IR3075 Leader Personality and Foreign Policy

Academic year

2024 to 2025 Semester 2

Further information on which modules are specific to your programme.

Key module information

SCOTCAT credits

30

The Scottish Credit Accumulation and Transfer (SCOTCAT) system allows credits gained in Scotland to be transferred between institutions. The number of credits associated with a module gives an indication of the amount of learning effort required by the learner. European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) credits are half the value of SCOTCAT credits.

SCQF level

SCQF level 9

The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) provides an indication of the complexity of award qualifications and associated learning and operates on an ascending numeric scale from Levels 1-12 with SCQF Level 10 equating to a Scottish undergraduate Honours degree.

Planned timetable

Semester 1: 3 - 5pm Thurs; Semester 2: 3 - 5pm Mon

This information is given as indicative. Timetable may change at short notice depending on room availability.

Module coordinator

Dr R K Beasley

This information is given as indicative. Staff involved in a module may change at short notice depending on availability and circumstances.

Module Staff

Dr R Beasley

This information is given as indicative. Staff involved in a module may change at short notice depending on availability and circumstances.

Module description

A thriving research area of foreign policy analysis has taken seriously the impact individuals can have on international relations. Political Psychology focuses on the characteristics of individuals and how this influences political processes and outcomes. Political psychologists who focus on political leaders have examined in detail the ways in which leaders' personalities, experiences, and personal traits affect their conduct of foreign policy and other politically important behaviours (organising political violence, heading international organisations, commanding wars, etc.). This module will examine approaches to the study of political personality, focusing primarily on social scientific methods and findings. Students will have the opportunity to conduct political personality profiles of leaders, including the use of automated computer software to analyse leaders' speeches and writings. This module involves an additional .5-hour/week political personality laboratory.

Relationship to other modules

Pre-requisites

BEFORE TAKING THIS MODULE YOU MUST PASS IR2006

Anti-requisites

YOU CANNOT TAKE THIS MODULE IF YOU TAKE IR4546

Assessment pattern

Coursework = 100%

Re-assessment

3-hour Written Exmination = 100%

Learning and teaching methods and delivery

Weekly contact

One 1-hour lecture per week, one 1-hour seminar per week, one 30 minute laboratory per week.

Scheduled learning hours

25

The number of compulsory student:staff contact hours over the period of the module.

Guided independent study hours

278

The number of hours that students are expected to invest in independent study over the period of the module.

Intended learning outcomes

  • understand the dominant approaches to the systematic study of political leadership in foreign policy.
  • be able to recognise the strengths and limitations of individual-level factors in explaining foreign policy.
  • develop skills in content analysis and the use of machine-assisted content analysis of political leaders.
  • develop skills in designing a research study, which is a transferable skill and also relevant to the IR dissertation module (IR4099).