Module Identifier IPM0930  
Module Title THOUGHTS OF WAR: STRATEGIC THEORY & THINKERS (S)  
Academic Year 2003/2004  
Co-ordinator Professor Martin S Alexander  
Semester Semester 1  
Course delivery Seminars / Tutorials   22 Hours 1 x 2 hour seminar per week  
Assessment
Assessment TypeAssessment Length/DetailsProportion
Semester Assessment Essays: 2 x 2,500 words (40% each)  80%
Semester Assessment Essay: 1 x 2,000 words  20%
Supplementary Exam 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. 

Learning outcomes

By the end of this module students will:


Brief description

The module examines the evolution of strategic thought through study of a selection from the canon of strategic literature, from Sun Tzu and Clausewitz to the era of nuclear weapons, wars of national liberation and low-intensity conflicts.

Aims

This is the core module in the MscEcon in Strategic Studies. It aims to give students an overview of the development of strategic thought from the classic theorists of former times to the present day; and to prepare students to situate contemporary issues surrounding the threat of, and actual use of, force in statecraft and international relations. Each of the seminars is self-standing, addressing approaches to the use of force in the context of historical time and place for the writer(s); taken together, they lead students to identify and reflect on common threads and themes that emerge from historical writings on strategy and retain currency into the modern and contemporary eras.

Content

The module begins with the study of Sun Tzu?s The Art of War (c. 400 BC), moves on to Carl von Clausewitz?s On War (1832) and proceeds to 20th C. works including B. H. Liddell Hart?s Strategy: The Indirect Approach, Bernard Brodie?s Strategy in the Missile Age, and Mao Tse-Tung?s On Guerrilla War.   It draws out common threads and themes from each case-study, so that students will, by its end, have considered, through the set-texts, such key dimensions of strategy and warfare as: the ends-means relationship (the policy-strategy match); patterns for the civil-military interface; the specificities and principles of ground warfare (including attrition vs. manoeuvre, unity of command, concentration of force); the leverage offered by naval power; the capabilities of air power; strategy and deterrence in the nuclear age; the principles and conduct of guerrilla/LIC insurgent and counter-insurgent force.

Transferable skills

Throughout the module students will practice and enhance their reading, comprehension and thinking skills, as well as self-management skills. In seminars, students will enhance listening, explaining and debating skills, as well as oral presentational skills. Essay writing will encourage students to practice independent research skills including data retrieval, assembly and organization, writing, IT and time management. The review-article tests application of critical analysis to the nature, terms and cogency of contributions to a specific debate about a strategic text.   

15 ECTS Credits

Reading Lists

Books
1 The Art of War (introduced and translated by Samuel B Griffith) Oxford University Press
Carl Von Clausewitz (eds Michael E Howard and Peter Paret) (1976) On War Princeton University Press
Mao Tse-Tung (introduced and translated by Samuel B Griffith) On Guerilla Warfare University of Illios Press

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 7