Module Information
Course Delivery
| Delivery Type | Delivery length / details |
|---|---|
| Seminar | 8 x 1 Hour Seminars |
| Lecture | 16 x 1 Hour Lectures |
Assessment
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Assessment | Seminar Performance Contributions to seminar discussions including short (3 minute) presentation | 10% |
| Semester Assessment | 1 x 2,000 word essay | 40% |
| Semester Exam | 2 Hours (1 x 2 hour exam) | 50% |
| Supplementary Assessment | 1 x 2,000 word essay | 40% |
| Supplementary Assessment | 1 x 500 Word summary of presentation | 10% |
| Supplementary Exam | 2 Hours (1 x 2 hour exam) | 50% |
Learning Outcomes
1. Critically evaluate concepts and theoretical approaches used in the study of Russian security.
2. Apply relevant concepts and theoretical perspectives to security issues faced by Russia.
3. Critically assess the extent of continuity and change in Moscow’s approach to security from the Gorbachev leadership onwards.
4. Critically evaluate the nature of the relationship between internal and external dimensions of Russia’s security.
5. Produce a concise, oral critique of a primary source relevant to the module and respond to questions about it.
Brief description
This module has a close focus on contemporary Russian security policy, introducing students to debates and concepts that are used to explain Russia’s behaviour in the security arena and inviting them to apply those ideas to a range of security policy issues. Two main themes run through the module: continuity and change; and the links between internal and external dimensions of security.
Content
The module is taught through a combination of lectures and seminars. It is divided into three parts. The first part introduces students to debates, concepts and issues relevant to the module, and uses the Gorbachev period and New Political Thinking as a way of providing students with a baseline for measuring continuity and change in the post-Soviet period. The second part explores key actors and institutions involved in Russian security policy decision making and implementation. The third part considers specific security challenges faced by post-Soviet Russia and how it addresses them.
Module Skills
| Skills Type | Skills details |
|---|---|
| Application of Number | NA |
| Communication | Students will learn how to present their ideas both verbally and in writing and how to present their arguments most effectively. They will learn the importance of information and clear communication and how to exploit these. They will know how to use the many sources of information available and how to use the most appropriate form of communication to the best advantage. They will learn to be clear in their writing and speaking and to be direct about aims and objectives. They will learn to focus closely on material relevant to the objectives of their argument or discussion. This module will test oral communication skills as it involves assessed seminar performance. Students will be expected to demonstrate effective expression of ideas and good use of language skills in their written work. |
| 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 own learning and performance by undertaking their own research and exercising their own initiative. The need to prepare for assessed seminar participation and to meet coursework deadlines will focus students’ attention on the need to manage their time. |
| Information Technology | Students will be expected to use Blackboard to access materials for the module, use relevant websites, use Turnitin to submit essays and access their essay feedback and provision marks. Students will be encouraged to use Twitter to share ideas and links to relevant sources about the module. |
| Personal Development and Career planning | The module is design the help students develop key employability skills, such as speaking to small and large groups, listening, thinking and responding to the statements of others, as well as expressing themselves clearly in writing. |
| Problem solving | Independent project work and problem solving will be one central goal of the module; the submission of an essay and preparation for seminar discussions will require that students develop independent research skills as well as problem solving skills. The ability of students to solve problems will be developed and assessed by asking them to: adopt different points of view; organize data and estimate an answer to the problem; reason logically; apply theoretical models; consider similar cases; look for patterns; divide issues into smaller problems. |
| Research skills | Students will be required to undertake independent research for all elements of the assessed work. This will involve utilizing media and web sources, as well as more conventional academic texts. |
| Subject Specific Skills | Students will 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 relevant to the module. Subject specific skills include: • Collect and understand a wide range of data relating to the module; • Ability to evaluate competing perspectives; • Demonstrate subject specific research techniques; • Apply a range of methodologies to complex historical and political problems. |
| Team work | Students will work together in small and large groups in the seminars to consider different aspects of the topic and specific reading assignments. |
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 6