esade

International Security (2225.YR.005437.2)

General information

Type:

OBL

Curs:

3

Period:

S semester

ECTS Credits:

4 ECTS

Teaching Staff:

Group Teacher Department Language
Year 3 Gabriel Garroum Plà Esade ENG

Prerequisites

No specific prerequisite

Previous Knowledge

International Security distinctively engages with a interdisciplinary and multifaceted analysis of security, seeking to introduce students to core knowledge of a range of contemporary of issues and threats, from nuclear proliferation to environmental catastrophes.

COURSE CONTRIBUTION TO PROGRAM

Special emphasis is placed upon developing strong analytical skills, applicable to real empirical cases. This should allow the students to effectively assess a) how does an issue become a security problem, b) which is the historical background of the issue and why it is important in the present, and c) what is the best conceptual framework to think and address the issue.Hence, the logic of the course is to help students deepen their knowledge on current affairs, historical trajectories, and different narratives and practices of international security issues.

Course Learning Objectives

After the completion of this module, students will be able to:

- Learn the key aspects of the field of international security.
- Understand the different concepts and theories to explore security. Discover the future directions in international security.
- Apply your knowledge to a real case.
- Propose alternatives to real problems.

CONTENT

1. Introduction: The International in Security, Security in the International

2. Thinking and Locating Security: Theories and Issues in Contemporary International Security

3. The International Security Landscape: Actors and Institutions

4. The Many Faces of Contemporary Wars: From International Interventions to Global Insurgence and Beyond

5. Strategic Studies, Nuclear Threats, and Deterrence

6. Global, Human and Critical Security

7. The Politics of Gender in International Security

8. International (Im)mobilities: Migration and Security

9. Environmental Security

10. Cybersecurity, Data, and Infrastructures

11. Concluding Remarks: The Future of International Security

Methodology

This module is taught through 11 sessions of 4 hours each. Sessions will be divided in two parts. In the first part, a presentation made by the lecturer that will introduce and cover the main aspects the session is dealing with. The second part will work as a seminar/workshop, in which the students will be able to work in groups towards the completion of the final project. Details about the final project will be explained at the beginning of the module.

Students are expected to, at least, skim-read some key texts that will be used to deepen the knowledge of crucial aspects of conflict analysis, management, and resolution. Throughout the sessions, students' participation and engagement with the subject will be expected and encouraged. All sessions will provide different material to stimulate doubts, questions, and debate among peers.

Assessment criteria

The module's assessment is based on the production of a maximum 20-pages security report. Students will need to choose a thematic area, find a security problem based on a newspaper or journal article, and include the following:

- Introduction.
- Section 1: The genealogy of the problem, or why are we here.
- Section 2: Analysis of the security problem: conceptual lenses, actors, and institutions, or how is it being addressed.
- Section 3: Proposing alternatives to solve the problem, or how to reimagine.
- Conclusion.

These are the potential thematic areas:

- Nuclear and WMD proliferation.
- Precarious lives: Food scarcity and beyond.
- Infrastructures and supply chain crises.
- Security in the Cyberspace.
- Artificial intelligence, algorithms, and data in security.
- Environmental security and climate change.
- Gender(ing) security.
- Regional, non-western understandings and security practices.
- The changing landscape of war: states, terrorism, and hybrid
warfare.
- Borders and migration.

The report will be briefly presented during the exam day at the end of the module.

Bibliography

ADDITIONAL GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

Barnett, Thomas P. M. (2004): The Pentagon's New Map. War and Peace In the Twenty-First Century, New York: Berkeley Books
Baylis, John; Wirtz, James y Gray, Colin (eds.) (2007): Strategy in the Contemporary World: an Introduction to Strategic Studies, Nueva York: Oxford University Press
Beebe, Shannon y Mary Kaldor (2010): The ultimate weapon is no weapon. Public Affairs
Booth, Ken (ed). (2005): Critical Security Studies and World Politics, London: Lynne Rienner
Booth, Ken y Wheeler, Nicholas J. (2008): The Security Dilemma: Fear, Cooperation and Trust in International Politics, Basingstoke: Palgrave
Brown, Michael (ed). (1993): Ethnic Conflict and International Security: Princeton University Press
Burk, James (1994): The Military in New Times, Oxford: Westview Press Burns, Richard (2009): The Evolution of Arms Control: From Antiquity to
the Nuclear Age, Nueva York: Praeger 3
Buzan, Barry; Jones, Charles y Little, Richard (1993) The Logic of Anarchy: Neorrealism to Structural Realism, Nueva York: Columbia University Press
Buzan, Barry y Hansen, Lene (2013): The Evolution of International Security Studies, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Buzan, Barry; Ole Waever y Jaap de Wilde (1998): Security: A new Framework for Analysis, Boulder: Lynne Rienner
Clarke, Richard A. y Knake, Robert K. (2010) Cyber War. The Next Threat to National Security and What to Do about it, Nueva York: Harper Collins
Clausewitz, Karl von (1976): On War, Princeton: Princeton University Press Collins, Alan (2007): Contemporary Security Studies. Oxford University Press
Colom, Guillem (2009): Entre Ares y Atenea. El debate sobre la Revolución
en los Asuntos Militares, Madrid: IUGM
Evans, Gareth (2008): The Responsibility to Protect, Washington D.C.:
Brookings Institution Press
Gill, Peter y Phytian, Mark (2006): Intelligence in an Insecure World, Cambridge: Polity Press
Hoffmann, Bruce (2006): Inside terrorism, Nueva York: Columbia University Press
Jervis, Robert (2010): Why Intelligence Fails, Ithaca: Cornell University Press
Jordán, Javier (Ed.) (2010): Terrorismo sin fronteras. Actores, escenarios y respuestas en un mundo global, Aranzadi: Pamplona
Jordán, Javier, Pilar Pozo y Josep Baqués (2011): La seguridad más allà del estado. Actores no estatales y Seguridad internacional. Plaza y Valdés
Kaldor, Mary (2001): Las nuevas guerras: La violencia organizada en la era global, Barcelona: Tusquets
Kaldor, Mary (2007): Human Security, Cambridge: Polity Press Koblentz, Gregory (2011): Living Weapons, Biological Weapons and
International Security, Ithaca: Cornell University Press Lucarelly, S.; Luk Van Langenhove y Wouters, J. (2012): The EU and
Multilateral Secuity Governance, London: Routledge
Merlingen, Michael (2012): EU Security Policy, London: Lynne Rienner
Nye, Joseph (2009): Understanding International Conflicts . Pearson Longmann
Pita, René (2008): Armas químicas. La ciencia en manos del mal, Madrid: Plaza y Valdés
Pita, René (2008): Armas Biológicas. Una historia de grandes engaños y erroresl, Madrid: Plaza y Valdés
Rynning, S., y Marquina, A. (2010): From the Hindu Kush to Lisbon: NATO, Afghanistan, and the future of the Atlantic Alliance. Madrid: UNISCI.
Snyder, Craig A. (2008): Contemporary Security and Strategy, Basingstoke: Palgrave
Steven, Metz (2007): Rethinking Insurgency, Carlisle: Strategic Studies Institute
Terriff, Terry; Croft, Stuart; James, Lucy y Morgan M. Patrick (2007): Security Studies Today, Cambridge: Polity Press

Timetable and sections

Group Teacher Department
Year 3 Gabriel Garroum Plà Esade

Timetable Year 3