Module Information
Course Delivery
Assessment
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Assessment | Essay 3000 Words | 50% |
| Semester Assessment | Essay 3000 Words | 50% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Essay 3000 Words | 50% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Essay 3000 Words | 50% |
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
Demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of the key factors which have made the Middle East a region of international strategic importance.
Identify and critically discuss major Middle Eastern conflicts.
Identify and critically discuss significant Middle Eastern peace processes and settlements.
Critically analyze and display sophisticated understanding of the strategic roles of major Middle Eastern states.
Brief description
This module enables students to develop an in-depth understanding of the international history of conflict in the Middle East, placing particular emphasis upon the ways in which the region has been ordered as a consequence of two world wars, and how that regional reconstruction has produced subsequent regional conflict. It explores the role of war in facilitating the era of European imperial control over the region and the conflicts engendered by the struggles of regional nationalisms against European influence. It analyses the role of the Cold War Superpowers in exacerbating conflict and promoting peace in the region, and it looks in detail at specific regional wars as well as efforts to resolve longstanding conflicts.
Aims
It module has two main aims. First, to analyse processes of warfare and peacemaking in the 20th and 21st century Middle East, and second, to examine how such processes are evident through a detailed examination of case studies.
Content
The impact of the Great War and the negotiation of the post-war settlement
The clash between European imperialism and Arab nationalism
The role of the Middle East as a theatre of operations in the Second World War
The impact of the Cold War and the role of the Superpowers in the Middle East
The Arab Cold War
The Arab-Israeli Conflict and attempts at its resolution
The Iran-Iraq War
The Lebanese Civil War
America’s Middle Eastern conflicts in the post-Cold War era
The Arab Spring and the Syrian Civil War
Module Skills
| Skills Type | Skills details |
|---|---|
| Adaptability and resilience | Students will improve their adaptability and resilience skills through independent work. The submission of written work will reflect the independent research skills of the student. The need to locate appropriate research resources and write up the results will also facilitate research skills. Research preparation for seminar contributions and presentations will also enable the student to develop independent project skills. |
| Co-ordinating with others | Students will undertake team exercises in the seminars, and will be encouraged to collaborate when engaged on similar case studies. |
| Creative Problem Solving | Independent project work and problem solving will be one of the central goals of the module; the submission of an essay will require that the student develops independent research skills as well as problem solving skills. The need to research and prepare seminar contributions will also enable the student to develop independent project skills. The ability of students to solve problems will be developed and assessed by asking them to: adopt differing points of view; organize data and estimate an |
| Critical and analytical thinking | Students will develop their critical and analytical thinking skills throughout the module. They will be expected to conduct close and critical readings of the sources assigned for the seminars. In seminar discussions they will challenge the positions taken by the authors of those sources and by fellow students, as well as articulate and defend their own positions on relevant issues. The written assignments will enable students to develop and demonstrate their critical and analytical thinking. |
| Digital capability | Students will be expected to submit their work in word-processed format. Also, students will be encouraged to search for sources of information on the web, as well as seeking sources through electronic information sources. |
| Professional communication | Students will learn how to present their ideas both verbally and in writing and how to assert themselves to advantage. They will understand 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 and direct about aims and objectives. |
| Real world sense | Students taking the module will 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, including writing for non-specialist audiences. Independent research for essays will lead students to engage with non-academic as well as conventional academic literature , helping them to develop a sense of what expectations in a policy-making environment are. |
| Reflection | The module aims to promote self-management but within a context of assistance from both the module convenor and the fellow students alike. Students will be expected to improve their own learning and performance by undertaking their own research and to exercise their own initiative, including searching for sources, compiling reading lists, and deciding (under guidance) the direction of their essay and case study report. |
| 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 and understand a wide range of 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. |
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 7