Undergraduate Module Descriptor

POL3233: Military Revolutions and Political Change

This module descriptor refers to the 2019/0 academic year.

Module Aims

The module aims to introduce you to the dynamic relationship between war, the state, and society. In so doing it will encourage you to consider: the association between politics, authority and violence; the impact of war on our social and political institutions; the role of individuals and populations in war; the impact of changes in warfare, politics, culture, and economics on each other; and the legacies of war(s) on states and societies.

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 Skills1. Critically understand the interplay between war, state, and society, over the long term and from a global perspective.
2. Demonstrate a critical understanding of the military, political, and social impact of various ‘military revolutions’.
Discipline-Specific Skills3. Critically reflect on key elements of the debate regarding state, sovereignty, and monopoly over the use of force.
4. Display strong awareness of a range of conceptual frameworks to understand the complex and changing interaction between war and societies.
5. Demonstrate awareness of contingency in historical sociological processes.
6. Problematize settled ‘truths’ and assumptions about political order, violence, and our knowledge of these.
Personal and Key Skills7. Study independently and manage time and assessment deadlines effectively.
8. Communicate effectively in speech and writing.
9. Demonstrate critical and analytical skills through tutorial discussions and module assessments.
10. Demonstrate proficiency in the use of the internet, online journal databases and other IT resources for the purposes of tutorial and assessment preparation.
11. Demonstrate effective applied writing.

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.

Asch RG. 2010. ‘War and state-building’. In: F Tallett and DJB Trim (eds.). European Warfare 1350-1750. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 322-337.

von Clausewitz C. 1976. On War [trns. Howard, M. and Paret, P.]. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

DeGroot GJ. 2010. ‘”Killing is easy”: the atomic bomb and the temptation of terror’. In: H Strachan and S Scheipers (eds.). The Changing Character of War. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 90-108.Rogers CJ. 1995. The Military Revolution Debate: Readings on the Military Transformation of Early Modern Europe. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

Knox, M & Murray, W. (eds) 2001. The Dynamics of Military Revolution 1300-2050. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

MaleševiÄ? S. 2010. The Sociology of War and Violence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Mann M. 1986. The Sources of Social Power, Volume 1: A History of Power from the Beginning to AD 1760. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Parker G. 1999. The Military Revolution: Military Innovation and the Rise of the West 1500-1800 [Second edition, reprinted]. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Porter, BD. 1994. War and the Rise of the State: The Military Foundations of Modern Politics. New York: The Free Press, 105-147.

Singer PW. 2008. Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

Tilly, C. 1992. Coercion, Capital, and European States AD 990-1992. Oxford: Blackwell.

Luttwak EN. 1995. ‘Toward post-heroic warfare’. Foreign Affairs 74(3), 109-22.

Luttwak EN. 1996. ‘A post-heroic military policy’. Foreign Affairs 75(4), 33-44.