Module Information

Module Identifier
IP30320
Module Title
WAR, POLITICS AND STRATEGY
Academic Year
2008/2009
Co-ordinator
Professor Mike Williams
Semester
Intended for use in future years

Course Delivery

Delivery Type Delivery length / details
Lecture 15 Hours. (15 x 1 hour)
Seminars / Tutorials 7 Hours. (7 x 1 hour)
 

Assessment

Assessment Type Assessment length / details Proportion
Semester Assessment Seminar Presentation  10%
Semester Assessment 1 x 2,500 word essay  Students may, subject to Faculty approval, have the opportunity to resit this module, normally during the supplementary examination period. For further clarification please contact the Teaching Programme Administrator in the Department of International Politics.  40%
Semester Exam 3 Hours   Exam  50%

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this module students should be able to:

On completion of the module, students should be able to:

- Critically assess the literature on the causes of war
- Discuss a range of key concepts and historical and contemporary events in relation to the evolution of war
- Understand the role of legal and moral restraints on war
- Assess the conflicting theories on whether force can be controlled or abolished as a tool of inter-state relations

Brief description

This module provides an analytical foundation to the critical study of war, politics and strategy.

Aims

This module aims to provide a comprehensive basis (concepts, theories, history) for understanding and explaining the most salient issues of war, politics and strategy in the contemporary world.

Content

The module is divided into three parts:

(1) the causes of war;
(2) the changing character of warfare;
(3) legal and moral restraints on war;

Transferable skills

Students will have the opportunity to develop, practice and test a wide range of transferable skills that will help them to understand, conceptualise and evaluate examples and ideas. Throughout the course, students should practice and enhance their reading, comprehension and thinking skills, as well as basic numeric skills and self-management skills. In lectures students will develop listening and note taking skills, as well as analytical skills. In seminars students will enhance their analytical skills and will practice listening, explaining and debating skills, as well as team-work and problem solving. Essay writing will encourage students to practice their independent research, writing and IT skills, and the examination will test these skills under time constraint conditions.

10 ECTS credits

Reading List

Recommended Text
Alan Collins, ed Contemporary Security Studies 2007 Oxford University Press Primo search

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 6