Keele University Prospectus Undergraduate | 2016 | Page 132

POLITICS, PHILOSOPHY, INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS & ENVIRONMENT

International Relations
Overview

International Relations offers a flexible, dynamic
and modern curriculum. All our modules are
innovative, challenging, and contemporary; they are
informed by strong scholarship and are taught by
approachable staff within a friendly and research led
interdisciplinary environment.
Keele was one of the pioneers of International
Relations scholarship and one of the first universities
in the UK to offer a degree in the subject in the 1970s.
We remain one of the principal concentrations of
International Relations specialists in the UK.
The founding professor, Alan James, who led
Keele’s International Relations department between
1974 and 1991, was one of the first chairs of the
British International Studies Association and was
widely known for his writing on the concept of an
international society of states in addition to his
main research focus on international peacekeeping.
Our current members of staff have internationally
recognised teaching and research expertise in
the areas of security studies, international history,
international political economy and development,
international relations of the environment, Middle
East and Eurasia, and political and international
relations theory.
Our special strengths include modern international
ideas, nationalism, violence, security/human security,
human rights, global governance, the environment,
the European Union and Eurasian studies.

Course content

First year
We do not expect you to have background
knowledge of international relations, so in the
first year you are introduced to basic concepts
through two compulsory core modules, which are:
Introduction to International Relations and Securing
Global Order.
Single honours students must also take Introduction
to Global Political Economy and The Changing World.
Elective modules include:
• British Politics Since 1945
• Justice, Authority and Power
• Debates in American Politics
• Why Politics Matters
• Politics of Sustainability
• Modern Democracies

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Second year
You will build on the first year by delving more
deeply into key theories and themes. Dual and
single honours students will take two core modules:
Contemporary International Relations Theory and
Peace, Conflict and Security.
Elective modules include:
• International Relations of the Environment
• International Relations of Eurasia
• The Politics of the European Union
• Work Experience in Politics, IR and Philosophy
Third year
Special subjects are taught exclusively through
seminars and, because they relate to our own staff
research interests, they give you the chance to
engage with cutting edge research. Dual honours
students take at least two and single honours take at
least four, approved electives. The range of special
subjects available varies from year to year, but the
following is an indicative list:
• Gendering Global Politics
• Policing International Order
• The Modern Middle East
• The Other Middle East
• Proliferation
• The Northern Dimension
• The Falklands War 1982
• Arms Control and Disarmament
• The Missing Dimension: Intelligence and
International Relations
As a third year student you will complete a
dissertation or equivalent project in either of your
principal subjects which will allow you to pursue a
particular topic in depth.

Teaching and assessment

Most modules are taught through a combination
of lectures and seminars. Lectures are designed
to move beyond the basic texts and to encourage
critical assessment of conflicting views and theories.
In seminars, you will take part in discussions and
debates in small groups facilitated by lecturers
and professors. The school guarantees all first year
students an hour per week of small group teaching
on all International Relations modules.
Our teaching focuses on developing your potential
for independent thought and intellectual creativity.
Our staff have wide range and cutting edge research
interests, which means academic research informs
and inspires our teaching. The use of a range of
information and communication technologies is
integrated into the c