Module POLM088 for 2021/2
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Postgraduate Module Descriptor
POLM088: State-building after Civil War
This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.
Module Aims
The module aims to provide you with a conceptual and theoretical background to the most common type of armed conflict in the world today: civil wars. It begins by introducing the academic literature dealing with the types, onset, and duration of civil wars and the various motivations of participants. We will then delve into the different measures taken to restore peace and ensure it persists. We will also closely examine the ways various domestic and international actors have attempted to re-build states through institutional design. Drawing on both historical and recent case studies from around the world, you will be able to acquire a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities to peace-making and state-building after conflict and discuss them in relation to a number of past or current conflicts.
| On successfully completing the programme you will be able to: | |
|---|---|
| Module-Specific Skills | 1. Clearly distinguish between civil wars and other types of armed conflict. 2. Have a solid grasp of the main causes and drivers of civil wars. 3. Critically assess the relative success of different ways to end civil wars. 4. Gain a solid understanding of the theories underpinning different approaches to state-building after civil war. 5. Gain in-depth empirical knowledge of a number of past or ongoing civil wars and state-building efforts. |
| Discipline-Specific Skills | 6. Critically engage with the literature on the state, political order, and state-building from Political Science and International Relations. 7. Demonstrate clear theoretical understanding of major approaches to the study of the onset, duration, and termination of civil wars from International Relations and Political Science. 8. Improved understanding of the comparative method in Political Science. |
| Personal and Key Skills | 9. Demonstrate improved analytical reasoning. 10. Synthesize large amount of material and present clear arguments and recommendations. 11. Provide constructive feedback to your peers. |
Module Content
Syllabus Plan
Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:
- State-building and civil wars – key concepts and dilemmas
- Origins of civil wars: security dilemmas
- Origins of civil wars: identities and interests
- Civil war onset and duration
- Ending civil wars: negotiation, peace-keeping, partition
- Constitutional design for divided societies
- Strengthening institutions and maintaining political order after civil war
- Promoting democracy in weak states
- Case studies and student presentations
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 |
...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 weekly seminars. |
| Guided independent study | 60 | Complete weekly reading assignments. |
| Guided independent study | 188 | Research, and drafting of policy memo, paper outline, and final paper |
| Guided independent study | 30 | Research and preparation for in-class presentation |
Online Resources
This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).
PRIO data on armed conflict: https://www.prio.org/Data/Armed-Conflict/
Uppsala conflict data program: http://ucdp.uu.se
ETH Zurich international conflict research data: https://icr.ethz.ch/data/
Political violence at a glance: http://politicalviolenceataglance.org
How this Module is Assessed
In the tables below, you will see reference to 'ILO's. An ILO is an Intended Learning Outcome - see Aims and Learning Outcomes for details of the ILOs for this module.
Formative Assessment
A formative assessment is designed to give you feedback on your understanding of the module content but it will not count towards your mark for the module.
| Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outline of course paper | 1 page A4 | 1-10 | Written |
Summative Assessment
A summative assessment counts towards your mark for the module. The table below tells you what percentage of your mark will come from which type of assessment.
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 85 | 0 | 15 |
...and this table provides further details on the summative assessments for this module.
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Policy memo | 35 | 1,500 words | 1-3, 5, 10 | Written |
| Presentation | 15 | 10 minutes + 5 minutes for Q&A | 5-8, 11 | Written and oral |
| Course paper | 50 | 5,000 words | 1-10 | Written |
Re-assessment
Re-assessment takes place when the summative assessment has not been completed by the original deadline, and the student has been allowed to refer or defer it to a later date (this only happens following certain criteria and is always subject to exam board approval). For obvious reasons, re-assessments cannot be the same as the original assessment and so these alternatives are set. In cases where the form of assessment is the same, the content will nevertheless be different.
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Policy memo | Policy memo (1,500 words) | 1-3, 5, 10 | August/September reassessment period. |
| Presentation | Essay (1,500 words) | 5-8 | August/September reassessment period. |
| Course paper | Course paper (5,000 words) | 1-10 | August/September reassessment period. |
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:
Autessere, Severine. 2010. The Trouble with the Congo: Local Violence and the Failure of International Peacebuilding. Cambridge University Press.
Cederman, Lars-Erik, Andreas Wimmer, Brian Min. 2010. “Why Do Ethnic Groups Rebel? New Data and Analysis, World Politics 62: 87-119.
Collier, Paul and Anke Hoeffler. 2004. “Greed and Grievance in Civil War,” Oxford Economic Papers
56, no. 4: 563-595.
Doyle, Michael and Nicholas Sambanis. 2000. “International Peacebuilding: a Theoretical and Quantitative Analysis”, American Political Science Review 94: 779-801.
Doyle, Michael W., and Nicholas Sambanis. 2006. Making War and Building Peace: United Nations Peace Operations. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Fortna, Virginia Page. 2004. “Does Peacekeeping Keep Peace? International Intervention and the Duration of Peace after Civil War”, International Studies Quarterly 48: 269-292.
Gurr, Robert Ted. 1968. “Psychological Factors in Civil Violence,” World Politics 20, no. 2: 245-278.
Hartzel, Caroline. 1999. “Explaining the Stability of Negotiated Settlements to Intrastate Wars” The Journal of Conflict Resolution 43: 3-22.
Kalyvas, Stathis. 2006. The Logic of Violence in Civil War, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kuperman, Alan. 2004. “Is Partition Really the Only Hope? Reconciling Contradictory Findings about Ethnic Civil Wars”, Security Studies 13:4: 314-349.
Licklider, Roy. 1995. “How Civil Wars End”, Stopping the Killing: How Civil Wars End, NY: NYU Press.
Lijphart, Arendt. 2004. “Constitutional Design for Divided Societies”, Journal of Democracy 15: 96-109.
Olson, Mancur. 2000. Power and Prosperity. New York: Basic Books, Chapter 1.
Posen, Barry R. 1993. “The Security Dilemma and Ethnic Conflict,” Survival 35: 27-47
Power, Samantha. 2013. A Problem from Hell. America and the Age of Genocide. Basic Books.
Walter, Barbara. 1999. “Designing Transitions from Civil War: Demobilization, Democratization, and Commitments to Peace”, International Security 24: 127-155.
