The Ends of Strategy

Module title	The Ends of Strategy
Module code	SECM017
Academic year	2021/2
Credits	30
Module staff	Dr Martin Robson (Convenor)

Duration: Term	1	2	3
Duration: Weeks	7

Number students taking module (anticipated)	24

Module description

This is the first Module of the MStrat and will focus on the ‘Ends’ of strategy. You will focus on the key theme of ‘Power’. Strategy has multiple definitions, but it is largely (and common to academic definitions) about acquiring power to improve one’s relative position versus competitors. The art of your experience of being an applied strategist is to understand power in all of its forms, and then exploiting risk (opportunities and threats) in conditions of uncertainty. That context is partly being driven by the accelerating pace of technology, such as Artificial Intelligence, and what it does to the traditional nations of strategy, such as decision making. This module will lay the essential intellectual foundation for your further development on the programme.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module aims to introduce students from different disciplinary and employment backgrounds to a common body of knowledge and questions that will allow them to consider definitional and conceptual boundaries when studying and applying strategy all within the context of the ‘ends’ of strategy and the key theme of ‘power’. You will learn about aspects of power as well as the proponents and critics of concepts of power. You will assess how traditional aspects of exerting power have been challenged due to new technologies and or power shifts in the international system. That sets the scene for an analysis of the context of strategy, including the history of ‘strategy’ as a concept and its enduring utility.

You will also undertake employability sessions focussed on the ‘skills’ of strategy including analytical tools, planning, speaking truth to power and policy focussed writing.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

1. compare, contrast and synthesise knowledge of historical and contemporary policy debates, conceptual terminology and specific case studies pertaining to the ends of strategy in the context of power
2. apply knowledge of examples with reference to the ends of strategy to effectively develop your own intellectual tools to analyse case studies in strategic practice;
3. explain how your own analysis compares and contrasts with those of others;

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

4. analyse and illustrate how the ends of strategy occurs in the broader context of historical and contemporary thinking around international relations and security;
5. analyse a range of the complexities involved when undertaking strategic decisions in changing political contexts;
6. deploy theoretical arguments and apply them to empirical case studies in applied security strategy;

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

7. work effectively with peers and independently to achieve goals;
8. research (identify and critically evaluate) advanced research monographs and articles as well as major policy texts;
9. formulate your own arguments and communicate them logically and coherently in speech and in writing;

Syllabus plan

This module will be delivered through a number of lectures and seminars delivered by SSI/UoE staff and external guest speakers. Lectures and seminars will be delivered by practitioners as well as University of Exeter academics, depending on expertise and learning outcomes. Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:

Power and its critics: realism as a basis for strategy / ‘speaking truth to power’ / Hard, Soft, Smart power
Power in the international system / Non-state actors
Power: National interest / Strategic Actors / Strategic culture
Power shifts: Rising Powers; Declining Powers; Potential powers
Context of strategy: history of strategy and key enduring concepts
Context of strategy: operations, tactics, delivery
War (and hybridity). Domains of military power
Changing context of contemporary and future strategy: in the age of accelerating change (climate, migration, pandemics, 4^th industrial revolution etc.)

Module debates

Analytical tools (e.g. SWOT / DIME / Stakeholder analysis / Scenario planning).

‘Tools of Strategy’ sessions (e.g. Machinery of government. Effective Meetings, focused Briefs and effective Briefings, MINSUBS)

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	Guided independent study	Placement / study abroad
44	256	0

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Category	Hours of study time	Description
Scheduled Learning & Teaching activities	44	Lectures / Seminars
Guided Independent Study	36	Preparation for residential lectures
Guided Independent Study	12	Preparation for online seminars
Guided Independent Study	48	Preparation for formative assessment
Guided Independent Study	160	Preparation for summative assessment

Formative assessment

Form of assessment	Size of the assessment (eg length / duration)	ILOs assessed	Feedback method
Essay Plan	750 words	1-9	Oral and written feedback
Applied Essay Plan	750 words	1-9	Oral and written feedback

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Coursework	Written exams	Practical exams
100	0	0

Details of summative assessment

Form of assessment	% of credit	Size of the assessment (eg length / duration)	ILOs assessed	Feedback method
Essay	60	4000 words	1-9	Written
Applied Assessment	40	2000 words	1-9	Written

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Original form of assessment	Form of re-assessment	ILOs re-assessed	Timescale for re-assessment
Essay	4000 words	1-9	September deadline for submission
Applied Assessment	2000 words	1-9	September deadline for submission

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Basic reading:

Alcaro, Riccardo, Peterson, John, and Greco, Ettore (eds.) (2016), The West and the Global Power Shift: Transatlantic Relations and Global Governance (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan).
Barkawi, T. Globalization and War (Rowman and Littlefield, 2006)
Beckley, Michael Unrivaled: Why America Will Remain the World’s Sole Superpower (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2018).
Dunne, Timothy, Kurki, Milja and Smith, Steve (eds.), International Relations Theories: Discipline and Diversity. 2nd ed (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010).
Edelstein, David M., Over the Horizon: Time, Uncertainty, and the Rise of Great Powers (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2017)
Freedman, Lawrence. Strategy: A History. Oxford University Press, 2013.
- Fukuyama, Francis (2006), The End of History and the Last Man (New York: Free Press).
- Gray, C.S. Modern strategy (Oxford University Press, 1999)
- Goddard, Stacie E. When Right Makes Might: Rising Powers and World Order (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2018)
- Heuser, B., The Evolution of Strategy: thinking war from antiquity to the present, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010).
  - Huntington, Samuel P. (1996), The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order (New York: Simon & Schuster).

MacDonald, Paul K. and Parent, Joseph M., Twilight of the Titans: Great Power Decline and Retrenchment (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2018)

Mahnken, T., Maiolo, J. (ed), Strategic Studies: A Reader 2^nd Edition (Abingdon: Routledge, 2014)
McCourt, David M., Britain and World Power since 1945: Constructing a Nation’s Role in International Politics (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2014)
Mearsheimer, John J. The Tragedy of Great Power Politics (New York: Norton, 2001)
Strachan, H., The Direction of War : Contemporary Strategy in Historical Perspective, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013)

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

Atlantic Council of the US: http://www.acus.org/

Chatham House: www.chathamhouse.org/

Foreign and Commonwealth Office: www.fco.gov.uk/

IISS: www.iiss.org

Ministry of Defence, UK: www.mod.uk

RUSI: www.rusi.org

Stabilisation Unit: www.stabilisationunit.gov.uk/

Key words search

Power, strategy, international system, Strategic studies, decision-making, policy, historical and contemporary strategies, conflict and post-conflict, cyber warfare and terrorism, intelligence, diplomacy, culture, information war, land, sea, air

Credit value	30
Module ECTS	15
Module co-requisites	SECM018, SECM019, SECM020, SECM021
NQF level (module)	7
Available as distance learning?	No
Origin date	15/12/2020
Last revision date	29/07/2021