Undergraduate Course: War and the Politics of Victory (PLIT10149)
Course Outline
| School | School of Social and Political Science |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | International politics often involves conflict and war. Why groups resort to organized violence, how those conflicts unfold, and how and when they end often depends on ideas about victory - or what it means and what it looks like to 'win' a war. Using case studies from a variety of regions and historical periods and combining research spanning several sub-fields of International Relations, this course explores the strategic, ethical, and political dimensions of victory in war. It will introduce students to a number of ways to think about and assess victory as a strategic goal, an ethical dilemma, and a political challenge involving practical choices and very human consequences |
| Course description |
The idea that war is all about winning has been deeply lodged in popular consciousness for centuries, with a host of prominent thinkers and politicians attesting to its central role in armed conflict - why take up arms if not to win, and often to win a specific political outcome? Yet while victory is central to the idea and conduct of war, practitioners and scholars alike struggle to grasp its full strategic, ethical, and political importance. This course offers a sustained engagement with victory and the politics of war along each of these avenues. Students will gain not only an appreciation of how and why victory matters to war in general, but also the ability to analyze the political role of victory in strategic, normative, and security terms by engaging with theoretical and empirical literature across strategic studies, international ethics and just war, and critical security studies. By learning to focus on the meaning and consequences of victory in these ways, students will begin to see military strategy, ethical and legal deliberations, and the wider political consequences of war differently and more clearly.
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should have taken at least one core International Relations course |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2023/24, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 0 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 20,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
176 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
90 %,
Practical Exam
10 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
10% - The tutorial participation grade will be assessed on informed participation, including students' capacity to engage in discussions based on the assigned readings, as well as listen to and engage with other students in the group
30% - Literature review essay (1500 words, comparing and assessing two literatures on their treatment of victory (e.g. strategic and normative))
60% - Research essay (3000 words, combining theoretical argument and empirical evidence) - students will conduct a case study essay involving the analysis of two wars of their choosing, assessing these against a body of literature they have not discussed in the first assessment
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| Feedback |
Preparatory guidance will be provided in seminar to help students initiate their research projects (consisting of a literature review and an essay). Written feedback on each assessment will be returned before the next assessment deadline wherever possible. Participation feedback will be delivered at end of term with mark. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate critical understanding of the meaning and importance of victory to the conduct of war and its role in international politics.
- Analyze and understand war as a strategic, ethical, and political challenge, using appropriate analytical tools.
- Unpack and compare different theoretical and rhetorical terms and to track their political impacts.
- Combine theory with evidence in the development of an argument.
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Reading List
G. Blum (2013) 'The Fog of Victory' European Journal of International Law 24(1):391-421.
B. Bond (1996) The Pursuit of Victory (Oxford UP)
A.R. Hom, C. O'Driscoll, and K. Mills, eds. (2017) Moral Victories: The Ethics of Winning Wars (Oxford UP).
W. Martel (2007) Victory in War (Cambridge UP).
C. O'Driscoll (2019) Victory: The Triumph and Tragedy of Just War (Oxford UP).
R. Wagner-Pacifici (2005) The Art of Surrender (University of Chicago Press)
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
- Improved conceptualization skills and ability to absorb and contrast disparate theoretical arguments.
- Enhanced research and presentation skills as a result of the combination of in-class material and discussion, and its link to the course assignments.
- Advanced ability to interpret and understand political developments with the aid of theoretical tool-set acquired.
- Ability to synthesize diverse research literatures with empirical evidence.
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| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Andrew Hom
Tel: (0131 6)50 4688
Email: |
Course secretary | |
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