Handbook

This course conceptualises and contextualises international security and peace through the lens of the academic discipline of International Relations. The goal is to equip you with the knowledge of different approaches, competing paradigms, and theoretical debates relevant to understanding the real-world security issues unfolding in the contemporary international politics. The first part of the course explores the traditional approaches to international security and examines such pivotal international issues as the rise of China and the transformation of the global power structure, Russia’s foreign policy resurgence and implications for the trans-Atlantic security, the spread of nuclear weapons and the North Korean nuclear crisis, the geopolitical dynamics surrounding the South China Sea dispute, the survival of small and middle powers amongst great power confrontation, and other issues. The second part of the course shifts the focus to the non-traditional/human security threats in the 21st century with special emphasis on ethnic and civil conflicts, terrorism, environmental degradation and climate change, cyber-security, and other issues falling under the category of non-traditional security.