POLITICAL AND CULTURAL STUDIES
Politics
International Relations
Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE)
Philosophy, Politics, and Law (PPL)
American Studies
War and Society
YEAR ONE
MODULE INFORMATION
2014-2015
1 Political and Cultural Studies Modules 2014-­‐2015 Teaching block YEAR The American Experience 1492-­‐
2000 The Contours of American Politics Introduction to American Literature and Culture TB1 1 20 Dr B Willcock TB1 TB2 1 1 20 20 Dr S Trott Dr RL Farebrother HUA101 Introduction to War Studies HUA102 Introduction to War and Society II: Warfare in the Modern World TB1 TB2 1 1 20 20 Dr GC Oram Dr GC Oram HUP100 The Fundamental Questions of Philosophy TB1 1 20 Professor SD Edwards HUP101 PO-­‐118 PO-­‐119 PO-­‐125 Ethics, Justice, and Society War and Peace in the Nuclear Age Politics and the People What is Politics and International Relations? TB2 TB2 TB1 TB1 1 1 1 1 20 20 20 20 Dr MP Von Der Ruhr Dr A Collins Dr B Willcock Dr MT Wall Module Code Module Name AM-­‐111 AM-­‐112 AM-­‐113 2 Credits Module Coordinator AM-111 The American Experience 1492-2000 ± Teaching Block 1
Year 1 Undergraduate
Credits: 20
Assessment: 2,000 word essay and an exam
This module offers a broad interdisciplinary survey of key themes in American history from
1492 to 2000. In this period, America was transformed from a pre-industrial expanse
containing indigenous peoples into the most powerful nation on earth consisting of the
descendents of immigrants. There was nothing predetermined about this development, the
many highlights of which include the colonial, revolutionary and early national periods, the
Civil War, progressivism, and the First World War, the Depression, the New Deal and
Second World War as well as the Cold War, the Vietnam War and the present. These
subjects and others will be examined, including the efforts of blacks, women, the labour
movement and other groups that have sought inclusion in the American Dream. The
module will also provide an introduction to the nature of American Studies, and the skills
required of an interdisciplinary degree.
AM-112 The Contours of American Politics - Teaching Block 1
Year 1 Undergraduate
Credits: 20
Assessment: 2,000 word essay and 2 hour exam
This interdisciplinary module provides students with an introduction to the ideas, the
principles, the institutions and the issues that shape the political system of the United
States of America
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AM-113 Introduction to American Literature and Culture
Block 2
- Teaching
Year 1 Undergraduate
Credits: 20
Assessment: two 2,000 word essays
This module offers an interdisciplinary survey of American literature and culture from the
nineteenth century to the present day, examining the construction of a specifically
American identity in relation to the sweeping social, technological, and economic changes
which characterise the American experience. The first half of the course explores the
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Europe, the motif of the wilderness, the expansion of psychological and spiritual
boundaries, and issues of race, gender and politics. The second half of the module then
explores the fate of the American self in the twentieth century, a self confronted by the
anonymity of the city, the dehumanizing forces of world war and the promises (and perils)
of consumerism and mass culture. This module explores American culture and literature in
a lively and interdisciplinary manner, reading the search for an American self as an
attempt to come to terms with the bewildering transformation of the world, and the position
of the individual within it.
3 HUA101 - Introduction to War Studies - Teaching Block 1
Year 1 Undergraduate
Credits: 20
Assessment: Essay (1500 words), Essay (2000 words) and Exam (1.5 hours)
This interdisciplinary module provides a survey of the range of perspectives in and
approaches to War Studies.
HUA102 Introduction to War and Society II: Warfare in the Modern World
Teaching Block 2
Year 1 Undergraduate
Credits: 20
Assessment: 2,000 word essay and 1-hour exam
This interdisciplinary module provides an exploration of modern warfare and its impact
upon society from the American Civil War to the onset of the Atomic Age.
HUP100 - The Fundamental Questions of Philosophy - Teaching Block 1
Year 1 Undergraduate
Credits: 20
Assessment: 2,000 word essay and 2-hour exam
This module introduces students to a series of questions and issues that are central to the
discipline of philosophy. The topics discussed, in a lively and entertaining manner, will be
concerned with the nature of persons and their relationships to the natural world and to
other human beings in society. The topics studied will be: a.) ancient and modern accounts
of the nature of the world and the nature of persons; b.) the relationship between the
minds and bodies of persons; c.) the problem of personal identity; d.) reason and emotion
in relation to human behaviour; e.) the possibility of freedom; f.) the claims of religion and
science.
HUP101 Ethics, Justice and Society -Teaching Block 2
Year 1 Undergraduate
Credits: 20
Assessment: 2,000 word essay and 3-hour exam
Examination of the source and limitations of political authority as proposed by such
thinkers as Plato, Hobbes, Locke, Mill and Marx. The first part of the module will focus on
the concepts of individual rights and government authority. The second part explores the
nature and source of ethical responsibility in Aristotle, Mill, Kant, and Nietzsche.
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4 PO-118 - War and Peace in the Nuclear Age (20 credits) - Teaching Block 2
Year 1 Undergraduate
Credits: 20
Assessment: Examination (2 hours) and Coursework (1500 words)
In this module you will examine the history of the international system from the end of the
Second World War to the present day. It will provide an examination of the origins of the
Cold War, how the two superpowers managed their relationship during the Cold War and
an analysis of some of the key features of the post-Cold War world. We begin by
assessing the rise of the USA and USSR and the emergence of deterrence. The failure of
the US policy of containment in Vietnam and the emergence of tripolarity and detente in
the 1970s then follows. By the beginning of the 1980s the superpowers relations had
worsened and it was the time of the Second Cold War. Yet within ten years the Cold War
that had dominated international relations since 1945 would be over. Why did it end, and
who won will be questions for you to answer. The module will then examine the challenges
facing the international system in the aftermath of the Cold War. Challenges ranging from
failed states and military intervention to the rise of China and the re-emergence of Russia,
and we conclude by asking, in the post 9/11 era, are we facing a clash of civilisations?
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PO-119 - Politics and the People - Teaching Block 1
Year 1 Undergraduate
Credits: 20
Assessment: essay and 2-hour exam
This module addresses some of the central issues of how the people are involved in
politics. As technological change gathers pace and governments seem more remote, how
are people's opinions formed and their voices to be heard. This module assists students in
addressing these central questions by comparing the role of people in politics across the
world. It looks at the ways in which political culture, types of political participation, electoral
systems and political parties shape the ability of people to influence politics. It addresses
these issues primarily in the context of key examples of states that may be defined as old
and new democracies.
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PO-125 - What is Politics and International Relations? - Teaching Block
1
Year 1 Undergraduate
Credits: 20
Assessment: Study Group Coursework, Annotated Bibliography and 2-hour examination
This module has two aims. Firstly it seeks to introduce students to different frameworks
through which politics and IR can be studied by focusing on the deceptively simple question
of what is politics and IR?. It will show that a number of competing approaches embody
fundamental disagreements over issues such as where politics takes place and whether
politics can ever end. Secondly, the module will introduce students to a set of key study skills
needed in order to undertake the study of Politics and International Relations, including ways
of presenting arguments in essays or seminar presentations, learning where and how to find
information needed to construct arguments about politics and IR, and provide a brief
5 introduction to some of the methods that political scientists use to study the world of politics
and IR.
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