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for a past academic year. Please see the current academic year for up to date information.
| Unit name |
International Political Theory |
| Unit code |
POLI31560 |
| Credit points |
20 |
| Level of study |
H/6
|
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12)
|
| Unit director |
Dr. Peoples |
| Open unit status |
Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department |
School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies |
| Faculty |
Faculty of Social Sciences and Law |
Description including Unit Aims
Standing at the intersection between political and international theory, this unit offers students the opportunity to engage with various interpretations of 'the international' in Western political thought. Through the analysis of primary texts, it addresses facets of international politics - war, sovereignty, and power - as understood by political theorists such as Thomas Hobbes, Niccolo Machiavelli, Immanuel Kant and Karl Marx, and more contemporary thinkers such as Hannah Arendt, Carl Schmitt, Jurgen Habermas and Michel Foucault. The unit also allows students to critically assess the interpretation and use of these thinkers within International Relations theory as it is conventionally understood: Hobbes and Machiavelli with regard to inter-state conflict; Kant within Liberal assessments on the prospects for world government; Marx and post-Marxist thinkers within 'critical' IR theory; and thinkers such as Schmitt and Foucault within efforts to understand the exceptional practices associated with the 'War on Terror'.
Aims:
- To introduce students to a variety of frameworks of thinking about international politics
- To familiarise students with key ideas, concepts, themes, texts and thinkers (classical and modern) in international political theory
- To stimulate critical reflection on the interpretation and application of key political theorists and their ideas within the study of International Relations
- To explore the ways in which political concepts relate to the realities of international life today.
Intended Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of this unit students will:
- Demonstrate knowledge of multiple frameworks for thinking about international politics
- Demonstrate knowledge of key ideas, concepts and texts in international political theory
- Ability to understand and assess the interpretation of ideas and thinkers within the study of International Relations
- Ability to compare and contrast individual thinkers and theories on a range of cross-cutting themes
- Ability to engage in constructive discussion in a seminar setting.
Teaching Information
Option 1 – A 1hr lecture and 2 hour seminar
Option 2 – A 3 hr seminar
Assessment Information
- Formative assessment: Presentation; Mock Seen Exam
- Summative assessment: Essay (40%); Seen Exam (60%)
Reading and References
- David Boucher, Political Theories of International Relations: From Thucydides to the Present (Oxford: Oxford University Press)
- Jenny Edkins and Nicholas Vaughan-Williams (eds) Critical Theorists and International Relations (London: Routledge, forthcoming 2009)
- Chris Brown, Terry Nardin and Nicholas Rengger (eds.) International Relations in Political Thought (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002)
- Howard Williams, International Relations in Political Theory (Buckingham: Open University Press, 1991)
- Howard Williams, Moorhead Wright, and Tony Evans (eds.) A Reader in International Relations and Political Theory (Buckingham: Open University Press, 1993)
- Steven C. Roach, Critical Theory and International Relations (London: Routledge, 2007).
