Module POL3168 for 2021/2
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Undergraduate Module Descriptor
POL3168: War and its Aftermath: Interventions and Contemporary Conflict
This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.
Module Aims
This module will introduce you to a broad range of scholarship – primarily in the discipline of International Relations – that addresses conflict and its aftermath. This field of study has expanded exponentially in the post-Cold War period and much of it is based on extensive field research. The module will encourage you to grapple with the more theoretical texts in light of well-researched case studies. Furthermore, it will ask you to consider the efficacy of common policy prescriptions in light of recent scholarship. The module aims to help you develop professional values and engage meaningfully with scholarship focused on issues related to war and post-conflict recovery from an academic and policy perspective.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to: | |
---|---|
Module-Specific Skills | 1. Identify the major arguments in the fields of comparative politics and international relations regarding conflict and its aftermath 2. Evaluate different interpretations about the nature of war and prescriptions for its cessation |
Discipline-Specific Skills | 3. Articulate in-depth knowledge of a subfield of International Relations, and knowledge of contemporary issues in international politics 4. Deploy theoretical arguments, concepts, and methods, and apply them to practices and common policy prescriptions in the global arena; |
Personal and Key Skills | 5. Communicate effectively in writing and speech 6. Write well-structured arguments 7. Work independently and with peers to achieve common goals |
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:
the character of war in the post-Cold War era, terrorism, genocide, actors in war, humanitarian intervention, aid, international criminal tribunals, truth and reconciliation commissions, and state apologies. The first half of the course will address the issues confronted during war (such as the character of fighting, whether or not to intervene, and humanitarian assistance) while the second half of the course will address measures to deal with legacies of mass atrocities in the aftermath of war. Most seminars in the second term will focus on a case study and a cross-cutting thematic issue.
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 |
---|---|---|
44 | 256 | 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 activities | 44 | Twenty-two seminars of 2 hours each will involve small group discussion of texts and presentations. |
Guided independent study | 200 | Reading and preparation for tutorials, including preparation of comment papers |
Guided independent study | 56 | Research and writing of essay |
Online Resources
This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).
International Relations:
The Brookings Institution: http://www.brook.edu/
World Policy Institute: http://www.worldpolicy.org/links/
Council on Foreign Relations: www.cfr.org
International Crisis Group: www.crisisgroup.org
Media
BBC Europe : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/default.stm
Financial Times: http://news.ft.com/world/europe
The Economist: www.economist.co.uk
Media Websites:
New York Times: www.nytimes.com
The Washington Post: www.washingtonpost.com
The Independent: www.independent.co.uk
The Guardian: www.theguardian.com
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 |
---|---|---|---|
Essay plan | 300 words | 1-7 | Written |
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 |
---|---|---|
90 | 0 | 10 |
...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 |
---|---|---|---|---|
Written assignment (Term 1) | 45 | 3000 words | 1-7 | Written |
Written assignment (Term 2) | 45 | 3000 words | 1-7 | Written |
Presentation (Individual) | 10 | 20 minutes | 1-5,7 | Verbal |
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 |
---|---|---|---|
Written assignment Term 1 (45%) | Written assignment (3000 words) | 1-7 | August/September reassessment period |
Written assignment Term 2 (45%) | Written assignment (3000 words) | 1-7 | August/September reassessment period |
Presentation (10%) | 1,500 word written assignment on the topic presented in class | 1-5, 7 | August/September reassessment period |
Re-assessment notes
Where you have been referred/deferred for the scheduled presentation, you will be asked to write a 1500 word assignment in its place. This will constitute 10% of the final mark.
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.
Michael Barnett and Thomas G. Weiss, Humanitarianism in Question: Politics, Power, Ethics, Cornel University Press, 2008.
Elazar Barkan & Alexander Karn eds., Taking Wrongs Seriously: Apologies and Reconciliation , Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 2006.
Klejda Mulaj, ‘Violence of War, Ontopology, and the Instrumental and Performative Constitution of the Political Community’,Review of International Studies , Vol. 44, No. 1, 2018.
David Rieff, A Bed for the Night: Humanitarianism in Crisis, Simon and Shuster, 2003.
Elaine Scarry, The Body in Pain: The Making and Unmaking of the World, New York: Oxford University Press, 1985.
Christine Sylvester, War as Experience: Contributions from International Relations and Feminist Analysis, London: Routledge, 2013.