PREREQUISITES

A very basilar knowledge of International Relations Theory could help, but it is not required.

COURSE CONTENTS

The course offers an introduction to Security Studies (SS), a sub-discipline of International Relations (IR). After a preliminary review on the concepts of security and strategy and their 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 conflicts, transnational crime, cyber-threats, etc. The program also provides an overview of the security issues concerning the ‘global village’ and some important regions of the world, with a focus on the Greater Mediterranean Area. Last but not least, the course analyzes some relevant instruments through which States and the International Community face challenges to security. 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, NGOs, think-tanks and the defense industry, invited as ‘special guest speakers’ by the professor. At least two classes will be dedicated to special thematic workshops, during which student-teams will give oral presentations on contemporary security issues (workshops format and related list of topics will be communicated immediately after the beginning of the course). One or two of the classes may also include brief presentations by students who attended the security studies program last year (presentations concerning the contents of the paper they wrote in partial fulfillment of the course). The program will also provide students with a “study visit” to a public organization of the security and defense sector. The best students of the course (in terms of both paper and oral exam, cfr. infra) will be selected for undertaking internships in private firms dealing with security affairs.