Courses

Well, I’ve finally signed up for all five of the classes I’m taking this semester.

They are:

• HIST2400 – Medieval Civilisation: The Foundations
• HIST2401 – Christians, Muslims and Jews in the Middle Ages
• COMU1002 – Crossing Bridges: Communicating between Cultures
• COMU3223 – Mass Media and Society
• POLS2510 – International Peacekeeping

I’ve also already chosen my classes for first semester next year, but that’s for next year.
For my International Relations (POLS) subjects, there was really a lot of choice on offer this semester.
POLS2207 – Terrorism and Insurgency in World Politics
POLS2209 – Conflict in the International System
POLS2501 – Human Rights and International Politics
and POLS2510.

Some may wonder why I chose what I did. POLS2209 won out over 2207 because it was studying wider than just terrorism and insurgency, but still covered the topics in looking at international security.

POLS2510 won out over 2501 because, to be honest, human rights pretty much always come second to state interests, and so it’s almost a waste of time. The course description also said it was to look at the theory and practice of human rights in world politics, and the strengths and weaknesses in enforcing norms. It’s pretty much all weaknesses.

In the end, POLS2510 won hands-down because, while the first half of the semester will look at the “history and development of peacekeeping”, the second half looks at “the use of force, post-conflict reconstruction, civil-military cooperation, and the role of warlords, mercenaries and private companies in contemporary war zones”.

That’s interesting. Those are the actors and dynamics of localised conflict management. Peacekeeping or no, the second half of the semester is likely going to make that the most interesting subject of the bunch.

In those five subjects, there are a total of 17,700 words to be written by the end of October. I’ve had to assume the standard 2500-words for a couple of the essays, since they’re not specified in the course outlines, but it’s about accurate.

Given the time it has taken me, and the number of words in this post, a direct correlation would mean 31 hours to write everything for my university studies this semester. Doesn’t sound too bad, but of course it’s not a direct correlation. It doesn’t take into account the fact I didn’t have to research or reference this post.