International Relations in Global History

Module title	International Relations in Global History
Module code	POL3264
Academic year	2024/5
Credits	15
Module staff	Dr Brieg Powel (Convenor)

Duration: Term	1	2	3
Duration: Weeks		10

Number students taking module (anticipated)	30

Module description

This module explores the practice of international relations over the long term of global history. In exploring periods and spaces commonly excluded from IR, it reveals different ways of doing relations across periods where the West was not dominant and when the state was but one among many prominent means of organising and governing polities. This includes thinking about how ‘things’ and processes ‘begin’ in world politics, as well as how they evolve and, possibly, decay. It also considers ways of thinking about history in Politics, IR, and the social sciences more broadly, including discussion of how history is ‘used’ by Politics and IR researchers. The module places a particular emphasis on research that explores connections and relations as being productive influences on historical development. The module is suitable for any student of IR, the broader social sciences and humanities, with a particularly interdisciplinary perspective.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module aims to broaden students’ understanding of international relations in global history, with a particular focus on the different ways of doing and thinking about relations across different times and places. It also encourages students to think critically about the ontology of IR and the epistemology of the discipline by exploring the international and its constituent parts in different temporal and spatial settings. Its research-led content introduces students to interdisciplinary approaches across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences, to better appreciate the mutually-constitutive influence of complex systems on actors and processes in international relations. Finally, its range of assessment methods and in-class exercises aim to foster multimedia delivery and research skills, thereby equipping students with the skills to communicate and critically engage across multiple deliberative spaces.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

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

1. critically appreciate the practices and key actors of international relations across time;
2. demonstrate a critical understanding of alternative ways of doing international relations across time and space.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

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

3. critically reflect on the breadth of history traditionally covered by the discipline;
4. demonstrate a critical understanding of the international in relation to other social spaces;
5. display awareness of a range of conceptual frameworks to understand the complex and changing interaction between and across polities;
6. demonstrate an ability to problematize settled truths and assumptions about actors, processes, and narratives;
7. demonstrate awareness of contingency in historical socio-political processes.

ILO: Personal and key skills

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

8. study independently and manage time and assessment deadlines effectively;
9. communicate effectively in speech and writing;
10. demonstrate proficiency in the use of the internet, online journal databases, and other IT resources for the purposes of tutorial and assessment preparation;
11. demonstrate effective applied writing.

Syllabus plan

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

What is history in IR?
Actors and relations in IR
Beginnings: the emergence of the international
The international & ecosystems
States, empires, & international systems
Actors beyond the state, such as pirates
Warfare in global history
The ‘rise of the West’ & the non-western international
Capitalism

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

Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	Guided independent study	Placement / study abroad
20	130	0

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Category	Hours of study time	Description
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activity	20	10 x 2-hour seminars
Guided Independent study	50	Private study reading and preparing for seminars
Guided Independent study	80	Preparation for coursework (essay and time-limited essays) including researching and collating relevant sources; planning the structure and argument; writing up the essay

Formative assessment

Form of assessment	Size of the assessment (eg length / duration)	ILOs assessed	Feedback method
Individual essay plan	300 words	1-11	Verbal and written

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	50	1,500 words	1-11	Written
Time-limited essays	50	1,000-words; 7 days to complete from release date of questions	1-11	Written
	0
	0
	0
	0

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	Essay (1,500 words)	1-11	August/September reassessment period
Time-limited essays	1,000-words; 7 days to complete from release date of questions	1-11	August/September reassessment period

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

ABU-LUGHOD, JANET. 1991. Before European Hegemony: The World System A.D. 1250-1350. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

ACHARYA, AMITAV. 2014. Global International Relations (IR) and regional worlds: a new agenda for international studies. International Studies Quarterly 58(4): 647-659.

BHAMBRA, GURMINDER K. 2014. Connected Sociologies. London: Bloomsbury.

BUZAN, BARRY, AND RICHARD LITTLE. 2000. International Systems in World History: Remaking the Study of International Relations. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

COHEN, RAYMOND, AND RAYMOND WESTBROOK editors. 2000. Amarna Diplomacy: The Beginning of International Relations. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.

CUDWORTH, ERIKA, AND STEPHEN HOBDEN. 2011. Posthuman International Relations: Complexity, Ecologism and Global Politics. London: Zed.

FRANK, ANDRE GUNDER AND BARRY K. GILLS editors. 1996. The World System: Five Hundred Years or Five Thousand? London: Routledge.

GO, JULIAN, AND GEORGE LAWSON editors. 2017. Global Historical Sociology. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

HOBSON, JOHN M. 2007. Reconstructing International Relations through world history: oriental globalization and the global–dialogic conception of inter-civilizational relations. International Politics 44(4), 414-430.

JACKSON, PATRICK THADDEUS, and DANIEL H. NEXON. Relations before states: Substance, process, and the study of world politics. European Journal of International Relations 5(3): 291-332.

KAUFMAN, STUART J., RICHARD LITTLE, AND WILLIAM C. WOHLFORTH editors. 2007. The Balance of Power in World History. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.

MANN, MICHAEL. 1986[2012]. The Sources of Social Power, Volume 1: A History of Power from the Beginning to AD 1760. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

PHILLIPS, ANDREW AND J.C. SHARMAN. 2015. International Order in Diversity: War, Trade, and Rule in the Indian Ocean. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

SPIER, FRED. 2015. Big History and the Future of Humanity, Second edition. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

WATSON, ADAM. 1992. The Evolution of International Society. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.

Key words search

International relations, IR, global history, historical sociology, modernity, theory, de-centred

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	14/07/2020
Last revision date	31/01/2023