Learning Strategies
This module will be taught by Distance Learning using Blackboard. The module will include written lectures, assigned readings (text-book and online), an online documentary video watching list and podcasts produced both internally and externally.
Key Information Set Data:
16% scheduled learning and teaching activities
84% guided independent learning
Additional Assessment Details
15% - Online Participation (Learning Outcomes 1-5)
25% - Reflective Portfolio (2,000 words) (Learning Outcomes 1-5)
60% - Essay (3,000 words) (Learning Outcomes 1-5)
Indicative Content
The course highlights what is widely regarded as being a 'missing dimension' of history in the twentieth century, the role of intelligence agencies and particularly their impact upon the decisions of international actors. This module defines the main aspects of theoretical debate (the intelligence cycle, the Kent/Kendall debate and Hinsley's discussion regarding efficacy) before taking an episodic look at the role of secret intelligence in the twentieth century and its use by a variety of governments. The module uses case studies to communicate examples of success and failure of modern intelligence agencies and asks the students to consider the relevance of both historic and present day-examples. Beginning with the origins of British Intelligence in 1909, the course looks at aspects of intelligence in the first and second world wars, in counter subversion and counter insurgency, in the Cold War and in the 'War on Terror'. The module includes a range of international examples aspects of the use of intelligence by the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, and Israel, as well as the use of intelligence and counter intelligence by sub-state and terrorist groups such as the Provisional IRA.
Resources
Blackboard VLE.
University subscriptions to journals and JSTOR, of particular importance, Intelligence and National Security, Terrorism and Political Violence, Contemporary British History, Foreign Affairs.
University Subscription to BOBNational.net (online documentary video streaming).
Access to voice recording equipment for production of professional-quality podcasts.
Texts
Christopher Andrew & David Dilks, The Missing Dimension: Governments and Intelligence Communities in the 20th Century (London, 1984)
Michael Herman, Intelligence Power in Peace and War (Cambridge, 1996)
Peter Gill and Mark Phythian, Intelligence in an Insecure World (London, Polity, 2012)
Robert Dover and Michael Goodman (eds), Learning from the Secret Past: Cases in British Intelligence History (Georgetown, 2011)
LEARNING OUTCOMES
1. DEVELOP AN IN-DEPTH AND CRITICAL AWARENESS OF HOW INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES HAVE INFLUENCED THE DECISIONS OF GOVERNMENTS IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY.
[Knowledge and Understanding]
2. UNDERSTAND THE HISTORIC CAPABILITY AND FIELDCRAFT IN ESPIONAGE AND COUNTERESPIONAGE. [Learning]
3. UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENT ROLES OF INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES BETWEEN COUNTRIES AND POLITICAL SYSTEMS OF GOVERNMENT.
[Learning]
4. ANALYSE KEY EVENTS OF THE PAST 100 YEARS, CRITICALLY EXAMINING THE ROLE OF INTELLIGENCE IN THE DECISION MAKING PROCESSES IN BRITAIN AND THE UNITED STATES.
[Analysis]
5. PROVIDE WELL RESEARCHED PIECES OF WORK IN AN APPROPRIATE ACADEMIC STYLE. [Communication]