Module description
This module examines a range of contemporary issues in international politics. Issues are events that have occurred or are occurring in contemporary world politics that have significant interests for students and layperson alike. This is a fancy way of saying we will be looking at contemporary international politics but from a studious and intellectual perspective. There are two reasons for doing this. The first is to get out of the (text) book and get into the real world. IR scholars spent a lot of time – probably more than they should – navel-gazing. We will try to buck this trend by thinking about the wider meanings of the events we have witnessed and are witnessing in world politics. The second reason is less about the real world and more about the intellectual world. What is the relationship between IR (as a body of knowledge) and international politics (as the subject of that knowledge)? Do our IR theories make sense in terms of contemporary developments, do they shift in line with these developments, or do they lag behind politics? Whilst issues will form the foreground, this question will form the background to the module.
Assessment details
2,500-word essay (100%).
Assessment patterns are subject to change.
Educational aims & objectives
The goals of this module are to:
- further develop students' understanding of the complexities of international politics in the 21st century focusing on a number of key contemporary global issues
- develop an understanding of theories of international relations that can be used in understanding international politics
- enable students to apply these theories to current issues in international politics
- enable students to engage critically with the strengths and weaknesses of theories and their applicability to key issues in international politics.
Learning outcomes
The learning outcomes of this module are to:
- Further your understanding of the complexities of international politics in the 21st century focusing on a number of key contemporary global issues;
- Develop your understanding of theories of international relations that as a means for understanding international politics;
- Enable application of these theories to current issues in international politics;
- Enable critical engagement with the strengths and weaknesses of theories and their applicability to key issues in international politics.
Teaching pattern
Provisional Teaching Schedule
Week 01
Global inequality and foreign aid
Dambisa Moyo, Dead Aid (select chapter); Paul Collier, The Bottom Billion (select chapter).
Week 02
Sex-trafficking
Siddharth Kara, Sex-trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery (select chapter).
Week 03
Globalisation and resistance
Arundhati Roy, Walking with Comrades (select chapter); Alpa Shah, Nightmarch (select chapter).
Week 04
China’s rise
John Mearsheimer, “The Gathering Storm”; Joseph Cheng, “Convincing the world of China’s tradition to pursue universal harmony”
Week 05
Nuclear (non)proliferation and trust
Nicholas Wheeler et al, The origins of nuclear cooperation (select chapter); Arun Vishwanathan, “The Iranian nuclear agreement”
Week 06
READING WEEK
Week 07
Cyber security
Carlin’s and Graff’s, Dawn of the code war (select chapter); Shawn M Powers & Micheal Jablonski, The real cyber war (select chapter)
Week 08
Cryptocurrency
Ross-Smith, “International Order in the Coming Cryptocurrency Age”; Birch, The currency Cold War (select chapter); Salami, “Decentralised finance calls into question whether the crypto industry can ever be regulated”
Week 09
The war in Ukraine
Reading to be confirmed.
Week 10
Historical injustices
Catherine Lu’s Justice and Reconciliation in World Politics (select chapter)
Week 11
IR Theory
Sylvester, C. “Experiencing the end and afterlives of International Relations/theory”;
Martin Wight, “Why is there no international theory”
Week 12
REVISION WEEK
No reading