Student Research

Students once again explored an amazing range of topics, sometimes reflecting the modules they have studied during their degree, reflecting current affairs or their unique interests beyond the curriculum. This year the question of discursive representation was, once again, a key interest for many, reflecting the focus of one of our popular second year optional choices “Representing Political Violence”. Here is a full list of the cohort’s dissertation topics:

  • To what extent did the BBC reproduce asymmetrical framing in its coverage of the Israel-Gaza war between 2023-25?
  • From Brexit to now: to what extent is anti-immigrant sentiment in the UK rooted in economic or cultural concerns?
  • How is Call of Duty’s representation of Russians and Russia interpreted by non-players?
  • To what extent is technology being used to contest hegemony between the United States and China?
  • A discourse analysis of right-wing rhetoric around gender in election material since 2020
  • To what extent did post-2010 austerity measures contribute to the rise of populist parties UKIP, the Brexit party and Reform UK in former Labour Red-Wall areas?
  • Purity, belonging and the nation: a comparative content analysis of exclusionary rhetoric in the speeches of Adolf Hitler and Donald Trump
  • Cancel culture as social accountability or suppression? Evaluating its impact on the practice and perception of free expression in the 21st century
  • A new power at sea: understanding post-2013 China through sea power theory
  • To what extent has the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict been portrayed in the media as an identity vs power conflict between 2020-2025?
  • British media representation of Japan’s immigration policy: a critical discourse analysis of post-Brexit migration debates
  • To what extent do the European Union’s soft power mechanisms successfully generate genuine behavioural change among its member states?
  • How did Fox News use the assassination of Charlie Kirk to push anti-Left framing techniques onto its audiences?
  • To what extent can debt-trap diplomacy be empirically substantiated? A meta-theoretical inquiry and comparative analysis of Chinese overseas lending since the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative
  • Have Middle Eastern investments in football impacted how UK Northeast football fans view the gulf region?
  • A new scramble for Africa? Arms vs aid: comparing external state engagement in Africa from the Cold War period to post-Cold War period
  • The rationality of state-militia governance: examining institutional continuity from the 2003 Darfur conflict to Sudan’s 2023 war outbreak
  • Democracy, consolidation and postcolonial legacy: a comparative study of Namibia and Zimbabwe
  • The rise of the right and the downfall of the left? A qualitative case study of Doncaster’s changing political state
  • How do different theoretical frameworks view the prospects of nuclear terrorism? An analysis of theoretical frameworks with Afghanistan under the Taliban as a case study
  • How has globalisation reshaped the geopolitical landscape of the 21st century?
  • Explaining selectivity in international responses to genocide: the priority of geopolitical interests and institutional constraints
  • Gendered Hierarchies of political violence: the depoliticization of misogyny in UK counter-terrorism
  • Economic consequences of geopolitical conflict: a comparative analysis of the economic impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on the UK and the US
  • Media framing of Palestine solidarity protests in UK newspapers: discourses of legitimacy and extremism (2023-24)
  • How does the media portray public sector strikes? A case of ASLEF strikes during 2024
  • Monsters or misled? How has the Daily Mail represented women in Jihadist terrorism compared to men?
  • The politics of sex toys: a feminist ethnography study of sex accessory shops
  • What discursive strategies do UK newspapers use to frame “wokeness” in coverage of statue removals and free speech debates (2019-2025), and to what extent do these strategies relate to theories of moral panic?
  • A critical discourse analysis of the media and its role in the construction of terror: comparing the 2015 Paris attacks with the 2021 capital riot
  • To what extent has Russia’s weaponisation of energy since February 2022 reconfigured structural power in the global political economy?
  • Has the rise of the populist far-right in the United States shaped the political discourse and electoral success of far-right parties in Western Europe in recent years?
  • In what ways did the Bush Administration use the war on terror to construct women?
  • Gendered representations of women’s involvement in political violence. What gendered narratives are used to represent far-right terrorism in mainstream news?
  • Why have far-right narratives on immigration been adopted by mainstream political parties in the UK and the US between 2015-2025?
  • How did the 1984-85 miner’s strike transform political identity of the British working class in the context of Thatcher’s neoliberal project?
  • Policy vs reality: to what extent can asylum-seeking children in Northeast England access education on the same level as their peers. Comparing a resources and capabilities approach.
  • To what extent is British national pride increasing and does the recent phenomena of flag flying across Britain reflect growing national pride?
  • What do trade unions do for the working class? A critical analysis of contemporary union’s policies and actions on behalf of the working class
  • Beyond metaphor: the Handmaid’s Tale as political analysis of ideological governance in post-Dobbs US politics
  • International organisations and public opinion: the effect of UN Security Council authorisation cues on UK citizens’ support for non-combat humanitarian military action
  • Can social democracy be victorious during the disruptive landscape of modern politics? An analysis of Harold Wilson (1964) and Tony Blair’s (1997) election victories to unlock patterns for success
  • How does Western mainstream media outlets frame terrorist attacks in the Global South compared to those in Western countries, and what patterns of representation emerge across these contexts?
  • From Nixon to Trump: racial prejudice in drug rhetoric and reforms
  • Women, Peace, and Security Agenda: implementation and effectiveness. A case study of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Liberia
  • Defectors, martyrs and meaning-making: British media representations of Russian ‘traitor spies’ across the Cold War and New Cold War
  • How has music functioned as a form of resistance to political violence and racism? A critical study of the socio-cultural history of World Headquarters in Newcastle
  • The manipulation of Women’s rights through sportswashing: FIFA’s role in legitimising Saudi Arabia’s gender reforms
  • A critical evaluation of the foreign policy ambitions of Gordon Brown as British Prime Minister (2007-2010)