Tags
WP
Admissions requirements
Introduction to Peace and Conflict Studies.
Description
‘International security’ is one of the most widely used – and abused – concepts in world politics. Hardly a day goes by without politicians and the media invoking the concept, alerting us to (alleged) threats to our safety which emanate from the international system: a nuclear-armed Iran, a new ‘Cold War’ between Russia and NATO, North Korean cyber attacks, territorial disputes in the East and South China Seas, the advances of ISIS etc.
The ensuing debates in political circles and the wider public are often alarmist, ahistorical, and analytically muddled. Frequently, the ostensibly ‘objective’ requirements of national security and international order are used to justify exceptional measures, such as increased defense spending at home and military intervention abroad.
This course will enable students to navigate this slippery terrain by providing a conceptually rigorous and historically grounded introduction to International Security Studies (ISS). ISS is an interdisciplinary field devoted to the nexus between (inter)national security and the use of coercion in world politics. Drawing heavily on War Studies and Strategic Studies, ISS investigates why, how and when states use coercive instruments – particularly, military force – to achieve their objectives. Using historical and contemporary case studies, students will learn about the causes of security competition between states and its manifestations, including wars, arms races, alliance formation, sanctions and nuclear deterrence. Students will also be introduced to the political, strategic and ethical dilemmas associated with the use of armed force and to the ways in which philosophers of war and military strategists have grappled with them.
Course objectives
Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:
Identify and analyze key challenges to international security.
Examine and critically evaluate the roles that coercion, specifically the use of armed force, plays in world politics.
Identify and assess the political, strategic and ethical dilemmas associated with the use of armed force and other coercive instruments to counter security challenges.
Timetable
Once available, timetables will be published here.
Mode of instruction
The course is taught through two-hour seminars, using a mix of short lectures, group discussions, student presentations and an in-class crisis simulation. During the course of the seminar, students are expected to take part in seminar discussion by presenting and defending their ideas and by delivering a group presentation. The role of the course instructor is to ensure the efficient running of the discussion.
Assessment
10% class participation
20% group presentation
30% mid-term exam
40% final essay
Blackboard
There will be a Blackboard site available for this course. Students will be enrolled at least one week before the start of classes.
Reading list
While not mandatory, students are encouraged to purchase one of the following two textbooks:
Alan Collins (ed.) 2012: Contemporary Security Studies, third edition, Oxford University Press.
Paul Williams (ed.) 2012: Security Studies: An Introduction, second edition, Routledge.
Registration
This course is open to LUC students and LUC exchange students. Registration is coordinated by the Curriculum Coordinator. Interested non-LUC students should contact course.administration@luc.leidenuniv.nl.
Contact
Dr. Kai Hebel, kai.hebel@gmail.com
Remarks
For the first session, students are required to prepare in two ways. First, they are to compose a list of what they judge to be the three greatest challenges to international security. They should be prepared to explain and defend their choices in classroom discussion. Second, they are to refresh their knowledge of the origins and course of the First World War by reading Michael Howard 2007: The First World War: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press. The First World War will serve as one of the key case studies throughout the course.