IPM5430 - EUROPE, AMERICA AND THE THIRD WORLD AT WAR

Module Identifier	IPM5430
Module Title	EUROPE, AMERICA AND THE THIRD WORLD AT WAR
Academic Year	2001/2002
Co-ordinator	Mr Tarak Barkawi
Semester	Intended for use in future years
Next year offered	N/A
Next semester offered	N/A
Course delivery	Seminar	1 x two hour seminar per week over one semester
Assessment	Essay	2 x 2,000 word essays - 20% each	40%
	Exam	3 Hours	60%
	Exam	3 Hours	50%

Objectives

On completion of this module students will be able to:

understand historical transformations in warfare between core and peripheral powers
analyse the relationship between war and political identity in core-periphery relations from the colonial era to the present
assess future trends in war and society in core-periphery relations

Aims

This course aims to remedy this gap by introducing students to the political, social, and cultural dimensions of warfare and military organisation in `north-south' relations. It adopts a `war and society' approach in that it is concerned with the ways in which social relations shape the nature and conduct of war and, in turn, with the ways in which war shapes the societies engaged in it. It places war in the context of an historically evolving international system which both shapes the nature of war and is itself remade by war. Accordingly, the first section of the module provides an overview of the historical evolution of `small wars' from colonial campaigns, through Cold War insurgencies, to contemporary peacekeeping operations. The second part covers the global spread of European forms of military organisation as the `leading edge' of the `Westernisation' of the non-European world. The third part concerns the relationship between war and identity in core and periphery. The module closes with a look at the future prospects for `small wars' and the continuing evolution of the relationship between warfare and identity in the core and periphery of the international system.

General description

The study of warfare is concerned principally with the clash of the armed forces of great powers. The study of `north-south' relations is concerned principally with the political, social, economic and cultural aspects of European expansion and the consequent `Westernisation' of the non-European world. The relations between war and `globalisation' the on-going spread of European social forms, are typically explored only in the strategic and historical literature on so-called `small wars' in their various guises as colonial campaigns, counterinsurgency and peacekeeping. As a consequence, not only is the centrality of coercion to `Westernisation' often ignored, but the role of warfare in shaping social relations in both the core and the periphery of the international system is left unaddressed.