Module POL3214 for 2020/1
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Undergraduate Module Descriptor
POL3214: Disrupting Western Hegemony: Insurgency and Counterinsurgency Post-WWII
This module descriptor refers to the 2020/1 academic year.
Module Content
Syllabus Plan
Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover for example the following topics: Definitions of irregular warfare, insurgency and terrorism; Classic theories of insurgency/guerrilla war; Classic theories of counterinsurgency; Historical and contemporary case studies of insurgency/counterinsurgency campaigns.
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 | 128 | 0 |
...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 Activity | 22 | 11 x 2-hour seminars |
| Guided Independent Study | 50 | Private study reading and preparing for seminars |
| Guided Independent Study | 78 | Preparation for assessments including researching and collating relevant sources; planning the structure and argument; writing up the essay and presentation brief; preparing and rehearsing presentation. |
Online Resources
This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).
- Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy: https://centreforfeministforeignpolicy.org/
- Complex Terrain Laboratory: http://www.terraplexic.org/
- Consortium on Gender, Security & Human Rights: https://genderandsecurity.org/
- Stockholm International Peace Research Institute: http://www.sipri.org/
- Combating Terrorism Centre (Westpoint): http://ctc.usma.edu/sentinel/
- UK Defence Academy: http://www.da.mod.uk/podcasts
- ‘MERLIN’ US National Defence University: http://merln.ndu.edu/
- US Institute of Peace: http://www.usip.org/
- Institute for War and Peace Reporting: http://www.iwpr.org
- US Army War College: http://www.carlisle.army.mil/
- International Studies Association web resources: http://www.isanet.org/links/
- US Naval Postgraduate School: http://www.nps.edu/
- RAND Corps: http://www.rand.org/
- Center for Strategic and International Studies: http://csis.org/
- Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies: http://www.rusi.org
- Chatham House (Royal Institute for International Affairs): http://www.chathamhouse.org.uk
- International Institute for Strategic Studies: http://www.iiss.org
- Brookings Institute: http://www.brookings.edu/
- Bitter Lemons: http://www.bitterlemons.org/
- Canadian Institute of Strategic Studies: http://www.ciss.ca/
- Centre for Defence Information: http://www.cdi.org/
- CIA Factbook: http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/
- Human Rights Watch http://www.hrw.org/
- International Crisis Group: http://www.icg.org/home/index.cfm
- Peace Pledge Union: https://www.ppu.org.uk/
- Rand Corporation: http://www.rand.org/
- The Costs of War Project: https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/
Other Learning Resources
Other materials and resources will be identified by the module convener in lectures and via ELE and by tutors in tutorials.
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 Plan | 500 words | 1-9 | Oral |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 79 | 0 | 21 |
...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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feedback Sheet (see pp. 7-8 below). | ||||
| Presentation Brief | 29 | 1,000 word brief | 1-9 | Written comments |
| Essay | 71 | 2,500 word essay | 1-9 | Written comments |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Presentation Brief | 1,000 word brief | 1-9 | August/September re-assessment period |
| Essay | 2,500 word essay | 1-9 | August/September re-assessment 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.
- Barkawi, T. Globalization and War (Rowman and Littlefield, 2006).
- Beckett, I. Modern Insurgencies and Counter-Insurgencies: Guerrillas and their Opponents since 1750 (Routledge, 2001).
- Black, J. Insurgency and counterinsurgency [electronic resource]: a global history (Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2016).
- Catignani, S. Israeli counter-insurgency and the Intifadas: dilemmas of a conventional army (London: Routledge, 2008).
- Cordell, K. & Wolff, S. Ethnic conflict: causes, consequences, and responses (Cambridge: Polity, 2009/2010).
- Duncanson, C. Forces for Good?: Military Masculinities and Peacebuilding in Afghanistan and Iraq (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013).
- Dyvik, S. Gendering Counterinsurgency: Performativity, Embodiment and Experience in the Afghan 'Theatre of War' (Abingdon: Routledge, 2016).
- Farrell, T. The Norms of War: Cultural Beliefs and Modern Conflict (Lynne Rienner, 2005).
- Farrell, T. and Terriff, T. The Sources of Military Change: Culture, Politics, Technology (Lynne Rienner, 2002).
- Gross, M.L. The ethics of insurgency: a critical guide to just guerrilla warfare (Cambridge: CUP, 2015).
- Jones, C. and Catignani, S. Israel and Hizbollah: an asymmetric conflict in historical and comparative perspective (London: Routledge, 2010).
- Kaldor, M. New Wars and Old Wars: Organized Violence in a Global Era (Polity, 2006).
- Kinsey, C. and Patterson, M.H. Contractors and War: The Transformation of United States' Expeditionary Operations (Stanford University Press, 2012).
- Porter, P. Military Orientalism: Eastern War through Western Eyes (Hurst, 2009).
- Rabi, U. International intervention in local conflicts: crisis management and conflict resolution since the Cold War (London: Tauris, 2010).
- Rich, P.B. and Duyvesteyn I. The Routledge handbook of insurgency and counterinsurgency [electronic resource] (New York: Routledge, 2012).
- Shaw, M. The New Western Way of War: Risk-Transfer War and its Crisis in Iraq (Polity, 2005).
- Smith, R. The Utility of Force: The Art of War in the Modern World (Allen Lane, 2005).
- Sylvester, C. War as Experience: Contributions from International Relations and Feminist Analysis (Abingdon: Routledge, 2013).
- Von Clausewitz, C. On War. Edited and translated by Michael Howard and Peter Paret. (Princeton University Press, 1976).
- Whittaker, D. J. (ed.), The Terrorism Reader 3rd edition (London: Routledge 2007).
