International Relations (Level 6)

• Credit value: 30 credits at Level 6

This module offers an overview of history and theory of international relations (IR) understood both as the study of the relations between and across states, and the concepts such as sovereignty, war, diplomacy or national identity which accompany such relations.

We start by considering the origins of the modern international system in Europe during the ‘long’ sixteenth century and continue exploring  successive ‘moments’ of world history, ranging from the ‘Age of Atlantic Revolutions’ to the inter-war crisis of the 1930s, the process of postwar decolonisation and the current age of globalisation.

The module is organised around historical and conceptual pairings, using concrete events in world history as a foil to explore successive IR theories which seek to explain such events.

You acquire knowledge of the prevailing IR theories and how they relate to the changing nature of the modern international system. The module will appeal to students interested in global politics, international theory and world history.