| Delivery Type | Delivery length / details |
|---|---|
| Seminars / Tutorials | 22 Hours. 1 x 2 hour seminars per week |
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Assessment | Presentation: 1 x 20 minutes | 20% |
| Semester Assessment | Project work: 1 x 1,500 words written up paper | 20% |
| Semester Exam | 2 Hours | 60% |
| 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. |
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
- A critical awareness of the key debates surrounding the history and development of inter-state practices
- Identifying key issues concerning the historiography of International Relations Theory
- Reflecting upon key theories and concepts in contemporary international politics
- The identification of key cleavages and points of contact between International Relations Theory and Political Theory
- Demonstrate an awareness of the relationship between International Relations Theory and contemporary debates in the philosophy of social science
- Systematic analysis of methodological and epistemological implications of a wide range of theoretical positions
- The confidence to hold their own in relevant academic contexts (seminars, workshops, conferences) for specialists in International Politics.
This module provides a comprehensive examination of theories of international relations, beginning with the emergence of the modern states system and ending with contemporary debates concerning the ontology, epistemology, and methodology of the study of International Relations (IR)
The module opens with a reflection on the development of the Westphalian system. Here we will consider key concepts such as sovereignty, balance of power, capitalism, state formation, and the diplomatic and legal order. These practices evolved long before the organised study of International Relations (IR) but one of the key themes in this part of the course is to show how philosophical and theoretical arguments grounded the evolution of the international system. It has become commonplace to date the beginnings of the field from 1919 but this been contested by 'revisionists' historiographers in recent years. Following this we will be considering traditional accounts of idealism, realism, behaviouralism and the English School, as well as critical reflections on these. Finally the module considers contemporary IR theory including Waltz's powerful scientific restatement of realism and a range of critical reactions to it; including feminism, critical theory, post-structuralism and constructivism.
This module is at CQFW Level 7