Undergraduate Module Descriptor

POL3252: Violence and Conflict in the Middle East

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

Module Aims

This module will:

Provide you with an analytical toolbox to develop a systematic understanding of the current political, economic and security challenges to the Middle East.
Introduce you to a variety of different theoretical perspectives to studying the region's politics, and some of the principal academic debates surrounding the notions of conflict and violence.
Develop an advanced critical understanding of the socio-political and historical processes, and major political, social, ideological, cultural, and economic factors that have led, or contributed, to the current instabilities in the Middle East.

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. Demonstrate an advanced critical understanding and awareness of the important political, economic and security challenges to the contemporary Middle East. 2. Demonstrate an advanced critical appreciation of various theories of violence and conflict across political, social, ideological, cultural and economic dimensions. 3. Recognise and identify the key concepts and debates surrounding study of violence and the Middle East and critically discuss them in relation to the current challenges in the region;
Discipline-Specific Skills	4. Locate and engage with an array of material, involving web-based data, academic journals, news sources, in order to develop in-depth knowledge of particular issues; 5. Formulate, articulate and defend your own well-structured or reasoned arguments in the light of appropriate evidence; 6. Apply abstract theoretical ideas and concepts to actual events and outcomes;
Personal and Key Skills	7. Formulate and present information and critical analysis, in both written and oral forms, in a coherent manner; 8. Understand assessment criteria, engage in critical, yet constructive, peer-evaluation and produce feedback and suggestions for improvement; 9. Work independently and in collaboration with peers;

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
Essay Outline	500 words	1-9	Peer-assessed

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
70	0	30

...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
Group Presentation	30	5 minutes per student	1-9	Written
Research Paper	70	3,500 words	1-9	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
Group Presentation	Viva (5 minutes)	1-9	Term 3
Research Paper	Research Paper (3,500 words)	1-9	Term 3