Politics of War

Module title	Politics of War
Module code	POC3132
Academic year	2022/3
Credits	15
Module staff	Dr Sarah Bulmer (Convenor)

Duration: Term	1	2	3
Duration: Weeks	12

Number students taking module (anticipated)	20

Module description

The problem of war is perhaps the most fundamental of political issues. Conventionally studied through abstract theorising and the perspectives of political elites, many traditional approaches to the study of war fail to capture the experience of violence and destruction or the complex social, political and economic dynamics of militarism and violence. In this module you will be introduced to a range of critical perspectives about war, which will foreground the political nature of any attempt to understand, commemorate or respond to war. You will use these critical approaches to understand and analyse wars and their consequences. This module will invite you to consider the following questions: What social processes legitimise and make war possible? How is war experienced by different people? How are wars remembered? How have people tried to resist war? Please note that this module is not about geo-politics, military strategy or military history. The emphasis in this module is critical and social which means that war will be understood in relation to wider socio-economic, historical and political contexts.

There are no pre-requisites or co-requisites for this module.

Module aims - intentions of the module

The aim of this module is to introduce you to contemporary interdisciplinary approaches war and society, with a particular focus on critical interventions made by scholars within the humanities and social sciences. The module will locate war within its wider social, economic and political context, encouraging a broader understanding of the experience and legacies of war through a focus on race, gender and class. You will be introduced to a range of theoretical approaches to war, for example feminism and postcolonialism. The ultimate aim of the module is to encourage you to think critically about war-making, commemoration and militarism.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

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

1. demonstrate a critical understanding of the military, political, and social impacts of war
2. demonstrate excellence in the application of various theoretical perspectives in the analysis of concrete examples of war and its consequences

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

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

3. relate the academic study of war to questions of public concern in order to develop well-reasoned arguments and conclusions
4. think critically and independently about events, ideas and institutions with minimal guidance
5. demonstrate awareness of contingency in historical, sociological and political processes

ILO: Personal and key skills

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

6. study independently and manage time and assessment deadlines effectively
7. communicate effectively
8. demonstrate critical and analytical skills through seminar discussions and module assessments
9. demonstrate proficiency in the use of the internet, online journal databases and other IT resources for the purposes of tutorial and assessment preparation
10. work collaboratively with peers

Syllabus plan

Indicative content includes: critical approaches to studying war and society; the role of gender, race, and nationalism in legitimising war; introduction to a range of different historical and cultural contexts; consideration of cultural practices surrounding war which may include film, ceremony, art; questions of agency and resistance; the relationship between military technologies and the experience of war.

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

Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	Guided independent study	Placement / study abroad
22	128	0

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Category	Hours of study time	Description
Scheduled Learning & Teaching Activity	22	11 x 2-hour seminars
Guided Independent study	50	Private study reading and preparing for seminars
Guided Independent study	78	Preparation for portfolio and group project including researching and collating relevant sources; planning the structure and argument; writing up the work

Formative assessment

Form of assessment	Size of the assessment (eg length / duration)	ILOs assessed	Feedback method
Group project	825 words	1-10	Verbal

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
Portfolio	100	1925 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
Portfolio	Portfolio (1925 words)	1-9	August/September reassessment period

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Bourke, J. (1996) Dismembering the Male: Men’s bodies, Britain and the Great War, London: Reaktion Books.

Sylvester, C. (2012) War As Experience, London: Routledge.

Zehfuss, M. (2007) Wounds of Memory, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Edkins, J. (2003) Trauma and the memory of Politics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

King, A. (2010) ‘The Afghan War and ‘postmodern’ memory: commemoration and the dead of Helmand’ in The British Journal of Sociology, vol. 61(1), pp.1-25.

McSorely, K. (2012) ed. War and the Body: Militarisation, Practice and Experience, London: Routledge,

Gerber, D. A. (ed.) Disabled Veterans in History, revised edition, Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press.

Zehfuss, M. (2009) ‘Hierarchies of Grief and the Possibility of War: Remembering UK Fatalities in Iraq’ in Millennium, vol. 38(2), pp. 1-22.

Sjoberg, L. and Via, S. (2010).eds. Gender, War, and Militarism: Feminist Perspectives (Santa Barbara, Denver and Oxford: Praeger).

Higate, P. R. (2003) ed. Military Masculinities: Identity and the State. (Westport, CT and London: Praeger).

Goldstein, J. S. (2001) War and Gender: How Gender Shapes the War System and Vice Versa. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

Enloe, C.( 2000) Manoeuvres: The International Politics of Militarising Women’s Lives.( Berkeley, University of California Press).

Enloe, C. (2007) Globalization and Militarism: Feminists Make the Link. (Lanham and Plymouth: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers).

Basham. V. (Forthcoming 2013). War, Identity and the Liberal State: Everyday Experiences of the Geopolitical in the British Armed Forces (London: Routledge).

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

ELE – https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/

Key words search

War, society, memory, violence, society, identity, gender, empire

Credit value	15
Module ECTS	7.5
Module pre-requisites	None
Module co-requisites	None
NQF level (module)	6
Available as distance learning?	No
Origin date	14/12/2020
Last revision date	18/03/2022