Skip to 0 minutes and 8 seconds We live in an era where politics is increasingly defined by crisis. At any one time, there are a number of crises that grab our political attention, and there’s many other crises that we can’t find time or value in addressing. It is little wonder that the 21st century has been described as one marked by a state of Perma-crisis, a state of many interacting crises that together become an emergency for politics itself, as many lose faith in the practice of politics, lose trust in politicians, in the representative process, and search for new forms of political organisation.
Skip to 0 minutes and 48 seconds At the same time, the term crisis is often pushed into the political discourse by those wishing to enact legislative or cultural change, without a clear assessment of whether there truly is a situation extreme enough to warrant these changes. It’s clear that one of the key issues in the study of politics in the 21st century is the perceptions and the realities of crisis itself.
Skip to 1 minute and 14 seconds On this short course, we begin to explore the nature of politics in the 21st century.
Skip to 1 minute and 21 seconds We bring together three themes: climate change, migration, and terrorism to discuss how this term ‘crisis’ is applied, the realities behind this application and the impact that this has on political power. Together, we will also explore the sources of hope and positive change in politically fraught times. Join us as we discuss and engage with topics that are often at the forefront of our national and international political debates, but that are often much more complex than initially presented.