Postgraduate Course: International Security (PGSP11162)
Course Outline
| School | School of Social and Political Science |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Available to all students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Credits | 20 |
| Home subject area | Postgrad (School of Social and Political Studies) |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
None |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | The course will introduce students to the main theories and approaches to security through historical and contemporary security issues. The field of security studies has widened significantly over the past 25 years, moving from purely military questions to other issues such as the environment or migration, and from a systemic or state-level understanding to society and the individual (human security). The course starts by first engaging with how scholarly and practical understandings of security have evolved in the past decades. In order to do so, the course explores some key scholarly developments in the evolution of security studies, most notably by showcasing the difference between more traditional rationalist approaches with constructivist and critical ones. The course then explores the conceptual and empirical meaning of 'security' through a number of key issues and topics, including the changing nature of war, the security implications of new technologies such as drones and cyber weapons, private security companies, counter-terrorism and risk. The goal is to explore what these developing areas of empirical security research mean for the concept of 'security', how different theoretical lenses help us to answer empirical research questions in different ways, how 'new' approaches to security relate to 'traditional' approaches, and develop an appreciation of ongoing limitations and challenges in the field. |
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| Displayed in Visiting Students Prospectus? | Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Delivery period: 2014/15 Semester 2, Available to all students (SV1)
|
Learn enabled: Yes |
Quota: 80 |
|
Web Timetable |
Web Timetable |
| Course Start Date |
12/01/2015 |
| Breakdown of Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 20,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
176 )
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| Additional Notes |
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| Breakdown of Assessment Methods (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| No Exam Information |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course you should have:
- An extensive knowledge and critical understanding of some of the major approaches in constructivist security studies;
- A reflexive intellectual grasp of some of the most challenging security issues today;
- An ability to apply specialised skills and analytical tools to a variety of empirical cases;
- To identify, conceptualise and define abstract problems and issues related to security;
- Transferable research skills such as advanced analytical thinking and communication skills. |
Assessment Information
This course is assessed by:
- 40% Literature Review of up to 1,500 words
- 60% Essay of up to 2,500 words
|
Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
- Classical security studies: an overview
- Critical security studies: an overview
- Wars, old and new (inc. the Revolution in Military Affairs and Network-Centric Warfare)
- Technology in counter-terrorism (inc. drones)
- Peacebuilding and intervention
- Securitization
- Energy and resource security
- Business and Security (including defence and arms trade, private military and security companies)
- The power of practitioners in international security
- Risk/Borders/Mobility
- Cyberwar and cybersecurity |
| Transferable skills |
Not entered |
| Reading list |
Barry Buzan & Lene Hansen (2009), The Evolution of International Security Studies, (Cambridge University Press).
Roland Dannreuther (2007) International Security: The Contemporary Agenda (Polity).
John Baylis et al. (2010) Strategy in the Contemporary World: An Introduction to Strategic Studies 3rd Edition (Oxford University Press).
Collins, A. (ed.) (2010) Contemporary Security Studies, 2nd edition,. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Williams, Paul (ed) (2008) Security Studies: An Introduction, Routledge
Michael E. Brown et al (2005), New Global Dangers: Changing Dimensions of International Security
Barry Buzan, People, States and Fear: An Agenda for Security Studies (1991)
B. Buzan, O. Waever and J de Wilde, Security: A New Framework for Analysis (1998)
Keith Krause and M. Williams (eds), Critical Security Studies 1996
Bill McSweeney, Security, Identity and Interests: A Sociology of International Relations (Cambridge Studies in International Relations), CUP 1999
Michael Sheehan, International Security: An Analytical Survey
Michael E Smith, International Security: Politics, Policy, Prospects, Palgrave 2010
R Wyn-Jones, Security, Strategy and Critical Theory,1999
Joseph Nye, Understanding International Conflicts (2000) |
| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Andrew Neal
Tel: (0131 6)50 4236
Email: Andrew.Neal@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mrs Gillian Macdonald
Tel: (0131 6)51 3244
Email: gillian.macdonald@ed.ac.uk |
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