International Relations Major (Level 3)
International Relations Minor (Level 3)
International Relations Single Honours (Level 3)
Politics Dual Honours (Level 3)
Politics Major (Level 3)
Politics Minor (Level 3)
Politics Single Honours (Level 3)
The aims of this module are to: (1) enable students to develop an informed understanding of the changing agenda of arms control in the post Cold War era and of the policy conflicts encountered in shaping the agenda of weapons proliferation control; (2) enable students to identify the political, technological, economic and moral factors that affect the formation, evolution and effectiveness of formal and informal multilateral and global regimes relevant to proliferation control
Students will learn about the various factors affecting the agenda, modalities and outcomes of international proliferation control efforts, through conducting in-depth evaluations of the development, implementation and effectiveness of proliferation control policies in specific issue-areas. How does the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty work? What improvements need to be made to it? Why do some countries abandon weapons of mass destruction programmes while others try to develop or acquire such weapons? What can the international community do to persuade "threshold states" not to become nuclear weapons powers? Do "carrots" work better than "sticks?" What factors affect the likely effectiveness of efforts to coordinate export control policies covering conventional and non-conventional weapons and related technologies? Should bullets, mines and cluster bombs be as important as nuclear, chemical and biological weapons on the proliferation agenda of states, international organisations and the campaigning groups to be found in civil society? Are different dynamics at play when the agenda shifts to the humanitarian or human security level as distinct from the security of states?
Students will develop their communication, team-working and leadership skills through giving presentations as part of a team in charge of leading their seminar group on two occasions, as well as refining their analytical and other intellectual skills.
The assessment format is: two individual oral presentations as part of your student team (10% of the module mark, in total); 2500 word essay (40% of the module mark); 2-hour unseen exam (50% of the module mark).
The requirement to deliver two oral presentations in class helps each student to engage regularly with the module in a focussed, in-depth manner. It also gives them the opportunity to receive detailed feedback on their understanding of the content of the module very regularly from the Tutor who, in the course of his career, has actually worked on proliferation issues in the British government as well as researching and writing on them as a University academic.
The seminars usually adhere to the sequence of topics outlined below:
1. Organisational meeting
2. Arms Control during the Cold War: Experience and Legacy for the Post-9/11 Era (presentation by the Tutor)
3. The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Regime: the Non-Proliferation Treaty and IAEA nuclear safeguards; the prospective nuclear "Fissban", and the struggle for the Nuclear Test Ban
4. "Nuclear Repentance" - the cases of Brazil, Argentina, South Africa and Libya
5. Crossing the nuclear threshold: India and Pakistan and stability in South Asia
6. Threshold Cases: Iraq
7. Threshold Cases: Iran and North Korea
8. Poor Man's Armageddon? Chemical and Biological Weapons
9. The arms bazaar and arms export control regimes for big-ticket conventional weapons and for ballistic missiles
10. Micro-disarmament: an humanitarian agenda? The cases of anti-personnel landmines, cluster munitions and the trade in small arms and light weapons
11. Feedback, feed forward and reflections on the module: the Tutor gives generic feedback on the essays (prior to written individual feedback) and "feed forward" for the exam (advice on exam preparation, informed by the Tutor's reflections on past student performance in answering exam questions on the topics covered in the module.)
To enable students to identify the political, technological, economic and moral factors that affect the formation, evolution and effectiveness of formal and informal multilateral and global regimes relevant to proliferation control
To provide a context in which students can refine their critical analytical skills and powers of argument
To provide a supportive environment in which students can develop their communication, leadership and collaborative skills
Critically evaluate the relative importance of the various factors affecting the agenda, modalities and outcomes of international proliferation control efforts, through conducting detailed analyses of the development, implementation and effectiveness of proliferation control policies in a range of specific issue-areas will be achieved by assessments: 1, 2, 3
Identify and explain the structure of a range of policy problems coming under the labels of proliferation, non-proliferation and counter-proliferation in a manner accessible and salient to policy practitioners will be achieved by assessments: 1, 2, 3
preparation for seminars - 30 hours
research and writing of essay - 50 hours
revision for exam - 48 hours
exam - 2 hours
a 2,500-word essay taken form a list of essay questions and supported by a recommended reading list
a 2-hour unseen written examination
Each student delivers a 10-minute presentation as part of a small student team in charge of leading the seminar group on two occasions
This document is the definitive current source of information about this module and supersedes any other information.