Core: International Security

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor, Undergraduate

This is a required course for students in the Security Studies Program who have a concentration in International Security. It is also suitable for non-specialists who are interested in a survey of international security issues. The course examines a wide array of military and non-military factors that influence international security. The first section of the course provides students with a theoretical and conceptual overview of the traditional security agenda. The second section of the course looks at how the security agenda has been broadened to include sub-national and transnational challenges, such nuclear proliferation, cyber and biosecurity threats, environmental and demographic stress, democratization, political violence (civil and ethnic conflict, insurgency, and terrorism), and protracted conflicts. The third section of the course examines responses to this contemporary security agenda, concluding with a discussion about U.S. grand strategy in the face of these security challenges.