The course offers an introduction to the field of international security studies and the core theoretical concepts and perspectives in the discipline. It will provide a comprehensive overview of theoretical approaches, from traditional theories spanning the realist-liberal divide, the constructivist turn at the end of the Cold War, to normative approaches, and poststructuralist critiques. The theoretical part of the course will be supplemented by a close examination of a range of traditional and new security issues, including military intervention, terrorism, and privatization of security. Additionally, institutional arrangements for the promotion and maintenance of security at the regional and global levels will be compared and contrasted, drawing on the legal basis of other parts of the ILGSPD programme. 

The first half of the course is taught in an intensive manner from Wednesday 8 January to Friday 24 January, prior to the start of the second semester. The second of the course is distributed through the second semester.

Every student will attend 24 sessions (2h x 24). Specifically, there is one introductory session, 16 sessions combining lecture and discussion, 4 sessions in a seminar format covering approaches to essay writing for political science, as well as other thematic issues, and 3 sessions in which groups of three-to-four students will present on topics of their choice, for between 15-20 minutes, followed by a 10 minute Q&A.

Evaluación

The final grade for this course is calculated based on the three tasks listed below. For (1) and (3), the deadline is 23.59h of the day stated. There is a 0.5-point (out of 10) reduction of the essay grade for submission during successive 24h periods. This means that a paper submitted 5 minutes late and a paper submitted 23 hour and 55 minutes late will receive the same penalty. 

1. The first is a short essay (up to 1500 words) based on the topic of seminars 2, 3 or 4. Choose one of the questions that will be provided separately corresponding to the seminar of choice. The essay is due one week after the day of the seminar. Worth 20% of the final grade. 

2. The second is a group presentation of between 15-20 minutes on an issue chosen by the group and related to the content of the course. All students are expected to attend all sessions, not only the ones they are presenting in. Worth 30% of the final grade. 

3. The third is a final written paper of up to 3000 words, answering one question from a list provided. It is worth 50% of the final grade.

Competencias, resultados de aprendizaje y actividades formativas (PDF)