Admission requirements
Admission to the MA International Relations. Students who are interested in taking this course, but who are not admitted to the mentioned master programmes are requested to contact the co-ordinator of studies.
Description
Currently, more than half of the world population lives in cities. Since the emergence of the first urban dwellings, warfare has tended to focus on this urban world. It could be even argued that these phenomena have appeared in a co-constitutive relationship. To offer a variation the famous dictum by Charles Tilly about state formation; urbanization attracted war and war led to adaptations in urban development.
This course aims to offer the student an opportunity to deepen their knowledge and understanding of warfare in urban environments, both in contemporary history and from the angle of its diverse theories and practices. In the course, we will take a closer look at cities that have been associated closely with urban war, such as Dresden, Algiers, Huế, Sarajevo, and Fallujah. We will also devote attention to the development of ‘megacities’ and ideas about wars of the future with multi-domain operations, grey zone attacks and urban insurgency.
How can we explain that cities often are targets in armed conflicts? How have these confrontations in urban environments taken shape? What have been the social, political, economic and military characteristics of past and contemporary urban warfare practices? What have been the consequences of fighting in cities for the civilian population? In a series of seminars these questions will be dissected, with the aid of a diverse reading list and written and oral assignments. The student will acquire knowledge both of the theoretical approaches and premises for the study of contemporary urban warfare, as well as the detailed and historical phenomenon of urban warfare itself.
Course objectives
The student will be trained in the competency of making and presenting, in an oral and written form, an analysis of war and warfare in urban environments, based on historical and theoretical materials and a variety of primary and secondary sources. Specifically, students will work on developing
a. the ability to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of theories, concepts, and methods applicable to urban warfare to an advanced level.
b. the ability to demonstrate an understanding of the historical and contemporary developments of urban warfare, e.g. through causes, developments, manifestations, norms, and institutions.
c. the ability to demonstrate an understanding of the historical and contemporary development of urban warfare, from the perspectives of diverse actors, including states, international institutions, and non-state organizations.
d. the ability to conduct independent academic research that reflects insight into key and relevant academic discussions.
e. the ability to analyse and evaluate evidence on issues relating to urban warfare, based on the deployment of advanced research methods.
Timetable
The timetables are available through My Timetable.
Mode of instruction
Seminar
Assessment method
Assessment
Students are expected to:
read the pre-assigned readings prior to each class,
participate fully in the classroom discussions;
submit a proposal for an end of term paper, which contains: a research question, an outline, and a preliminary reference list;
present on a well-defined aspect of the course;
write a term paper (max. 4,000 words).
Weighing
Oral presentation: 35%
Term paper: 65%
The final mark for the course is established by determining the weighted average. To pass the course, the weighted average of the partial grades must be 5.5 or higher.
Resit
The resit is only available for students who have handed in a complete version of the term paper and when the mark for this paper ends up insufficient, a resit is possible.
Inspection and feedback
How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will have to be organized.
Reading list
T.B.A.
Registration
Enrolment through MyStudyMap is mandatory.
General information about course and exam enrolment is available on the website.
Contact
For substantive questions, contact the lecturer listed in the right information bar.
For questions about enrolment, admission, etc, contact the Education Administration Office: Huizinga
Remarks
N/A