MA Seminar SeriesBurning Issues:
Critical Perspectives on
World Politics
Winter 2015 / Thursday 6:30pm – 8 pm / S0.20
Module Convenor: Dr Reiko Shindo
(Office: E1.24/ Email: [email protected])
Welcome and Introduction


Find someone you have not met, and please take a couple of minutes each to
introduce yourself in turns:

Who are you? Where did you come from to study at Warwick?

What subjects of international politics are you interested in the most? Why?

Where do you want to go or what do you want to do next year/in your life?

Which news did you find most interesting recently and why?
We will introduce ourselves to everyone.
Module description

Serves as a forum where all MA students can gather together to
discuss on-going political issues.

Provides understanding of world politics through several key concepts
in IR.

Examines how the concept can play a key role for reflecting on state
centrism in IR and for envisioning the world through and beyond the
state.

Examines on-going political debates and contemporary world events.

Emphasis on critical approach to state-centred world politics.
Specific Aims of the Module

1. To introduce to students several key political concepts used in critical IR
scholarship.

2. To develop a conceptual tool kit in critically thinking about contemporary
political issues.

3. To apply theories and concepts you learned at other modules to the analysis of
contemporary issues.

4. To develop abilities to engage with different views.
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5. To develop group leadership and discussion skills through seminar participation.
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6. To develop an idea of MA research paper topics.
Learning methods
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This is a postgraduate seminar and you are expected to attend all class
sessions and participate in the seminar discussion.

You are not expected to complete any readings!

You are not expected to submit any assignments!

The seminar will be student-driven. Take an active part in the seminar.

The quality of your questions and comments will be valued as much as the
quantity.

Discussion is made possible not only by people who speak but also by people
who listen. Listening and engaging with your fellow students’ ideas will also
be valued.
Module Structure

Week 1 (Oct.8)
Introduction & Course Overview

Week 2 (Oct.15)
Citizenship (Migration ‘crisis’ in Europe)

Week 3 (Oct.22)
Community (Foreign fighters joining the ISIS)

Week 4 (Oct.29) Resistance (e.g. Arab spring; Occupy movement; anti-nuclear movement in
Japan; Women’s rights movement in China)

Reading week
No class

Week 5 (Nov.12)
Law (Working at the UN?)

Week 6 (Nov. 19) Technology (Drones; Hacking; Surveillance)
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Week 7 (Nov. 26) Narrative (Books and films in studying IR)
Please do feel free to let me know if you have any ‘burning’ issues you want to discuss at seminars.
Let me know what kinds of questions you would like to pose to your peers at seminars as well. We
will include those in the seminar discussion.
Why concepts? Why not theories?
Why these concepts?

To explore and think about what ‘critical’ IR can be in its various conceptual
manifestations. How does the concept play a key role for reflecting on state
centrism in IR and for envisioning the world through and beyond the state?

To reappraise conceptual grounds on which IR theories are based instead of
offering another set of theories to counter the existing ones.

The concepts selected for this module have prompted the emergence of new
fields of study in IR (e.g. citizenship studies, narrative, technology, law). Also
they address underlying themes shared among critical scholarship in its
attempt to think beyond a state-sovereign oriented world (e.g. community,
power, resistance).
Readings

There is no assigned reading for the seminars, though the following
suggestions may be helpful:
1. Der Derian, James. and Shapiro, Michael. (Eds) (1989),
International/Intertextual Relations: Postmodern Readings of
World Politics, Lexington, MA: Lexington.
2. Edkins, Jenny. (1999) Poststructuralism and International
Relations: Bringing the Political Back In, Colerado: Lynne Rienner.
3. Ní Mhurchú, Aoileann. and Shindo, Reiko. (Eds) (2016
forthcoming) Critical Imaginations in International Relations, Oxon:
Routledge.

Each seminar has its own recommended reading list. Many readings for
other modules will also be relevant.
Useful sources (journals/newspapers)

Academic journals in IR
Review of International Studies; Alternatives-Global, Local, Political;
International Political Sociology; European Journal of International
Relations; International Organization; Millennium: Journal of
International Studies etc…

Websites / newspapers / magazines
BBC; New York Times; Guardian; Financial Times; The Economist etc…
Please use this seminar module to develop a regular reading habit of at
least one of the materials (not limited to the sources above).
Break!

Back within 10 min please!
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A group exercise and short mini-lecture presentation after the break!
Discussion Questions
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
Please discuss in pairs/groups of 2-3 one of the following questions:
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How do you describe your approach to the study of IR? Do you
describe your approach as ‘traditional’ or ‘critical’? Or do you
identify your approach as something different?

What does ‘being critical’ mean to you? What do you think is the
difference between ‘critical’ approaches and ‘traditional’ ones to
the analysis of world politics?

What is your critique of the study of IR? What aspects of learning
IR are not satisfied with and why?
Each pair/group will feed back in turn to the whole class – please
choose a spokesperson!
What does it mean to be ‘critical’?


‘Traditional’ versus ‘Critical’?
Questioning the disciplinary boundary of IR
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Challenging the line between engaging narrators and objective
observers
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Disorienting space
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Interrogating progressive politics
Sum up

Next week’s topic: Citizenship
 What
 How
is citizenship?
is the idea of citizenship changed?
 How
can the idea of citizenship enable us to understand
contemporary world events?


Next week’s issue: migration crisis in Europe

Refugees arriving in Europe; How to respond?
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Are they here to stay or will they leave?
Thank you for participating today!