IR475 Half Unit
Race, Resistance and Decolonisation in International Relations
This information is for the 2025/26 session.
Course Convenor
Dr Jasmine Gani
Availability
This course is available on the MSc in International Relations, MSc in International Relations (LSE and Sciences Po) and MSc in International Relations (Research). This course is not available as an outside option to students on other programmes. This course uses controlled access as part of the course selection process.
How to apply: All students must include a brief written statement of no more than 200 words explaining why they wish to take the course and how it will benefit their academic/career goals.
Places on capped courses cannot be guaranteed.
Deadline for application: The deadline for applications is 12:00 noon on Friday 26 September 2025.
You can expect to be informed of the outcome of your application by 12:00 noon on Monday 29 September 2025.
For questions about the academic content of a Department of International Relations course, students should contact the teacher responsible as listed in the hyperlinked course guide.
For questions about your programme regulations, please contact your programme convenor/director or your Academic Mentor.
For questions about the process of applying to a Department of International Relations course, if not already clear from the information provided, please contact ir.msc@lse.ac.uk.
Students are advised to check the MSc Course Availability Spreadsheet.xlsx for information on the remaining availability of EU4, DV4, GV4, IR4, PP4 and SO4 courses after 12:00 noon Monday 29 September.
All students are required to obtain permission from the Teacher Responsible by completing the online application form linked to course selection on LSE for You.
This course has a limited number of places (it is controlled access). In previous years we have been able to provide places for most students that apply, but that may not continue to be the case.
Course content
From the rise of far-right parties in Europe, to the racially-motivated policies of US administration; from settler-colonialism in Palestine to ultra nationalism in India: we are witnessing a resurgence of fascism and the normalisation of colonialism on a global level. In turn, grass-roots movements, legal institutions, and universities have become key sites of resistance against state repression. Against the backdrop of these pressing global developments, this course examines race and coloniality as ordering principles in world politics that shape (and are shaped by) historical and contemporary colonial practices in international relations. The course challenges a state-centric approach and the separation between internal and external politics to explore the everydayness and transnationalism of both violence and liberation beyond just the context of war. Students will engage with the ideas, epistemologies, and methods of anti-colonial thinkers and movements, and learn why and how international politics is inextricable from race and coloniality through the following substantive themes: sovereignty and nationalism; militarism, war, and policing; political economy, environment, and development; migration and borders; and global solidarity movements. Grounded in postcolonial, decolonial, and anti-racist political thought, the course will enable students to develop their skills in applying political theory to the most urgent issues in contemporary world politics.
Indicative topics to be covered:
Part 1: Political theory and history of ideas
1. Excavating race and gender in International Relations
2. The imperial university: political theory and knowledge production
3. Epistemic disobedience: postcolonial theories
4. Intersectionality: gender, and Black/Indigenous feminist thought
5. Decolonisation, the pluriverse, and liberation theology
Part 2: Issues and case studies in world politics
7. Retelling the story of the state: sovereignty and nationalism
8. Political economy, environment, and development.
9. Militarism, War, and Security
10. Racial borders, Citizenship and migration
11. Resisting empire: world-making through global solidarity movements
Teaching
15 hours of seminars and 15 hours of lectures in the Winter Term.
This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Winter Term.
Formative assessment
Mock Exam in the WT. The mock e-Exam provides students with an opportunity to write a paper in class under simulated exam conditions and receive feedback to support their preparation for the summative e-Exam.
Indicative reading
- Frantz Fanon, “The Wretched of the Earth”
- Edward Said, “Orientalism”
- Angela Davis et al., “Abolition. Feminism. Now”
- Gloria Anzaldúa, “Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza”
- Charles W. Mills, “The Racial Contract”
- Errol Henderson, “Hidden in Plain Sight: Racism in International Relations Theory.”
Assessment
Exam (75%), duration: 120 Minutes in the Spring exam period
Course participation (10%)
Learning Log / reflective learning report (15%, 700 words) in Winter Term Week 7
Class participation includes seminar attendance and contributions to the discussion.
Key facts
Department: International Relations
Course Study Period: Winter Term
Unit value: Half unit
FHEQ Level: Level 7
CEFR Level: Null
Total students 2024/25: 15
Average class size 2024/25: 15
Controlled access 2024/25: NoCourse selection videos
Some departments have produced short videos to introduce their courses. Please refer to the course selection videos index page for further information.
Personal development skills
- Leadership
- Self-management
- Problem solving
- Application of information skills
- Communication