SGIA2281: SOVEREIGNTY, STATE AND EMPIRE

• Any Level 1 SGIA module

• None.

• None.

• This module aims to enhance students critical understanding of international politics by challenging the assumption that the sovereign state is the organising principle of international order.
• The module challenges this assumption by exploring theories of sovereignty, state, and empire; interrogating theorists in the development of international political theory (classical and contemporary); exploring historical snapshots in the development of states, colonialisms, and empires; and analysing twentieth & twenty-first century developments (e.g. decolonisation, settler colonialism, humanitarian intervention, etc.) which have called into question the inviolability of the sovereign state.
• The combination of historical reference and contemporary analysis aims to enable students to assess the longer term significance of both contemporary and historical changes.

• In accordance with the aims, the module will use a selection of key theorists, events, and debates, to examine the concepts of sovereignty, state and empire as well as challenges and alternatives to them.

Subject-specific Knowledge:

• An understanding of the concepts of sovereignty, state and empire and the ability to set understandings of the sovereign state in its historical or contemporary context;
• Awareness of controversies relating to the origins and development of the concept of the sovereign state;
• An appreciation of some of the major alternatives, especially the phenomenon of empire, and challenges to the concept of the sovereign state.

Subject-specific Skills:

• The ability to evaluate competing definitions of sovereignty, the state and empire;
• The ability to recognize the normative expectations surrounding sovereignty, state and empire in international relations;
• 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 the international order;
• The ability to reach reasoned and informed judgements on specific issues, utilising basic and some more advanced literature and other appropriate resources.

Key Skills:

• The module will develop certain key skills as part of the wider degree programme including:
• The ability to deploy appropriate scholarly material and resources in support of reasoned, analytical argument;
• The ability to link theoretical concepts to empirical evidence and political practice;
• The ability to work to tight time deadlines.

• Teaching and learning are through a series of 1-hour lectures and an associated series of 1-hour seminars;
• The lectures will provide formal instruction and will draw attention to the contested nature of key concepts;
• Seminars will allow students, under guidance, to test their own evaluation and understanding of both the context of debates and the appropriate concepts;
• Students are expected 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.
• Formative assessment is a 1,500 word written assignment.
• Summative assessment by a 2,000 word written assignment will give students the opportunity to develop a grasp of the course material through specific engagement with key texts, and general knowledge of the subject scope. It will test students ability to form a coherent and sustained argument and their ability to support their argumentation through evidence and through consideration of counterarguments. It will encourage students to think critically and imaginatively about international politics.
• Summative assessment in the form of a two-hour exam will allow students to apply theoretical and historical understandings to content covered in the module.

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