Critical Approaches to Security

16.3.-22.4. Tue and Thu 12-14, U37 sh 4 (NB 1.-6.4. No lectures (Easter break) and 12.-18.4. Web module)

Lectures on 20 and 22 April are postponed because the lecturer is stranded in New York.
New time and place: Tue 27.4. 12-16, main building hall 9.

Registration for the course in WebOodi.

Compensations

4 credits of the study unit M235. Compensates the following two books from the exam: Gurr, Ted Robert: People versus States: Minorities at Risk in the New Century & Barkan, Elazar: The Guilt of Nations: Restitution and Negotiating Historical Injustice.

Target group/Course level

The course is aimed at students who have already passed the basic courses of IR (intermediate level) but it can be useful also for more advanced students who use critical approaches to security (CAS) in their master's theses.

Objectives

The course introduces students to different critical approaches to security developed during the past two decades. It shows how students can, in their own research, use these approaches to analyze critically different kinds of security practices.

Content

The course presents the development of CAS and the various schools of thought within it (Copenhagen, Aberystwyth, Paris, Feminism, Post-Colonialism and Post-Structuralism). The first two lectures introduce the main concepts and developments in CAS. The remaining lectures focus on central questions of the main CAS schools of thought. In each of these lectures one school forms the core of the lecture, but its connections and disputes with other schools are discussed, highlighting the fuzziness of the borders between the schools. Empirical case studies are used to show how the approaches can be used in practice. The final lecture offers a summary of the contemporary state of the art in CAS. In the end we will have a concluding discussion reflecting on our learning during the course.
- 16.3 Introduction: concepts and history

• 18.3. Widening and Deepening Security: Environmental security
• - Learning diary
• 23.3. Copenhagen School 1: Societal security
• 25.3. Copenhagen School 2: Securitization
• - Learning diary
• 30.3. Aberystwyth School: Security as Emancipation
• 1.-6.4. No lectures (Easter break)
• 8.4. Second Security: Feminism and Post-Colonialism
• - Learning diary
• 12.-18.4. Web module: Paris school: international political sociology of European security practices
• 20.4. Post-structuralism: security as practice
• - Learning diary and feedback
• 22.4. Conclusions

Completion

Course work consists of four elements. 1) Participation in class conversations and required readings (four articles). 2) Four times 1-2 page learning diary. 3) Short (2-3 pages) text on the basis of the videos and texts of the web module. 4) Thematic essay (7-10 pages).
The remaining credits of the study unit are to be completed in the form of a book exam within six months, at the latest, after the date of the course completion.

Grading

The course work will be graded on a scale from 0 to 5. Final mark will be based on: participation in class conversations (10%), web module (20%), lecture diaries (30%) and thematic essay (40%).

Course results and retake

The results of the course will be posted on the notice board of the Political Science. If the course work is not accepted or if the student wishes to raise his/her grade, he/she should contact the teacher within one month after the publication of the results and discuss arrangements for rewriting course work.

Course evaluation anddevelopment

During the last session, students will have an opportunity to give feedback on the course to the lecturer and to fill in an anonymous evaluation form. During the course feedback can be given anonymously.

When giving feedback, please evaluate the contribution of the teacher, your own contribution, the contributions of other students and the possible contribution of the Department office to the success of the course.