Office hours:

Monday: 11.05 am - 12.30 pm

Wednesday: 11.15 am - 12.30am

A sign-up form is available on the door of my office, which students should fill in to make an appointment

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*** ALL LECTURE SLIDES CAN BE FOUND ON 'MOODLE'

Master's teaching:

EU50763: International Security: Theories and Concepts

'Security', like 'democracy' or 'equality', is one of those 'essentially contested concept' that pervade the social sciences. Whilst the drive for security is one of the fundamental needs of humankind, there is little consensus on what security means in practice. During the cold war, security was primarily conceptualised in terms of relative military capacities between states. Yet even before the collapse of the bipolar system, a growing number of academics and policy analysts were questioning the analytical utility of this state-centric and military-focused approach to security. Since the late 1980s if not before, the concept of security has been increasingly stretched to encompass political, economic, social and environmental aspects. The central problem facing security studies today is how to broaden the concept of security so that it can adequately explain the multifaceted and multidimensional nature of the contemporary international security agenda, whilst retaining the concept's analytical focus. If the concept of security is expanded too indiscriminately, then it loses its analytical utility and ends up being about everything and nothing.

The aim of this course is to give students the ability to think critically and constructively with these and other key debates in international security studies. Students will be given a thorough grounding in contemporary theories of international security, from classical realism to post-modern approaches. All the main concepts in security studies - such as the security dilemma, the balance of power, security communities, democratic peace and societal security - will be explained and critically evaluated. Students will also be encouraged to apply these concepts to contemporary security problems, and to evaluate the relative analytical utility of different approaches to security.

 

EU50764 International Security: The Contemporary Agenda

This module builds on EU763 International Security: Theories and Concepts and examines the nature of the contemporary international security agenda, focusing on a number of key issues and regions.

Aims and Objectives
This unit aims:
*Identify and analyse the main currents in the academic and policy debate on the contemporary international security agenda;
*To explore the nature of contemporary international security by analysing specific policy issues in regions such as Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, East Asia and Africa;
*To analyse the nature and significance of contemporary international security issues such as the use of military force, proliferation, environmental security and the 'clash of civilisations'
*Examine the security role of states, international organisations and non-state actors in the contemporary international system;
*Develop skills in international political analysis and in conducting seminars

Students who successfully complete this unit will have acquired:
*a systematic understanding of knowledge, and a critical awareness of current problems and new insights in the contemporary international security agenda, much of which is at, or informed by, the forefront of this field of study;
*A comprehensive understanding of the techniques of investigation and analysis applicable to the study of contemporary international security issues;
* Originality in the application of knowledge, together with a practical understanding of how established techniques of research and enquiry are used to create and interpret knowledge in international security studies
*Conceptual knowledge that enables students to both evaluate critically current research and advanced scholarship in international security studies, and to evaluate methodologies and develop critiques of them and, where appropriate, to propose new hypotheses.

EU50766 Theories of International Relations

Lecture Three: Realism and Liberalism

 

EU50749: Power, Order and Institutions in World Politics

Lecture: BRIC

This lecture considers arguments that the international political order is being
transformed by the emergence – or in the case of Russia, the re-emergence – of new
powers. Particular attention has been focused on the so-called ‘BRIC’ countries of
Brazil, Russia, India and China, which have been described as ‘pivotal states’ with the
capabilities and aspirations to play an influential role in their region and to shape the
wider patterns of global politics, economics and security. The lecture examines the
case that the BRIC countries are reshaping international order, focusing in particular
on the implications of shifting power relations for global peace and security.

 

EU50606: The Common Foreign and Security Policy

Lecture 5: Defence Identity

Lecture 8: EU and the Middle East

Lecture 9: EU and Proliferation

 

Undergraduate teaching:

EU20725 Conflict and International Security

'Though human society has roots which lie deeper in history than the beginning of human life, men have made comparatively little progress in solving the problem of their aggregate existence. Each century originates a new complexity and each new generation faces a new vexation in it. For all the centuries of experience, men have not yet learned how to live together without compounding their vices and covering each other "with mud and with blood"'.
Reinhold Niebuhr, Moral Man and Immoral Society (1932)

This second year unit aims to provide students with the theoretical and conceptual tools with which to think critically and analytically about contemporary international conflict and security. The nature of the post-cold war international security agenda is examined by focusing on the dynamics of conflict and insecurity in key regions such as Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Students are expected to apply the theoretical and conceptual tools acquired at the beginning of the course to specific issues on the contemporary international security agenda such as humanitarian intervention, terrorism, nuclear proliferation, failed or failing states, human security and great power security competition.

The focus of the unit is on the post-Cold War international security agenda, with particular reference to the impact of recent developments on conflict and international security such as 9/11, the rise of China, nuclear proliferation in the Middle East and Asia and Russia's re-emergence as a great power. You should therefore keep up-to-date with current international developments, and ensure that you read a quality newspaper or news magazine on a regular basis. At the same time, you must analyse recent and current developments using the theoretical and conceptual tools provided in this module.

All lectures will be posted on MOODLE

EU10616: International Relations and Global Politics

'We are stranded between old conceptions of political conduct and a wholly new conception, between the inadequacy of the nation-state and the emerging imperative of global community'
Henry Kissinger, US Secretary of State, 1975

This course provides an introduction to International Relations and Global Politics. It begins in part one of the unit by outlining the main theories and concepts used in the academic study of International Relations: Liberalism, Realism and Critical approaches. Part two introduces you to some key issues in contemporary international relations and global politics, namely globalisation, the state and war; the UN and other international organisations; US power and global influence; religion and world politics; international politics in Africa; and the implications of globalisation for contemporary international security. In their various ways, these themes all touch on what is the core issue of International Relations - the nature of international 'order'.

In domestic political systems, order is provided by the central authority of the state - Hobbes 'leviathan'. In the international political system, there is no central authority able to provide order: it is this that gives International Relations its distinctive character. Despite the absence of a world government, it is clear that the international system is not without a form of international 'order'. Much of the current debate in the discipline of International Relations focuses on the nature of international order. As we shall see, this theme is hotly debated between contending theoretical perspectives: some emphasis the continuing 'anarchy' of international politics, whilst others argue that a form of constitutional order is indeed emerging in the international system. The debate has been given a new twist the emergence of 'globalisation', which many claim is fundamentally reshaping the very nature of the state and international politics.
The objective of this unit is to introduce you to some of these contemporary debates and controversies, and to equip you with the necessary theoretical and conceptual tools to be able to think analytically and critically about the nature of international politics in the twenty-first century.

EU10417: British Politics

Lecture on British Foreign Policy

Department of European Studies and Modern Languages, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY
Tel: +44 (0) 1225 383501 · Fax: +44 (0) 1225 386099
E-mail: A.G.V.Hyde-Price@bath.ac.uk

Last updated: April 19, 2010
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