Module SGIA3391: EVOLUTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF MILITARY OCCUPATION

Department: Government and International Affairs

SGIA3391: EVOLUTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF MILITARY OCCUPATION

Prerequisites

• Any Level 2 SGIA module

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• The module aims to give students an historical and comparative grasp of military occupation as a political phenomenon drawing on issues and perspectives raised within International Relations, government and political theory. It will require students to evaluate the understandings and actions of occupants as well as the perspectives of observers and other actors, including courts and those subject to occupation.

Content

• In accordance with the aims the module will trace the emergence of a normative concept of military occupation from the time of the wars of the French Revolution and Napoleonic wars through to the twenty-first century. It will include instances in which the application of the concept of military occupation is problematic, though accepted, or disputed and will draw on a wide geographical range of occupations (from the Americas through Europe to Asia).
• Indicative content:
• The origins of military occupation in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars
• American occupations: from Mexico to the Civil War
• Codification and nineteenth century European occupations
• American occupations from the Spanish-American war to World War 1
• Occupations in World War 1: Germany and her allies
• Occupations and World War 1: The allies
• Interwar occupations:
• Occupations in World War 2: Germany and the west
• Occupations in World War 2: Germany and her allies in the east
• Allied occupations and World War 2
• Enduring occupations: Israel and Palestine
• Occupation and international territorial administration: Bosnia; East Timor; Kosovo
• Occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan

Learning Outcomes

• By the end of the module students should have:
• An understanding of the contested nature of military occupation as a field of human activity and as a political concept.
• An understanding of the concept of the military occupation state and the ability to set understanding of military occupation in a historical and comparative context.
• Awareness of controversies relating to the origins and development the concept of military occupation.
• An ability to evaluate the actions of military occupants and other actors and observers.

• By the end of the module students should be able to demonstrate:
• The ability to evaluate competing definitions of military occupation
• The ability to recognize the normative expectations surrounding military occupation
• The ability to effectively use historical and/or comparative context in assessing the idea of change in relation to specific examples
• The ability evaluate the longer-term significance of changes in understandings of military occupation
• The ability to reach reasoned and informed judgements on specific issues, utilising basic and some more advanced literature and other appropriate resources.

• The module will develop certain key skills as part of the wider degree programmes such as:
• Retrieval, utilisation and assessment of appropriate resources, both independently and with guidance
• Effective communication and analysis of information
• Completion written work within specified deadlines

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

• Teaching and learning are through a series of 1 hour lectures and an associated series of 1 hour tutorials.
• The lectures will provide formal instruction in appropriate factual and theoretical aspects of the topics and will draw attention to the contested nature of key concepts.
• Tutorials will allow students, under guidance, to test their own evaluation and understanding of both the context of debates and the appropriate concepts.
• This approach requires students to deploy research skills in preparation for seminars and to be able to analyse complex theoretical issues, requiring recourse to interdisciplinary sources, and to defend their assessment of highly contentious practical and normative choices.
• Summative assessment is by means of a one hour examination and a summative essay. The unseen examination will test the ability to reach informed and reasoned conclusions and to produce well-structured and organised work under time constraints requiring focused application of recalled knowledge. The summative essay will require students to research, prepare and write an analytical assessment in the context of specific instances of military occupation.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

One formative essay of 1,500 words.

■ 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