Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

Upon completion of this course, students should be able to:
1. Demonstrate a critical understanding of the special ethical challenges raised by contemporary national security challenges that will be faced by Australia now and into the future.
2. Explain the concepts and assumptions underpinning the ethics, norms and values of security policies
3. Evaluate national security policy options in ethical terms.
4. Critically analyse, reflect on and synthesise core concepts and theories of ethics and security, and be able to then communicate this knowledge to specialists and non-specialists.

Indicative Assessment

1. Short Essay:  20%, 1,000 Words. 
2. Research Essay: 50%, 3,000.
3. End of semester Examination: 30%.

In response to COVID-19: Please note that Semester 2 Class Summary information (available under the classes tab) is as up to date as possible. Changes to Class Summaries not captured by this publication will be available to enrolled students via Wattle. 

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Workload

One two-hour seminar per week (over 12 weeks) with the expectation of a further seven hours per week of independent study

Prescribed Texts

Required readings will be drawn from books and articles, as given in the unit outline.

Preliminary Reading

Brian Orend, The Morality Of War, 2nd Edition, Peterborough: Broadview Press, 2013
C. A. J. Coady, Morality and Political Violence, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Thomas Rid, Cyber War Will Not Take Place, London: Hurst, 2013.
Michael Skerker, An Ethics of Interrogation, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010.
Nigel Dower, The Ethics of War and Peace: Cosmopolitan and Other Perspectives, Cambridge: Polity, 2009.
Peter W. Singer, Allan Friedman, Cybersecurity and Cyberwar: What Everyone Needs To Know¸Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.
Gregory M. Reichberg, Henrik Syse, and Endre Begby (eds.), The Ethics of War: Classical and
Contemporary Readings, Malden MA: Blackwell, 2006.
John Locke, Two Treatises of Government, ed. by Peter Laslett (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), chs. 2-3 (pp. 269-282), and §87-88 (pp. 323-325).
Jean-Jaques Rousseau, The Social Contract And Discourses,  Tranlated By GDH Cole, Everyman's Library Edition, 1947, pp. v- 116
Michael Selgelid, Universal Norms And Conflicting Values, Developing World Bioethics, 5, 3, 2005

David Omand, Securing The State, Oxford University Press, 2010
Barry Buzan, Ole Waever and Japp de Wilde, Security: A New Framework For Analysis, Lynee and Renner Publishers 1998
Shelly Kagan, Normative Ethics, Westview Press, 1998
Brian Orend, The Morality Of War, 2nd Edition, Peterborough: Broadview Press, 2013
Hedley Bull, ‘Strategic Studies and Its Critics’, World Politics 20, no. 4 (1968): 593-605.
Ian Clark, Waging War: A Philosophical Introduction, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990.
C. A. J. Coady, Morality and Political Violence, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Thomas Rid, Cyber War Will Not Take Place, London: Hurst, 2013.
Michael Skerker, An Ethics of Interrogation, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010.
Nigel Dower, The Ethics of War and Peace: Cosmopolitan and Other Perspectives, Cambridge: Polity, 2009.
Peter W. Singer, Allan Friedman, Cybersecurity and Cyberwar: What Everyone Needs To Know¸Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.
Gregory M. Reichberg, Henrik Syse, and Endre Begby (eds.), The Ethics of War: Classical and
Contemporary Readings, Malden MA: Blackwell, 2006.
Larry May, ‘Killing Naked Soldiers: Distinguishing between Combatants and Noncombatants’, Ethics and International Affairs 19, no. 3 (2005): 39-53.
John Locke, Two Treatises of Government, ed. by Peter Laslett (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), chs. 2-3 (pp. 269-282), and §87-88 (pp. 323-325).
Jean-Jaques Rousseau, The Social Contract And Discourses,  Tranlated By GDH Cole, Everyman's Library Edition, 1947, pp. v- 116
Michael Selgelid, Universal Norms And Conflicting Values, Developing World Bioethics, 5, 3, 2005
Michael Selgelid, A Moderate Pluralist Approach to Public Health Policy and Ethics, Public Health Ethics, 2, 2, 2009
Michael Selgelid and Christian Enemark, Infectious Diseases, Security And Ethics, Bioethics 22, 9 2008

Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links