Introduction to International Security

This course introduces students to the analysis and recent history of military and other coercive actions in today’s fast-changing global system. It asks what causes states and non-state actors to take various violent and coercive actions internationally, and what the consequences (often unintended) of those actions are. It examines international wars and invasions, alliances, economic sanctions and chokepoints, international terrorism, nuclear weapons, the use of airstrikes and drones, and cyber conflict and other forms of gray-zone warfare. While we cannot cover the full gamut of relevant topics or geographical areas in the time available, this lecture course approaches these issues by analyzing and discussing selected current and recent events, using theories drawn from political science, other social sciences, and the policy world. The course’s primary goals are to use examples of current international security issues to develop students’ ability to analyze and critique competing cause-and-effect arguments, and to pose their own causal arguments about crucial global events.

Not open to students who have already received credit for POLS BC3118, Colloquium on Problems in International Security.