Module POL2106 for 2021/2
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Undergraduate Module Descriptor
POL2106: America in the World
This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.
Module Aims
The aim of this module are to provide you with a detailed examination of US foreign policy. A key emphasis of the module will be to enrich contemporary understandings of international crises and global security through the use of a range of theoretical approaches, keen use of empirical material and solid reasoning. Through taking this module and fully participating in it, you will leave with a grasp of key debates in US foreign policy and knowledge of potential global strategic trends based on historical evidence and analysis of current developments in global politics.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to: | |
---|---|
Module-Specific Skills | 1. demonstrate good knowledge of key issues in international security as they pertain to US foreign policy and develop the capacity to apply this knowledge to a range of theoretical positions, case studies and international crises; 2. display knowledge of the contemporary historical dimensions of US foreign policy and world order; |
Discipline-Specific Skills | 3. develop analytical understanding of the role of great powers, especially the US in helping shape world politics; 4. exercise informed judgment concerning the role of the US in world politics and how this role pertains to international security whilst locating arguments within an historical context; |
Personal and Key Skills | 5. conduct independent research, exercise critical judgment, write cogently and persuasively; 6. demonstrate personal responsibility for knowledge interpretation, assimilation and articulation. 7. work independently, within a limited time frame, and without access to external sources, to complete a specified task. |
Module Content
Syllabus Plan
Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will break down as follows:
- The first section of this module will provide a broad historical overview of the development of US foreign policy from the early Cold War period up to the present day.
- The second section of this module will examine a broad range of issues that pertain to US foreign policy, and which help the analyst to develop applicable knowledge of key developments in US foreign policy including the role of ideology, the rise of non-Western powers, changes in US grand strategy and the viability of the liberal international order.
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 Activities | 22 | 11 x 2 hours per week |
Guided Independent Study | 128 | Reading for seminars (75 hours), reflection and planning for seminars (25 hours), Exam revision + learning consolidation (28 hours). |
Online Resources
This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).
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 |
---|---|---|---|
Group work and presentations. Students will present material covered in the course, either in a group or individually. There will be further small group work, where students discuss that weeks topics and then report back in a Q & A format. | 20 minutes | 1-4,6 | 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 |
---|---|---|
0 | 100 | 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 |
---|---|---|---|---|
Exam | 100 | 2 hour exam | 1-7 | Marked and written |
0 | ||||
0 | ||||
0 | ||||
0 | ||||
0 |
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 |
---|---|---|---|
Exam | Exam (2 hours) | 1-7 | 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.
Basic reading:
Michael Cox & Doug Stokes (eds.) US Foreign Policy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018) 3rd Edition.
Alan Collins (ed.), Contemporary Security Studies (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 2nd ed.
Inderjeet Parmar, Linda B. Miller and Mark Ledwidge (eds.) New Directions in U.S. Foreign Policy (London: Routledge, 2009/13).
Barry Buzan and Lene Hansen, The Evolution of International Security Studies (New York: Cambridge University press, 2009)
William Wohlforth and Stephen G. Brooks, World Out of Balance: International Relations Theory and the Challenge of American Hegemony (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008)
Christopher Layne, The Peace of Illusions: American Grand Strategy from 1940 to the Present (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2006)
G. John Ikenberry, Liberal Leviathan: The Origins, Crisis, and Transformation of the American World Order (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2011).