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British Foreign Policy

Module description

British foreign policy is in flux as the world and Britain’s place in it changes.  This module is designed to help students understand and interpret the historical and geopolitical contexts of British foreign policy.  It is also practical, combining case studies with simulations of foreign policy debate.  The majority of the teaching sessions will include simulations of hearings of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee. Students will play roles of committee members and evidence givers.  If you would like to debate British foreign policy and reflect on the content and form of these debates this module is for you.  The module is recommended to students of International Relations but is open to all.

Module aims - intentions of the module

The purpose of the module is to help students understand British foreign policy making in practice and from the perspective of those participating in making and debating it. 

The design of the module is informed by the convenor’s experiences of working in and advising the UK government as well as appearing before the Foreign Affairs Committee in parliament. After surveying the geopolitical and historical contexts of British foreign policy, we will take a regional approach to consider Britain’s place in and relationship with different parts of the world.  We will look at questions of aid and third-party intervention as well as traditional foreign policy in the narrowly-defined national interest.  We will consider economic as well as political relations and take a decentred approach which considers paradiplomacy and the role of non-state actors including British businesses and civil society, as well as the overseas territories and the City of London. 

We will close by considering future scenarios for the UK after Empire and under Brexit. It is a requirement that the positions taken in parliament – Right and Left, Isolationist and Liberal Internationalist, Atlanticist and Europeanist – are played as roles by students acting as members of the committee.  We will study the current composition of the committee at the time of learning and students will take name badges to play the role of the chair or member during the simulation part of the seminar.  Evidence givers will reflect further diversity including named foreign citizens and professional, academic and activist voices that are not represented in parliament.  Simulations will therefore be as plural and diverse as is Britain. 

By the end of the module, students will have increased their knowledge of the sources and contexts of foreign policy making in Britain and their understanding of how policy is debated and shaped in practice.  

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

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

• 1. Demonstrate knowledge of the historical and geopolitical context of British foreign policy, and the ability to situate this knowledge critically with respect to British foreign policy ideas and behaviours;
• 2. Demonstrate understanding of regions, issues and cases of British foreign policy in practice.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

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

• 3. Demonstrate understanding of how parliamentary committees work, and the ability to utilise this knowledge in the role of a parliamentary committee chair, member or expert witness;
• 4. Critically analyse primary and secondary source material;
• 5. Construct well-structured and rigorous arguments in speech and writing.

ILO: Personal and key skills

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

• 6. Communicate effectively in speech and writing;
• 7. Work independently and in collaboration with peers to achieve common goals, including in the context of simulations of parliament and committee work.

Syllabus plan

Whilst the precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover all or some of the following topics:

• Geopolitical contexts and foreign policy theory: Britain in the world, the world in Britain
• Historical contexts, 1707-1989: Empire and After
• Britain in Europe: the EU, Brexit and beyond
• The UK and US: what ‘special relationship’?
• Britain and the rising powers – Russia and China: opportunity or threat?
• London as a world city: cosmopolis, Londongrad or Londonistan?
• The unfinished Empire? The commonwealth, overseas territories and postcolonies
• Is Britain still a military power? The arms trade and the nuclear deterrent
• Aid, intervention and small states: do British values and interests coincide?
• Scenarios for the future: Global Britain, ‘Brown Britain’ or Broken Britain?

This syllabus is illustrative and cannot be guaranteed year-on-year.  Most seminars will include simulations of parliamentary select committee hearings.

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

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

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

Re-assessment notes

Students with ILPs excusing them from oral presentations should discuss with lecturer.  They will be required to present in private.  Alternate assessments without oral presentation will not assess ILO 7.  Students who do not wish to make an oral presentation are advised not to choose the module.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Losing an Empire, Finding a Role: British Foreign Policy Since 1945, By David Sanders, David Patrick Houghton (2^nd edition, 2017)
• Brexit in History: Sovereignty or a European Union?, By Beatrice Heuser (2019)
• Interpreting British Foreign Policy, a special issue of the British Journal of Politics and International Relations, Vol. 15, No.2, (2013)
• British Foreign Policy: Crises, Conflicts and Future Challenges, By Jamie Gaskarth (2013)
• Anglo Nostalgia: the politics of emotion in a fractured West, By Edoardo Campanella and Marta Dassu (2019)

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/foreign-affairs-committee/
• International Affairs, https://academic.oup.com/ia
• RUSI, https://rusi.org/publications
• Henry Jackson Society, https://henryjacksonsociety.org/
• Foreign Policy Centre, https://fpc.org.uk/publications/
• ELE – vle.exeter.ac.uk/

Key words search

Britain, Foreign Policy, International Relations