INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Dr M Bain

Pre-requisites

None

Overview

The course provides students with an outline of the structure of the international system and introduces them to certain key concepts such as state, nation, alliance, war etc. The course is in three sections covering concepts, the political power structure and the political aspects of the functioning of the international economy.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Examination (60%), in-course assessment (40%).

Resit: Examination (100%).

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Professor T Salmon

Pre-requisites

None.

Overview

This course looks at the role of international organizations in international relations. Nearly every aspect of international relations, from war making to peace building, is affected by international organizations. We take a look at international organizations in general along with a specific focus on the UN and regional organizations like the EU and MERCOSUR.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures and 1 one-hour tutorial per week beginning.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (60%); in-course assessment (40%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Professor M Pasha

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 2 or above who have passed IR 1002 or IR 1502.

Overview

An introduction to the major perspectives that have evolved in the discipline of International Relations within a framework emphasising the importance of methodological issues to our understanding of the subject. The course will examine: 'rationalist' approaches to theory, including realism and neo-realism; liberal and marxist international political economy; and 'reflectivist; theories, including critical theory, social constructivism, post-modernism, feminism and environmentalism.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour examination (60%) and in-course assessment (40%).

Resit: Examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr R Vij

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 2 or above who have passed IR 1002 or IR 1502.

Overview

This course introduces students to the study of the global distribution of wealth and power and how this shapes the conduct of international relations. Beginning with the historical evolution of capitalism as a global system, we will consider in some detail the nature of international institutions (the IMF, World Bank, WTO), and their role in stabilizing global economic and political order. We will examine specific topics including, trade, protectionism, globalization and regionalism with particular attention to their impact on global development, welfare and poverty. In conclusion, we will consider the possibility of alternative imaginings of global political and economic order.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures, 1 one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Examination (60%), in-course assessment (40%).

Resit: Examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Professor M Pasha

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 2 or above who have passed IR 1001 or IR 1501.

Overview

An introduction to the major perspectives that have evolved in the discipline of International Relations within a framework emphasising the importance of methodological issues to our understanding of the subject. The course will examine: ‘rationalist’ approaches to theory, including realism and neo-realism; liberal and marxist international political economy; and ‘reflectivist’ theories, including critical theory, social constructivism, post-modernism, feminism and environmentalism.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures per week and 1 two-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Examination (60%), in-course assessment (40%).

Resit: Examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A Oelsner

Pre-requisites

None.

Notes

This course is no longer a core course for Honours International Relations students.
Students taking a joint degree in Politics and International Relations must take either this course or PI 3049, Democracy.

Overview

Salient concepts of security and conflict will be examined within a broad historical context. This will be complemented by an assessment of the contribution of notable thinkers from classical to contemporary times. Within this framework the utility of practical instruments of international security such as alliance, limited war, deterrence, collective security, and military intervention will be considered, as will selected contemporary national security policies.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures and 1 one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour examination (60%) and in-course assessment (40%).

Resit: In-course grades will be carried forward unless the student opts to resubmit course work.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr R Vij

Pre-requisites

None.

Notes

This is a level 3 International Relations course. This course will run in the second semester in 2008/09 as IR 3506.

Overview

This course introduces students to alternative ways of understanding Japan's central role in stabilizing global order at the beginning of the 21st century. Starting with a consideration of critical approaches to the production and representation of 'Japan' as an object of study within international relations, the course focuses on a theoretical and historical investigation of three sets of inter-related themes, modernity and capitalism, nationalism and the state, and culture and identity, by way of examining the deeper sources of Japan's changing role in global social life. The course material is inter-disciplinary; including readings from political science, economic history, anthropology, sociology, cultural, and film studies, and covers aspects of Japan's relations with North-America, Asia, the Middle-East, and Europe.

Structure

1 two-hour lecture and 1 one-hour tutorial every week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour written examination (60%); in-course assessment (40%).

Resit: In-course grades will be carried forward unless the student opts to resubmit course work.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr M Bain

Pre-requisites

Available to students in Programme Year 3.

Notes

This course will run in 2008/09 as IR 3508.

Overview

The course will provide an objective analysis of the role that international, domestic, cultural and ideological factors had in shaping Soviet foreign policy from 1917 to 1991. This framework will then be augmented by the special role of the Soviet legacy to analyse the formation of Moscow's foreign policy in the period since the disnintegration of the Soviet Union, that is from 1991 to present.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour examination (60%) and one 3,000-3,500 word essay (40%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr S Y Kim

Pre-requisites

None.

Notes

This course will not run in 2008/09.

Overview

This course examines the evolution of the international system in East Asia from the late 19th Century until today. It will examine how and why different systems rose and fell in East Asia, and how the foreign policies of major states in the Asia-Pacific region influenced those developments. This course focuses particularly on the interlocking relations among China, Japan, Korea, the United States, and Russia. Throughout the course, the roles played by such different dynamics as power competition, pursuit of economic interest, and intercultural relations will be reviewed.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures and 1 one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour examination (60%) and in-course assessment (40%).

Resit: In-course grades will be carried forward unless the student opts to resubmit course work.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A Teti

Pre-requisites

None.

Overview

The course examines the politics of the contemporary Middle East. The course aims to provide the students with an in-depth understanding of the politics of the region by looking at systems of governance, foreign policy-making, conflict, political economy, and the politics of identity (including religion, ideology and gender).

Structure

1 lecture and 1 tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Examination (60%) and in course assessment (40%).

Resit: In-course grades will be carried forward unless the student opts to resubmit course work.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr S Y Kim

Pre-requisites

None.

Notes

This course will not run in 2008/09.

Overview

This course examines several major crises in international history in the twentieth century. It focuses on international crises and diplomacy, and assesses the qualities of diplomacy and statecraft during these crucial junctures of international history. The module focuses upon the constraints imposed by the international domestic situation.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture and 1 one-hour tutorial.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour examination (60%) and in-course assessment (40%).

Resit: In-course grades will be carried forward unless the student opts to resubmit course work.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr M Bain

Pre-requisites

None.

Overview

This course examines aspects of contemporary Modern Day Latin America. This includes amongst others the role of the United States. The special case of Cuba, globalisation, guerrilla warfare, the drugs trade and the return to democratisation in the region are examined with appropriate case studies being given. Throughout the course the ideas of development and dependency will be given appropriate attention. This gives students an understanding of a wide range of issues that have affected Latin America's recent past and how they still affect the continent today.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture and 1 one-hour tutorial.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour examination (60%) and in course assessment (40%).

Resit: In-course grades will be carried forward unless the student opts to resubmit course work.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr J Galbreath

Pre-requisites

This is a Level 4 International Relations option.

Notes

This course will not run in 2008/09.

Overview

The Course aims to introduce students to the study of Foreign Policy Analaysis (FPA) in the conduct of International Relations. The obejctive is to impart to students the necessary analytical skills required to appreciate competing demands and influences placed upon politicians, diplomats and civil servants as they seek to shape and implement foreign policy in an international system often described as anarchic. In turn, the course also looks at the impact of the international system on the foreign policy of states.

Structure

1 two-hour seminar.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (60%); in-course assessment (40%).

Resit: In-course grades will be carried forward unless the student opts to resubmit course work.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Professor M Pasha

Pre-requisites

Open only to students in Programme Year 4.

Notes

This is a level 4 International Relations option. This course will run in the first semester of 2008/09 as IR 4010.

Overview

This course challenges traditional conceptions of security by shifting the focus of analysis to people rather than states as the principal subject of security. Human, not state, security offers a more meaningful site to investigate the nature, scope and forms of vulnerabilities people experience in the context of de-territorialization, migration flows, new imperial wars, and the globalisation of violence. The course offers a genealogy of human security as an initial point of reference to explore key substantive issues: 'state failure'; humanitarian' intervention; global migration; the shifting terrain of culture and identity; gender and human security; and Indigeneity. We also examine old and new forms of genocide and 'ethnic cleansing' with illustrations from Europe, Africa, and Asia. Finally, the course explores the politico-psychological impact of 9/11 on human security on a world scale with a special treatment of the theme of Exceptionalism.

Structure

2-hour lecture.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Examination (60%) and in-course assessment (40%).

Resit: In-course grades will be carried forward unless the student opts to resubmit course work.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A Widfeldt

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 4.

Overview

Students prepare and present, under the supervision of a member of staff, a dissertation on a topic approved by Politics and International Relations.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Dissertation, 10,000-12,000 words in length (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A Oelsner

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 4.

Overview

The course focuses on the concept of peace and its meaning for International Relations (IR). Traditionally, the study of IR concentrated on issues and concepts such as war, power, and competition between states. In recent years, and in the context of greater research diversification in IR, the concepts of peace and stable peace also gained more space within the discipline. This course approaches the issue of international peace, reviewing different theoretical perspectives the more traditional ones as well as more recent developments, discussing the existence of different types of peace, and studying various international strategies for its maintenance and for improving its quality.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture and 1 one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour examination (60%) and in-course assessment (40%).

Resit: In-course grades will be carried forward unless the student opts to resubmit course work.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A Teti

Pre-requisites

None

Notes

This course will not run in 2008/09.

Overview

This course examines the political economy of the contemporary Middle East, covering amongst others several topical issues at domestic, regional, and international levels, from the problems of development (eg (neo)colonisliasm), to the political economy of oil, to the connection between water scarcity and security. The course systematically analyses the link between economic choices (eg liberalisation) and their and political consequences (eg democratisation, radicalism).

Structure

1 lecture and 1 tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Examination (60%), in-course assessment (40%).

Resit: In-course grades will be carried forward unless the student opts to resubmit course work.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Professors T Salmon and T Carty

Pre-requisites

None

Notes

This course will not run in 2008/09.

Overview

This course will examine the role of international security organisations in world politics. The conceptual origins, nature, and evolution of such organisations will provide the framework for analysis of contemporary issues. The histories, records and, where relevant, current strategies, of the League of Nations, United Nations, NATO, OSCE and the EU(CFSP/ESDP) will be scrutinised, as will concepts such as peace-keeping, peace-making, peace-enforcement, and preventative diplomacy.

Structure

1 lecture and 1 tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Examination (60%), in-course assessement (40%).

Resit: In-course grades will be carried forward unless the student opts to resubmit course work.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Professor M K Pasha

Pre-requisites

Open only to students in Programme Year 4.

Overview

This course explores the structure and logic of modernity as it informs Islamic political movements in contemporary international relations. As both constitutive of modernity and challenging its particularised enunciation in the Islamic Cultural Zones, these movements raise basic questions concerning secularisation, forms of religious commitment, relation between politics and faith, and the nature of sovereignty. Students in this course will explore the main theoretical currents surrounding modernity; the Islamic critique of (Western) modernity; the location, heterogeneity and character of contemporary Iaslamic political discourse and political practice; and the limits of political Islam as an alternative construction of social and political order. Finally, the course will also examine the phenomena of transnational and diasporic Islam and their challenge to liberal understandings of political community, citizenship, rights, tolerance and cosmopolitanism.

Structure

2 hour seminar.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Examination (60%) and in-course assessment (40%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr P McCaffery

Pre-requisites

None

Notes

This is a level 4 International Relations option.

Overview

This course focuses not on the conduct of war as an instrument of policy but on the cultural background and consequences of warfare. It examines ideologies of nationalism and militarism as well as the processes whereby soldiers are motivated to fight. The social effects of war on civilian populations is also considered, along with the shaping of civilian perceptions through official propaganda and journalists' reports. So too are the subsequent commemorations of the fallen, and the significance of commemorative practices for the maintenance of a sense of collective identity among survivors and later generations.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture/discussion and 1 one-hour seminar per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour written examination (60%) and in-course assessment (40%).

Resit: In-course grades will be carried forward unless the student opts to resubmit course work.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Mr J H Wyllie

Pre-requisites

Available only to Level 4 students.

Overview

The course will trace and illustrate the salient strategic, technological and political developments and related controversies in the history of nuclear weapons since 1945. In the process the intellectual integrity of the notion of the 'First' and 'Second' nuclear ages will be tested as will the arguments about the impact of proliferation on world security, the viability of deterrence as the bedrock for security in a multi-nuclear system, and the real dangers posed by the advent of the 'new terrorism' and its possible links with WMD. Case studies such as Iranian nuclear policy, and the compatibility of 'jihadism' and deterrence, will be considered in detail.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture, and 1 one-hour tutorial.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour examination (60%); one 4,000 word essay (40%).

Resit: 1 three-hour examination.