Module POLM060 for 2017/8
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Postgraduate Module Descriptor
POLM060: Global Security
This module descriptor refers to the 2017/8 academic year.
Module Aims
This module aims to introduce you to the major theoretical approaches to security, as well as to the major international security issues. . In providing you with theoretical and empirical insights into the character of global security, the module aims to assist you in the development of your own perspectives and theories. The main objective is to make students use the most pertinent theoretical/analytical framework when reflecting on security problems.
Teaching and learning will take place in a supportive and interactive environment where all students will be expected to engage fully with their peers as well as working independently. The assessment is designed so as to enhance students’ ability to tailor their writing style to specific audience – they have to write an academic essay and an op-ed.
| On successfully completing the programme you will be able to: | |
|---|---|
| Module-Specific Skills | 1. compare, contrast and synthesise detailed knowledge of analytical frameworks and debates within the study of global security; 2. apply that knowledge of debates within the study of global security to develop your own intellectual tools with which to analyse security issues and concerns; 3. confidently articulate your own ethical and political positions on questions of global security; |
| Discipline-Specific Skills | 4. critically analyse both empirical and theoretical material relevant to the study and practice of international politics; 5. deploy theoretical arguments from the field of international relations and apply them to empirical case studies and issues; |
| Personal and Key Skills | 6. identify and critically evaluate advanced research monographs and articles as well as major policy texts; 7. formulate your own reasoned arguments and communicate them logically and coherently in speech and in writing; 8. work independently and with peers to achieve goals; 9. write differently to different audiences |
Indicative Reading List
This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.
Basic reading:
Burchill, Linklater, Devetak, et al.’s Theories of International Relations (Palgrave)
Peoples & Vaughan-Williams’ Critical Security Studies (Routledge)
WALT S. (1991): “The Renaissance of Security Studies”, International Studies Quarterly 35 (2): 211-239.
BALDWIN D. (1995): "Security Studies and the End of the Cold War", World Politics 48 (1): 117-141.
GRIECO J. (1993): “Anarchy and the Limits of Cooperation: A Realist Critique of the Newest Liberal Institutionalism”, in BALDWIN D. (ed.): Neo-realism and Neo-liberalism: The Contemporary Debate. New York: Columbia University Press.
MEARSHEIMER J. (2014): “Why the Ukraine Crisis Is the West's Fault. The Liberal Delusions That Provoked Putin”, Foreign Affairs 93: 79.
WOLFE P. (1997): “History and Imperialism: A Century of Theory, From Marx to Postcolonialism”, American Historical Review 102(2): 388-420.
NEOCLEOUS M. (2007) “Security, Commodity, Fetishism”, Critique 35(3): 339-355.
BAELE S., BALZACQ T. (2014): “The Third Debate and Postpositivism”, ISA Compendium, online.
GEORGE J., CAMPBELL D. (1990): “Patterns of Dissent and the Celebration of Difference: Critical Social Theory and International Relations”, International Studies Quarterly 34 (3): 269-293.
CAMPBELL D. (2010): “Poststructuralism”. In DUNNE T., KURKI M., SMITH S., eds., International Relations Theories – Second Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp.213-237.
LAFFEY M., WELDES J. (2008): “Decolonizing the Cuban Missile Crisis”, International Studies Quarterly 52: 555-577.
KATZENSTEIN P. (ed.): The Culture of National Security: Norms and Identity in World Politics. New York: Columbia University Press.
BALZACQ T. (2011): “A Theory of Securitization: Origins, Core Assumptions, and Variants”, in BALZACQ (ed.): Securitization Theory. How security Problems Emerge and Dissolve, New York: Routledge – PRIO, pp.1-30.
BOSWELL C. (2007): “Migration Control in Europe after 9/11: Explaining the Absence of Securitization of Immigration”, Journal of Common Market Studies 45 (3): 589-610.
BAR-TAL D., HALPERIN E. (2013): “The Psychology of Intractable Conflicts: Eruption, Escalation, and Peacemaking”, in Huddy L., Sears D., Levy J. (eds.): Oxford Handbook of Political Psychology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
