Owen D Thomas BA MRes (Exon) JP

POC 2012 The Ethics and Politics of Humanitarian Intervention

Since the 1990s there has been an increasing trend towards Western military intervention in developing states in the name of human rights and acts which ‘shock the conscience of mankind’ (Waltzer). Many questions arise concerning this practice: Does humanitarian intervention work? Is it morally legitimate? Is it legal? Should we be concerned with the increasing legitimacy of military intervention by the West in Third World countries? How does military intervention be understood within wider practices of aid and intervention? Are NGO’s accountable? How are humanitarian interventions represented in the news media and other cultural productions (e.g. film)? This module introduces a range of approaches to analyse contemporary policy and practice.

Foreign Policy: Leadership, Power and Responsibility

POC1008: Facing the Challenges of World Politics in the 21st Century

The central aim of this course is to introduce first year students to an important sub-field within the discipline of Politics, that is, International Relations. More concretely, this module will expose students to a range of pressing issues in world politics and provide them with the conceptual and analytical tools to critically assess their origins, nature and potential impact.

POL2052: Foreign Policy

This module covers: (1) definitions of foreign policy and the main theoretical understandings; (2) the dominant actors who ‘do’ foreign policy, as well as the nature of the structure they inhabit; (3) the role of leaders in terms of how decision-making is understood, including the psychological vs. rational-actor debate. Attention is also paid to the responsibilities that leaders have for acting in ways that strengthen international institutions and promote internationalist values. Throughout the module, seminars will draw on case studies from a variety of different geopolitical contexts including China, India, the US, the UK, Canada, and the EU.