PEACE, CONFLICT AND SECURITY

The aim of the course is to provide a broad understanding of the field of security studies and of the main characteristics of strategy in the contemporary world. The main schools of thought within the discipline will be surveyed including the burgeoning field of critical security studies. The course will also provide further grounding in international relations theory. Additionally, case studies will be adopted to show how theoretical concepts are applied to better understand the security dynamics of a specific region. In so doing, the course intends to marry tools of analysis drawn judiciously from the field of security studies with a serious and detailed examination of local features and forces, as provided by the best of area studies. Students are invited to apply the concepts illustrated to a specific case in the region of their choosing, preferably connected to their thesis topic.

Learning outcomes, by the end of the course students will:
a) have acquired knowledge and understanding at an introductory undergraduate level of the field of security and in particular international security;
b) will be in a position to trace and understand patterns of peace and conflict;
c) will have a theoretical understanding of case studies in global security studies;
d) will be able to detect long term trends in international security;
e) will have increased their autonomy of judgment by classroom discussion;
f) will have improved their communication ability in English though classroom presentations undertaken on a volunteer basis;
g) will have an analytical understanding of international security.
h) will be equipped to go on international exchanges with scalable skills the will enable them to take more advanced classes in the field of security studies.

Basic analytical skills, ability to access an online teaching platform.

Approaches to Security
2. Realism
3. Liberalism and Liberal Internationalism
4. Historical Materialism
5. Peace Studies
6. Social Constructivism
7. Critical Security Studies: A Schismatic History
8. Critical Security Studies II - Narratives of Security: Other Stories, Other Actors
9. Postcolonialism
10. Human Security
11. Gender
13. Popular Culture
Part 2: Deepening and Broadening Security
14. Military Security
15. Regime Security
16. Societal Security
17. Environmental Security
18. Economic Security
19. Development and Security
Part 3: Traditional and Non-Traditional Security
20. Coercive Diplomacy: Countering War-Threatening Crimes and Armed Conflicts
21. Weapons of Mass Destruction and Proliferation
22. Terrorism
23. Humanitarian Intervention
24. Energy Security
25. The Weapons Trade
26. Health
27. Transnational Crime
28. Cyber-security
29. Security Studies Past, Present and Future

Primary (required) text:
Alan Collins, Contemporary Security Studies, Sixth Edition, Oxford University Press

The following text is suggested for extra credit but not necessary to achieve the highest grade:
Routledge Handbook of Gender and Security, Edited By Caron E. Gentry, Laura J. Shepherd, Laura Sjoberg, 2020

Participation in the online fora is essential. This will sharpen your knowledge and comprehension interdisciplinary skills in line with the overall objective of the PISE program. There will be an oral exam at the end of the course but participation in the online forum and full interaction with the online material will certainly be taken into account. This mixed approach will help fulfill the learning objectives of the course. Your communication skills will be enhanced by the need to take an oral exam coupled with the need to participate in written form in the online forum. Students will be able to volunteer to make an in class presentation, individual or collective, for extra credit. In this instance extra credit is aimed at highly capable students who may benefit from an additional challenge that might not be suitable as required work for all students. Extra credit can thus promote differentiated instruction by factoring in optional work in the assessment of student performance. Extra credit can also be earned by participating in high level external activities. As for grading, the exam will be marked on a scale ranging from 0 to 30. The minimum passing grade is 18. Honors ("lode") will be granted only for exceptional capacity of judgment and excellent knowledge of the topics under evaluation.

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Lectures and in class presentation for extra credit.

Questo insegnamento tratta argomenti connessi alla macroarea "Cooperazione internazionale" e concorre alla realizzazione dei relativi obiettivi ONU dell'Agenda 2030 per lo Sviluppo Sostenibile