Contemporary Security Issues and Transatlantic Link: Free Online Seminar Spring 2022
Hosted on Zoom – Register for link
March 2 – May 4, 2022
Wednesdays
12:00pm – 1:30pm Eastern Time
Description:
This seminar will examine the contemporary security issues that influence international security and provide participants with a better understanding about security challenges facing Europe and the World. In the first part of the seminar, the traditional security agenda and the emerging structure of International Relations will be examined. The second part will focus on the contemporary security issues. The final part of the seminar will focus on responses to security issues and on Europe’s renewed quest for a security identity and defense policy.
More Information:
Participants who attend at least 8 complete seminar sessions will receive a certificate of satisfactory completion from the Dean of The New School for Social Research. In order to obtain the certificate, participants must register and log in with the same email address each week.
Registration will remain open for the duration of the seminar. Registrants will receive a reminder email with the Zoom link each week.
The seminar sessions will be recorded and available to registrants on Vimeo the following week.
Seminar Leaders:
Dr. Mehmet Ari
Mehmet Ari is a post-doctoral research fellow of Political Science and Sociology at Bonn University. He holds a Doctorate of Philosophy (Ph.D), International Relations and Security Studies from Middle East Technical University
Eyyup Celik
Eyyup Celik is a strategic studies analyst at Aerospacelab. He holds Masters of Science’s from Aerospace Engineering-Control and Dynamics, International Security Studies and Security Studies from University of Houston, Turkish Air War College and Georgetown University
Weekly Sessions:
- March 2, 2022: Security after the Cold war and Uncertain Security Environment
- March 9, 2022: Emerging Structure of International Relations
- March 16, 2022: Nuclear Proliferation
- March 23, 2022: Emerging Disrupting Threats (Biosecurity and Cybersecurity)
- March 30, 2022: Environmental Security and Demographics (Migrations and Refugees)
- April 6, 2022: Global Insurgency and Terrorism
- April 13, 2022: Proxy and Hybrid War
- April 10, 2022: Addressing Strategic Rivalries and Resolving Conflict (Humanitarian Intervention)
- April 27, 2022: Using Soft Power: Globalized Institutions, International Law and Diplomacy
- May 4, 2022: Transatlantic Link and Historical Perspective of EU Security
Reading List & Thoughts for Discussion:
Week 1:
- What is security?
- Is security an ‘essentially contested’ concept? Why does it matter?
- Why might traditional conceptions of security be outdated? Why might it be useful to continue to use these traditional conceptions?
- Does security mean different things to countries at different levels of development?
- How should we distinguish between threats to security and threats of other types?
- What is securitization?
Week 2:
- What is power?
- What is polarity?
- Which system structure – unipolarity, bipolarity, multi-polarity, non-polarity – is most stable for realists? For neo-liberals?
- Which system structure best characterizes the current system? Why?
- What are the implications of this characterization for the US – EU role in the system?
Week 3:
- Why do states develop nuclear weapons?
- What are the consequences of nuclear proliferation? Is proliferation necessarily a bad thing?
- What lessons can be learnt from the Cold War about contemporary nuclear proliferation?
- Should the world worry if ‘rogue states’ or terrorists develop or acquire nuclear weapons?
- What are your policy recommendations regarding proliferation?
Week 4:
- What are the similarities between these two threats? Why are we discussing them in the same week?
- What is biosecurity and why has the risk posed by bio-threats been increasing?
- What are the mechanisms by which biological agents and infectious disease can affect international security?
- What are the positive and negative effects of securitizing biological threats and disease? What are your policy recommendations for dealing with these threats?
- How does the information revolution affect security?
- Do you think cyber-war is possible? How do the authors define it and assess its likelihood?
- What are the consequences of militarizing cybersecurity?
- What are your policy recommendations for dealing with cyber-threats?
Week 5:
- How can different demographic trends – including demographic transitions, youth bulges, bare branches, urbanization, and migration – affect security?
- How are these global demographic trends likely to affect the international system’s polarity?
- What are the mechanisms by which environmental stress, resource scarcity, access to energy resources, and climate change affect conflict?
- Is climate change a security threat? Why or why not?
- What are your policy recommendations for addressing these issues and limiting the probability that they will lead to violent conflict?
Week 6:
- What are the causes of internal conflicts?
- Why is internal conflict more intractable than interstate conflict?
- What are the characteristics of irregular warfare?
- What are the most effective strategies for counter-insurgency? Why?
- What factors are driving changes in insurgent technique?
- How have states responded to global insurgency?
- What is terrorism?
- Is terrorism more prominent today than in the past? Why or why not?
- What are the goals of terrorism? What are the strategies that terrorists employ to achieve these goals?
- What are the most effective strategies for counter-terrorism? Why?
Week 7:
- What is a proxy war?
- What is subversive warfare?
- What is hybrid warfare?
- Why are these forms of warfare attractive policy options?
- How are challenges posed by proxy wars similar to and different than more conventional conflicts? What are the limitations of proxy wars?
- What are the challenges of Russian hybrid warfare for US policy?
- What should the US/NATO response be to the Russian use of these tactics?
Week 8:
- What are the differences between interstate and intra-state rivalries?
- What are the internal and/or external causes of intractable rivalries?
- How do two-level game dynamics affect the resolution of protracted interstate and intra-state conflicts?
- What possible solutions could facilitate the de-escalation of intractable rivalries?
- Why do internal conflicts generally last longer than interstate conflicts?
- What are the similarities and differences between ending internal conflicts and interstate conflicts?
- What are the advantages and disadvantages to different paths to ending internal conflict: letting them fight to victory, negotiated settlement with third party enforcement, and partition?
Week 9:
- What is the difference between an international institution and an international regime?
- What factors determine states’ behaviors regarding different international regimes?
- What are the benefits and costs, for the United States, of working with international institutions and participating in international regimes?
- Should the United States be promoting a greater role for international institutions and multilateral diplomacy in resolving the sub-national and transnational security challenges we’ve been discussing in this course? Which ones? If so, what are the major challenges faced by the US? If notIf not, why not?
- What factors determine the success of international economic sanctions?
- Is UNSC reform necessary? Why or why not?
Week 10:
- What was the initial reaction from the US to the idea of European Security and Defense Identity?
- What are the main mission types of the CSDP?
- What are the policy recommendations for a healthy cooperation between CSDP and NATO?