Module SGIA3351: NATURE, SPACE, POWER

Department: Government and International Affairs

SGIA3351: NATURE, SPACE, POWER

Prerequisites

• Any Level 2 SGIA module

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• The module aims to give students detailed and specific knowledge about how theories of politics are structured on implicit and sometimes hidden claims about knowledge, power, and space/sovereignty. The module aims to develop students’ critical engagement with theory and the ability to question prevailing assumptions about political and international relations theory. The module contributes to students’ wider understanding of how political thought functions as a way of making sense out of a complex world, and encourages students’ to think differently about politics and international relations.

Content

• The module challenges students to think critically and creatively about how we address such discourses as nature, power, space, time, and (political) identity. The module engages these discourses by addressing how they function as a means for understanding (global) politics, and in the process, points out how these discourses are often treated differently in international relations theory and in political theory.
• The module examines how fiction and non-fiction are used in the construction of (imaginary) realities and social scientific knowledge.
• The module is based on exploring select concepts that join political theory and international theory as a means to understanding political life, and to develop alternative ways of understanding and thinking about political possibilities.

Learning Outcomes

• During the module students should develop subject specific knowledge and understanding of:
• How discourses of nature functions as a political category;
• How specific claims about space (and time) function in the construction of political and international theory;
• How reading fiction can help illustrate different types of political knowledge;
• The significance of identity as a political category for developing theories of political life;
• Key debates surrounding the concept of power.

• Students should also develop important subject specific skills, such as:
• Effectively describing advanced academic literatures and applying this knowledge to specific problems in politics;
• Identifying, evaluating and challenging key assumptions in political and international thought;
• Showing an awareness of how theory limits and enables our understanding of politics.

• Students should also enhance key skills, including:
• Effective communication of their knowledge, including engaging with, structuring and assessing material .
• Confidence building (by encouraging individual thought and public expression of individual ideas).
• Ability to critically evaluate the suitability and quality of resources
• Independant learning, retrieving and utilising a wide range of information using their own initiative.
• Plan and complete written and other assignments on-time and in appropriate formats.
• Effective written presentation of a critical analysis of key issues under time pressure in response to specific questions.
• Engage with methodological debates in the field and show an ability to compare and contrast different theories.
• Developing more advanced evaluative techniques

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Teaching and learning are via lectures and smaller-group tutorials. Lectures provide for the delivery of subject specific knowledge and enable staff to highlight key areas of dispute in the field, including the role of methodological disputes. Smaller-group tutorials enable students to explore the subject in more depth and discuss competing evaluations and assessments of the theories and debates covered in the module. They also offer an opportunity for students to structure and communicate their knowledge in response to the dynamics of the class.
• Formative assessment in the format of an essay gives students practice in advance of summative assessment in setting out their knowledge of the field in order to develop and defend in a suitably structured and rigorous fashion a response to a set question. Formative assessment via an essay offers students an opportunity to practice the kind of skills necessary for exams without the associated time pressure and receive feedback on the development of their knowledge and understanding, and their subject specific skills. In particular, the formative essay contributes to the students’ ability to develop new skills in exploratory research. The formative essays also provides students with written feedback on their work, enable students to develop their writing, reading and research skills. Achieving this also tests their ability to independently identify, assess and organise resources in support of a consistent academic argument, by a deadline and to a word-limit (1,500 words), requiring students to take responsibility for their learning.
• Summative assessment in the form of a 2000 word research essay. The essay provides the opportunity to develop research skills beyond the reading list and in analysing and applying a wide-range of knowledge to produce a critical assessment of a theory or theoretical issue. The summative essay tests the ability to plan a more substantial piece of work, identifying and retrieving sources and selecting and displaying appropriate subject specific knowledge and understanding. It tests the ability to develop an extended discussion which utilises concepts and examines competing interpretation and analysis. It also develops key skills in sustaining effective written communication and information presentation to high scholarly standards.
• Summative assessment by examination using a take-home exam enables a wide range of knowledge and understanding to be assessed, with the exam structure ensuring that students must engage with methodological debates in the field and show an ability to compare and contrast different theories. Marking criteria highlight the role of analytical skills in gaining the highest marks and questions are set to encourage an analytical response. The time pressures of exams test students' organisational skills and their ability to effectively structure and deploy knowledge and communicate clearly and concisely. The summative assessment is made up of a selection of long answer questions, out of which the student has to choose 2 questions to answer. The exam will include clear information regarding assessment criteria (a strong and clear argument, a tightly structured essay, formal references, demonstration of knowledge of the material and a well-developed understanding of the specific issue the question addresses). Each question will also have a maximum of 1500 words per answer.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Students will be required to submit a formative essay of 1,500 words by the end of the first term.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University