This course focuses on three different current international security issues to give students depth in global security problems, especially those related to inter-state conflict such as arms races, international law, nuclear weapons, crisis bargaining and cyber warfare. For each topic, the course addresses key controversies and issues, explores theoretical explanations, and evaluates possible policy solutions.

Learning Outcomes

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

1. apply general concepts and theories in international security to specific topics;
2. analyse the main controversies and debates within key issues in international security;
3. evaluate debates about the use of international institutions to solve serious issues in global security; and
4. make informed arguments about the best ways to use policy to reduce insecurity and improve security in the international arena.

Staff Feedback

Students will be given feedback in the following forms in this course:

• written comments
• verbal comments
• feedback to whole class, groups, individuals, focus group etc

Student Feedback

ANU is committed to the demonstration of educational excellence and regularly seeks feedback from students. Students are encouraged to offer feedback directly to their Course Convener or through their College and Course representatives (if applicable). The feedback given in these surveys is anonymous and provides the Colleges, University Education Committee and Academic Board with opportunities to recognise excellent teaching, and opportunities for improvement. The Surveys and Evaluation website provides more information on student surveys at ANU and reports on the feedback provided on ANU courses.

Class Schedule

Week/Session	Summary of Activities	Assessment
1	History of Warfare
2	War as Bargaining
3	Negotiation (I)
4	Negotiation (II)
5	Arms Races
6	Nuclear Weapons
7	Territorial Peace
8	Alliances
9	Cyber Warfare
10	Hybrid War
11	Environment and Conflict
12	Russia and the West

Assessment Summary

Assessment task	Value
Research Essay	40 %
Policy Memo	25 %
Negotiation Exercise	25 %
Participation	10 %

* If the Due Date and Return of Assessment date are blank, see the Assessment Tab for specific Assessment Task details

Policies

ANU has educational policies, procedures and guidelines, which are designed to ensure that staff and students are aware of the University’s academic standards, and implement them. Students are expected to have read the Academic Misconduct Rule before the commencement of their course. Other key policies and guidelines include:

• Student Assessment (Coursework) Policy and Procedure
• Special Assessment Consideration Policy and General Information 
• Student Surveys and Evaluations
• Deferred Examinations
• Student Complaint Resolution Policy and Procedure

Assessment Requirements

The ANU is using Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the Academic Integrity . In rare cases where online submission using Turnitin software is not technically possible; or where not using Turnitin software has been justified by the Course Convener and approved by the Associate Dean (Education) on the basis of the teaching model being employed; students shall submit assessment online via ‘Wattle’ outside of Turnitin, or failing that in hard copy, or through a combination of submission methods as approved by the Associate Dean (Education). The submission method is detailed below.

Moderation of Assessment

Marks that are allocated during Semester are to be considered provisional until formalised by the College examiners meeting at the end of each Semester. If appropriate, some moderation of marks might be applied prior to final results being released.

Assessment Task 1

Research Essay

1.     Choose one of the following factors. For this factor, write an essay addressing whether it reduces the risk of war or not:-

a.      International law

b.     Military Alliances

c.      Arms Control Agreements

2.     Will conventional military operations be replaced as the battlespace of the future by cyber or other types of warfare? Justify your answer.

3.     Do nuclear weapons make the risk of a conflict on the scale of the two World Wars negligible? If so, why? If not, why not?

4.     Are arms races irrational behaviour? Justify your answer.

5.     Does a state or state leader’s reputation matter in international politics? Justify your answer

Assessment Task 2

Policy Memo

You should choose one of the situations or crises from your weekly tutorials. You must write a policy memo of 800 words recommending a course of action to the appropriate policy maker.

Assessment Task 3

Negotiation Exercise

Week 39 – US-Iran Nuclear Deal 2015

 

Recommended Reading: Parsi, Trita. 2017. Losing an enemy: Obama, Iran and the Triumph of Diplomacy. New Haven: Yale University Press

 

Week 40 – Israel-Egypt Camp David Peace Accord 1978

 

Recommended Reading: Quandt, William B. 1986. Camp David: Peacemaking and politics. Washington DC: Brookings Institute Press

 

Week 41 – Russia-Ukraine Minsk Protocol 2014

 

Recommended Reading: Allen, Duncan. 2020. The Minsk Conundrum: Western Policy and Russia’s War in Eastern Ukraine. London: Chatham House. Available at https://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/default/files/2020-05-22-minsk-conundrum-allan.pdf

 

Week 42 – US-USSR INF Treaty 1987

 

Recommended Reading: Service, Robert. 2015. The End of the Cold War: 1985-1991. London: Public Affairs

Week 43 - US-Taliban Agreement for Bringing Peace to Afghanistan 2020.

 

Recommended Readings: Malkasian, Carter. 2021. The American War in Afghanistan: A History. New York: Oxford University Press

 

You will be split into workshops of 40 students each. The negotiation exercises are run over five weeks. Each exercise focuses on a separate case study (see above). You will be assigned at random to a weekly case study then to an actor within the case study (e.g. the US-Iran week, then one side is the US, the other is Iran).

 

Prior to the start of the exercise, the non-participating students (ie students in the tutorial group who are not negotiating that week) are asked to rate two things on a scale of 1-10

 

1) Which side does better out of the current status quo and

 

2) Which side does better out of a war

 

The results are not made known to either of the participating sides, to reflect the real world uncertainty.

 

The two teams then toss a coin to see who makes the first offer. Each team has at most fifteen minutes to make an offer on each round. Once the first offer is made the second team can either accept the offer in its entirety or make a counteroffer of their own. This continues for fifty minutes. When we reach fifty minutes, the team which were given the latest offer can choose to either accept, revert to the status quo or go/return to war. 25% of the marks for this assignment are based on the outcome of the negotiation. More specifically, this means that

 

If

 

a) the final offer is accepted then the other students vote again on a scale of 1-10 who got the best deal. Extra marks are then awarded proportional to who did best (relative to the status quo). So if one team is awarded 6/10 when the status quo would have given them 5/10, then they get 6 points and the other side get 4, to reflect a 20% improvement relative to the status quo

 

b) if the other side choose war then the teams get whatever the other students think they would get if there is a war. But both teams lose two points to represent the destruction caused by the war.

 

c) if there is no change then both sides get whatever the other students thought they would get in the status quo.

 

The remaining 75% of the mark for the assignment is split evenly between three things

 

i)                  Quality of research and preparation (as judged by the tutor)

ii)                Ability of the students to judge accurately their own and their counterparts’ bargaining power and breakdown points

iii)              Ability of the students to deal effectively with the other team (build empathy where necessary, avoid creating unnecessary future problems, ensure compliance with the terms if terms are reached). 

Assessment Task 4

Participation

You must show up to the tutorials and be prepared to participate actively

Academic Integrity

Academic integrity is a core part of the ANU culture as a community of scholars. At its heart, academic integrity is about behaving ethically, committing to honest and responsible scholarly practice and upholding these values with respect and fairness.

The ANU commits to assisting all members of our community to understand how to engage in academic work in ways that are consistent with, and actively support academic integrity. The ANU expects staff and students to be familiar with the academic integrity principle and Academic Misconduct Rule, uphold high standards of academic integrity and act ethically and honestly, to ensure the quality and value of the qualification that you will graduate with.

The Academic Misconduct Rule is in place to promote academic integrity and manage academic misconduct. Very minor breaches of the academic integrity principle may result in a reduction of marks of up to 10% of the total marks available for the assessment. The ANU offers a number of online and in person services to assist students with their assignments, examinations, and other learning activities. Visit the Academic Skills website for more information about academic integrity, your responsibilities and for assistance with your assignments, writing skills and study.

Online Submission

You will be required to electronically sign a declaration as part of the submission of your assignment. Please keep a copy of the assignment for your records. Unless an exemption has been approved by the Associate Dean (Education) submission must be through Turnitin.

Hardcopy Submission

For some forms of assessment (hand written assignments, art works, laboratory notes, etc.) hard copy submission is appropriate when approved by the Associate Dean (Education). Hard copy submissions must utilise the Assignment Cover Sheet. Please keep a copy of tasks completed for your records.

Late Submission

Individual assessment tasks may or may not allow for late submission. Policy regarding late submission is detailed below:

• Late submission not permitted. If submission of assessment tasks without an extension after the due date is not permitted, a mark of 0 will be awarded.
• Late submission permitted. Late submission of assessment tasks without an extension are penalised at the rate of 5% of the possible marks available per working day or part thereof. Late submission of assessment tasks is not accepted after 10 working days after the due date, or on or after the date specified in the course outline for the return of the assessment item. Late submission is not accepted for take-home examinations.

Referencing Requirements

Accepted academic practice for referencing sources that you use in presentations can be found via the links on the Wattle site, under the file named “ANU and College Policies, Program Information, Student Support Services and Assessment”. Alternatively, you can seek help through the Students Learning Development website.

Extensions and Penalties

Extensions and late submission of assessment pieces are covered by the Student Assessment (Coursework) Policy and Procedure. Extensions may be granted for assessment pieces that are not examinations or take-home examinations. If you need an extension, you must request an extension in writing on or before the due date. If you have documented and appropriate medical evidence that demonstrates you were not able to request an extension on or before the due date, you may be able to request it after the due date.

Privacy Notice

The ANU has made a number of third party, online, databases available for students to use. Use of each online database is conditional on student end users first agreeing to the database licensor’s terms of service and/or privacy policy. Students should read these carefully. In some cases student end users will be required to register an account with the database licensor and submit personal information, including their: first name; last name; ANU email address; and other information.
In cases where student end users are asked to submit ‘content’ to a database, such as an assignment or short answers, the database licensor may only use the student’s ‘content’ in accordance with the terms of service – including any (copyright) licence the student grants to the database licensor. Any personal information or content a student submits may be stored by the licensor, potentially offshore, and will be used to process the database service in accordance with the licensors terms of service and/or privacy policy.
If any student chooses not to agree to the database licensor’s terms of service or privacy policy, the student will not be able to access and use the database. In these circumstances students should contact their lecturer to enquire about alternative arrangements that are available.

Distribution of grades policy

Academic Quality Assurance Committee monitors the performance of students, including attrition, further study and employment rates and grade distribution, and College reports on quality assurance processes for assessment activities, including alignment with national and international disciplinary and interdisciplinary standards, as well as qualification type learning outcomes.

Since first semester 1994, ANU uses a grading scale for all courses. This grading scale is used by all academic areas of the University.

Support for students

The University offers students support through several different services. You may contact the services listed below directly or seek advice from your Course Convener, Student Administrators, or your College and Course representatives (if applicable).

• ANU Health, safety & wellbeing for medical services, counselling, mental health and spiritual support
• ANU Diversity and inclusion for students with a disability or ongoing or chronic illness
• ANU Dean of Students for confidential, impartial advice and help to resolve problems between students and the academic or administrative areas of the University
• ANU Academic Skills and Learning Centre supports you make your own decisions about how you learn and manage your workload.
• ANU Counselling Centre promotes, supports and enhances mental health and wellbeing within the University student community.
• ANUSA supports and represents undergraduate and ANU College students
• PARSA supports and represents postgraduate and research students