National Security Threats to the 21st Century State

Dr Peter Martland

National Security Threats to the 21st Century State will focus on the myriad challenges facing Western national security today. The course emphasises contemporary threats while demonstrating the ever-increasing need to address both traditional and non-traditional sources of threats, specifically terrorism. Although traditional terrorist threats such as Jihadism and extreme right-wing nationalism still present a clear and present danger to the national security of many Western democracies, new technologies have introduced a host of hitherto unseen weapons of mass destruction and disruption. Accordingly, this course will examine a number of the ways in which Western societies might be threatened and the ways the state has responded to these threats.

These include:

• Cyber-terrorism including attacks on national and international commercial, financial, defence and governmental infrastructures
• The dangers of unmanaged mass migrations
• The use of social media for hostile purposes
• Terrorism either by direct attack or via biological agents
• The dangers presented by a disruption of vital services such as water, power, and communications.

The 12 lecture course is divided into several lecture blocks that engage each topic holistically while challenging students to identify the ways in which the subjects relate to a nation’s greater security concerns. The seminar part of the course is designed to allow students to produce security briefs based upon real-world threats while providing a detailed presentation of their recommended course of action. Students will benefit from a general knowledge of current affairs but will only be held accountable for material introduced in class. The course will include guest lectures by security community practitioners and the authors of relevant texts.

Assessment:

• 1 Final Exam: 45%
• 1 Final Essay: 45%
• Participation: 10%

Lecture Hours: 12 x 1 hour 15 minutes (total 15 hours)

Seminar Hours: 8 x 1 hour 15 minutes (total 10 hours)