Upon acceptance into the program, students will be asked to rank their top three choices among the four classes offered. We will do our best to put admitted students into their first or second choice class, but this is not guaranteed – students must remain flexible and open to any class taught on Duke in Oxford.

Below are the classes that were offered in 2024. These can and often do change from year to year. There is no guarantee that a class listed below will be offered in 2025. 

POLSCI 282A/HISTORY 399A 
Political System of Modern Britain 
(CCI, SS) 2.0 credits

This course will give students an introduction to contemporary British history. It will examine the problems of post-war renewal, economic decline and revival, party political competition, and political economy. Britain's relationship with the world changed as its Empire declined in the context of the Cold War, and as the referendums on British membership of the EEC/EC/EU in 1975 and 2016 showed, Empire has not been replaced with a settled European identity. Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair and others have sought to give direction to Britain as long-standing questions of national identity, class relationships and military and diplomatic power have remained problematic.

PHIL 384AS/POLSCI 377AS 
Classical and Contemporary Political Philosophy 
(SS, EI) 2.0 credits

This course offers an introduction to the history of Western political thought, exploring the theories of the state from Hobbes to Marx. Built upon constantly reinterpreted concepts such as justice, liberty, authority and community, the theories of the state explored on this course offer some of the most important ideas that have shaped global history. Students will learn the skills of close textual reading, while encouraged to engage conceptually with some of the most influential and provocative political ideas. A central component of this course will therefore be methodological: students will be asked to think about ways of approaching the history of ideas, and to reflect on their own positionality in relation to the texts. This course is intended to be a full and challenging immersion into the history of political thought enabling students to assess the strengths and problems of the Western canon that we have inherited.

ENGLISH 390A/LIT 290A
Forming the Contemporary: An Introduction to Twenty-First Century Literature and Criticism
(ALP, EI) 2.0 credits

This course explores the literature and literary criticism of the first twenty years of the twenty-first century. Using the idea of the ‘contemporary’ as a starting point, we will read authors including Patricia Lockwood, Amitav Ghosh, JM Coetzee, Ottessa Moshfegh, Geoff Dyer, George Saunders and Rachel Cusk.

COMPSCI 390A/ETHICS 390A/PHIL 390A
The Ethics and Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence
(CZ,EI,STS) 2.0 credits

This course covers a series of ethical issues and philosophical questions introduced, exacerbated, or complicated by the advent of artificial intelligence technologies. Readings will explore both contemporary quandaries posed by current AI technology, as well as those expected to emerge as AI technology is further developed. Students will engage with philosophical arguments for and against various propositions about the nature, purpose, and moral permissibility of AI technology, and be expected to articulate and defend their own views in response. This course will rely on close textual analysis and careful attention to argumentative and logical structures utilized by the authors in advancing their own position. This course will not assume a deep familiarity with philosophical theory or history but will cover some fundamentals required to contextualize and frame the readings and topics.