THE GLOBAL SOUTH: PERSPECTIVES, POLITICS AND CHALLENGES - 2026/7

Module Overview

Drawing insights from Politics, IR, and IPE, the module explores the historical construction of the Global South and the key challenges that Asian, Latin American, and African states currently face. The module embraces different perspectives, such as neo-colonial, postcolonial, and decolonial thought, Southern feminisms, and dependency theories, offering students critical lenses to make sense of Global South issues. Thematically, the module will discuss security, migration, humanitarian action, social movements, environmentalism, and South-South cooperation. The seminars will include employability-oriented workshops with practical tools such as conflict analysis, gender-sensitive conflict analysis, advocacy and campaigning, programming for crises, and project management.

Module provider

Politics & International Relations

Module Leader

GARCIA GARCIA Gabriela (Politics IR)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 5

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 2

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None

Module content

Topics discussed are likely to include but not be limited to the following: 

• Historical background: the Third World 
• Sovereignty and State/Nation-building in postcolonial states
• Theoretical Approaches 1: neo-colonialism and structuralist theories 
• Theoretical Approaches 2: postcolonialism and decoloniality 
• Theoretical Approaches 3: Southern Feminisms 
• Security, Conflict and Intervention 
• South-North and South-South Migration and Refugee Movements 
• Humanitarian Action 
• Social Movements and Environmental Justice 
• Regional initiatives and cooperation (e.g., African Union, ECOWAS, MERCOSUR, UNASUR, ASEAN)

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

N/A

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate: 

• An understanding and awareness of core critical approaches in Politics, IR and IPE 
• A comprehensive understanding of the scholarship, voices, experiences and integration initiatives within the Global South 
• The ability to apply theoretical approaches to contemporary issues in the Global South 
• An expansive empirical engagement with Global South case studies across various domains like the environment, security, migration, and humanitarian action
• The ability to address complex political, legal, and societal issues from critical perspectives and applying practical tools like conflict analysis, programming for crises, advocacy and campaigning, and project management. 

Therefore, the summative assessments of the module comprise: 

• An advocacy campaign poster and reflection 
• Reaction Essay to a contemporary Global South issue 

Formative Assessment and Feedback: 

Students will receive verbal feedback on their performance during lectures/seminars and in one-to-one meetings. Additionally, students will receive written feedback on their group Advocacy Campaign Poster by the module leader. They also receive feedback on the Poster by peers. Summative work will include feedback summarised on SurreyLearn. Feedback is module-specific but is also designed to be used for feed-forward to other aspects of the degree programme as well.

Module aims

• To introduce students to core critical approaches, drawing from Global South thought and scholarship within Politics, IR and IPE, including Postcolonial Studies, Subaltern Feminisms, Decolonial/Modernity Group, and Dependency Schools.
• To apply these approaches to the analysis of contemporary case studies across the Global South, in various policy and issue-domains such as security, migration, humanitarian action, environment, and cooperation.
• To introduce students to a range of relevant methodologies and employability tools such as conflict analysis, programming, project management, and advocacy.
• To consolidate students¿ empirical knowledge and understanding of diverse regions and integration initiatives.
• To develop professional skills such as critical analysis, project management, intercultural awareness and communication, visual literacy, and creative thinking.
• To provide students with an interactive and dynamic learning environment.

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The teaching and learning strategy is student-centred and involves a lively and interactive classroom. The strategy introduces students to Global South experiences and realities, from a range of critical approaches within Politics, IR, IPE and beyond. The empirical discussions will reflect this variety of experiences, including regions within the Global South such as, but not limited to, Latin America and the Caribbean, South and East Asia, and South and West Africa. The reading materials will also welcome thought written and developed within the Global South. Following the initial weeks of theoretical discussions, we will delve into key domains such as security, migration, humanitarianism, environment, and cooperation. Students will be encouraged to formulate their own lines of enquiry, thus developing and testing their skills making appropriate critical judgments in respect of both theory and empirics. The assessments entail a combination of an advocacy poster and a reaction essay responding to a current Global South issue. The aim is to offer students a range of assessments suitable for different learning styles. 

The learning and teaching methods include: 

Classes are run in 2-hour sessions over an 11 week period. The methods include lectures, seminars, student-led discussions, independent study, enquiry-based learning and prescribed reading. Students will also have access to digital resources and consultations in preparation of their assessments. 

The theoretical approaches and ideas introduced in the readings and the lecture will be applied during our seminars. Here, you can expect group-based activities where we will put into practice tools and methods used in research, NGO, and IO roles. You will gain practical skills on how to conduct a conflict analysis, gender-sensitive conflict analysis, programming for crises, preparing an advocacy campaign, and project management tasks.

 Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate.

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: POL2051

Other information

N/A

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2026/7 academic year.