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An Introduction to War & Peace - POL00014I

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• Department: Politics and International Relations
• Credit value: 10 credits
• Credit level: I
• Academic year of delivery: 2022-23

Module will run

Occurrence	Teaching period
A	Autumn Term 2022-23

Module aims

This module will focus on some of the main debates and controversies surrounding contemporary war and peacemaking in order to explain the patterns, dynamics and causes of societal conflict and international change. Rather than viewing conflict and peace through the commonly deployed statist, strategic or doctrinal realist perspectives, this module will emphasise human security perspectives and thus recognise the complexities brought about by gender, identity and uneven development. Issues to be covered include terrorism, just war theory, community peacebuilding and peace dividends. The module will be consciously multidisciplinary (drawing on insights from social psychology, anthropology, development and gender studies) and will place a heavy emphasis on comparative and critical perspectives.

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module students should be able to:

• Examine contemporary war and peace through a human security lens.
• Reflect upon and further refine our understandings of war and peace.
• Develop the skills of collecting and analysing information from a variety of web and library sources and making a synthesis of this material via course work.
• Deepen our understanding of the political processes involved in the prosecution of war and peace.

Indicative assessment

Task	% of module mark
Essay/coursework	100

Special assessment rules

None

Indicative reassessment

Task	% of module mark
Essay/coursework	100

Module feedback

Students will receive written timely feedback on their formative assessment. They will also have the opportunity to discuss their feedback during the module tutor’s feedback and guidance hours.

Students will receive written feedback on their summative assessment no later than 20 working days after submission; and the module tutor will hold a specific session to discuss feedback, which students can also opt to attend. They will also have the opportunity to discuss their feedback during the module tutor’s regular feedback and guidance hours.

Indicative reading

Ramsbotham, Oliver, Tom Woodhouse and Hugh Miall, 2011. Contemporary Conflict Resolution: Third Edition. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Mary Kaldor (1999). New and Old Wars: Organized Violence in a Global Era (Cambridge: Polity Press).

Richmond, Oliver P. and Audra Mitchell, 2011. Hybrid Forms of Peace: From Everyday Agency to Post-liberalism. Basingstoke: Palgrave.