POL 358 - International Security in a Changing World

This course provides an introduction to international security, the study of how states and non-state actors employ the threat and use of force to achieve their political and economic objectives. In this course, we examine questions such as: What are the origins of conflict? What strategies do actors in the international system use to employ force, and how have they changed in the nuclear age? What are the current problems facing decision makers today? The course begins with an overview of theories of the causes of war. It continues by examining the effects on strategies and conflict of recent technological revolutions. We conclude with the major contemporary threats to national and international security.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group II
Prerequisite(s): POL 240
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):

Evaluate data and/or sources.
Analyze institutions, formations, languages, structures, or processes, whether social, political, religious, economic, cultural, intellectual or other.
Think in sophisticated ways about causation, social and/or historical change, human cognition, or the relationship between individuals and society, or engage with social, political, religious or economic theory in other areas.