrated programmes: students can therefore make the links they choose from the wide choice of optional modules available within each discipline. Within certain parameters, they thus effectively make connections and devise pathways according to their own preferences, rather than being faced with a prescribed combination of modules chosen for them by others.
- The students must acquire the flexibility of mind and variety of learning techniques needed to switch between the two disciplines.
- A further element of distinctiveness is the flexibility of the programme structure, which allows joint honours students to change direction more easily, and more radically, than single honours students.

Year 1

[Learning Outcomes, Transferable (Key) Skills, Assessment]
View Timetable

Compulsory Modules

Students will be required to study the following compulsory modules

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
ARAB1150	Early and Medieval Islamic History	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
ARAB1171	Studying the Middle East and North Africa	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
MODL1100	Politics, Culture and Society	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
PIED1110	Comparative Politics	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)	PFP
PIED1601	Freedom, Power and Resistance: An Introduction to Political Ideas	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)	PFP

Discovery Modules

Students will be required to study 20 credits of discovery modules

Year 2

[Learning Outcomes, Transferable (Key) Skills, Assessment]
View Timetable

Compulsory Modules

Students will be required to study the following compulsory modules

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
ARAB2181	Cultures of the Arab Middle East and North Africa	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ARAB2310	Modern Middle Eastern History	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)

Optional Modules

Students may study up to 20 credits from the following optional modules:

Optional modules Basket 1:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
ARAB2066	Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
ARAB2095	Global Media: Discourse, Representation and Society	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)

Students will be required to study 40 credits from the following optional modules (20 credits from Basket A and 20 credits from Basket B):

Basket A

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
PIED2601	Revolution and Reaction: Political Problems in the 20th Century	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)	PFP
PIED2602	Justice, Community and Conflict	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)	PFP

Basket B

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
PIED2161	Media and Democracy	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
PIED2301	Politics and Policy in the EU	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
PIED2448	Politics of Contemporary China	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
PIED2455	State and Politics in Africa	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
PIED2463	United States Politics	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
PIED2721	Approaches to Analysis	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)

Students may study up to 20 credits of the following optional modules

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
MODL2015	Black Europe	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
MODL2070	Reception, Transmission and Translation: The Global Circulation of Literature	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
MODL2075	Global Environmental Humanities	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
MODL2250	Digital Communications Across Cultures	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)

Discovery Modules

Students may study up to 20 credits of discovery modules

Year 3

[Learning Outcomes, Transferable (Key) Skills, Assessment]
View Timetable

Students are required to take a minimum of 40 credits in each subject. Overall, students must take 100 credits across their two subjects. All students must take 40 credits as a Final Year Project module, which can be taken in - and count towards - either of their two subjects.  

Compulsory Modules

Students will be required to study the following compulsory module:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
ARAB3110	Middle Eastern Politics: Regimes, Societies and Conflict	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)

Optional Modules

All students are required to study ONE of the following Final Year Project modules:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
MODL3050	Final Year Project	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)	PFP
PIED3750	Dissertation	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)	PFP

If PIED3750 is taken, students will be required to study 40 credits from the following lists of optional modules (20 credits from Basket 1 and 20 credits from Basket 2):

If MODL3050 is taken, students may study up to 40 credits from the following lists of optional modules (20 credits from Basket 1 and 20 credits from Basket 2):

Basket 1:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
ARAB3072	Islam and Modernity	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ARAB3190	Performing Islam: Piety and Environment in Dialogue	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)

- Not all modules will be available every year.

Basket 2:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
MODL3410	Contemporary World Literature	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
MODL3600	Material Cultures and Cultures of Consumption	20	Not running in 202526
MODL3610	Adventures of the Imagination: Crime and the Fantastic Across Continents	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
MODL3620	Decolonial Approaches	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
MODL3630	Social Movements across Cultures	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
MODL3650	Minoritised Languages, Dialects and Cultures from Past to Present	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)

If MODL3050 is taken, students will be required to study 40 credits from the following lists of optional modules (20 credits from Basket 3 and 20 credits from Basket 4):



If PIED3750 is taken, students may study up to 40 credits from the following lists of optional modules (20 credits from Basket 3 and 20 credits from Basket 4):

Basket 3:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
PIED3171	The Politics of national identity in the UK	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
PIED3261	Violence and Reconciliation in Africa	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
PIED3325	Europe in the World	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
PIED3608	Philosophy of Human Rights	20
PIED3810	Video Games: Politics, Society and Culture	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)

Basket 4:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
PIED3158	British Foreign Policy	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
PIED3171	The Politics of national identity in the UK	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
PIED3304	Extreme Right Parties	20	Not running in 202526
PIED3342	Gender and Security in Global Politics	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
PIED3565	Terrorism: Concepts, Debates, Cases	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
PIED3611	Radical Political Ideas	20

Discovery Modules

Candidates may choose to study up to 20 credits of discovery modules in a third subject or pursue additional modules in the two named subjects.

Candidates may choose to study up to 20 credits of discovery modules in a third subject or pursue additional modules in Middle Eastern Studies or Politics.

Finalists may only take Level 1 modules that are listed as Discovery Skills modules (skd) and only to the value of 20 credits. 

Last updated: 02/05/2025 09:10:59

Errors, omissions, failed links etc should be notified to the Catalogue Team