Instructional goals
The course aims at giving students the ability to understand both the causes and dynamics of the most challenging issues affecting international security.
Prerequisites
A very basilar knowledge of International Relations Theory could help, but it is not required.
Intended learning outcomes
The program intends to provide students with the skills to critically reflect on the main policies used by States and the international community to confront security challenges.
Course Contents
After a preliminary review on the concept of security and its evolution, the course deals with the main theoretical approaches to security and some of the most serious threats to international stability, that is to say, among others, terrorism, intra-state and international conflicts, transnational crime, energy shortage, cyber-threats, etc. The program also provides an overview of the security issues concerning some important regions of the world, including the Enlarged Mediterranean Area. Last but not least, the course analyzes some relevant actors and instruments through which States and the International Community face challenges to security (among which national and international security institutions, government bodies, NGOs, intelligence agencies, security branches of big strategic companies, etc.). Merging traditional and inquiry-based learning, the didactic approach systematically combines lectures and seminars. Therefore, all students are warmly invited to take active part in class discussions, with their colleagues and the teachers as well. Most of the classes will see the participation of senior experts from the military, police, international organizations, think-tanks, private corporations and the security & defense industry, invited as ‘special guest speakers’ by the professor. The final 3/4 classes of the course will be dedicated to special thematic workshops, during which student-teams will give oral presentations on contemporary security issues. One or two of the classes may also include presentations by students who attended the security policies program last year (presentations concerning the contents of the paper they wrote in partial fulfillment of the course).
Reference Books
Selected chapters (see below) from P.D. Williams – M. McDonald (eds.), Security Studies: an introduction, 4th edition, Routledge, 2023. The book can be bought at the main online book sellers (paperback and ebook editions are cheaper than the hardback edition); a copy of the book should also be available at LUISS Library. The reading material also consists of articles/documents freely available on the Internet (links are reported on this syllabus: see below). The ‘Security Policies 2024-2025’ page on “LUISS learn” (http://learn.luiss.it) will progressively collect all the power point files presented during the classes.
* Please note that the list of readings for non-attending students is wider than that of course attendees (see what is reported on this in the last part of 'assessment method' section).
Teaching Methods
Combining traditional and inquiry-based learning, the teaching method includes:
- traditional lectures X
- individual exercises X
- team works X
- role-playing or other kinds of simulation
- business games
- case studies X
- seminars X
- activities with enterprises and/or institutions X
- presentations and assignments X
- other
Assessment Method
Assessment criteria for attending students:
- class active participation + take home brief individual paper + team-workshops: 70%
- final oral exam: 30%
Teamworkshops criteria will be explained in detail at the beginning of the course and indicated on http://learn.luiss.it (see “Security Policies 2024-25”, “Workshop instructions 2024”). Regardless of the different exam sessions of the academic year, the
individual paper has to be submitted via e-mail (cmagrassi@luiss.it) no later than 3 weeks before the date selected by students for the oral exam. Should a student send the paper, and then for any reason decide to post-pone its oral exam, it will not be necessary to write a new paper. Students can select the topic of the paper among the issues included in the program; paper's length and redaction criteria will be communicated immediately after the beginning of the course and indicated on the security policies course page (2024-2025 ed.) of LUISS e-learning platform: http://learn.luiss.it (see “Paper redaction criteria”). Papers will be evaluated in contents, writing style and structure, and their grades will be known by students on the day of their oral exam. The latter will consist of 1/2 questions concerning the paper and 2/3 general questions on the contents of the course.
For non-attending students:
the oral exam counts for 100% of the final assessment (they do not write the paper and don’t take part in the teamworkshops) and, in addition to the internet articles/documents signed on the syllabus, the reading material includes all the (40) chapters of: P.D. Williams – M. McDonald (eds.), Security Studies, 4th edition, Routledge, 2023.
Thesis assignment criteria
Excellent grade (both paper and oral exam); class attendance and participation (including teamworkshops); strong interest in the discipline; original research proposal. The chair will select candidates only among those students that fully meet the needed criteria. Students can submit thesis requests NOT earlier than the date of their final oral exam - please do not send thesis requests before taking the oral exam.
Week 1
Weekly lesson format: 2 classes per week: 1h30' (plenary on campus) + 1h30' (plenary on campus). Order and topics of classes might slightly change.
LESSON 1
Introduction to the course: security as a multidimensional concept.
Presentation of the Instructor(s), brief review of the program and explanation of exam modalities; introduction to the discipline of security policies and the concept(s) of security. During (and in many respects before) the Cold War, security was defined and perceived mainly in military terms. After the fall of the bipolar system, the concept of security did change dramatically. Non-state actors expanded their role in security matters, while economic, energy, environmental, cyber and other non-(strictly) military concepts of security became increasingly important. Furthermore, globalization made it harder to conceive a clear distinction between national and international security. The first class deals with this process of transformation, by focusing on both the traditional and the ‘new’ dimensions of security.
Reading:
World Economic Forum, The Global risks report 2024. Free download here:
https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_The_Global_Risks_Report_2024.pdf
LESSON 2
Theories and policies of international security.
This class describes the basic features of the main theories of international security. The first part of the class will discuss realism, including its emphasis on the implications of anarchy and the importance of power in shaping States’ security policies and the likelihood of war. By elaborating on the “democratic peace” thesis, international trade theory and the role of international organizations, the second part of the class aims at describing and explaining the main points of the liberal approach to international security. The class will also (more briefly) deal with constructivism and dependency theories.
Readings:
- Slaughter A.M., International relations, Principal Theories, in Wolfrum R. (ed.), Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law, Oxford University Press, 6 pp. (freely available at the following link:
https://slaughter.scholar.princeton.edu/sites/g/files/toruqf4716/files/slaughter/files/722_intlrelprincipaltheories_slaughter_20110509zg.pdf)
- P. D. Williams – M. McDonald (eds.), Security Studies: an introduction, 4thedition, Routledge, 2023: Chapters 1, 2, 3
- Edward D. Mansfield & Jack Snyder, Democratization and war, 1995 (article freely available on: https://canvas.harvard.edu/files/3411125/download?download_frd=1
- W. Andy Knight, Is There a New International Relations Theory?, «Caribbean Journal of International Relations & Diplomacy», Vol. 1, No. 2, June 2013, pp. 27-37 (freely available on https://journals.sta.uwi.edu/ojs/index.php/iir/article/view/368/320 )
Week 2
LESSON 1
Intelligence and (inter)national security.
The class focuses on the role of intelligence service and intelligence analysis in trying to forecast serious risks for national and international security. The class will also deal with the complex relationship between intelligence agencies and security policy decisionmakers.
Reading:
P. D. Williams – M. McDonald (eds.), Security Studies: an introduction, 4thedition, Routledge, 2023: Chapter 29.
LESSON 2
Energy Security
The class will discuss the different meanings of energy security, the different perspectives from which it is possible to look at energy’s geopolitical implications and the strategies used by States to face the challenges connected to energy sources.
Reading:
- P. D. Williams – M. McDonald (eds.), Security Studies: an introduction, 4th edition, Routledge, 2023: Chapter 34.
Optional readings:
Free documents/articles from: https://www.iea.org/topics
Week 3
LESSON 1
The EU, European Security and NATO.
Several crises within and beyond European borders are significantly affecting EU’s security. Serious issues such as the war in Ukraine, mass migration flows, economic insecurity, conflicts and terrorism are challenging Europe as never before. In addition, the EU may still be challenged by possible negative consequences of Covid-19, the action of socio-political movements questioning its purpose and existence and its ambivalent and complex relations with other actors of the international system. Starting from this general framework, the class will critically reflect on the European foreign and security & defence policies. The class wants also to critically reflect on NATO as a multilateral security provider and, more in general, on the relation between the US and its European allies.
Readings:
- Documents and articles available at the following links: https://www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/strategic-compass-security-and-defence-1_en
https://natolibguides.info/nato2030/2022strategicconcept
Week 4
LESSON 1
Cyber threats from hacking to cyberwar.
Also because of its connection with other dimensions of security, the so-called cyber-threat is progressively becoming one of the most debated security issues of our times, or ‘the new frontier of (in)security’. This class focuses on the different ways to look at the cyber domain (also called by some the ‘5th dimension of warfare’) and some of the instruments States and private companies can use to deal with its challenges.
Reading:
- P. D. Williams – M. McDonald (eds.), Security Studies: an introduction, 4th edition, Routledge, 2023: Chapters 39 and 38.
Optional readings:
- Cyber Defence, NATO https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_78170.htm
NIS Directive
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2022/2555
LESSON 2
The Greater Mediterranean Area and its connection to international and Italian security.
The class wants to offer a review of some of the main security aspects concerning the Medietarranean region and its implications for Europe and Italy.
Reading:
Articles/papers on the Mediterranean area freely available at https://www.iai.it
Week 5
LESSON 1
Health and security.
Security experts have recently acknowledged at least three links between health and security: traditional diseases posing threats to human security (i.e. malaria, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, etc.); newly emerging diseases posing threats to national security (in terms of both deaths and economic disruption: Covid-19, SARS, MERS, avian flu, swine flu, etc.); some diseases connected to biological agents (such as anthrax, smallpox or plague etc.), which can pose threats to bio-security (within the context of international efforts to combating terrorism). The class will compare different ways in which the health-security nexus can be conceptualized and managed in terms of policies.
Readings:
- P. D. Williams – M. McDonald (eds.), Security Studies: an introduction, 4th edition, Routledge, 2023: Chapter 37
- US National Intelligence Council, Economic and National Security Implications of COVID-19 Pandemic through 2026 https://www.dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/NIE-Economic_and_National_Securtiy_Implications_of_the_COVID-19_Pandemic_Through_2026.pdf
- World Health Organization, Communicating risk in public health emergencies, 2017: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK540729/
- Optional readings:
World Health Organization (WHO), Terrorist threats to food, Guidance for establishing and strengthening prevention and response systems, http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/42619/1/9241545844.pdf
- WHO, Public health response to biological and chemical weapons: WHO guidance,
https://www.who.int/csr/delibepidemics/biochemguide/en/
LESSON 2
Private corporations and security: general overview and the EssilorLuxottica case.
Week 6
LESSON 1
Women and security.
When women lead and participate in peace processes, peace lasts longer. Research shows that achieving gender equality helps in preventing conflict, and high rates of violence against women correlates with the outbreaks of conflict. Despite the evidence, actions for women’s inclusion, leadership and protection remain inadequate. In some areas, there has even been a roll back on progress. At the same time, violent extremism is on the rise, so that women are not only targets of systematic sexual violence, since have become targets of recruiters as well — women made up at least 20 to 30 % of foreign terrorist fighters.
Readings:
- P. D. Williams – M. McDonald (eds.), Security Studies: an introduction, 4th edition, Routledge, 2023: chapter 35
- UN Security Council resolution 1325: freely available on https://peacemaker.un.org/node/105
- Gender perspectives in NATO Armed Forces (2022):
https://www.nato.int/cps/su/natohq/topics_101372.htm
LESSON 2
The protection of cultural heritage.
Attacks against heritage and cultural diversity have become a recurrent phenomenon in a number of recent armed conflicts (i.e. Syria, Iraq, etc.). Such attacks are often compounded by the looting and illicit trafficking of cultural objects, which contribute to global organized crime, economic insecurity and, in turn, to fueling armed conflict. Given this premise, and also referring to the role played by UNESCO and the UN Blue Helmets for Culture, the class will show how and why protecting cultural heritage (and integrating the cultural dimension in conflict prevention & resolution) constitutes not only a cultural emergency, but also a political, humanitarian and security imperative.
Reading:
P. Foradori, S. Giusti and A. G. Lamonica, Reshaping Cultural Heritage Protection Policies at a Time of Securitisation: France, Italy, and the United Kingdom, 2019: https://www.iai.it/sites/default/files/foradori-giusti-lamonica.pdf
Week 7
LESSON 1
Securing the critical infrastructures.
More than ever, international security depends upon safe access to the global commons and the protection of several critical infrastructures (in maritime, air, space and cyber-space domains). These infrastructures are essential to international commerce, communication and governance. However, they can be threatened by criminal organizations and terrorist groups: as the class wants to show, that is why it is vital states and the international community find ways to strengthen and maintain critical infrastructures and their responsible use and protection.
Readings:
- P. D. Williams – M. McDonald (eds.), Security Studies: an introduction, 4th edition, Routledge, 2023: Chapter 39.
- European Commission, Protection of Critical Infrastructures
https://joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/scientific-activities-z/critical-infrastructure-protection_en
- EU Directive on critical entities resilience:
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2022/2557/oj
- EU cybersecurity: https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/cyber-security
LESSON 2
Class on cyber-power and intelligence.
Week 8
LESSON 1
The future operating environment of military operations.
Readings:
P. D. Williams – M. McDonald (eds.), Security Studies: an introduction, 4th edition, Routledge, 2023: Chapters of part three (3)
LESSON 2
Environment and security.
After the Cold War, the relation between the environment and security has earned growing attention from both scholars and policymakers. The class will provide students with a framework to understand some of the most important environmental issues on the security agenda.
Reading:
- P. D. Williams – M. McDonald (eds.), Security Studies: an introduction, 4th edition, Routledge, 2023: Chapter 36.
Week 9
LESSON 1
Terrorism
A threat to global security well before 9/11 and the rise of al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, in the next years terrorism could decrease in terms of groups and activities, but it will hardly disappear from the security agenda of States. The lesson will include not only a descriptive explanation of contemporary terrorism, but also a part on counter-terrorism strategies (national and international level as well).
Readings:
- P. D. Williams – M. McDonald (eds.), Security Studies: an introduction, 4th edition, Routledge, 2023: Chapters 26-27.
- L. Corna, Introduction on Money Laundering and Financial Terrorism Risks, Iason, 2021:
https://www.iasonltd.com/doc/rps/2021/2021_Introduction_on_Money_Laundering_and_Financial_Terrorism_Risks.pdf
- FinanceInskeptionen, Terrorism financing - a very brief summary, 2016:
http://www.fi.se/contentassets/1944bde9037c4fba89d1f48f9bba6dd7/terrorism-financing-summary-160315_eng.pdf
LESS0N 2
Outer Space and security
Reading:
P. D. Williams – M. McDonald (eds.), Security Studies: an introduction, 4th edition, Routledge, 2023: Chapter 40.
Week 10
LESSON 1
Transnational crime.
Students will be given an overview of why and how in the last decades transnational crime has emerged as a threat to (national and global) security. The class will also discuss some recent initiatives undertaken to combat transnational criminal groups and their activities.
Readings:
P. D. Williams – M. McDonald (eds.), Security Studies: an introduction, 4th edition, Routledge, 2023: Chapter 31
EUROPOL (SOCTA/OCTA, IOCTA) reports: https://www.europol.europa.eu/activities-services/main-reports
LESSON 2
Migration and security.
This class wants to show how contemporary migrations affect (inter)national security. The goal is not only to explain different threats connected to population movements - which however can also represent an opportunity -, but also to illustrate how States and international organizations try to manage migration flows.
Reading:
- P. D. Williams – M. McDonald (eds.), Security Studies: an introduction, 4th edition, Routledge, 2023: Chapter 33.
Optional readings:
- Reports on Migration by OECD, World Bank, IOM:
https://www.oecd.org/migration/international-migration-outlook-1999124x.htm
https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/wdr2023
https://publications.iom.int/books/world-migration-report-2022
Week 11
LESSON 1* (*may include the first team workshop presentations)
Economic security
The relation between economics and security can be analyzed from two different (but related) perspectives, since “resources” can be viewed not only as a cause of insecurity, but also as an instrument for promoting development and peace. This class considers both the viewpoints and focuses on the contemporary dimension of economic national security (i.e. security of national companies and techno-industrial assets, relation between financial flows and security, instruments of economic security policy such as the Golden Power, etc.).
Reading:
-P. D. Williams – M. McDonald (eds.), Security Studies: an introduction, 4th edition, Routledge, 2023: Chapters 30 and 17.
Optional reading:
- S. Pasquazzi, Economic Intelligence, in V. Ilari – G. Della Torre (eds.), Economic Warfare, Italian Society of Military History, Acies, Milano, 2017, pp. 499-514
http://www.societaitalianastoriamilitare.org/quaderni/2017%20Quaderno%20Sism%20Economic%20Warfare.pdf
LESSON 2
Team workshops: presentations by students
Week 12
LESSON 1
Team workshops: presentations by students
LESSON 2
Team workshops: presentations by students (and conclusion of the program with course summary and final remarks)