INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

TBC

Pre-requisites

None

Overview

The course looks at the idea of international security from a wide range of perspectives. It considers the debates over the continuing dominance of military and state-based approaches to security, examining the arguments for the widening of the security agenda. In addition to this conceptual approach, the course looks at specific case-studies of security issues in the modern world in order to illustrate the implications of widening the security agenda, and studies the current international security environment of specific regions.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures and 1 one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour examination (60%) and in-course assessment (40%).

Resit: Examination (60%); in-course grades will be carried forward unless the student opts to resubmit course work.

Feedback

Written feedback will be provided for continuous assessment work. This will normally be provided within three weeks of the submission date. Oral feedback on class presentations will also be provided where appropriate.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A Glencross

Pre-requisites

None.

Co-requisites

None.

Notes

This course will run in the second semester of 2011/12 as IR 3514.

Overview

Since World War 2, Europe has undergone a transformation from a continent of nation-states into an integrated political system of shared laws, institutions and even values. This course examines European integration as an essentially contested political process, which continues to divide and inspire nations, political parties and citizens alike. It offers a comprehensive survey of four notable aspects of EU integration: its institutions and policy-making; the models and justifications behind integration; controversies about what the EU does and should do; the democratic nature of the EU system. In addition, the course concludes by discussing the possible future of the EU after the 2009 Lisbon Treaty, with reference not only to similarities with US federal development but also to the EU’s external ambitions and foreign relations.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures. 1 one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour examination (60%); short essay (30%); tutorial presentation (10%).

Resit: Examination (60%). In-course grades will be carried forward unless the student opts to resubmit course work.

Formative Assessment

Feedback

Written feedback will be provided for continuous assessment work. This will normally be provided within three weeks of the submission date. Oral feedback on class presentations will also be provided where appropriate.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A Oelsner

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3.

Notes

This course will run in the second semester of 2011/12.

Overview

This course explores the issue of conflict resolution and achievement of international peace in today's global world. The course analyses the implications and consequences of the three major types of contemporary international conflict-namely interstate, civil, and state-formation conflicts-for durable peace agreements. The course also discuss the role of international institutions and regional contexts in the peace resolution of disputes.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture and 1 two-hour seminar per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour examination (60%) and in-course assessment (40%).

Resit: Examination (60%); in-course grades will be carried forward unless the student opts to resubmit course work.

Feedback

Written feedback will be provided for continuous assessment work. This will normally be provided within three weeks of the submission date. Oral feedback on class presentations will also be provided where appropriate.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A Simpson

Pre-requisites

Overview

The course introduces the concept and practice of secret intelligence from the perspective of national security. Topics addressed include the historical aspects of intelligence; the role of different intelligence agencies; and peace and wartime contexts for intelligence and counter-intelligence. The course will also review several case studies of secret intelligence; the use of intelligence; and technologies involved in intelligence gathering.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures and 1 one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Examination (60%), essay (25 %) (5,000 word essay), tutorial presentation (15%) (including 2,000 word paper).

Resit: Examination (60%); in-course grades will be carried forward unless the students opts to resubmit course work.

Formative Assessment

Feedback

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A Teti

Pre-requisites

None.

Overview

The course examines the politics of the contemporary Middle East, providing students with an in-depth understanding of the regional politics including its history, systems of governance, foreign policy-making, conflict, political economy, and identity politics (including religion, ideology and gender). In its second half, it examines a range of topical issues, such as Palestine/Israel, the Iraq war, and the democratic uprisings of 2010/11.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures and 1 one-hour seminar per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: In-course assessment (60%) and examination (40%).

Resit: Examination (60%); in-course grades will be carried forward unless the student opts to resubmit course work.

Feedback

Written feedback will be provided for continuous assessment work. This will normally be provided within three weeks of the submission date. Oral feedback on class presentations will also be provided where appropriate.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A Widfeldt

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 4.

Overview

Students prepare and present, under the supervision of a member of staff, a dissertation on a topic approved by Politics and International Relations.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Dissertation, 10,000-12,000 words in length (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr M Bain

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 4.

Overview

This course examines aspects of contemporary Modern Day Latin America. This includes amongst others the role of the United States. The special case of Cuba, globalisation, guerrilla warfare, the drugs trade and the return to democratisation in the region are examined with appropriate case studies being given. Throughout the course the ideas of development and dependency will be given appropriate attention. This gives students an understanding of a wide range of issues that have affected Latin America's recent past and how they still affect the continent today.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture and 1 one-hour tutorial.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour examination (60%), one essay (30%), short answer/multiple choice assessment (10%).

Feedback

Written feedback will be provided for continuous assessment work. This will normally be provided within three weeks of the submission date. Oral feedback on class presentations will also be provided where appropriate.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Mr J H Wyllie

Pre-requisites

Available only to Level 4 students.

Notes

This course will be available in 2011/12.

Overview

The course will trace and illustrate the salient strategic, technological and political developments and related controversies in the history of nuclear weapons since 1945. In the process the intellectual integrity of the notion of the 'First' and 'Second' nuclear ages will be tested as will the arguments about the impact of proliferation on world security, the viability of deterrence as the bedrock for security in a multi-nuclear system, and the real dangers posed by the advent of the 'new terrorism' and its possible links with WMD. Case studies such as Iranian nuclear policy, and the compatibility of 'jihadism' and deterrence, will be considered in detail.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture, and 1 one-hour tutorial.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour examination (60%); one 4,000 word essay (40%).

Feedback

Written feedback will be provided for continuous assessment work. This will normally be provided within three weeks of the submission date. Oral feedback on class presentations will also be provided where appropriate.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

James Wyllie

Pre-requisites

Available to level 4 students only.

Notes

This course will run in the second semester of 2011/12 as IR 4516.

Overview

The course examines and explains the historical development, political characteristics and strategic complexities of the Arab-Israeli conflict, and assesses its significance for and impact upon stability and security throughout the Middle East and the wider international system. The topics considered include the current strategic situation, the origins of the conflict, wars since 1948, the PLO and Hamas, the 'Peace Process', US - Israeli relations, the EU and the dispute, the Egyptian and Jordanian 'Cold Peace', and the strategies of the 'rejectionist' states of Syria and Iran.

Structure

To be taught 'conference style', on a lecture and discussion basis, interspersed with 'team presentations', an 'in-class' essay, and occasional DVD material. There will be 1 x 2-hours and 1 x 1-hour classes each week for twelve weeks.

Assessment

1st attempt: 1 three-hour examination (60%); one 'in-class 1,500 word approx. essay (20%); one 'team presentation' (20%).

Feedback

Written feedback will be provided for continuous assessment work. This will normally be provided within three weeks of the submission date. Oral feedback on class presentations will also be provided where appropriate.

Credit Points

Course Coordinator

Dr J McEvoy

Pre-requisites

Notes

This course will not run in 2011/12.

Overview

The course aims to provide students with an understanding of how conflict between ethno-national groups impacts on international politics. It explores the responses of the international community to inter- and intra-state conflict. Following an initial exploration of the relevant theories, the course investigates focuses on a number of key conflicts in international politics. What explains violent conflict between ethnic groups? What role do external actors play in peace processes? Should the international community intervene to stop violent conflict? What kind of institutional frameworks do external actors promote in peace agreements? What are the challenges of post-conflict reconstruction?

Structure

To be taught 'conference style', on a lecture and discussion basis, interspersed with 'team presentations', an 'in-class' essay, and occasional DVD material. There will be 1 two-hour and 1 one-hour classes each week for twelve weeks.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour examination (60%); one 'in-class' essay (20%); one 'team presentation' (20%).

Feedback

Written feedback will be provided for continuous assessment work. This will normally be provided within three weeks of the submission date. Oral feedback on class presentations will also be provided where appropriate.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr R Vij

Pre-requisites

None.

Notes

This is a level 4 International Relations course. This course will not run in 2011/12.

Overview

This course introduces students to alternative ways of understanding Japan's central role in stabilizing global order at the beginning of the 21st century. Starting with a consideration of critical approaches to the production and representation of 'Japan' as an object of study within international relations, the course focuses on a theoretical and historical investigation of three sets of inter-related themes, modernity and capitalism, nationalism and the state, and culture and identity, by way of examining the deeper sources of Japan's changing role in global social life. The course material is inter-disciplinary; including readings from political science, economic history, anthropology, sociology, cultural, and film studies, and covers aspects of Japan's relations with North-America, Asia, the Middle-East, and Europe.

Structure

1 two-hour lecture and 1 one-hour tutorial every week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Research Paper 4,000 words (60%); Two book reviews, 1,000 words each (25%) of assessment; in-class presentation (15%).

Formative Assessment

Feedback

Written feedback will be provided for continuous assessment work. This will normally be provided within three weeks of the submission date. Oral feedback on class presentations will also be provided where appropriate.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr S Y Kim

Pre-requisites

Overview

This course examines the evolution of the international system in East Asia from the late 19th Century until today. It will examine how and why different systems rose and fell in East Asia, and how the foreign policies of major states in the Asia-Pacific region influenced those developments. This course focuses particularly on the interlocking relations among China, Japan, Korea, the United States, and Russia. Throughout the course, the roles played by such different dynamics as power competition, pursuit of economic interest, and intercultural relations will be reviewed.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures and 1 one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour examination (60%) and in-course assessment (40%).

Formative Assessment

Feedback

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A Glencross

Pre-requisites

Notes

Available only to students in programme year 4.

Overview

This course is divided into four parts: the historical and constitutional origins of US foreign policy, the transition to great power status, twentieth century debates over international entanglement, post-Cold War unipolarity. The first learning section provides an overview of the founders’ intentions about US foreign policy and the political institutions established to nurture this policy. The second part examines the institutional and cultural reasons for the ambivalence of the US as an international actor from the Monroe Doctrine to entry into World War One. The third part focuses on domestic and international factors that resulted in a bipolar distribution of power after 1945 and a web of US-dominated security alliances. The final section explores the unresolved tension between liberal internationalism, neo-conservatism and neo-isolationism since the “unipolar moment” created after the end of the Cold War.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture and 1 one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st attempt: 1 three-hour written examination (60%), 40 % in course assessment: 3,500 word essay (30%), and seminar presentation (10%).

Formative Assessment

Feedback

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A Teti

Pre-requisites

None

Notes

This course will not run in 2011/12.

Overview

This course examines the political economy of the contemporary Middle East, covering amongst others several topical issues at domestic, regional, and international levels, from the problems of development (eg (neo)colonialiasm), to the political economy of oil, to the connection between water scarcity and security. The course systematically analyses the link between economic choices (eg liberalisation) and their political consequences (eg democratisation, radicalism).

Structure

1 two-hour lecture and 1 one-hour seminar/tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Examination (60%), in-course assessment (40%).

Resit: Examination (60%); in-course grades will be carried forward unless the student opts to resubmit course work.

Feedback

Written feedback will be provided for continuous assessment work. This will normally be provided within three weeks of the submission date. Oral feedback on class presentations will also be provided where appropriate.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Professor M K Pasha

Pre-requisites

Open only to students in Programme Year 4.

Overview

This course explores the structure and logic of modernity as it informs Islamic political movements in contemporary international relations. As both constitutive of modernity and challenging its particularised enunciation in the Islamic Cultural Zones, these movements raise basic questions concerning secularisation, forms of religious commitment, relation between politics and faith, and the nature of sovereignty. Students in this course will explore the main theoretical currents surrounding modernity; the Islamic critique of (Western) modernity; the location, heterogeneity and character of contemporary Iaslamic political discourse and political practice; and the limits of political Islam as an alternative construction of social and political order. Finally, the course will also examine the phenomena of transnational and diasporic Islam and their challenge to liberal understandings of political community, citizenship, rights, tolerance and cosmopolitanism.

Structure

2 hour seminar weekly.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Examination (60%) and in-course assessment (40%).

Feedback

Written feedback will be provided for continuous assessment work. This will normally be provided within three weeks of the submission date. Oral feedback on class presentations will also be provided where appropriate.