Undergraduate Course: Contemporary War: Understanding Change & Continuity (PLIT10085)
Course Outline
| School | School of Social and Political Science |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Available to all students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Credits | 20 |
| Home subject area | Politics |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
None |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | Designed as an Honours level module, the course provides students with the theoretical and conceptual foundation to understand change and continuity in contemporary conflict, and acts as a platform to think about the place and role of war in the modern security environment. Exploring the ongoing debates regarding the changing nature and character of war, the course balances analysis of these debates with comprehension of how these translate to the practical use of military force in the modern world. The course critically engages with contemporary debates and requires students to assess and explore this discourse in relation to traditional approaches to strategic and security studies. It begins by introducing students to the conceptual problems attached to the identification of war as a social phenomenon. Using this as a basis for debate, the course then explores the utility of the military instrument (particular its relationship to the state), the role of technology (the Revolution in Military Affairs debate), the ideas the new war thesis, the place of the $ùgreat strategic thinkers&©, asymmetric warfare and terrorism, as well as examining debate surrounding the issue of victory and defeat in modern war. |
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should have at least 3 Politics/International Relations courses at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this). We will only consider University/College level courses. |
| Displayed in Visiting Students Prospectus? | Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Delivery period: 2011/12 Semester 2, Available to all students (SV1)
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WebCT enabled: Yes |
Quota: 30 |
| Location |
Activity |
Description |
Weeks |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
| Central | Lecture | | 1-11 | | 10:00 - 10:50 | | | |
| First Class |
Week 18, Tuesday, 10:00 - 10:50, Zone: Central. Seminar Room 6, Chrystal Macmillan Building |
| Exam Information |
| Exam Diet |
Paper Name |
Hours:Minutes |
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| Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May) | | 2:00 | | |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
Students should gain:
1. Balanced and comprehensive appreciation of the complex character of modern strategic/security studies, with particular emphasis on the core strands of the changing character of war debate in the Post-Cold War era.
2. A theoretical foundation with which to understand change and continuity in war.
3. Detailed insight into the theoretical, historical, and contemporary experience of war and strategy.
4. Appreciation of the sources of political/social/technological change and their impact on war.
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Assessment Information
| Tutorial presentation (10%), 1 x 2500 essay (40%), 1 x 2 hour exam (50%). |
Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
Not entered |
| Transferable skills |
Not entered |
| Reading list |
Course text: - John Balyis, James J Wirtz, Colin S Gray (ed.) Strategy in the Contemporary World; an introduction to Strategic Studies, 3rd Edition (Oxford, OUP, 2010)
Other examples:
Heuser, Beatrice, Reading Clausewitz (London: Pimlico, 2002)
Jeremy Black, War in the New Century (London: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2001)
Max Boot, War Made New. Technology, Warfare, and the Course of History, 1500 to Today (New York: Gotham Books, 2006)
Carl von Clausewitz, On War. Edited and Translated by Michael Howard and Peter Paret, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984)
Coker, Christopher, War in an Age of Risk (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2009)
Martin Van Creveld, The Transformation of War (New York: The Free Press, 1991)
Antulio J Echevarria II, Clausewitz and Contemporary War (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007)
Colin S. Gray, Strategy For Chaos: Revolutions in Military Affairs and the Evidence of History (London: Frank Cass, 2002).
Colin S. Gray, Another Bloody Century. Future Warfare (London: Phoenix, 2006).
Dominic D. P. Johnson and Dominic Tierney, Failing to Win: Perceptions of Victory and Defeat in International Politics (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006)
Mary Kaldor, New & Old Wars (London: Polity, 2006)
David Kilcullen, The Accidental Guerrilla. Fighting Small Wars in the Midst of a Big One. (London: Hurst, 2009)
Herfried Münkler, The New Wars (London; Polity Press, 2002)
Rasmussen, Mikkel, Vedby, The Risk Society at War: Terror, Technology and Strategy in the Twenty-First Century (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006),
Martin Shaw, The New Western Way of War (London: Polity Press, 2005)
P. W. Singer, Wired For War. The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century (New York: The Penguin Press, 2009),
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| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Colin Fleming
Tel: (0131 6)51 1364
Email: Colin.Fleming@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Susan Orr
Tel: (0131 6)50 4253
Email: Susan.Orr@ed.ac.uk |
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© Copyright 2011 The University of Edinburgh - 16 January 2012 6:41 am
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