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 Content

Syllabus Plan

Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics.

Conceptual approaches may include:

  • What is violence?
  • Direct Violence
  • Structural/Economic Violence
  • Cultural Violence
  • Institutional Violence
  • Colonial Violence
  • Social Justice

Empirical topics may include:

  • Warfare, including the laws of war and military strategy
  • Urbicide and Genocide
  • Economic inequality and exploitation
  • Sexual and Gender-based violence
  • Terrorism and counter-terrorism
  • Radicalisation and counter-radicalisation
  • Slow violence and environmentalism

Learning and Teaching

This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:

Scheduled Learning and Teaching ActivitiesGuided independent studyPlacement / study abroad
27.5122.50

...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:

CategoryHours of study timeDescription
Scheduled Learning & Teaching Activities16.511 x 1.5 hour lectures
Scheduled Learning & Teaching Activities1111 x 1 hour seminars
Guided Independent Study33Reading and preparing for seminars
Guided Independent Study22Researching and writing formative assessments and assignments
Guided Independent Study25Writing portfolio
Guided Independent Study42.5Preparation for examination

Online Resources

This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).

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.

Arendt, Hannah, 1906-1975. Eichmann In Jerusalem: a Report on the Banality of Evil. New York, N.Y., U.S.A.:Penguin Books, 1994

Baaz, Maria Eriksson, and Maria Stern. "Why do soldiers rape? Masculinity, violence, and sexuality in the armed forces in the Congo (DRC)." International Studies Quarterly 53.2 (2009): 495-518.

Barkawi, Tarak, and Mark Laffey. "The imperial peace: democracy, force and globalization." European Journal of International Relations 5.4 (1999): 403-434.

Davis, Angela Y. Are prisons obsolete?. Seven Stories Press, 2011.

Devji, Faisal. "The paradox of nonviolence." Public Culture 23, no. 2 (2011): 269-274.

Fanon, Frantz, 1925-1961. The Wretched of the Earth. New York :Grove Press, 1968.

Galtung, Johan, and Tord Höivik. "Structural and direct violence: A note on operationalization." Journal of Peace Research 8.1 (1971): 73-76.

Galtung, Johan. "Cultural violence." Journal of peace research 27.3 (1990): 291-305.

Howard, Michael. War and the liberal conscience: The George Macaulay Trevelyan lectures in the University of Cambridge, 1977. Anaya-Spain, 1986.

Guru, Gopal. Humiliation: Claims and Context. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2009

Nandy, Ashis. "The invisible holocaust and the journey as an exodus: the poisoned village and the stranger city." Postcolonial Studies: Culture, Politics, Economy 2, no. 3 (1999): 305-329.

Shepherd, Laura J. Gender, violence and security: Discourse as practice. Zed Books, 2008.