INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A Oelsner

Pre-requisites

Available to students in Programme Year 3 and above who have achieved 75 credit points from level 1 and 2 Politics & International Relations courses.

Notes

This course will be available in the second half-session of 2012/13 as IR 3509.

Overview

This course explores the issue of conflict resolution and achievement of international peace in today's global world. The course analyses the implications and consequences of the three major types of contemporary international conflict - namely interstate, civil, and state-formation conflicts - for durable peace agreements. The course also discusses the role of international institutions and regional contexts in the peaceful resolution of disputes.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture and 1 two-hour seminar per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour examination (60%) and in-course assessment (40%) (one 3,000 word essay [30%], one peer and self assessment exercise [10%]).

Resit: Examination (60%); in-course grades will be carried forward.

Feedback

Written feedback will be provided for continuous assessment work. This will normally be provided within three weeks of the submission date. Oral feedback on class presentations will also be provided where appropriate.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A Glencross

Pre-requisites

Available to students in programme year 3 and above who have achieved 75 credit points from Level 1 and 2 Politics & International Relations courses.

Notes

This course will be available in the second half-session of 2012/13 as IR 3515.

Overview

Since World War 2, Europe has undergone a transformation from a continent of nation-states into an integrated political system of shared laws, institutions and even values. This course examines European integration as an essentially contested political process, which continues to divide and inspire nations, political parties and citizens alike. It offers a comprehensive survey of four notable aspects of EU integration: its institutions and policy-making; the models and justifications behind integration; controversies about what the EU does and should do; the democratic nature of the EU system. In addition, the course concludes by discussing the possible future of the EU after the 2009 Lisbon Treaty, with reference not only to similarities with US federal development but also to the EU?s external ambitions and foreign relations.

Structure

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

Assessment

1st Attempt: Examination (60%), 2,000-word essay (30%), tutorial presentation and performance (10%).

Resit: Examination (100%); unless candidate opts to carry forward in-course assessment mark.

Formative Assessment

Presentation exercise in the tutorial.

Feedback

Structured written feedback on the tutorial presentation; written feedback on in-term essay; summative feedback in form of comments on final exam script.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

TBA

Pre-requisites

Available to students in programme year 3 and above who have achieved 75 credit points from level 1 and 2 Politics & International Relations courses.

Co-requisites

None

Notes

Please dual-code this course.

Overview

This course introduces the concept and practice of secret intelligence from the perspective of national security addressing what secret intelligence is, what it involves and how this relates to government policies. Topics addressed include conceptual and definitional matters involving intelligence, reviewing historical aspects of intelligence, outlining different intelligence agencies from around the world and looking at different contexts for intelligence including wartime intelligence and counter-intelligence. The course begins by introducing conceptual and historic to provide a framework for looking at the development of intelligence in the 20th and 21st centuries. The themes of national security, the uses of intelligence, types of intelligence and technologies involved in intelligence collection are then developed. The course will also review various case studies of secret intelligence.

Structure

2 one hour lectures and 1 one hour tutorial per week

Assessment

1st attempt: 1 three-hour exam (60%), in course assessment (5,000 word essay) (25%), tutorial (15%).

Resit: 100% examination

Formative Assessment

None

Feedback

Written feedback will be provided for continuous assessment work. This will normally be provided within three weeks of the submission date. Oral feedback on class presentations will also be provided where appropriate.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Professor M E Smith

Pre-requisites

Available to students in Programme Year 3 and above who have achieved 75 credit points from Level 1 and 2 Politics & International Relations courses.

Notes

This course will be available in the first half-session of 2012/13 as IR 3016.

Overview

The course looks at the idea of international security from a wide range of perspectives. It considers the debates over the continuing dominance of military and state-based approaches to security, examining the arguments for the widening of the security agenda. In addition to this conceptual approach, the course looks at specific case-studies of security issues in the modern world in order to illustrate the implications of widening the security agenda.

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: Examination (60%); in-course grades will be carried forward.

Feedback

Written feedback will be provided for continuous assessment work. This will normally be provided within three weeks of the submission date. Oral feedback on class presentations will also be provided where appropriate.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

TBA

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%).

Feedback

Written feedback will be provided for continuous assessment work. This will normally be provided within three weeks of the submission date. Oral feedback on class presentations will also be provided where appropriate.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Mr J H Wyllie

Pre-requisites

Available to Master of Arts level 4 students only.

Notes

With agreement of advisers of studies, open to CASS level 4 students outside the School of Social Science, such as Law and History.

Overview

The course will scrutinise the historical development, political characteristics and strategic condition of the most enduring and emotive conflict in the international system. The topics to be considered include the political impasse since 2003, the origins of the conflict, the wars and peace plans between 1948 and 1979, the nature and policies of the PLO and Hamas, the Peace Process 1993 - 2003, US - Israeli relations, the EU and the dispute, the 'peace partners': Egypt and Jordan, the 'rejectionsit front': Syria and Iran, and prospects for the resolution of the conflict.

Structure

To be taught 'conference style', on a lecture and discussion basis, interspersed with 'team presentations', an 'in-class essay', and occasional DVD material. There will be 1 two-hour and 1 one-hour class each week for 12 weeks.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour examination (60%); one 'in-class 1,500 word, approximately one and a half-hour, essay' (20%); and 1 'team presentation' (20%).
Print-outs of the team presentation power-points (normally about 20 pages) together with the tutor assessment sheets will be sent to the external examiner in the package including examinations scripts and the 'in-class essay' scripts.

Resit: 1 three-hour examination (100%).

Formative Assessment

'Primary respondent teams' to each of the class 'team presentations' will be given non-assessed feedback on the quality of the insight and detail of their responses.
The team presentations form part of the course summative assessment. However, for each team presentation there is a separate, 'primary respondent team'. While all students deliver a formal, detailed and sourced presentation (summative assessment), they are also required, in due course, on a different topic, to be a 'primary respondent'(ie. providing the first critique and starting class discussion) to another student's formal presentation. There will be commentary by the tutor on the strengths and weaknesses of all students' 'primary responses'. This will be formative in nature and the students' 'primary responses' will not be given CAS grades.

Feedback

Summative assessment: Written feedback on a tailored assessment document will be delivered within two weeks of the 'in-class ' essay, which takes place midway through the course. The 'team presentation' materials are available via MyAberdeen to the whole class the day before the delivery of the presentations. By the time of the class following any presentation, written feedback on a tailored assessment document will be returned to each member of the presentation team.

Formative assessment:
Orall assessment of the performance of the primary respondent team will be given before the end of that class.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

TBA

Pre-requisites

None.

Notes

This course is not available in 2013/14.

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%).

Formative Assessment

Feedback

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr R Vij

Pre-requisites

None.

Notes

This is a level 4 International Relations course.

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: Research Paper 4,000 words (60%); Two book reviews, 1,000 words each (25%) of assessment; in-class presentation (15%).

Formative Assessment

Feedback

Written feedback will be provided for continuous assessment work. This will normally be provided within three weeks of the submission date. Oral feedback on class presentations will also be provided where appropriate.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Professor M K Pasha

Pre-requisites

Open only to students in Programme Year 4.

Notes

This course is not available in 2013/14.

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 weekly.

Assessment

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

Feedback

Written feedback will be provided for continuous assessment work. This will normally be provided within three weeks of the submission date. Oral feedback on class presentations will also be provided where appropriate.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr M Bain

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 4.

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%), one essay (30%), short answer/multiple choice assessment (10%).

Feedback

Written feedback will be provided for continuous assessment work. This will normally be provided within three weeks of the submission date. Oral feedback on class presentations will also be provided where appropriate.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A Teti

Pre-requisites

Available to students in Programme Year 4 in Politics and International Relations or with the permission of the Head of School on the recommendation of the course co-ordinator.

Overview

The course examines the politics of the modern and contemporary Middle East by looking at relevant theories, history and case studies. It provides students with an in-depth understanding of the political, economic and cultural facets of the region's politics by looking at its political systems, its regional and international relations, conflict, political economy, and the 'politics of identity' such as nationalism and Islamism. Assuming no prior expertise in regional politics or history, the course will cover a selection of the following elements:
(i) approaches to Middle East politics: key concepts, theories and issues;
(ii) the regional states system and global dimensions;
(iii) foreign-policy making in the Middle East: a comparative framework;
(iv) state-society relations: Kin, Class, Gender, Monarchy, Military Control, Ideology and Bureaucracy;
(v) Key regional issues such as Islamism, Nationalism, Oil, Water, Wealth, Power, Migration, Conflict: through case studies (Arab-Israeli Conflict, Iran-Iraq war, Gulf Wars, Algerian Civil War, terrorism).

Structure

Teaching will be through a combination of lectures and seminars.

2 one-hour lectures per week provide an introduction to the principal historical issues and analytical approaches related to each course Unit.

1 one-hour seminar per week will allow more detailed and advanced discussions: students will be expected to have built up an advanced understanding of the issues in question through independent research. Seminars will be structured around the discussion of set questions/themes.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Two 2,500 word essays (30% each); presentation (20%) (a visual aides and printed notes of the presentation will be available for external examiner scrutiny); in-course test (20%).

Resit: 1 three-hour examination (100%) (3 essay-style questions in 3 hours).

Feedback

Feedback will be provided to students in the following means:

• essays; formal feedback, with the possibility of additional informal feedback
• presentations; formal feedback, with the possibility of additional informal feedback
• test; formal feedback, with the possibility of additional informal feedback
• weekly consultation times; specific hours are reserved for students in which an 'open door policy' allows them flexible access to
  feedback on any aspect of the course, as well as discussion of pastoral issues as required

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

TBA

Pre-requisites

Available to students in programme year 4 in Politics and International Relations or with the permission of the Head of School.

Overview

The first part of the lecture series will focus on a general introduction into environmental politics. It will relate relevant theories of politics and IR theory to environmental problems and policy-making/ regime-building before turning to relevant institutions, agents and intergovernmental organisations such as the UN, EU and WTO. Key themes such as equity, justice and security will be highlighted. The second and main part will then focus on specfic issues such as climate change, waste export, biodiversity, water security, whaling and GMOs. Comparisons between these issues will be made throughout as well as reminders of key themes, actors and theories covered in part 1. The final part of the lecture series will summarise the main insights from previous lectures and will present an assessment of future developments. It will relate insights to other Politics & IR contexts and encourage students to pursue some (or all) of the environmental issues and themes further.

The seminars follow the main structure of the lecture topics. They will allow students to investigate and discuss the topics in more detail and explore specific case studies relevant to issues such as - whaling from different angles e.g. NGOs' involvement or the US and EU policies on GMOs compared.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture; 1 two-hour seminar per week.

Assessment

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

Formative Assessment

Formative assessment includes the above stated formal grades as well as informal feedback on students' progress either as individuals or as teams, either in class, in person or via email.

Feedback

Essay feedback will be presented via the appropriate feedback matrix. Team projects will also receive feedbacks via an adapted matrix using similar criteria. Both will be sufficiently detailed to help students understand and improve their work. Formal feedback will be provided within the Departmental deadlines. Informal feedback will be recorded e.g. on email system, minutes, coordinator's notes.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

TBA

Pre-requisites

Available only to level 4 students.

Co-requisites

None

Overview

This course affords students the opportunity to apply their knowledge and research skills in the broad field of Politics & International Relations to an individual piece of research, focusing on a topic selected by the student and approved by the module coordinator and by the Dissertation supervisor. Over the course of the project, with guidance from a supervising member of staff, the student will conduct a literature review of relevant material, select appropriate research methods, gather data where necessary, analyse data, and write a final analysis in the form of the Dissertation. While the techniques of analysis will vary with the nature of the research problem, all students will receive guidance on critical analysis, planning their Dissertation, and Dissertation writing. Particular emphasis will be given to helping students develop their own research and analytical skills.

Structure

Supervision of individual research projects by arrangement between student and supervisor.

Assessment

Dissertation 10,000-12,000 words (100%)

Feedback

Informal feedback provided on literature review and course design and at draft stages of dissertation. Written feedback will be offered on the finished project report.

Credit Points

Course Coordinator

Dr J McEvoy

Pre-requisites

Notes

This course will be available in the second semester of 2012/13 as IR 4520.

Overview

The course aims to provide students with an understanding of how conflict between ethno-national groups impacts on international politics. It explores the responses of the international community to inter- and intra-state conflict. Following an initial exploration of the relevant theories, the course investigates focuses on a number of key conflicts in international politics. What explains violent conflict between ethnic groups? What role do external actors play in peace processes? Should the international community intervene to stop violent conflict? What kind of institutional frameworks do external actors promote in peace agreements? What are the challenges of post-conflict reconstruction?

Structure

To be taught 'conference style', on a lecture and discussion basis, interspersed with 'team presentations', an 'in-class' essay, and occasional DVD material. There will be 1 two-hour and 1 one-hour classes each week for twelve weeks.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour examination (60%); one 'in-class' essay (20%); one 'team presentation' (20%).

Feedback

Written feedback will be provided for continuous assessment work. This will normally be provided within three weeks of the submission date. Oral feedback on class presentations will also be provided where appropriate.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

TBA

Pre-requisites

Available only to Level 4 students

Overview

The present trends in the relationship will be examined, with special emphasis on issues such as the Euro and the dollar, trade relations, food and agriculture, the environmental policy, foreign policy and international affairs.
The first part of the module will introduce the idea of Euro-American system and put the relationship between the two countries into an historical perspective. The second part examines the main features of the EU as a polity. The third part focuses on different policy areas. The final section attempts to assess the nature of the relationship and the prospects for the future.

Structure

1 one hour lecture and 1 one hour seminar per week

Assessment

1 three hour written examination (60%); and 1 continuous assessment essay of 3000 words (40%).

100% exam

Formative Assessment

None

Feedback

Extensive written feedback on summative assessment. Continuous feedback on oral contributions in class.