Module POL2082 for 2021/2
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
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:
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 26.5 | 123.5 | 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 & Teaching Activity | 16.5 | 11 x 1.5 hour lectures |
| Scheduled Learning & Teaching Activity | 10 | 10 x 1 hour tutorials |
| Guided Independent Study | 40 | Tutorial preparation |
| Guided Independent Study | 83.5 | Assessment preparation and completion |
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.
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).
Buzan, B, Waever, O & de Wilde, J, Security: A New Framework for Analysis (Lynne Rienner, 1998).
Caforio, G. Handbook of the Sociology of the Military (Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, 2006).
Cordell, K. & Wolff, S. Ethnic conflict: causes, consequences, and responses (Cambridge: Polity, 2009/2010).
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).
Gray, C.S. Modern strategy (Oxford University Press, 1999).
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).
Lebow, R.N. Why Nations Fight: Past and Future Motives for War (Cambridge University Press, 2010).
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.)
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).
Strachan, H. and Schiepers, S. (eds.), The Changing Character of War (Oxford University Press, 2011).
Townshend, C. (ed.), The Oxford History of Modern War (Oxford University Press, 2005).
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).
