Undergraduate Module Descriptor

POL1028: Introduction to Strategic Studies

This module descriptor refers to the 2020/1 academic year.

Module Aims

This module will:

  • Introduce you to the basic concepts in strategic theory.
  • Enable you to explore the dimensions in which strategy is practiced.
  • Enable you to examine and analyse how strategy has been practiced throughout different historical periods in order to achieve awareness of the differences between the ages.
  • Enable you to explore in particular the problems and challenges that resulted from significant changes in the practice of warfare.
  • Provide you with a foundational basis for further graduate study and post-graduate study in defence and security issues, or for a career in government, international organisations, non-governmental organisations, media, or the security forces.

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. Demonstrate knowledge of the nature of strategy and its manifestation across different dimensions of warfare.
2. Demonstrate knowledge of theoretical thinkers behind various forms of strategic practice.
3. Demonstrate knowledge of the evolution of the practice of warfare throughout the ages.
4. Demonstrate knowledge of the challenges posed to strategic thinking and practice at the turn of the 21st century.
Discipline-Specific Skills5. Examine secondary and primary source material in the field of war, strategic and conflict studies.
6. Demonstrate awareness of the key concepts and debates relating to the study of war and its changing character.
7. Evaluate competing conceptions and theories of warfare.
Personal and Key Skills8. Study independently and manage time and assessment deadlines effectively.
9. Communicate effectively in writing.
10. Demonstrate analytical skills through tutorial discussions and module assessments.
11. Demonstrate proficiency in the use of the internet, online journal databases and other IT resources for the purposes of tutorial and assessment preparation.
12. Work independently, within a limited time frame, and without access to external sources, to complete a specified task.

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.

Barkawi, T. Globalization and War (Rowman and Littlefield, 2006)

Baylis, J., Wirtz, J., Gray, C.S., Strategy in the Contemporary World 5th Edition (Oxford: OUP, 2016)

Beckett, I. Modern Insurgencies and Counter-Insurgencies: Guerrillas and their Opponents since 1750 (Routledge, 2001)

Corbett, J.S., Some Principles of Maritime Strategy, (London: Longmans Green, 1911)

Freedman, L., Strategy: A History (Oxford: OUP, 2013)

Gray, C.S. Modern strategy (Oxford University Press, 1999)

Heuser, B., The Evolution of Strategy: thinking war from antiquity to the present, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010).

Jordan, D. et al, Understanding Modern Warfare (Cambridge: CUP, 2008)

Knox, M., Murray, W., The Dynamics of Military Revolution, 1300-2050 (Cambridge: CUP, 2001)

Lebow, R.N. Why Nations Fight: Past and Future Motives for War (Cambridge University Press, 2010)

Mahnken, T., Maiolo, J. (ed), Strategic Studies: A Reader 2nd Edition (Abingdon: Routledge, 2014)

Murray, W., Knox, W., Bernstein, A., The Making of Strategy: Rulers, States, and War (Cambridge: CUP, 1994)

Porter, P. Military Orientalism: Eastern War through Western Eyes (Hurst, 2009)

Smith, R. The Utility of Force: The Art of War in the Modern World (Allen Lane, 2005)

Strachan, H. and Schiepers, S. (eds.), The Changing Character of War (Oxford University Press, 2011)

Strachan, H., The Direction of War : Contemporary Strategy in Historical Perspective,

(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013)

Townshend, C. (ed.), The Oxford History of Modern War (Oxford University Press, 2005)

Tzu, Sun (Samuel B. Griffiths trans.), The Art of War (Oxford: OUP, 1971)

Von Clausewitz, C. On War. Edited and translated by Michael Howard and Peter Paret. (Princeton University Press, 1976)