Undergraduate Module Descriptor

POL2115: British Foreign Policy

This module descriptor refers to the 2022/3 academic year.

Module Aims

The purpose of the module is to help students understand British foreign policy making in practice and from the perspective of those participating in making and debating it. 

The design of the module is informed by the convenor’s experiences of working in and advising the UK government as well as appearing before the Foreign Affairs Committee in parliament. After surveying the geopolitical and historical contexts of British foreign policy, we will take a regional approach to consider Britain’s place in and relationship with different parts of the world.  We will look at questions of aid and third-party intervention as well as traditional foreign policy in the narrowly-defined national interest.  We will consider economic as well as political relations and take a decentred approach which considers paradiplomacy and the role of non-state actors including British businesses and civil society, as well as the overseas territories and the City of London. 

We will close by considering future scenarios for the UK after Empire and under Brexit. It is a requirement that the positions taken in parliament – Right and Left, Isolationist and Liberal Internationalist, Atlanticist and Europeanist – are played as roles by students acting as members of the committee.  We will study the current composition of the committee at the time of learning and students will take name badges to play the role of the chair or member during the simulation part of the seminar.  Evidence givers will reflect further diversity including named foreign citizens and professional, academic and activist voices that are not represented in parliament.  Simulations will therefore be as plural and diverse as is Britain. 

By the end of the module, students will have increased their knowledge of the sources and contexts of foreign policy making in Britain and their understanding of how policy is debated and shaped in practice.  

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here – you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills1. Demonstrate knowledge of the historical and geopolitical context of British foreign policy, and the ability to situate this knowledge critically with respect to British foreign policy ideas and behaviours;
2. Demonstrate understanding of regions, issues and cases of British foreign policy in practice.
Discipline-Specific Skills3. Demonstrate understanding of how parliamentary committees work, and the ability to utilise this knowledge in the role of a parliamentary committee chair, member or expert witness;
4. Critically analyse primary and secondary source material;
5. Construct well-structured and rigorous arguments in speech and writing.
Personal and Key Skills6. Communicate effectively in speech and writing;
7. Work independently and in collaboration with peers to achieve common goals, including in the context of simulations of parliament and committee work.

Module Content

Syllabus Plan

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

  • Geopolitical contexts and foreign policy theory: Britain in the world, the world in Britain
  • Historical contexts, 1707-1989: Empire and After
  • Britain in Europe: the EU, Brexit and beyond
  • The UK and US: what ‘special relationship’?
  • Britain and the rising powers – Russia and China: opportunity or threat?
  • London as a world city: cosmopolis, Londongrad or Londonistan?
  • The unfinished Empire? The commonwealth, overseas territories and postcolonies
  • Is Britain still a military power? The arms trade and the nuclear deterrent
  • Aid, intervention and small states: do British values and interests coincide?
  • Scenarios for the future: Global Britain, ‘Brown Britain’ or Broken Britain?

This syllabus is illustrative and cannot be guaranteed year-on-year.  Most seminars will include simulations of parliamentary select committee hearings.

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
221280

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

CategoryHours of study timeDescription
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities2211 x 2 hours seminars
Guided independent study63General reading and preparation (4-5 hours per seminar); Familiarisation with Foreign Affairs Committee (reading reports and viewing evidence sessions, 5-10 hours); Email and visits to lecturer in office hours (2-3 hours).
Guided independent study40Reading, writing and consultation with peers and lecturer for essay
Guided independent study25Reading, writing and consultation with peers and lecturer for draft written evidence and oral presentation

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.

  • Losing an Empire, Finding a Role: British Foreign Policy Since 1945, By David Sanders, David Patrick Houghton (2nd edition, 2017)
  • Brexit in History: Sovereignty or a European Union?, By Beatrice Heuser (2019)
  • Interpreting British Foreign Policy, a special issue of the British Journal of Politics and International Relations, Vol. 15, No.2, (2013)
  • British Foreign Policy: Crises, Conflicts and Future Challenges, By Jamie Gaskarth (2013)
  • Anglo Nostalgia: the politics of emotion in a fractured West, By Edoardo Campanella and Marta Dassu (2019)