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On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:
Describe the key developments in international relations since 1945.
Identify the key academic theories that have been applied to understand the key developments in international relations since 1945.
Describe the principal pressures facing the contemporary context of international relations.
Evaluate differing analyses and explanations for politics at an international level.
Present research findings in a clear and organised manner, using appropriate technologies.
In this module, students will study, analyse, and reflect upon key developments in international relations since 1945. The main post-war theories of international relations will be set in historical content and explored through case studies, covering the distinct roles played by international agencies, such as NATO, and the major and minor states. The Cold War era will be explored through the role of smaller states like Korea, Cuba, Cambodia, and Hungary in destabilising a bi-polar world and unsettling contemporary theories of international relations (such as, for example: Realism, Liberalism, and Positivism). The period after the Cold War will be explored through diversifying challenges for organisations such as NATO, posed by forces, such as globalisation; migration; human rights and humanitarianism; and a changing balance of power.
Seminars/workshops will be the principal modes of delivery. The focus of the classes will be on student-led discussion, principally through in-class consideration of key case studies. The case studies will be selected for their capacity to engage students with the key topics and theoretical/analytical processes. Debates will drive the engagement with the key content of the module and its theoretical debates. Learning will be supported by material and resources placed on Moodle in advance of each session, and by 'directed activities': preparation and reading before each seminar as directed by the tutors. The in-class discussions will be clearly linked to the required assessment formats and, through these debates, informal feedback and feedforward will be offered for the assessments.
Seminars/workshops
Hours: 40
Intended Group Size: 50
Guided independent study
Hours: 160
Further details relating to assessment
Assessment 1 - Directed activities: these consist of weekly tasks that must be completed and submitted for inspection at timetabled sessions each week. The assessment will be assessed on a pass/fail basis with a pass requiring at least 75% of all weekly tasks to be completed successfully. A pass will lead to the full award of 10% towards the final module mark. A fail in directed activities will contribute 0% to the final mark.
Assessment 2 - The case study report will analyse a particular crisis from the Cold War in terms of the competing understandings of world order (such as, for example, positivism, Realism, Liberalism). The report will require accuracy in historical detail; an ability to identify the relevant theory of international relations from the period that was being adopted and an assessment of the way the crisis challenged that theory.
Assessment 3 - The group presentation will require students to undertake a similar task to that in assessment 2 - though with additional reflection on the forces that continue to affect contemporary international relations. The presentation should be accompanied by a written document containing a bibliography, quotations used and full supporting references.
001 Directed Activities throughout Semester Two 10%
002 Case Study Report; 2,000 words; Mid-Semester Two 45%
003 Group Presentation; 10 minutes; End of Semester Two 45%
Module Coordinator - Nathan Uglow
Level - 4
Credit Value - 20
Pre-Requisites - NONE
Semester(s) Offered - 4S2
