Postgraduate Politics And International Relations 2019-2020

'Strategic Theory' is the compulsory, cornerstone module for the MSc Strategic Studies degree programme, and also the MSc Strategic Studies & International Law and Strategic Studies & Management degree programmes.

This course provides the theoretical/conceptual underpinning for the PIR component of the MRes in Social Science.  It examines some of the central theoretical approaches in the study of political science and international relations which will be used to critically approach an analysis of a number of contemporary issues. Issues to be addressed will include, but are not confined to, the debates surrounding: participation and disaffection; political engagement; the politics of memory; nationalism and the extreme right.  Upon completion of the course, students should be able to apply these theoretical approaches to the analysis of issues within their own field of interest.

History and politics of energy since WW2. Nuclear Power politics – rise, fall and non-rise?. Renewable energy politics, rise and stagnation or triumph?  EU politics of liberalisation and interventions such as the EU ETS. Environmental politics and oil; conserving nature and extracting oil Arguments about regulations on oil and gas, planning arguments, arguments about oil spills, protests (eg Brent Spar). The politics of natural gas. The case of ‘fracking’. The course will discuss how economics and politics interact. No prior technical or econometric knowledge is required for this course.

Since the end of the Cold War the world has seen a resurgence of religious movements in the public sphere and, particularly since 9/11, religion has increasingly been viewed in policy debates as an issue of domestic and international security. In the ever increasingly globalized era, religious identifications criss-cross national boundaries and identities posing a dilemma for the established norms of the secular nation-state, political theory and actors. This course will examine some of the emerging theories associated with the rise of political religion, and the potential for conflict and peace that emerge.  Utilizing diverse case studies ranging from religious Zionism, to political Islam to national Hindu movements the course will critique and employ contemporary theoretical frameworks to gain understanding of the current phenomena of religion in the international political domain.

'Global Security Issues' is an elective, second semester module for the MSc Strategic Studies, Strategic Studies & International Law and Strategic Studies & Management degree programmes.

This course is an introduction to issues of research design, data collection and effective academic communication in political science research.  Its primary objective is to introduce students to the basic rationale, logic and method of original empirical research.  It prepares students for how one develops and translates interesting questions and broad theoretical concepts into manageable research projects, and how to communicate the project’s ideas and findings. This requires an understanding of the state of the art of the discipline and the diversity of theoretical and methodological approaches. 

Topics:

Oil and Security – how oil crises have occurred since 1973, with a focus on the energy demand and supply pressures and the political factors triggering the 1973 and 1979 oil crises. OPEC and IEA. The factors underpinning the oil crisis of 2008 and its relationships to world economic crisis. The role of China in oil politics.

Natural Gas, the EU and Russia. How conceptions of (natural gas) energy security are constructed and implemented in the EU and Russia –Nuclear Power and energy security;– eg Iran .

Climate Security

Salient, SPECIFIC facets of historical AND contemporary NATIONAL, international AND transnational terrorism AND the problems AND challenges these different kinds of terrorism pose FOR NATIONAL AND international counter-terrorism strategies will be scrutinised.  The debates ON the different causes FOR terrorism (FOR instance religion, ethnicity, AND ideology) AND the different theoretical approaches TO EXPLAIN AND understand the roots of terrorism will be examined.  SPECIFIC facets of terrorism LIKE (female) suicide bombers, ‘lone wolfs’ AND ‘home-grown terrorists’, AS well AS the NATIONAL AND international strategies TO counter terrorism, will be critically reviewed.

The Strategic Studies dissertation is a compulsory element of the MSc Strategic Studies, Strategic Studies & International Law and Strategic Studies & Management degree programmes.

This is a compulsory element on the MRes Political Research programme.

The project will take the form of a traditional dissertation in that a research question will be set, theory that is relevant to the empirical topic under consideration will be selected and utilised to answer the research question, and an appropriate methodology will be used to answer the research question. There will be a discussion of the evidence and theory discussed and a cogent conclusion reached on the basis of the argument that is developed.