MA Governance, Politics and Policy (Research)

Fees for entry in 2027 have not yet been set. For reference, the fees for the academic year beginning September 2026 were as follows:

• MA (full-time)
  UK students (per annum): £16,300
  International, including EU, students (per annum): £29,400

The fees quoted above are fully inclusive of tuition, administration and computational costs.

Fees for entry are subject to yearly review. The University reserves the right to increase your tuition fee by up to 7% each year for courses lasting more than one year, including to reflect rising costs associated with delivering our educational and wider student experience. Postgraduate fees information .

Always contact the admissions team if you are unsure which fee applies to your qualification award and method of attendance.

International student CAS deposit

Self-funded international applicants are required to pay a deposit of £2500 towards their tuition fees before a confirmation of acceptance for studies (CAS) is issued. Some applicants will be required to pay a higher deposit. More information on tuition fee deposits .

All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).

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• Learn more about - student finance options for UK students .
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• Graduates of The University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University can receive a 10% discount on their master's degree tuition fees as part of our Manchester Alumni Loyalty Discount scheme.

This challenging module introduces students to the literatures and debates on European capitalisms. The post-2008 period has witnessed dramatic changes in European capitalisms; at the same time, key continuities can be observed, such as persistent patterns of uneven development across the continent and sustained pressures on often-indebted households. Hence, the module enquires into the developmental trajectories within and across European capitalisms and the different conceptual apparatuses used to understand and analyse them. Key here is taking crises, conflicts and inequalities as the starting point rather than as a relative afterthought. Relatedly, uneven development and social reproduction are important conceptual/methodological means for exploring such crises, conflicts and inequalities. Finally, the module covers the much-cited notion of ‘Social Europe’ and thus the possibilities for alternative forms of development in the future.

The course unit aims to:

 

• Familiarise students with the historical evolution of European capitalisms, particularly with regard to European integration, gender and social reproduction, questions of Social Europe, and uneven development
• Develop understanding of how the Eurozone crises of the 2010s emerged, were responded to, and continue in a range of ways
• Enhance awareness of how the transformations wrought by crises have generated new forms of political and social conflict
• Assist students in their oral and written communication skills

On completion of this unit, successful students will be able to:

• Critically reflect on the centrality of European integration, gender and social reproduction, questions of Social Europe, and uneven development to the evolution of European capitalisms
• Interrogate the decade of crises in the 2010s, especially the causes, managements, and contestations of the crises
• Relate general developments to more specific, local case studies (e.g. different countries or regions in Europe), in order to enquire into whether a Social Europe is possible, and what kind of Social Europe
• Pursue independent study and learning, and the improvement of oral and written skills

10 x 2 hour seminars. The aim will be to promote enquiry-based learning through the use of lectures, student-led discussions, and workshop formats. Blackboard will be used as a repository for the lecture slides, presentation materials, and course information.

Source analysis of 1000 words (33%); Essay of 2000 words (67%)
 

• Bailey, D.J., M. Clua-Losada, N. Huke and O. Ribera-Almandoz (2018) Beyond Defeat and Austerity: Disrupting (the Critical Political Economy of) Neoliberal Europe. Abingdon: Routledge.