Transnational Security

The concerns of national and international security have evolved considerably since the days of the Cold War. While states are still concerned with traditional threats such as military aggression from other states, emerging issues present different, yet no less compelling, challenges to security. These new challenges include terrorism, civil war, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, disinformation and narrative warfare, cyberconflict and cybersecurity, organized crime, fragile states, environmental catastrophes and climate change, and major public health crises such as COVID, Ebola, and HIV/AIDS. This course explores how security policy issues are identified and addressed at the national and international level. How prepared are states, international organizations, NGOs, and the private sector meet new security challenges? Are classic doctrines of deterrence still applicable? To what extent can technology be relied upon as a tool to address current security needs? And what new security threats are likely to emerge in the future?