Contemporary Debates in International Security
Level:
Doctoral CEU code:
POLS 6138 CEU credits:
4 ECTS credits:
8 Academic year:
2009/2010 Semester:
Fall Start and end dates:
21 Sep 2009 - 11 Dec 2009 Co-hosting Unit(s) [if applicable]:
Department of International Relations and European Studies Academic Program:
Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science CEU Instructor(s):
Xymena Kurowska Full description:
In the recent decades, the field of security studies has become one of the most dynamic and contested areas in international relations. It has proven conducive to the emergence of a number of vibrant European ‘schools’ that established versatile research agendas drawing on broader social theory. This has developed vis-à-vis the traditionally conservative field of security and strategic studies which has however sought its revival in the post 9/11 era. In order to provide a comprehensive picture of these developments, the course surveys the field of international security as practised by positivist and post-positivist approaches, both from the macro and micro level. It aims to provide the students with an in-depth understanding of the contemporary theoretical debates in the discipline and the ability to identify different arguments so as to critically assess their analytical and empirical purchase.
The course consists in three parts. It begins with a session on the conceptual history of the field and the different approaches to the conceptualisation of security, from the established definition as a freedom from threat to the notion of its essentially contested nature (1). It proceeds by revisiting the foundational concepts in international security that have structured the mainstream of the discipline (2) and continues with post-positivist approaches (3) with an attempt to identify the major points of contention (and convergence) between these two. Within the former, the focus will be on security dilemma and deterrence, with a session on the role of intelligence in contemporary international security. Within the latter, larger part, the course will consider the claim by post-positivist scholars that the field be rethought as security is less about the absence of threat and more about technologies of social order: ‘security is about us’. At the juncture between these two the course will explore the foundations and developments within the European schools of security studies: Welsh, Copenhagen and Paris.
