Introductory description

PO135: Exploring International Security introduces students to the study of security in world politics. The module examines how security threats are identified, interpreted, governed, and contested across a range of contemporary issues. Rather than treating security as a fixed or self-evident concept, it asks how different actors define insecurity, whose security is prioritised, and what political consequences follow from particular security practices.
The module is designed as an introduction to key debates in International Security. It combines conceptual foundations with research-led engagement with contemporary cases. Topics vary from year to year in order to reflect current developments in world politics and the research expertise available within the Department. Indicative themes may include war and intervention, counter-terrorism and counter-extremism, environmental security, border security and migration, far-right extremism, everyday and vernacular security, gender and political violence, and regional or great-power security strategies.
By the end of the module, students will have been introduced to the analytical tools required to study security critically and empirically. They will be encouraged to move beyond common-sense understandings of threat and to evaluate how security is produced through institutions, ideas, practices, technologies, and historical contexts.

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

The precise content of the module may vary from year to year in order to reflect contemporary developments in International Security and research-led teaching within the Department. Indicative topics may include:

1. Introduction to International Security: concepts, cases, and controversies
2. War, intervention, and the politics of international order
3. Grand strategy, regional security, and great-power politics
4. Environmental security and climate-related insecurity
5. Terrorism, counter-terrorism, and counter-extremism
6. Reading week
7. Far-right extremism, radicalisation, and political violence
8. Everyday, vernacular, and human security
9. Borders, migration, and the politics of insecurity
10. Gender, violence, and participation in armed conflict

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Demonstrate a basic understanding of how international relations and international security (IR/IS) contributes to the study of politics as a whole.
• Demonstrate a basic knowledge of different approaches to the study of IR/IS, including a critical awareness of ideational approaches and the role of ideas in global society.
• Be able to relate scholarly literature theorising IR/IS and actual contemporary political developments including very topical events.
• Be able to make informed comparisons of various strengths and weaknesses of different IR/IS approaches.

Indicative reading list

Reading lists can be found in Talis

Subject specific skills

TBC

Transferable skills

Written communication skills
Oral communication skills
Problem-solving skills
Skills in the use of information technology
Skills of interpretation and the critical analysis of primary and secondary sources
Awareness and sensitivity to diversity (in terms of people, cultures) and the ability to understand unfamiliar ideas and ways of thinking
the ability to digest, retain and apply complex information and ideas
Ability to conduct research and reference their work appropriately
Time management skills and the ability to meet deadlines
The ability to reflect critically on the extent and limitations of how and what they have learned, discovered and understood