Introduction to IPIR 3
Course aims, objectives and eligibility 3
Course communication 3
Content and Structure of Course 4
Overview of Contents 4
Structure: Lectures and Tutorials 5
Assessment, Regulations and Deadlines 6
Essay Assignment 7
Essay submission (paper copy; electronic copy) 7
Plagiarism detection and avoidance 8
Examination/Assessment feedback/learning difficulties 8
Readings: General Guidance 9
Course Textbooks 9
Using the Library 9
Using the Internet 11
Readings by Topic 12
What is Politics? 12
What is IR? 13
Power and society 14
Power and Sovereignty 15
The State 17
States and Foreign Policy 17
Anarchy and Independence 18
Globalization 19
Morality and IR 20
Ideology 22
Nationalism 23
Sub-state Nationalism 24
Political Activism 25
Political Parties 26
Elections and Voting 27
Political Leadership & Executives 28
Legislatures & Representation 29
Student Representation 32
Contacts 33
Further Study of Politics 34
Appendices 35
WebCT guide 35
Guide to Referencing 36
Essay Writing Guidance 38
Essay Feedback Form 39
Past IPIR Exam Questions 40
Lecture Programme: Overview 41
WELCOME TO IPIR
This course is designed to be interesting, exciting and enriching. For best results, please:
· Read this course guide carefully
· Ensure that you are PREPARED for every meeting of the course
· See your tutor if you have difficulties
Course Aims and Objectives
Aims
Introduction to Politics and International Relations (IPIR) seeks to provide:
· an introduction to concepts relevant to both Politics and International Relations (IR)
· an introduction to key institutions of modern states, and current debates surrounding their operation
· an examination of states and their place in the international system.
Objectives
By the end of IPIR we would expect students to be able to:
· demonstrate knowledge of key concepts in the study of politics and IR;
· exhibit comparative knowledge of different political institutions and their theoretical and practical significance;
· apply their knowledge to the understanding of contemporary issues and problems in (especially) contemporary democratic states.
Course Eligibility
There is a quota of 350 students on this course. Students will be admitted in the following order:
1. First year students admitted to a Politics or International Relations degree (Single or Joint) (pre-registered)
2. Visiting Students holding an offer of a place in the course from the College Office; (guaranteed a place)
3. First year students whose main subject is in the School of Social and Political Science (SSPS);
4. First year students whose main subject has a joint degree with Politics;
5. Students taking second-year SSPS half-courses;
6. First year students taking BSc (Soc Sci) or MA (General)
7. Other first year students taking Honours degrees in College of Humanities and Social Science (e.g. English Literature, Linguistics; Psychology; Business Studies)
Please note: because of the high numbers of students enrolled, this course will not be able to admit students from outside the College of Humanities and Social Science.
Course Communication
This guide should be read in conjunction with the School of Social and Political Science (SPSS) Student Handbook which is distributed to all Year and 1 students in the School and contains important rules and guidance. It is available on line at: http://www.sps.ed.ac.uk/undergrad/year_1_2/index
The Course Organiser for IPIR is Dr Wilfried Swenden ().
In the first instance, however, it is always best to direct queries related to the course to your own tutor or to the Politics/IR undergraduate office
The Politics/International Relations Undergraduate Office is Room G04/5, Chrystal Macmillan Building (CMB). It is open Mon-Fri, 10.00-12.00; 14.00-16.00. The Politics/IR Secretary is Diane Lawson. Her phone number is 0131 650 4457 and his email:
WebCT
This course will be using a web-based learning environment (WebCT) which you access via the MyEd Portal https://www.myed.ed.ac.uk and which provides easy access to essential course materials (see Appendix 1: Guide to using WebCT). In addition to lecture slides and readings, the WebCT page for this course also functions as a virtual notice board, and a place to access other key course materials. You should check it regularly through the MyEd portal.
Important note: Students will be contacted by the course organiser and/or course secretary by email to their Edinburgh University Account. Check your university email account regularly. You can set the university account to forward mail to other accounts (eg hotmail), but we will NOT email those accounts directly.
Contact details for the IPIR teaching team can be found on p33 of this guide.
Overview of Contents
This course aims to do exactly what it says on the tin: introduce Politics and International Relations (IR) as subjects of academic inquiry. It is designed with the needs of students reading for both degrees in Politics and IR in mind. The different emphases and conceptual frameworks of scholarship in these sub-disciplines will be highlighted. But we will also consider where Politics and IR connect and share methods, analytical concerns, and common insights.
The course is principally concerned with what questions: that is, what is Politics? what is IR? But it is also preoccupied with how questions (‘How should we study nationalism?’ ‘How is power dispersed through society?’) and why questions (‘Why don’t more people vote?’ ‘Why is it so difficult to eliminate poverty in the developing world?’).
The course covers most (not all) of the main subjects with which the study of Politics and IR is concerned. The emphasis is on breadth more than depth. Our main focus will be on concepts, such as ‘liberalism’, ‘power’, ‘devolution’, and ‘anarchy’. As such, IPIR is designed to equip you with a conceptual tool-kit that will prove useful to you in your later courses, most of which allow you to focus in more depth on topics of particular interest to you.
The course covers subjects that are living, breathing, and current. Wherever possible, we will strive to incorporate contemporary examples from the ‘real world’ of Politics and IR to illustrate key concepts, themes, and questions. You are encouraged to do the same in your own work for the course.
We do not assume that you have studied these subjects previously (i.e., at Highers or A level). But the course is taught at a University level. In your written assignments (essay plus exam), you are expected to show knowledge of the subject based on your lectures, tutorials, and your own private study of the core course materials (plus, in the case of your essay, materials beyond the required reading).
We expect you to spend at least as much time working (reading and writing) on your own for this course as you spend in the classroom. We expect you to prepare for each and every lecture and tutorial, and never to turn up ‘cold’ to either (that is, in a position where the subject of the session is entirely new and unfamiliar to you).
The course, like the subjects it covers, is thematically rich and diverse. However, the three main themes that run as red threads through the course (and which you are encouraged to reflect upon throughout) are:
· The questions we seek to answer are complicated ones.
· Politics and IR are about resolving conflicts, not eliminating them.
· The line separating national from international politics is vanishing.
Structure: Lectures and Tutorials
Lectures:
Lectures are held in the David Hume Tower, Lecture Theatre A. There are normally two lectures each week of the semester - Mondays and Thursdays at 15.00 (check the lecture programme on the back page of this handout for details).
If you wish to do well in IPIR, it is essential to integrate what you learn from lectures, reading and tutorials. The lectures are a supplement to, not a substitute for, reading and tutorial participation. You should listen critically to the lectures; they will provide an outline of what the lecturers consider to be important and interesting. You will then have to fill the gaps by reading thoroughly, and by engaging in tutorial discussions.
Lecture topics are summarised in the course guide immediately above the list of required and additional readings. All our lecturers use power point slides during the lecture.
Lecture slides from the lecturer’s power point presentation will be available shortly after each lecture on the WebCT Page.
Why no lecture slides before the lecture??
There are good reasons for and against providing slides before the lecture. For this course the teaching team has decided to post the slides immediately after the lecture. A crucial skill at university is note-taking - learning how to listen to what is said and determine what is worth writing down. If notes are provided for students beforehand students will not have the same chance to develop this skill which most students master by the end of Year 1. Note, however, that under our practice no student attending will miss any important lecture information because the slides are provided after the lecture on WebCT. Students with a verified learning disability who may need more lecture information prior to lecture should pay particular attention to the lecture topic summaries provided in the course guide. We have approved this format with the Disability office.
Please note these lecture slide hand-outs are not a substitute for lecture attendance or diligent reading. They are (for the most part) guides to what is important in terms of themes or major debates, and thus what you need to think about for yourself. They are not a source of academic evidence or ‘right answers’. Be careful not to regurgitate handout information verbatim on your exam or essays. Doing so is likely to affect (adversely) your mark. Politics is a subject that cannot be learned by rote!
Tutorials:
Tutorials are held once a week during the semester, beginning week 2. The purpose of tutorials is to deepen your knowledge of the material to which you have been introduced in lectures and in your reading. Tutorials encourage you to articulate and develop ideas for yourselves in small group discussion. The tutorials for this course will be led by experienced teachers. Your tutor will provide contact details, further tutorial guidelines and a specific tutorial programme in your first tutorial which meets the second week of the semester.
Important note! Attendance at tutorials is compulsory. Students who attend fewer than 6 out of 9 tutorials in a semester will have their final mark reduced by one percentage point for each unapproved absence above the threshold. Students more than 15 minutes late will be marked as absent. See SSPS Student Handbook for procedures should you need to miss a tutorial: http://www.sps.ed.ac.uk/undergrad/year_1_2/on_being_a_student
Tutorial sign on:
Tutorials start in Week 2. You are required to sign yourself on to a tutorial group via WebCT. You should do this as soon as possible as tutorials fill up quickly and space is limited. Make sure you register by the end of Week 1 in any event. Information on tutorial sign on via WebCT is included in Appendix 1 on p.35
Assessment Weighting
Assessment is made up of:
· One essay: 40% due Wed 27 October 2010, 15.00 (3pm)
· Degree examination (held between 6-17 Dec 2010): 60%
Note there is also an optional, non-assessed assignment, see p.8 and WebCT
Coursework: Regulations and Deadlines
One piece of assessed written work – an essay – is required in IPIR. It should be a maximum of 1500 words long. Essays that are longer than 1500 words long will lose marks (see the SSPS student handbook).
One hard copy of your essay must be submitted by 15.00 (3pm) on Wednesday 27 October 2010. You must also, and by the same deadline, submit an e lectronic version via WebCT. Instructions for submission follow below.
Guidance on writing essays and explanations of marks are provided in the SSPS student handbook (see also Appendices 3-5 of this handout). You should also consult a copy of the essay feedback form in this guide which you will receive back with your marked essay (Appendix 4). Review it before handing in your essay to remind yourself of the criteria on which you will be marked.
Essay Assignment
To note:
Ø Make sure you reference adequately and properly: you will lose points if you do not. See Appendix 2 for guidance.
Ø Make sure you write clearly and well. See Appendix 3 for guidance.
Ø Familiarise yourself with the essay marking criteria. An example of an essay feedback form is included in Appendix 4
Ø Your essay should not exceed 1500 words (excluding bibliography). Nor should it be significantly shorter than this length.
Ø Be very sure you understand and follow the guidelines on avoiding plagiarism as outlined in the SSPS Student handbook: http://www.sps.ed.ac.uk/undergrad/year_1_2/what_is_plagiarism. Before submitting your essay you will be asked to sign a statement verifying that you have understood and followed these guidelines.
Ø Refer to the SPSS student handbook for guidance on essay submission (and extension requests), essay writing and marking criteria. http://www.sps.ed.ac.uk/undergrad/year_1_2/index
Select one of the following essay questions:
1. To what extent does ‘globalisation’ change the behaviour of states?
2. Which of ‘Lukes’ ‘faces’ of political power tells us most about equality in the modern world? Anwer with reference to EITHER gender OR racial inequality
3 Has ‘the state’ been in decline since the 1970s?
4.Why is the dispersal of power seen by many students of politics as desirable? Illustrate your answer with specific examples.
5. Should humanitarian intervention to ensure or restore human rights take precedence over state sovereignty? Illustrate your answer with specific examples.
Submission of Essay (ONE PAPER COPY)
Written work must be submitted by 15.00 (3pm) on Wednesday 27 October 2010. Lateness penalties take effect immediately after 15.00 (i.e. an essay submitted at 15:15pm will incur a full day’s lateness penalty).
Penalties for late submission (set by the College of Humanities and Social Sciences):
· Five marks per working day (i.e. excluding weekends) for up to 5 days