Module Identifier IPM0330  
Module Title INTELLIGENCE, SECURITY AND INTERNATIONAL POLITICS 1900-45  
Academic Year 2005/2006  
Co-ordinator Dr John P Maddrell  
Semester Semester 1  
Course delivery Seminars / Tutorials   Seminar. 1 x two hour seminar per week over one semester  
Assessment
Assessment TypeAssessment Length/DetailsProportion
Semester Assessment Project: 1 x 2,500 words  20%
Semester Assessment Essays: 2 x 3,000 words (40% each)  80%
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 Academic Administrator in the Department of International Politics. 

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module students will be able to:


Brief description

This module examines the history of intelligence and security services in the first half of the twentieth century and the role they have played in politics and war-making.

Aims

The main aim of the module is to give students both a historical and a theoretical understanding of intelligence and security by examining what intelligence and security operations involved in the first half of the twentieth century, why states engaged in them, how they contributed to policy-making and war-making or failed to do so, and how they influenced both national and international politics. A further aim is to encourage students to think analytically and critically: the historical literature on intelligence is of very mixed quality and students must be able to examine critically the sources available to them.

Content

The course begins with a discussion of the nature of intelligence and then moves on to examine the key aspects of the developing intelligence communities of the major states in the first half of the twentieth century: military and diplomatic intelligence; intelligence assessment; counter-intelligence and counter-subversion; the Nazi and Soviet police states; intelligence in the Second World War; signals intelligence; and
intelligence and deception and strategic surprise. The course is largely historical in nature, though consideration is given to theoretical issues as well. Key events and developments in the international history of the period are studied to show the central role played by intelligence in shaping the perceptions of both domestic and international threats among policy-makers. Much attention is given to the crucial role played by the two World Wars in causing permanent intelligence organizations to develop. Whether intelligence and security operations are conducted differently in totalitarian systems than in democracies is also an important subject of inquiry.

Transferable skills

Throughout the course, students will practise and develop their skills of research, analysis, time-management and oral and written presentation. In seminars they will develop their ability to listen, explain, present a point of view orally and debate; their essay and project assignments will enable them to develop their skills of independent research, analysis and writing (including data collection and retrieval, IT and time management).

Reading Lists

Books
Richard Aldrich (2001) The Hidden Hand: Britain, America and Cold War Secret Intelligence John Murray
Michael Herman (1996) Intelligence Power in Peace and War CUP
Christopher Andrew (1996) For the President's Eyes Only: Secret Intelligence and the American Presidency from Washington to Bush HarperCollins

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 7