The Politics of Armed Groups: Rebels, State and Society (014IRS)

30 credits, Level 6

Spring teaching

This module takes non-state armed groups as an entry point for understanding the dynamics of contemporary violent conflict and ways to address it. You’ll explore the main protagonists of violent conflict and the ways they mobilise, organise, fight and govern in situations of protracted armed conflict and fragmented statehood.

Structured in three parts, the module introduces you to:

• theories about the root causes and drivers of contemporary violent conflict
• concepts for understanding the politics of non-state armed groups and their multifarious relations to state and society
• a range of policy processes and interventions that aim at ending and transforming violent conflict.

You’ll draw on interdisciplinary debates and case studies from around the world. You are encouraged to choose particular armed groups, to explore how theories and concepts work out by doing you own empirical research.

Contact hours and workload

This module is approximately 300 hours of work. This breaks down into about 33 hours of contact time and about 267 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 2023/24. 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.

Courses

This module is offered on the following courses:

• Politics and International Relations BA
• Sociology and International Development BA