MSc in International Security

We are confronted by a growing number of new threats in international security ranging from civil war, terrorism and transnational crime to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

This programme provides students with a theoretical and empirical understanding of the new international security environment of the post-Cold War era, including the origins of conflicts and peace, the emergence of new security threats and the multiplicity of actors involved in conflict prevention, peacekeeping and peacemaking today. It aims to be praxis relevant by teaching students how to apply theoretical concepts to contemporary conflicts and current affairs.

You may also be interested in our related programmes:

• Development and Security
• European Governance
• Gender and International Relations
• International Development
• International Relations

The MSc programme lasts 50 weeks (October to September). It comprises six 12-week taught units and six assessed essays, followed by a dissertation.

Core units

• International Security
• Security Governance
• Theories of Securitisation

Optional units

Three optional units in the School of Sociology, Politics, and International Studies (SPAIS), chosen from a list supplied during the academic year. Topics vary each year but may include:

• Conflict, Security and Development
• Small Business Development
• Managing and Evaluating Development
• Development Skills in Practice
• Environmental Politics
• Politics of HIV/ AIDS in Africa
• Governing the Global Borderlands
• International Development Organisations
• Masculinities and IR
• Foreign Policy Analysis
• Research Methods
• Militarisation, Militarism and War
• Discourse Analysis
• International Human Rights
• Politics of Latin America
• Sino-US Relations
• East Asia and Global Development
• Japan and East Asia
• East Asia, Europe and Global Integration
• Rethinking the State
• Global Civil Society
• China's International Relations
• Religion and Politics in the West
• Globalisation and Culture
• Narrating the Self
• Interpreting Gender
• Philosophy of Social Science
• Popular music and society
• Nations and Nationalism
• Care, Labour and Gender: International Policy Development
• European Foreign Policy
• Liberalism, Terror and the Politics of Insecurity
• Nuclear (In)security

Third term

Independent study for dissertation.