The study of Politics is a critical area of Social Science enquiry. The Department of Politics and International Studies (known as POLIS) at the Open University is committed to an open and innovative agenda in its teaching. Its modules deal with politics from the local to the global, in the executive and on the street, and in the realm of ideas as well as in practice. They also have a strong interdisciplinary flavour. Members of Politics academic staff are active and committed researchers, publishing original work on topics including citizenship and democracy, British politics, security and migration, and environment and development. The Department currently hosts the major EU-funded programme Oecumene: Citizenship After Orientalism.
