Course Details in 2024/25 Session

Module Title	LC Understanding International Relations
School	Government
Department	Political Sci & Intern'tl Stud
Module Code	08 34202
Module Lead	Ben Clarke
Level	Certificate Level
Credits	20
Semester	Semester 2
Pre-requisites
Co-requisites
Restrictions	None
Contact Hours	Lecture-20 hours Seminar-10 hours Guided independent study-170 hours Total: 200 hours
Exclusions
Description	In this module, you are introduced to the study of international politics and the main approaches, theories and debates in the discipline of International Relations. The main aims of this module are both to introduce you to some of the main issues of international politics, such as war and peace, development, regional integration and security, and to make you familiar with different ways to conceptualise and analyse these issues. This means that a substantial part of this module is devoted to the introduction of the main traditional theories of International Relations and the concepts they use. Studying international politics is theoretical, one of the central messages throughout the course is that different theoretical approaches generate different images of the world that build on particular assumptions. Therefore, while you may think you know what the current problems of international politics are and how to solve them, one of the aims of this course is to alert you to other ways of seeing things. This should allow you to make a more confident decision about your own stance towards particular issues and to analyse these issues more thoroughly, but it should also make you question both your own as well as others’ representations of the world.
Learning Outcomes	By the end of the module students should be able to: Distinguish major theoretical perspectives on international politics and compare their value for the analysis of specific problems of international politics as well as their basic assumptions and the worldviews they generate Identify main actors in international politics and relate them to the contexts in which they operate Evaluate analyses of international politics from a theoretically grounded point of view
Assessment	34202-01 : 1000 Word Assessment : Coursework (25%) 34202-03 : 3000 Word Assessment : Coursework (75%)
Assessment Methods & Exceptions	Assessment: 1 x 1000 word essay (25%) 1 x 2500 word essay (75%). Reassessment by failed component
Other
Reading List