Classical Thinkers and Current Events (L2014N)

15 credits, Level 4

Spring teaching

Do the origins of International Relations lie in a desire to create peace after WWI, or a desire to maintain imperial control over former colonies?
Are foreign policies justified through the ‘ancient’ wisdom of long dead writers?
How can reading classical political theorists lead to innovative new ideas?

On this module, you will:

• engage with classical thinkers such as Confucius, Hobbes, Kautilya, Aquinas, Ibn Khaldun, and many others
• relate classical thought to contemporary events like Terrorism and Just War, the Rise of China, Humanitarian Intervention, Black Lives Matter, the Clash of Civilisations
• demonstrate how the use of classical authors today allows us to learn something about contemporary international affairs, and provides us with the means to critique these policies and to develop alternatives.

You will develop skills in:

• textual analysis
• working in a group
• writing a research paper.

Contact hours and workload

This module is approximately 150 hours of work. This breaks down into about 22 hours of contact time and about 128 hours of independent study. The University may make minor variations to the contact hours for operational reasons, including timetabling requirements.

We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2024/25. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum.

We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.