1. Demonstrate a comprehensive knowledge of security issues and governance in the present day, including their origins and regional context

Knowledge and Understanding

2. Critically evaluate the seriousness of various security threats in the contemporary world¿

Analysis

3. Attain an understanding of different schools of thinking in security theory and their methodological implications

Enquiry

4. Demonstrate the study skills necessary to write effectively in academic assignments

Communication

Selected Posts



During three weeks of the module, you will post a 500-word answer to a set question onto a discussion board. The weeks will be determined by which group you are in. You will receive formative feedback on those posts and a grade. At the end of the module, for a specified deadline, you will submit your two best answers in a combined document through Turnitin. N.B. The document will also include all the 300-word posts you uploaded, in a timely manner, to contribute to your Participation grade (see below).

LOs 1-3



Participation



You will have an opportunity to upload a 300-word response to the posts of other students during the eight weeks when you are not writing a 500 word-post. Assuming these responses meet basic academic standards (coherent argumentation, evidence-based reasoning, a bibliography and in-text referencing) they will contribute to your participation grade.

LOs 1, 3, 4



Essay



You will be required to write a 3,000-word essay answering one of a number of set questions. Essays will be submitted and marked through Turnitin.

LOs 1-2, 4

This module will examine a range of security issues organised by region and/or regional organisation, such as MENA (Middle East North Africa), Northern Eurasia, South and East Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, NATO and the EU. It will begin with security theory, including both traditional and critical approaches, and then move on to an examination of the global security architecture, centred on the United Nations. Across the module there will be some thematic content such as peacekeeping, multilateralism, and the impact of changing power relations on global and regional security. With an up-to-date curriculum, it will evaluate the effectiveness of the existing security mechanisms at the global and regional levels, ensuring students complete the module with a critical understanding of international security in the present day. This module also contains some employability-related content, in accordance with the university’s most recent employability framework.

The main focus will be on self-instruction, within a tightly structured framework and relying partly - not exclusively - on materials supplied to you by tutors. You will also be expected to seek your own materials and perform your own literature searches. Week by week you will work through self-instructional course material, (delivered on Blackboard) which provides the framework and focus for reading key texts and papers and undertaking specific set tasks. This work will be undertaken on an individual basis, but at various points you will be expected to interact and share material with other students in your learning group and your tutor via a discussion board.

On this module, you will examine a range of security issues organised by region and/or regional organisation, such as MENA (Middle East North Africa), Northern Eurasia (largely the post-Soviet space), South and East Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, NATO and the EU. You will begin with instruction on security theory, including both traditional and critical approaches, and then move on to an examination of the global security architecture, centred on the United Nations. You will also engage with some thematic content across the module, such as peacekeeping, multilateralism, and the impact of changing power relations on global and regional security. Following an up-to-date curriculum, you will evaluate the effectiveness of the existing security mechanisms at the global and regional levels, ensuring that you complete the module with a critical understanding of international security in the present day.

Peter Hough, International Security Studies: Theory and Practice, Routledge, 2020

Alan Collins (ed), Contemporary Security Studies, (6th ed), OUP, 2022 (includes online resources)

Paul D Williams, Security Studies; A reader, (4th ed) Routledge, 2023

Blackboard and library access online; you will need a computer for accessing Blackboard, websites and electronic journals.



Course texts and a module pack of readings will be delivered via electronic reading list for the course.