Junior Honours IR

[AR]

Hey- i'm trying to pick honours courses, but I don't know some of the lecturers. Has anyone had honours modules with Oliver Richmond, William Walker, Alison Watson or Frederic Volpi? What do people think are the better courses?
Thanks

[Miz Manda]

Dr. Volpi isn't here yet, he's starting in September.

[AR]

[s]Miz Manda wrote on 14:57, 17th Mar 2005:
Dr. Volpi isn't here yet, he's starting in September.




AH, well in that case then, just any of the others.. thanks!

[David Bean]

Ali Watson's class is incredbly easy: think the entire contents of the three First Year lectures, stretched out over an entire semester's course, and that's about it. I like her, though others have questioned her competence as a teacher. Marco can probably tell you more.

[hr]"For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?- Matthew 16:26

[Miz Manda]

Is that the European Integration module?

[julio]

[s]Miz Manda wrote on 22:53, 17th Mar 2005:
Is that the European Integration module?


Im guessing beano is referring to IR 3004 International Political Economy. Dr Watson also does European integration but i dont know the module code sorry... IR 3004 is actually an interesting course - if only because you can talk about the WTO and seattle etc... David Ricardo and Adam Smith are also interesting.

[hr]
"A revolutionary and an ardent patriot, he is a fighter for his country's liberation" - Marighella on the Urban Guerrilla

[Rob Milsom]

I had William Walker for International Politics of Nuclear Weapons (though I suspect the 3000-level module is Asian Security, so I can only give some general guidance). Back in the day, Asian Security was one of the more popular modules, and everyone I knew that did it certainly found it interesting. I assume he lectures it similarly to the way that he does sub-honours, i.e. with ample overheads. In terms of the way he tends to mark, he's more or less the departmental average - neither particularly easy, nor unduly harsh.

[David Bean]

Yep, I was talking about IPE - sorry for the confusion, she was on sabb the second semester of last year so I didn't realise she taught another class.

EDIT: Julio: are you who I think you are???

[hr]"For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?- Matthew 16:26

[Miz Manda]

I've chosen IPE but I'm slightly worried about it. I really enjoyed the lectures we got on it in 1st year but I'm completely backwards when it comes to maths. Is there a lot of actual economics involved?

[Guest]

er david you didnt do european integration then ?
which i can ensure you is both informative intresting and radically diffrent from anything else you study at honours let alone in the first two years of ir .

please know what your on about before you try and advise others

[Marco Biagi]

Dr Watson is incredibly down-to-earth and really approachable. Personally, I think she's amazing. She, and the module, reignited my interest in the entire subject, since I realised there were normal people teaching it and that it actually dealt with real issues rather than some of the IR system theory that personally I find to be duller than ditchwater.

A lot of people do seem to find her lectures less interesting, but I wonder how much that is based on the content and IR students tending either to be 'guns' or 'butter' students - and never the twain shall meet. She did bemoan at the start of IPE that sometimes it seemed like only her and Dr Imber weren't concerned with the sharp and pointy end of IR. I never had a problem with them. She's also big on 'alternative' methods. We had a simulation exercise in IPE and in her 4000-level we've got a short presentation on items of artwork in each tutorial as well as the normal stuff.

Also IPE doesn't involve huge amounts of maths unless you want it to. A fair proportion of the reading material does go into standard deviations and probabilities, but I just moved on if I got one of them. Since there is absolutely no statistical training in IR (and yes, I am a student who actually moans about *not* having been taught stats as a compulsory part), you'll be in the same boat as most of the students.

On the others, the only one I've had any experience of is Oliver Richmond, who has a reputation as very demanding, but also very rewarding to those who do do the necessary work. I was in one of his subhonours tutorials, and I wasn't exactly a diligent student at that point with all my union commitments. Ah, those were(n't) the days!

[David Bean]

[s]Unregisted User wrote on 22:47, 17th Mar 2005:
er david you didnt do european integration then ?
which i can ensure you is both informative intresting and radically diffrent from anything else you study at honours let alone in the first two years of ir .

please know what your on about before you try and advise others


Eh? I said I was referring to the IPE class, not the European Integration class, and what I said of it was true. What are you talking about?

[hr]
"For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?- Matthew 16:26