Admission requirements
This course is only available for students in the BA International Studies programme.
Limited places are also open for exchange students.
Please note: this course takes place in The Hague. Traveling between University buildings from Leiden to The Hague may take about 45 minutes.
Description
What is International Studies? This course analyzes key themes in the historic development and current manifestation of International Studies including:
The history of International Relations as a discipline, focusing on its emergence from International History and Race Studies;
The ongoing interaction of International Relations and International Studies with other disciplines and field, notably Political Science and Area Studies;
Critical perspectives on International Relations, including those coming from the fields of literary and cultural studies, Asian Studies and political science.
In addition to reading classic and critical articles on the nature of International Studies and International Relations, we also utilize a full reading of Pankaj Mishra’s award winning From the Ruins of Empire as a case study through which students are introduced to larger issues of politics, history and culture on an international level. We set a critical reading of Mishra’s book in relation to a range of other scholarly literature which informs critical analysis of the fields of international studies and international relations today.
Course objectives
Primarily, this course aims to develop student capacity to use the following skills in the context of International Studies:
critical reading
text analysis
argument analysis
comparison
contextualization
historical perspective
The course also aims to develop an awareness and basic knowledge of:
the nature of disciplines in an academic context;
the interaction between disciplines specifically in an International Studies context;
the history of International Studies and its historical interaction with the disciplines of History, Political Science and Area Studies;
a number of core concepts that arise in current International Studies debates, notably: nation, region, nationalism, regionalism (as in Pan-Asianism and Pan-Arabism), civilization, theories of civilization (including: Islamism, Eurocentrism, Sinocentrism, Clash of Civilization theory), antiquarianism, Orientalism, racism, Marxism, philology, modernity, modernism, scientism, and subaltern.
Timetable
The timetable is available on the BA International Studies website.
Mode of instruction
Lectures
Lectures are held every week, with the exception of the midterm exam week. Weekly lectures will cover issues both inside and outside the readings.
Tutorials
Tutorials are held once every two weeks, with the exception of the midterm exam week. Attending all tutorial sessions is compulsory. If you are unable to attend a session, please inform your tutor in advance. Being absent at more than two of the tutorial sessions will result in a lowering of your tutorial grade (30% of the end grade) with 1 point for each session missed after the first two sessions. Please note that being absent at any tutorial session may have a negative impact on the grade of the assignment due for that particular tutorial session. This is at the discretion of the tutor.
Course Load
Total course load for this course is 5 EC (1 EC = 28 hours), which equals 140 hours, broken down by:
Attending lectures: 24 hours
Attending tutorials: 12 hours
Assessment hours (exams): 4 hours
Study of compulsory literature (approximately 7 pages / hour): 40 hours
Preparation for Tutorials: 30 hours
Preparation for Exams: 10 hours
Other components (revision of classes): 20 hours
Assessment method
Assessment
Midterm Exam: Written examination with multiple choice questions and open questions.
Final Exam: Written examination with multiple choice questions and open questions.
Weighing
| Partial grade | Weighing |
|---|---|
| Tutorials | 30% |
| Midterm Exam | 30% |
| Final Exam | 40% |
End Grade
To successfully complete the course, please take note of the following:
The end grade of the course is established by determining the weighted average of Tutorial grade, Midterm Exam grade, and Final Exam grade.
The weighted average of the Midterm Exam grade and the Final Exam grade needs to be 5.5 or higher.
This means that failing Exam grades cannot be compensated with a high Tutorial grade.
Resit
If the end grade is insufficient (lower than a 6.0), or the weighted average of Midterm- and Final Exams is lower than 5.5, there is a possibility of retaking the full 70% of the exam material, replacing both the earlier Midterm- and Final Exam grades. No resit for the tutorial is possible.
Please note that if the Resit Exam grade is lower than 5.5, you will not pass the course, regardless of the tutorial grade.
Retaking a passing grade
Please consult the Course and Examination Regulations 2018 – 2019.
Exam review
How and when an exam review takes place will be determined by the examiner. This review will be within 30 days after official publication of exam results.
Blackboard
Blackboard will be used for tutorial groups. Students are requested to enroll on Blackboard, but only after correct enrolment in uSis.
Reading list
Pankaj Mishra. From the Ruins of Empire: The Revolt Against the West and the Remaking of Asia. London: Penguin, 2013. PLEASE PURCHASE (reasonably priced paperback available from amazon).
Various further scholarly articles and chapters available online, including: Hobson, John M. The Eurocentric Conception of World Politics: Western International Theory, 1760-2010. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012. (No need to buy, available through university catalogue online).
Registration
Enrolment through uSis for Tutorials and Lectures is mandatory.
Students will be enrolled for Exams by the Administration Office, as long as they have a valid Tutorial enrolment.
The programme’s administration office will register all first year students for the first semester courses in uSis, the registration system of Leiden University.
Registration Studeren à la carte and Contractonderwijs
Not applicable.
Contact
When contacting lecturers or tutors, please include your full name, student number, and tutorial group number.
Remarks
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