Political Studies Guide 2004

Get on course

The aim of this guide's listings (pages xii-xxxi) is to help readers make a choice about where to study politics from the vast array of possibilities. The question of why study politics also has many answers: from the practical (as a launch pad to a career as a politician) to the more profound (to understand how politicians can control our lives). But the problem of how to study politics is given far less consideration. As Patrick Dunleavy highlights (page iii), when it comes to writing a PhD, students are short not just on time but also on advice, and he offers some expert tips on how to become a doctor.

But what do you do next? Sarah Teather, the 29-year-old who won the Brent East by-election for the Lib Dems last month, the journalist Jeremy Vine and Professor Mary Kaldor describe their different experiences in the world of politics. Kaldor emphasises that it is important for theories to be applicable to the real world, and this relationship between theory and practice is explored by Shane Mulligan (page viii), who put his PhD on hold during the war on Iraq to join the human shields.

One thing is clear: understanding politics is the first step towards changing it – and right now, perhaps more than ever, that seems something worth studying for.
Emily Mann, supplement editor

To read the New Statesman's Political Studies Guide 2004 click here.

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