International security
and strategic studies
Master in European and International Governance
2020-2021
,Table of Content
Class 1: Kick-off session
• Introduction
• Course aims
• Course evaluation
• Study resources
• Popular criticism of strategic studies
• Working group organization
Class 2: the soldier and the state - MOD’s as security providers
• Recap
• The role of intelligence
• What military instruments
• Readiness of what, for what, for when?
• What strategic purpose for MOD power?
• Wielding the instrument in function of policy
• Policy reigns supreme
Class 3: International organizations and security
• Introduction
• The UN: a critical but difficult role
o The UN: designed as main forum for maintaining peace & security in the
world
o The UN charter and the ‘outlawing of war’
o Collective security and the central role of the UN Security Council (UNSC)
o The right of individual and collective self-defense under the UN charter
o UN peacekeeping operations
o Criticisms and challenges
• NATO: protecting Europe throughout the Cold War, and beyond?
o NATO and the Cold War
o Adapting the Atlantic Alliance to the post-Cold War era
o NATO post-2014: military evolutions…
o … and political dissensions
o Current issues:
o Short conclusion:
• The EU: towards ‘Strategic Autonomy’?
o The gradual emergence of an EU defense policy
o The evolving view of the EU on its geopolitical environment
o Recent developments in EU defense policy
o Current issues
2
,Class 4: great power competition
From ‘responsible stakeholder’ to ‘strategic competitor’: Unpacking the US
domestic debate on Sino-American competition
• Responsible stakeholder vs. strategic competitor
o Context: the rise of the ‘responsible stakeholder’-paradigm
o Clinton (1993-2001): engagement and enlargement
o G.W. Bush (2001-2009): great power cooperation in ‘war on terror’
o Obama (2009-2016): pivot/rebalance to Asia
o Responsible stakeholder vs. strategic competitor
• How did “we” get here?
o Great powers are bound to clash at some point: argument
o Authoritarian regimes (like China) are hard to deal with, especially under Xi
Jinping
o The United States (and Trump) have provoked China
o How did ‘we’ get here?
• What’s next?
o Recommendation (CSIS scenarios on Canvas)
o Strategic competition is likely here to stay…
• Mattelaer’s comments
Class 5: information: the fifth domain of warfare? A new approach to
power, strategy and conflict (by Laura Vansina)
• True or false?
• Information (geo)politics
o Information – power nexus
o Why now?
o Conceptual clarity
o Information politics
o Information geopolitics: the appeal
o Information geopolitics: challenging the status quo
• Russia: asymmetrical warfare
o Russian foreign policy goals
o Asymmetrical warfare
o Asymmetrical warfare: goals?
o Disinformation operations: what?
o Disinformation operations: the ecosystem of political warfare
o Disinformation operations: means?
o Disinformation operations: the process
o Near Abroad: the Maidan Revolution
o Destabilize western democracies: US elections 2016 & 2020
o MH17 shooting
o Navalny poisoning
• What is next?
o And now?
• Questions and discussion
• Mattelaer’s closing remarks
3
, Class 6: the technological and industrial foundations of defense
• Daniel Fiott: industry
• Maaike Verbruggen: technology – changing defense dynamics
o Changing dynamics in defense:
o Innovation
o The new technologies
o The new actors
o Questions and controversies
• Discussion
Class 7: deterrence, the military balance & nuclear weapons
• Part 1: on deterrence and the military balance
o Example
• Part 2: nuclear weapons and international security
o The unprecedented power of nuclear weapons
o The ‘nuclear revolution’ and military strategy
o What is a nuclear weapon?
o The ‘long peace’
o The first and second ‘nuclear ages’
o Towards a third ‘nuclear age’?
• Part 3: extended deterrence, NATO nuclear-sharing and the conventional-nuclear
spectrum
o Whose finger is on the button?
• Part 4: putting the nuclear genie back into the bottle?
o Two different logics
o Arms control and non-proliferation
o Nuclear disarmament
• Questions
Class 8: WG1
Class 9: WG2
Class 10: WG3
Class 11: conclusions
• Thematic course recap
• Course evaluation & exam preparations
• Review the ISSS course design & student feedback
• What comes next?
• Ask anything Q&A
4
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