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• College of Social Sciences and International Studies

Undergraduate Module Descriptor

POL2082: Changing Character of Warfare

This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 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 some or all of the following topics:

• What is War?
• The Causes of Warfare
• Interstate versus Intrastate Warfare
• The Military and the Nature of Civil-Military Relations
• Change and Continuity in Warfare
• The ‘Revolution in Military Affairs’ and ‘Transformation’ Agendas
• Outsourcing War: the Rise of Private Military Companies
• Asymmetric Challenges I: Terrorism
• Asymmetric Challenges II: Insurgency and Guerrilla Warfare
• Military Adaptation and Innovation
• Summation, Revision, and Student Module Evaluation

Learning and Teaching

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

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

Online Resources

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

• Complex Terrain Laboratory: http://www.terraplexic.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/
• US Homeland Security: http://www.inhomelandsecurity.com/
• UK Resilience (Cabinet Office Civil Contingencies Secretariat):
• http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/ukresilience.aspx
• 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/
• Arms Control Resources: http://www.armscontrol.org/
• 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
• Rand Corporation: http://www.rand.org/

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.

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.

...and this table provides further details on the summative assessments for this module.

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.

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