IR100 The Structure of International Society

This information is for the 2010/11 session. Teacher responsible Professor M Cox, COL. B208 Availability Compulsory for BSc International Relations and BSc International Relations and History. Optional for BSc Environmental Policy. Available as an outside option. Course content An examination of the theories and concepts designed to explain the nature of contemporary international relations. 1. The modern international system and the emergence of the academic study of international relations; realism, idealism and the 'English School'; contemporary theories. 2. State-centric international relations: power and statecraft, the balance of power, and war. 3. International organisation: The UN System, regional organisations, international regimes, 'global governance'. 4. The politics of the world economy: globalisation, 'north-south' relations. 5. Global social movements and the new agenda of international relations. Teaching Lectures: IR100. 20 Lectures, MT and LT. Classes: IR100.A 20 classes, beginning week three MT, plus two revision sessions in ST. Formative coursework Students are required to write four essays of approximately 1,500 words, and to give at least one class presentation. Indicative reading A full course description and guide to reading will be provided: relevant course texts include J Baylis & S Smith (Eds), Globalisation and World Politics, 2nd edn, (Oxford UP, 2001); C Brown, Understanding International Relations, 2nd edn (Macmillan, 2001); R Jackson & G Srensen, Introduction to International Relations (OUP, revised edn., 2003). Assessment

A formal three-hour examination in the ST (100%). Sample papers are included in the full course description.

HY116 International History since 1890

This information is for the 2010/11 session. Teacher responsible Dr Steven Casey EAS. E311 Michaelmas term Professor Nigel Ashton EAS. E408 Lent term Availability Intended primarily for first-year undergraduates in BSc International Relations and BSc International Relations and History; optional for BA History, BSc Government and History, also available to General Course students, and as an outside option where regulations permit. Course content The history of international relations from the 1890s through the 1990s. The course emphasises the changing character of international politics over the course of the 'long twentieth century', and aims both to equip students with a comprehensive knowledge of international politics since 1890 and to provide the factual grounding and conceptual apparatus necessary to understand the contemporary world. Lectures and classes fall into six distinct chronological and analytical phases. The first segment covers the 'globalization' of the European balance-of-power system after 1890 through the advent of extra-European great powers: Russia-in-Asia, Japan, and the United States, and the crisis and collapse of the system in the First World War. The second segment covers the failure of both attempts to tame the resulting chaos: Wilson's new vision of international politics and British and French efforts to reconstitute the 1914 world. The consequences of failure, the successful revolt against world order of four discontented powers, Imperial Japan, Fascist Italy, National Socialist Germany, and the Soviet Union, and the outbreak of the 'second round of the German War', close the third phase. The fourth phase opens with the expansion of European war into global war and closes with the birth of a bipolar world dominated by the United States and the USSR. The ensuing era of superpower rivalry forms the fifth segment; themes covered include the origins of the Cold War in both Europe and Asia, decolonisation, European unity, the 'American war' in Vietnam, and the rise and fall of superpower detente. The final phase of the course examines the causes and consequences of the collapse of the Soviet empire, the rising power of China; and the patterns of international disorder in the post-Cold War era. Teaching 20 weekly lectures (HY116, MT, LT) and 21 classes (HY116.A, MT, LT, ST).

Formative work Students will be required to write three 2,000-word essays during the course of the year, two in MT and one in LT, from topics designated in the course reading list, and in addition to complete a one-hour mock examination in ST. Essays and mock examination do not form part of the final course Assessment. But they are required components of the course, and students must complete them in order to be admitted to the course examination. Indicative reading A detailed course outline and reading list, subdivided by weekly topics, will be provided at the first lecture, and will also be found, along with other course materials, in the public folders. The following works offer useful background; students should consider reading one or two of them in advance: W R Keylor, The Twentieth Century World: an International History; C J Bartlett, The Global Conflict, 1880-1970; D Stevenson, The First World War and International Politics; P M H Bell, The Origins of the Second World War in Europe; Akira Iriye, The Origins of the Second World War in Asia and the Pacific; J P Dunbabin, International Relations since 1945 (2 vols). Assessment A three-hour written examination in the ST.

GV100 Introduction to Political Theory

This information is for the 2010/11 session. Availability Compulsory for BSc Government, BSc Politics and Philosophy, BSc Government and Economics, BSc Government and History, and BSc Social Policy with Government. Optional for BSc Environmental Policy, BSc Human Resource Management, BSc International Relations and BSc Social Policy. Available as an outside option. Teacher responsible Professor Paul Kelly Course content An introduction to the study of politics and political theory through the thought and texts of some of the most important western political theorists. A study of the ideas of some of the major political theorists from the ancient Greeks to the 20th Century. Topics will include theories of human nature, the origin of government and law, man's relation to society and the state, the rise, development and comparison of different constitutions (democracy, monarchy, republic etc), the nature of just and unjust government, the relation between the spiritual and the secular in thinkers, classical and

modern natural law and natural rights, the basis of political obligation, the idea of social contract and the theory of utility. The thinkers discussed include Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Augustine, Aquinas, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, J S Mill, Hegel, Marx and Rawls. Teaching Twenty weekly lectures in MT and LT and eight weekly one-hour classes and the MT and ten weekly on-hour classes in the LT. One two hour revision lecture in ST. Formative coursework Students are required to write two 1500 word essays in the MT and two 1500 word essays in the LT. Specific reading lists referring to modern commentaries and historical contexts will be available on the Moodle page at the beginning of the course. Indicative reading D. Boucher and P. Kelly, Political Thinkers: From Socrates to the Present (Oxford 2009). See also Hobbes, Leviathan; Locke, 2nd Treatise of Government; Rousseau, Discourse on the Origins of Inequality and The Social Contract; J S Mill, Utilitarianism and On Liberty; Hegel, The Philosophy of Right, Marx, Selected Writings (Ed D McLellan); Rawls, A Theory of Justice. Assessment One three-hour examination in the ST (100%). Candidates will be expected to answer four questions from a total of sixteen.

PH103 Reason, Knowledge and Values: An Introduction to Philosophy

This information is for the 2010/11 session. Teacher responsible Dr Alex Voorhoeve Availability Compulsory on BSc Philosophy and Economics, BSc Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method and BSc Politics and Philosophy. Optional on BSc International Relations and BSc Social Policy. Also available as an outside option. Course content In his Letter to Menoeceus, Epicurus (341-271 BC) advises us that the successful study of philosophy will help one to "live like a god among men."

The aims and objectives of this course are more modest. Reason, Knowledge and Values provides an introduction to analytical philosophy by using classic and contemporary texts to study a selection of philosophical problems. It aims to acquaint students with some of the central questions of philosophy and to engage students in critical analysis of classic answers to these questions by authors including Plato, Epicurus, Descartes, Hume, Mill, Popper, Wittgenstein and Parfit. It also aims to develop students ability to think about and discuss philosophical issues systematically, critically, and patiently, and to develop their philosophical curiosity and imagination. Students should complete this course with knowledge of the basic types of philosophical argument and of the following questions and some classic answers to them: Is death bad for the person who dies? What determines a persons identity? Why be moral? Who should rule? What is the relationship between determinism, freedom of the will, and moral responsibility? Can we know anything for certain? What is the relationship between mind and body? Can we know that there are other minds? Can induction be rationally justified? What is the relationship between science and religion? Students should also develop the ability to: Think clearly and thoroughly about philosophical issues. Understand a philosophical text on its own terms: determine the aims the author sets him- or herself, consider the meaning of words, concepts, and expressions particular to the text and the argument; ask questions about the context in which the argument is situated. Critically evaluate arguments: distinguish valid from invalid, sound from unsound, deductive from inductive, plausible from implausible arguments. Debate and write about these issues in a philosophical manner. Teaching Lectures PH103 x 20 (MT, LT); Classes PH103.A x 20 (MT, LT). Formative coursework Students will be expected to write two essays per term. Indicative reading The purchase of the following books is required:

Plato: Republic. Translated and edited by Robin Waterfield. ISBN: 0192833707 Oxford Paperbacks Ren Descartes: Meditations on First Philosophy, with selections from the Objections & replies. John Cottingham, (Editor); ISBN: 0521558182 - Cambridge University Press. Most of the readings will be articles and excerpts from books and will be made available via Moodle. Assessment A three-hour written examination in the ST.

SO100 Key Concepts in Sociology: An Introduction to Sociological Theory

This information is for the 2010/11 session. Teacher responsible Dr Nigel Dodd, STC. S275 Availability Compulsory for BSc Sociology. Optional for BSc Actuarial Science, BSc Environmental Policy, BSc Human Resource Management and Employment Relations, BSc International Relations, BSc Social Policy and Sociology and the Diploma in Sociology. Available as an outside option. Course content The course aims to introduce students to sociological analysis by examining the origins sociological classical theories of modern society (ten lectures) and then by exploring the development of classical themes in twentieth century sociological theory (ten lectures). Sociological theories of modernity, industrialisation and capitalism (Marx, Weber, Durkheim, Simmel) and the relationship between them will be covered, as will key twentieth and twenty-first-century social theorists Adorno, Benjamin, Foucault and Baudrillard. Teaching 20 lectures and 23 discussion classes. Formative coursework Four 2,000 word formative essays (two in MT; two in LT), for feedback from class teachers.

Course requirement Attendance at all classes and submission of all set coursework is required. Indicative reading A detailed reading list will be available at the first lecture, but for general preparatory reading, students might wish to consult the following: D Lee & H Newby, The Problem of Sociology; Z Bauman, Thinking Sociologically; S Bruce, Sociology: A Very Short Introduction. Assessment A three-hour unseen examination in the ST. The paper will be divided into two sections, corresponding to the two parts of the course. Three questions must be answered, at least one from each section.