Undergraduate Module Descriptor

POL3225: Understanding Civil War

This module descriptor refers to the 2018/9 academic year.

Module Aims

Next to becoming acquainted with the most important theories that explain the outbreak, dynamics, and resolution of civil wars, you will acquire skills that help them to criticize and improve upon qualitative and quantitative work. You will have to formulate their critique both in writing and verbally through in-class participation and debates.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here – you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills	1. Master theories of the causes and consequences of civil war 2. Develop strategic approach to conflict resolution
Discipline-Specific Skills	3. Assess the validity and reliability of data of common political science datasets 4. Design own research using political science methods
Personal and Key Skills	5. Write analytically on empirical cases 6. work with new data sources

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:

Introduction and causes of civil war; civil war datasets reliability

Dynamics of civil war including fighter recruitment, insurgency strategies, and civilian targeting

Research design in studies of civil war

Conflict resolution

New topics in the study of civil war such as rebel governance, rebel state-building, and student wishes

Presentation of research designs

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
44	256

...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:

Category	Hours of study time	Description
Scheduled Learning & Teaching Activities	44	22 x 2 hour seminars
Guided Independent Study	51	Revision and review of class activities
Guided Independent Study	80	Reading assignments
Guided Independent Study	20	Preparation and writing of two critical response papers
Guided Independent Study	40	Preparation and writing of case study
Guided Independent Study	5	Preparation for Presentation
Guided Independent Study	60	Preparation and writing of research design

Online Resources

This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).