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 Content
Syllabus Plan
This module will be delivered through 11 weekly two hour seminar classes. Discussion from readings will provide you with an overview of the key issues and debates relevant to each theoretical approach/topic and seek to provide direction for further independent research. Students take the most active part in the discussions, whilst the lecturer’s role is to frame the debate and to sum up its key elements at the end of the seminar.
Each week we will discuss one theoretical approach to security and one security issue - for example, in week 2 we will examine the various components of the neorealist-neoliberal institutionalist debate (theoretical approach) and the Ukraine crisis (issue). In other words, we use pertinent cases to illustrate the kind of insights that each theory can bring, and conversely.
Learning and Teaching
This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 22 | 278 | 0 |
...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | 22 | 11 x 2 hour Seminars - these will primarily consist of guided discussions where topics can be explored further through debate. |
| Guided Independent Study | 278 | Private study - reading and preparing for seminars (around 4-6 hours per week); researching and writing assessments and assignments (researching, planning and writing the essay and the op-ed); preparing the examination. |
Online Resources
This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).
University of Exeter Electronic Learning Environment (ELE): http://vle.exeter.ac.uk/
Other Learning Resources
Links will be provided on ELE to a variety of relevant policy documents, reports and websites.
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.
