PSCI 225
International Security Spring 2010
Division II
This is not the current course catalog

This course provides an introduction to international security, a field that is fundamentally about how states and non-state actors use force to achieve their political and economic objectives? We will seek answers to questions such as: when do states threaten to use force and for what purposes? Do alliances and multilateral institutions such as the United Nations help promote peace? Does the spread of nuclear weapons make the world a safer or more dangerous place? How do terrorists use violence to realize their objectives and when is it effective? Can intervention in civil wars prevent bloodshed and bring stability to failed states? How will “non-traditional threats” such as environmental scarcity, migration, and climate change shape international security in the twenty-first century? Throughout this course, students will be encouraged to consider the normative question of who should provide security in international politics and who should benefit from this protection.