Course unit details:
Rethinking Crisis
Unit code | HCRI20022 |
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Credit rating | 20 |
Unit level | Level 2 |
Teaching period(s) | Semester 2 |
Available as a free choice unit? | Yes |
Overview
This course explores the changing nature of, and political uses of, the concept of “crisis” and enables students to rethink how different notions impact on responses. It will introduce students to theoretical approaches that will enable them to understand how information about crises is produced and informs everyday politics, as well as state-level and international strategy, decision-making and policy formation. Students will have the opportunity to engage with various aspects of crises from a theoretical perspective and then apply these to a series of case studies including migration, climate change, terrorism, and the Covid-19 pandemic to explore how events or phenomena labelled as “crises” are understood and dealt with in the contemporary context.
Pre/co-requisites
Year 2, semester 1 optional on BSc International Disaster Management and Conflict Response
Aims
Teaching and learning methods
Knowledge and understanding
Intellectual skills
- To critically interrogate the literature related to complex crises drawn from a range of disciplines
- To recognise the challenges of addressing these crises, both practically and ethically
- To understand the links between different aspects of complex crises as well as the interdependencies between crises
- To critically evaluate theoretical approaches and apply them effectively to case studies.
Practical skills
Transferable skills and personal qualities
Employability skills
- Other
- Students will learn to develop analytical skills and strong communication skills, as well as the ability to articulate ideas verbally and in writing. Students will also develop confidence in discussing ideas, and debating concepts and theories. Individual reading and study time will help students to develop time-keeping and organisational skills, as well as the ability to monitor and develop their own learning.
Assessment methods
Essay plan | 0% |
Book review | 30% |
Essay | 70% |
Feedback methods
Feedback method | Formative or Summative |
Written feedback on written assignments | Summative |
Verbal feedback on 1-1 meetings with students | Formative |
Recommended reading
Mark Duffield (2018) Post-Humanitarianism: Governing Precarity in the Digital World. Polity.
Claudia Aradau and Rens van Munster (2011) Politics of Catastrophe: Genealogies of the Unknown. Routledge.
Louise Amoor (2013) The Politics of Possibility: Risk and Security Beyond Probability, Duke University Press.
Naomi Klein (2007) The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. Toronto: Random House.
Michael T. Klare (2019) All Hell Breaking Loose: The Pentagon’s Perspective on Climate Change. Metropolitan Books.
Jeff Huysmans (2006) The Politics of Insecurity: Fear, Migration and Asylum in the EU. Routledge.
Matt McDonald (2013) Discourses on Climate Change. Political Geography, Vol. 33, pp.42-51.
Charlotte Heath-Kelly (2013) ‘Counterterrorism and the Counterfactual: Producing the Radicalization Discourse and the UK Prevent Strategy’, British Journal of Politics and International Relations, Vol. 15, pp.86-105.
Study hours
Scheduled activity hours | |
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Lectures | 20 |
Seminars | 10 |
Independent study hours | |
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Independent study | 170 |
Teaching staff
Staff member | Role |
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Mandy Turner | Unit coordinator |