Selected Issues: International Security Studies

Course Objective

Learning outcomes:

A. Knowledge and understanding - The student has acquired knowledge and understanding of:

(1) the core debates in international security;

(2) key issues, approaches and main theories in international security, including the security, security dilemma, securitization theory, rally-around-the-flag effect, and ethnopolitical conflict;

(3) have an advanced understanding of selected topics, including the United Nations system;

(4) have a thorough understanding of how international security is affected by the deepening interaction between national and international politics.

B. Skills - The student is able to:

(5) critically examine issues of international security at a high level of conceptual abstraction as well as translate them into terms understandable by a wider public;

(6) summarize, evaluate, and synthesize research results from political science and related fields and assess the policy relevance of these results;

(7) carry out in-depth academic theoretical and empirical research on a topic of international security;

(8) learn, collaborate and communicate in an intercultural context.

C. Attitude - The student displays:

(9) intellectual integrity and a willingness to self-assess and take responsibility for their own learning process;

(10) a critical attitude towards advanced literature in international security and political science more broadly;

(11) an open, reflexive and independent attitude towards prevailing views on politics and their societal context.

Course Content

The course introduces students to the field of international security, its main concepts and debates. We begin with the obvious question of how international security is defined and whether a broad notion of international security, which includes human security or environmental security is useful. We will then discuss the security dilemma as a fundamental challenge to the provision of security in the international system (as well as in weak and civil war-torn states). We will discuss the role of international norms, international institutions and a range of non-state groups in mitigating the security dilemma and managing security issues. In order to better understand how international security is affected by the deepening interaction between national and international politics, we will examine the impact of domestic politics on international conflict, particularly how public opinion and democratic politics influence government policy during conflict. We also critically reflect on the field of security studies and the question of how ‘Western’ the field is and how it can be de-colonized.

Additional Information Teaching Methods

This course will be taught as a series of interactive lectures

Method of Assessment

Literature

Additional Information Target Audience

Students in the specialisation International Relations, Security and Global Order (IRSGO).

Elective course for students in the other specialisations.