Module Information
Course Delivery
| Delivery Type | Delivery length / details |
|---|---|
| Lecture | 8 x 1 hour |
| Seminars / Tutorials | 7 x 2 hours |
Assessment
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Assessment | 1 x 3,000 word Essay 1 | 50% |
| Semester Assessment | 1 x 3,000 word Essay 2 | 50% |
| Supplementary Assessment | 1 x 3,000 word essay 1 , if essay element failed | 50% |
| Supplementary Assessment | 1 x 3,000 word essay 2, if essay element failed | 50% |
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
1. Explain the various theoretical approaches to ethnic warfare.
2. Use the various methods of researching peacekeeping / peacekeeping.
3. Evaluate individual peace operations, including the reasons for success and failure.
4. Critically analyze the peace missions have attempted to establish or have established.
5. Analyze the gendered roles of peacekeepers and the 'peacekept'.
6. Assess the roles that international organizations play in keeping the peace.
7. Explain the West's approach to conflict and mass human rights abuse, with particular reference to the reliance. on non-UN coalitions and the R2P since the late 1990s
Brief description
This module considers ethnic warfare and genocide, international peacekeeping and conflict resolution, with emphasis on what we have learned about fostering peace in the post-1990 period. This module will explore the issues raised in academic debates by considering a range of historical and contemporary cases. Students will engage with the theoretical debates about ethnic warfare and genocide and explore why peacekeeping missions have had limited success coping with them. Students will explore related topics, such as the influence of western liberal-democratic values in establishing missions and shaping mission objectivies, the use of force, arguments about a 'responsibility to protect', and the great difficulty observed in practice transitioning from peacekeeping contexts to self-sustainable peacebuilding.
Aims
This module adds to Departmental provision in the area of security studies by providing a sustained focus on the relationship between international peacekeeping and ethnic warfare.
Content
Introduction, Theory and Method
Lecture 1: Introduction: Exploring the Meanings of Peacekeeping and Ethnic Warfare
Lecture 2: Theories of Ethnic Warfare and genocide
Lecture 3: Peacekeeping during the Cold War- observation and interposition
Lecture 4: Peacekeeping during the Cold War- state collapse, ethnic and racial warfare
Post-Cold War
Lecture 5: Peacekeepers as sinners? Human Rights abuses and Professionalization
Lecture 6: International Institutions: the UN, NATO, African Union and INGOs
Lecture 7: The Media, Peacekeeping and Ethnic Warefare and Genocide
Lecture 8: Is Peace Women's work? Gender and Peacekeeping / Peacebuilding
Lecture 9: Ethnic warfare, genocide, and international peacekeeping
Lecture 10: Massive human rights abuses and the 'Responsibility to Protect'
Lecture 11: What have we learned so far about keeping and building the peace?
Seminars:
Cold War Cases:
Seminar 1: Cyprus
Seminar 2: Namibia
Post-Cold War Cases:
Seminar 3: Somalia
Seminar 4: Former Yugoslavia
Seminar 5: Rwanda
Seminar 6: Darfur
Module Skills
| Skills Type | Skills details |
|---|---|
| Application of Number | n/a |
| Communication | Students will learn how to present their ideas both verbally and in writing and how to make their arguments most effectively. They will learn the importance of information and clear reasoning and communication and how to exploit these. They will know use many of the sources of information available and use the most appropriate form of communication to best advantage. They will learn to be clear in their thinking, writing and speaking and to be direct about aims and objectives. They will learn to consider only that which is relevant to the topic, focus and objectives of their argument or discussion. This module will particularly test written and oral communication skills as it involves assessed seminar performance. |
| Improving own Learning and Performance | The module aims to promote self-management but within a context in which support and assistance is available from both the convenor and fellow students alike. Students will be expected to improve their learning and performance by undertaking their own research and exercising personal initiative, including choosing / developing their research topics, searching for source materials and deciding (under guidance) the direction of their coursework. The need to prepare for assessed seminar participation and meet coursework deadlines will focus students’ attention on the need to manage their time. |
| Information Technology | Students will be expected to submit their work in word-processed format (PC or Mac). Also students will be encouraged to search for trustworthy sources of information on the web, as well as seeking sources through electronic information sources (such as Web of Science and OCLC) Students will be encouraged to make use of the resources that will be available on the Blackboard VLE. |
| Personal Development and Career planning | This module is designed to hone and test skills of use to students in their working lives, particularly in speaking to small groups, critical thinking and communicating, listening, thinking and responding to the statements of others. Moreover, the written work component tests writing and reasoning, which is a core task in the workplace. Students will be encouraged throughout the module to reflect on their performance and to consider lessons for future application. |
| Problem solving | Independent work and problem solving will be one central goal of the module; the submission of two 3,000 word essays and preparation for seminar discussions will require students to develop independent research skills such as problem solving skills. The ability of students to solve conceptual and argumentative problems will be developed and assessed by asking them to: adopt differing points of view; organize data and estimate an answer to a problem; consider extreme cases; reason logically; construct theoretical models; compare similar cases; look for patterns; divide complex issues into phases or smaller problems. |
| Research skills | Students will be required to undertake independent research for all assessed work. This will involve utilizing media and web sources, as well as more conventional academic texts. Students will in part be assessed on their ability to gather appropriate and interesting resources materials and incorporate them into their work. |
| Subject Specific Skills | Students have the opportunity to develop, practice and test a wide range of subject specific skills that help them to understand, conceptualise and evaluate examples and ideas on the module. These subject specific skills include: • Collect, analyze and understand a wide range of theory and empirical data relating to the module • Evaluate competing perspectives • Demonstrate subject specific research techniques • Apply a range of methodologies to complex historical and contemporary political problems |
| Team work | Students will undertake team exercises in the seminars and during lectures. Students will be encouraged to contribute their comments. |
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 6