Undergraduate Course: Strategy, Power and Politics: The Art of Government (BUST10168)
Course Outline
| School | Business School |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Power and politics are central to understanding the delivery of strategy. This course adopts a power and politics perspective from Organisation and Management theory to examine the strategy process. The course outlines critical theories of power, asking why some things happen while other issues are kept off the agenda and how change occurs. A unique feature of this strategy course is its focus on organised politics, politicians and government practice. This context yields rich insights for studying strategy, and many strategic techniques developed in politics travel into the corporate world. It also helps us understand the pressures of high-profile leadership that is time-bound.
The course focuses on political leaders, their teams and their approach to strategy. Participants will gain a comprehensive understanding of political strategy by analysing political leadership, election campaigns, governing, dealing with crises, and running the economy. The course emphasises the lifecycle of political careers and governments, highlighting how power is created and diminished.
This course offers a unique insight for participants keen to learn more about how government and politics work from a strategic perspective. More generally, insights from the course will help furnish participants with a broader perspective on strategy and leadership. |
| Course description |
We begin the course by exploring prominent theories of power and politics from within Management & Organisation Theory. We will follow a lifecycle approach, commencing with a political leader seeking power and concluding with their departure from office. The rationale for this is to understand the temporal dynamics of strategy, rather than being restricted to the here and now. Our analysis of political leaders will concentrate on their leadership style and how they create their teams around them, a crucial skill in any organisational context. We examine the political styles of leaders such as Gordon Brown, Barack Obama and Nicola Sturgeon. We will explore election campaigns and focus specifically on the strategic narratives employed. We will examine offensive and defensive campaigns used in elections, the role of opinion polls, dividing lines and strategic communications. The course will study the 2024 UK General Election and the 2024 US Presidential contest. Additionally, we will analyse the 2016 Brexit Referendum.
Why do some political leaders succeed while others fail? Why do some strategies achieve their objectives while others fail? The course will engage critically with these questions. These insights transcend politics and apply to many organisations, across the corporate world. Although the primary objective of politics is to seize power, governing is challenging and often ends in failure. We will examine the common problems governments face in achieving their objectives.
Additionally, we will analyse how governments respond to crises, such as the 2008 Financial Crisis and the 2020/21 Covid pandemic.
The relationship between a government, its Financial Ministry / Treasury, and the money markets is crucial. This relationship is examined by looking at approaches taken by different Chancellors / Finance Ministers.
While the majority of this course focuses on mainstream, centrist politics, we will also delve into the role of single issues and populist movements in politics. We assess the influence of the Green Movement on Net Zero policies and of UKIP on the UK's relationship with Europe. The media plays a vital role in the political process, and we will study how the news cycle and agenda work. The course concludes with an analysis of leaders leaving office and the nature of their legacy.
Outline content
1. Introduction to the Course: Organisations, Power and Politics.
2. Political Leaders: The Making of Effective Leaders.
3. Getting Elected: Inside Election Campaigns.
4. In Power: The Art of the Possible.
5. Crisis Management: The Global Financial Crisis and the Covid Pandemic.
6. Running the Economy.
7. Political Outsiders: From the Political Periphery to the Mainstream.
8. Politics and the Media.
9. Leaving Office: Defeat and Legacy.
10. Conclusion.
Student Learning Experience
The course will involve lectures and interactive learning experiences such as case analyses, text-based group discussions, guest talks etc. As part of the course, we will visit the Scottish Parliament.
There will be a live case study, where participants will study a real life strategy / political problem.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2024/25, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 72 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 20,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
176 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
70 %,
Practical Exam
30 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
70% Project report (Individual) - 2,500 words - Assesses all course Learning Outcomes
30% Presentation (Group) - including 20% peer evaluation - Assesses all course Learning Outcomes |
| Feedback |
Formative: Feedback will be provided throughout the course.
Summative: Feedback will be provided on assessments within agreed deadlines. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Critically read the political process, understanding the front stage and back stage of political strategy.
- Interrogate how effective leaders create power and agency.
- Critically analyse how political strategists attempt to frame arguments.
- Understand the deep rhythms of leadership, from the first 100 days through to legacies.
- Critically evaluate the paradoxes of leadership.
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Reading List
Core text(s)
Clegg, S. (2023) Frameworks of Power. London: Sage. 2nd Edition
Richards, S. (2019) The Prime Ministers: Reflections on Leadership from Wilson to Johnson.
Simpson, A. V., Rego, A., Berti, M., Clegg, S., & Pina e Cunha, M. (2022). Theorising compassionate leadership from the case of Jacinda Ardern: Legitimacy, paradox and resource conservation. Leadership, 18(3), 337-358. https://doi.org/10.1177/17427150211055291
Alexander, J. & Jaworsky, B. (2014) Obama Power. Cambridge: Polity.
Carter, C. & Brown, A. (2024) Heroes, Villains & Fools. Working Paper.
Murphy, J., Denyer, D. and Pettigrew, A. (2021), The Role of Framing Mechanisms in Explaining System-Wide Change: The Case of the Northern Ireland Conflict and Peace Process. Brit J Manage, 32: 322-341. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.12393
Whittle, A., Mueller, F. and Carter, C. (2021), Authenticity and political leadership. IPPR Progressive Review, 28: 140-152. https://doi.org/10.1111/newe.12259 |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Autonomy, Accountability and Working with Others
After completing this course, students should be able to:
Act with integrity, honesty and trust in all business stakeholder relationships, and apply ethical reasoning to effective decision making, problem solving and change management.
Communication, ICT, and Numeracy Skills
After completing this course, students should be able to:
Convey meaning and message through a wide range of communication tools, including digital technology
and social media; to understand how to use these tools to communicate in ways that sustain positive and responsible relationships.
Critically evaluate and present digital and other sources, research methods, data and information; discern their limitations, accuracy, validity, reliability and suitability; and apply responsibly in a wide variety of organisational contexts.
Cognitive Skills
After completing this course, students should be able to:
Be self-motivated; curious; show initiative; set, achieve and surpass goals; as well as demonstrating adaptability, capable of handling complexity and ambiguity, with a willingness to learn; as well as being able to demonstrate the use digital and other tools to carry out tasks effectively, productively, and with attention to quality.
Knowledge and Understanding
After completing this course, students should be able to:
Demonstrate a thorough knowledge and understanding of contemporary organisational disciplines; comprehend the role of business within the contemporary world; and critically evaluate and synthesise primary and secondary research and sources of evidence in order to make, and present, well informed and transparent organisation-related decisions, which have a positive global impact.
Identify, define and analyse theoretical and applied business and management problems, and develop approaches, informed by an understanding of appropriate quantitative and/or qualitative techniques, to explore and solve them responsibly.
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| Keywords | Leadership,Strategy,Crisis,Power,Politics,Campaigns,Governing |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Chris Carter
Tel: (0131 6)51 5540
Email: Chris.Carter@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Emma Allison
Tel:
Email: ealliso2@ed.ac.uk |
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