IPM5330 - SECURITY AND IDENTITY

Module Identifier	IPM5330
Module Title	SECURITY AND IDENTITY
Academic Year	2001/2002
Co-ordinator	Dr Mike Williams
Semester	Semester 2
Course delivery	Seminar	1 x 2 hour seminar per week over one semester
Assessment	Presentation	Seminar presentation	10%
	Course work	Major esay proposal 250 words	10%
	Essay	3,000 words	30%
	Essay	750 words	20%
	Exam	3 Hours To be examined in Semester Two.	30%

Objectives

At the end of the module students should be able to:

Assess the multiple sources and structures of violence in contemporary world politics
Demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between specific knowledge structures, the constitution of specific social forms and structures of political authority, and the structures of violence they entail and make possible
Discuss the technologies of violence in their historical and political context
Examine the shifting structures of conflict, violence, and security in international politics

Brief description

Whether in terms of the influence of different strategic cultures on the exercise of military power, the emergence of 'ethnic' conflicts, or the relationship between popular culture and military-media relations in modern warfare, connections between political identity and security are central to contemporary international relations. This module examines the relationship between culture and security. Viewing organised violence as a socially embedded set of political practices, the module inquires critically into the relationship between different systems of thought, social structures, and technologies of control, destruction, and representation in the constitution and exercise of different forms of violence in world politics.

Aims

This module examines the historically shifting nature of the 'subject' of security (who or what is being secured, from what, and how). It seeks in particular to develop an understanding of the social constitution of forms of organized violence, and their transformation and operation in contemporary world politics.