Undergraduate Module Descriptor

POC1022: Violence in World Politics

This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.

Please note that this module is only delivered on the Penryn Campus.

Module Aims

The aim of this module is to:

Introduce you to a range of contemporary forms of violence in world politics, and provide you with the conceptual and analytical tools to critically assess their origins, nature and impact.
Enable you to critically analyse and evaluate violence through the lens of different theories in International Relations.
Develop research skills and the ability to find, understand and critically evaluate contemporary political practices.

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 empirical familiarity with a range of contemporary political problems and the debates that they have generated; 2. evaluate and compare different framings and responses; 3. demonstrate an awareness and some capacity think critically about the causes of, and responses to, different forms of violence in world politics.
Discipline-Specific Skills	4. identify, discuss major political concepts and theories, and apply them to actual events and outcomes; 5. list, describe, and evaluate different interpretations and reasoned criticisms of scholarship; 6. construct well-structured, sympathetic and rigorous arguments based on logical deduction.
Personal and Key Skills	7. interact effectively within a group to develop argument and analysis, and communicate this effectively to others via oral and written forms; 8. work independently and manage time efficiently in preparing for scheduled learning activities, exercises and assessments; 9. efficiently identify, retrieve and evaluate a range of library-based and electronic research resources, with some guidance.

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
Formative worksheets and quizzes for seminar	Seven pre-seminar preparatory tasks. Each including 4-5 short-form (<20 words) questions and at least one long-form (<250 word) question	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
100	0	0

...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
Portfolio of formative responses and critical reflection	35	1,000 words	1-6, 8-9	Written
Essay	65	2,000 words	1-6, 8	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
Portfolio of formative responses and critical reflection	Portfolio (1,000 words)	1-6, 8-9	August/September re-assessment period
Essay	Essay (2,000 words)	1-6, 8	August/September re-assessment period