PR3720 Leadership, Power and the British Prime Ministership is a final-year half unit that offers students the opportunity to obtain an in-depth knowledge and understanding of the British prime ministership and its place in British politics. It will help students to evaluate the problems of leadership in an advanced industrial democracy and to evaluate critically the performance of those holding executive office.  

The course will cover both the institutional characteristics and development of the office of prime minister, the organisation and structure of the political executive and the prime ministership’s relationship with other key actors, such as ministers, parliament and the media. The course will also engage with claims about the ‘personalisation’ and ‘presidentialisation’ of British politics. 

The course will also introduce students to a more focused range of literature and develop students’ own awareness of the political-science research process.  To this end, it will encourage students to confront issues of conceptualisation and measurement through class activities and assessed coursework.