View Specification Document | Reading List

This course will enable students to critically evaluate and compare national security strategies as a 'whole-of-government' approach to the security challenges of the 21st century. Through in-depth country case studies students will analyse the evolution and application of grand strategy as a means to pursue the objectives that defend and advance national interest and security.

2 hour seminars once a week over 10 weeks

Generic regulations apply

None

Students will be required to write one essay (3000 words) worth 50% of the final grade, one report on security strategies (2000 words) worth 40% of the final grade, and a group presentation worth 10% of the final grade.

• To introduce students to theories of strategy with a focus on understanding why grand national security strategies are becoming more commonplace in the 21st Century

• To critically evaluate in-depth a range of European and international national security strategies and related documents.

• To enable students to identify and critically assess the actual processes that nation states employ to craft national security strategy documents.

• To introduce students to a variety of theoretical approaches to the study of different drivers that inform how and why states plan for coordinated use of the instruments of state power at their disposal as a means to defend and advance their national interests.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ Identify and explain the purpose of national security strategy and associated documents;

■ Be able to critically evaluate competing theories and apply relevant theoretical frameworks to the study of national security and grand strategy

■ Compare and critically analyse European and international security strategies

■ Advance reasoned and factually supported arguments on the evolution of national security strategy in a comprehensive written manner

Generic regulations apply