PIR-40138 - Module Specification
School of Social Sciences
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Programme/Approved Electives for 2024/25

Available as a Free Standing Elective

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

None

Barred Combinations

None

Description for 2024/25

The module will critically analyse the role of diplomacy in addressing contemporary conflicts. Focusing on diplomatic practices, diplomatic actors, and processes, it will investigate the changing nature of diplomacy. In particular, it will analyse how varied diplomatic actors - states, international organisations, regional organisations- have attempted to resolve conflict through diplomacy, and how diplomacy shaped the outcomes of these crises. Methodologically, the module will engage with varied data sources, including databases, archives, and memoirs to enable them to holistically analyse the conduct, practices, and outcomes of diplomacy. The module will also practically engage in a simulation exercise of negotiating a peace agreement to understand the intricacies of negotiations and mediations and their effect on conflict resolution. Students will be taught in tutorial groups enabling in-depth discussion and will work through crises using source material to understand and to analyse diplomatic decisions and strategies, and to evaluate the course of diplomacy and the resolutions or breakdown of diplomacy. This will provide students with a systematic understanding of how diplomacy has worked in different settings, enabling them to analyse diplomacy through time and place.

The module aims to provide students with an advanced, systematic examination of the methods, actors, and practices of international diplomacy. Using in-depth case studies, students will study how diplomacy as a policy tool for conflict resolution has been changing - in the range of actors, structures, and patterns - to deal with changing nature of international conflicts. Students will explore how diplomatic actors understand and conduct diplomacy, and how negotiations and mediations evolve in different cases. Through examination of contemporary conflict, students will gain advanced-level understanding of how diplomacy works, enabling them to analyse and reflect on diplomatic practice in a range of international settings. Methodologically, students will engage with varied data sources, including databases, archives, and memoirs to enable them to holistically analyse the conduct, practices, and outcomes of diplomacy. The module will also practically engage in a simulation exercise of negotiating a peace agreement to understand the intricacies of negotiation and mediation and its effect on conflict resolution

Intended Learning Outcomes

Demonstrate a systematic understanding of practices, actors, and methods of diplomacy in conflict resolution: 1,2
Critically evaluate how states, regional organisations, and international agencies have used diplomacy, for what ends, and their impact on governing crises: 1,2
Understand and be able to use varied sources of data, including databases, archives, memoirs to understand contemporary trends in diplomacy: 1,2

Study hours

20 hours of tutorial groups which will include mini-lectures, group discussions, discussions of source work, and guided discussions
40 hours of preparation for tutorials, as structured engagement with online resources
30 hours of collaborative activity in preparation of the group presentation (although this will not necessarily be online)
60 hours of self study in preparation for the essay

School Rules

None

Description of Module Assessment