Postgraduate modules

Applicants should note that optional modules are arranged on an annual basis. It is possible that a module may be modified in its content, suspended for a session, or discontinued. New modules may become available in any given year. The final decision on which module options a successful candidate will follow will be made by the Institute in consultation with the candidate before the start of the session. Below is a brief introduction to a selection of our modules:

Conflict & Conflict Resolution

This module analyses internationally significant conflicts with special attention to intractable conflicts and their causes since the end of the Cold War. It examines alternative methods of conflict management and resolution, with some focus on international negotiation, and obstacles or challenges to making them effective; the important functions of pre-negotiation, second-track diplomacy and the post-agreement negotiation phase concerned with implementation and compliance. Other topics include the role of ethics and unconventional negotiations (e.g. bargaining with terrorists).

Contemporary Diplomacy

This module is concerned with the nature and development of modern diplomacy since 1945. The course examines issues such as the extent to which a 'new' diplomacy has developed; changing diplomatic methods post cold war and the constraints and impact of diplomacy in a period of international instability. Individual parts of the course cover areas such as bilateral and multilateral negotiation; foreign policy and diplomatic strategies; negotiation in multilateral institutions e.g. UN Security Council WTO, IMF and environmental regulation; disaster and international emergency diplomacy and the effects of international terrorism on diplomacy. The concluding sessions consider a range of international disputes and the role of diplomacy in normalisation of relations. The course draws on a wide range of diplomatic practice, case examples, electronic material and practical exercises.

Conflict in the Middle East

Contemporary Issues in European Law

Economic Integration in Europe I

The module examines the main principles of economic analysis in European studies and applies these to different case studies. Students apply economic analysis to practical examples and specially designed games. It gives a brief overview of the mechanisms of decision-making in the EU and steps towards an integrated Europe.

Pre-requisites: preferably intermediate level economics.

Economic Integration in Europe II

This module examines the main EU policy issues, relates economic theory to practical questions, critically assesses current or prospective policy proposals and explains the application of economic theory to the analysis of the main EU policies.

Pre-requisites: preferably intermediate level economics.

European Legal Framework

European Union Law

This module aims to provide students with an introduction to theoretical approaches to the European Community and the wider European Union, with particular emphasis on the public law topics of constitutionalism, governance and the emerging framework of rights of its citizens.

International Human Rights Law

The module examines the principal treaties, conventions and resolutions concluded under the auspices of the UN; enforcement and implementation measures of the various treaties controlled by the treaty-monitoring bodies; the interface between international law and international human rights law; the impact of international human rights law obligations on internal domestic law and equips students with the facilities to examine human rights violations in their own countries.

International Law and World Order

This module provides students with an introduction to theoretical and practical approaches to the separate disciplines of International Law and International Relations and to set students on the path towards the development of inter-disciplinary analysis of the two disciplines. It enables students to identify the basic theoretical underpinnings of both International Law and International Relations, identify and analyse practical issues of interest to each discipline and undertake rudimentary forms of interdisciplinary analysis of specific problems.

International Political Economy

International Relations

This module introduces students to the principal concepts and theories associated with the academic discipline of International Relations, in particular Realism and Liberalism and their latter-day variants.It also equips students with an understanding of the major issues and debates in contemporary world politics in the areas of peace and security, human rights, the environment, political economy and development.It is concerned with international relations since the establishment of the modern state system but concentrates largely on the period since the Cold War.

International Security Studies

This module introduces students to concepts and issues of security since 1945.It surveys different approaches to questions about the nature and objectives of security and its promotion.It critically examines concepts of 'international', 'global' and 'human' security:the nature of various threats to security; and ways in which states and other actors have sought and seek to tackle them.It provides a general understanding of the thinking and concerns about security during the Cold War, the traditional inter-state security agenda and current debates over the meaning and new boundaries of security studies.

Modern Strategy

The module is designed to introduce students to the theory and practice of modern strategy. The course will facilitate an understanding of whatstrategy is and how it works, and why often it does not. Furthermore, this course is shaped to explain the multidimensional aspects of strategy and also the nature of the relations between strategy and policy, and among strategy, operations, tactics and technology. Historical topics are used to illustrate strategic behaviour.

Origins of War

Scholars in many disciplines have been preoccupied with society's worst disease, war, asking questions such as: Is aggression a biologically programmed part of human nature?Is organised violence an intrinsic part of any human society?Is it a function of how societies are organised, and of their acquired values and ideals?This course draws on literature from biology, paleoanthropologists, archaeologists, psychologists, biological and social anthropologists as well as historians and political scientists to tackle these question, by analysing examples drawn from all of human history.

Political Integration in Europe

The module explores the history and development of the EU. It examines the origins and institutional structure of the Union, along with competing recent issues and policy choices that will shape the future of the Union and its member states.It aims to encourage mastery of a body of knowledge pertaining to integration theory and government and politics of the EU.

Strategic Theory

This module explores the most important works of theory in Strategic Studies. The works covered range from the classical theories of Sun Tzu and Clausewitz, through to those ofthe information age. The intended learning outcome is to use these works of theory to uncover and understand key concepts in Strategic Studies. Furthermore, an analysis will be made of the various forms that war can take and the attendant challenges of using military force in the pursuit of objectives.

Terrorism in a Globalising World

The Practice of Strategy in History

This module has as initial assumption that strategy is a very pragmatic undertaking.It will show what which features of strategy endure through the ages and which do not. The course has as its focus real practice by real people, and its consequences. It examines through a series of case studies both the positive and the negative evidence of how strategy is done in the real world.

The UN Humanitarian Intervention and Contemporary Warfare

This module introduces students to the principles and practice of humanitarian and military intervention since the end of the Cold War.It explores the norms and rules governing the regulation of the use of force in the international system; several of the key institutional actors and the problems that they face or create in the course of intervening.It also surveys the principles underlying humanitarian action and the range of challenges that are posed by state failure, the Global War on Terror and the securitisation of assistance strategies.It examines a range of case studies; including the UN intervention in the Democratic Republic of Congo; the NATO and UN interventions in Afghanistan and the US/UK invasion of Iraq in 2003.

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