Security in Global Context examines the theory and practice of international security. The course is divided into four parts: Part one is an overview of international security, theories of geostrategy, hegemony, and the global leadership role of the United States. Part two examines the elements of national power (military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, inter alia) and their application in support of national strategic goals. Part three is a review of global trends (social, demographic, ethnographic, economic, etc.) with respect to their impact on U.S. strategy. Part four is a regional review of current security issues in the framework of the unified geographical command structure. By taking this course, students will better understand the manner in which national interests are defined, strategic goals determined, and the manner in which they are achieved.
3 credits

The Role of Force in International Relations focuses on the application of the military instrument of power in world politics. This course begins with an overview of the traditional role of force in deterring conflict, defending interests and compelling outcomes. Students will then examine competing views of both the morality and utility of force in contemporary international relations. Case studies will focus on both historical and contemporary conflicts, and in particular examine the strategic context of post-9/11 uses of force.
3 credits

Soft Power"" is means of persuading international actors short of the use of force or other strong means of coercion. The course will examine the tools other than force at the disposal of decision makers in pursuing strategy, such as diplomacy, finance, trade, and information. The course will also examine the impact of markets, globalization, cultural shifts, immigration, language, culture, values and other factors outside the purview of government that shape the global security environment.
3 credits

This course is an in depth analysis of the geopolitics of the Global War on Terror with a particular focus on the surge, expansion and evolution of Salafi-Jihadi and Khomeinist-Jihadi movements. The course will mostly examine the global strategies of these radical movements regarding the United States, the West and other regions of the world. Students will be introduced to the evolution of these strategic options during and after the Cold War, before and after September 11, 2001. The analysis offered by this course will cover the development of these strategies currently and analyze future options.
3 credits

Scholars have incessantly argued the strategy of ""Democratic Peace theory""-the theory that suggests that although democratic states often participate in wars with non-democratic states, historically they do not wage war against fellow democratic states-is central to the protection of U.S. security interests around the world. Within and outside of this group of scholars many have suggested the theory has another valuable component-development. Divided into several parts, this course evaluates democratic peace theory and tests its utility covering the contemporary of period (1980 to the present). Second, the course surveys the role of democratic development in select regions of the world and evaluates the extent to which U.S. security was enhanced. Finally, there are two significant questions that will be addressed in this course: To what degree did the promotion of democracy around the world, particularly in those countries where Islam is present, produced unintended consequences that caused or led to instability that threatened U.S. regional security interests? How did U.S. decision makers respond to these threats to American security? Formerly ISS 550 - Democratization and US National Security.
3 Credits
Prerequisites: None

Examines intelligence as an instrument for the prism of policy execution. Through the extensive employment of case studies and theory, this course examines the available instruments and how those instruments interact with policymaking and execution. Additionally, the course examines the legal/ethical framework of their use in the international security environment. Formerly ISS 640 - Strategic Intelligence and US Security.
3 Credits
Prerequisites: None

This course will examine the role intelligence and law enforcement play in combating international terrorism. Particular attention will be given to assessing the threat potential of terrorist groups, disrupting networks, interdicting financial and personnel flows, and other aspects of combating global terror networks.

This course focuses on the fundamentals of research and analysis at the graduate level. The course will cover research design, strategies for data collection, hypothesis testing, forms of reasoned argument, problem of fallacies, and the process of producing a written thesis.
3 credits

Students will produce a Master's thesis under the guidance of a faculty advis or. During the course of a semester students are expected to propose research topics based on their course work or outside interests. Additionally, the topic may be derived from professional experiences or current events. Class meetings are designed to provide guidance in the clarification of issues, the collection of data, and the assembly of various parts of the document or paper and preparation for defense or the presentation of the final paper. Students may enroll in the course only after completing 36 credits, three of which must include the Research Course (ISS 680).
3 Credits

Course Description: Allows students the opportunity to develop an appreciation and understanding of a program-related topic in an area of new learning through research conducted under the direction of a faculty member. Requires approval of Program Chair.
Credits: 3
Prerequisites: Approval of Program Chair

Provides students with the opportunity to analyze, assess and evaluate theoretical and practical concepts in the context of the professional work environment through on-the-job training and approved field-work study programs, under the joint direction and supervision of a faculty member and work-site supervisor.
Pre-requisite: Approval of faculty supervisor or program chair.
3 credits

This course provides an introduction to Middle Eastern and Arabic language, religion and culture as a foundation for understanding today's Arab world. This course provides students with an introduction to Arabic language, the Muslim religion, and an appreciation of Arab political and economic structures, literature and art in the light of recent political, economic and social changes. Students will be able to utilize information about the culture, languages and religions of the Middle East to develop culturally alert policy decisions and conduct threat assessments of existing and emergent groups.
Prerequisites: ISS 500, ISS 530
Credits: 3
Core: Regional Studies Elective

Course Description: As evidenced by events in Mexico and Afghanistan, Narco-Terrorism continues to expand as a security threat. The threat is no longer regional but global. This course will illustrate how groups, such as Al Qaeda, ELN, the FARC, Hamas, Hezbollah, a host of Mexican Cartels, the PKK in Turkey and the Taliban in Afghanistan, all use the profits from narco-terrorism to fund their disparate operations and to advance a host of other transnational criminal activities. Course Objectives: • The course introduces students to the origin of narco-terrorism and the ever-evolving threat. The objective is to provide students with the information to analyze the historical evolution of the narco-terrorist threat. • The course is designed to increase student awareness of the ever-expanding list of narco-terrorist organizations and the threat those organizations pose to regional and global security. Students will learn to evaluate a host of models to assist in the familiarity of key concepts and objectives of major narco-terrorists organizations from around the world. • The course is designed to illustrate how narco-terrorist groups undermine the security of states, establish and maintain safe havens and establish networks to conduct operations. Students will be taught how to examine and utilize a host of approaches that are designed to assist in the understanding of how safe havens undermine state sovereignty and regional security. • A major objective of the course is to provide students with detailed information on the operations and the regional and global security consequences associated with narco-terrorist violence. Students will obtain information on the techniques employed by law enforcement, intelligence services, and the US and coalition military personnel to track, detain, preclude attacks (and violence) associated with narco-terrorism.
Prerequisites: ISS 500, ISS 510
Credits: 3

This course provides a comprehensive examination of the intersection of gender and security. In this evolving aspect of security, students taking this course will have the opportunity to survey a host of issues to include: the role of feminist theory and security, gendered approaches to human trafficking, exploration of the impact of war on women, the role of gender and the evolution of environmental security, the incorporation of gendered concerns during the period of peacekeeping operations, and the course examines the displacement of refugees and the capture of non-combatants through the lens of gender. Having completed this course, students will be able to employ gender as an important analytical tool in understanding security, and finally, students will have a greater appreciation of the multiple gender issues that illustrate the synergy between security and gender politics.
Prerequisites: ISS 500
Credits: 3

The course examines the major security challenges in the contemporary Middle East. The opening portion of the course explores the major terrorist threats in the region whether in the form of Hezbollah, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) or the diminished threat posed by Al Qaeda in Iraq or the larger threat posed by Al Qaeda central. The second portion of the course explores the Arab-Israeli conflict and the impact of U.S. negotiation strategies. At another level, the course examines the role of the United States in the stalled Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. Fourth, the course explores a host of movements and indicates the extent to which they affect regional and international se curity. Finally, the course explores the potential for regional nuclear proliferation in the wake of Iranian efforts to develop a nuclear device. 3 credits
Prerequisites: ISS 500

The ISS 697 Directed Research course provides students additional time to complete the research and analysis required of the ISS 690 Master's Thesis course under the direction of the thesis instructor. The program chair and the thesis instructor establish the criteria for enrolling in the directed research course. The enrollment criteria might include; however is not inclusive of, progress in the ISS 690 Master's Thesis course and the likelihood of successful completion of the ISS 690 Master's Thesis course in the enrolled semester. Students will not receive credit for the ISS 697 Directed Research course. There is an enrollment fee for ISS 697 Directed Research.
1 credit
Prerequisites: ISS 690

The Department of Defense has carved the world into five geographic boundaries called unified commands, which together encompass the entire globe. The objective of these commands is to protect U.S. security interests around the world. This course examines the evolution of American Unified Commands and explores the extent to which the Department of Defense is prepared to adapt to a host security threats in the 21st Century. Similarly, the course addresses whether the United States can afford, and should it seek to justify, assigning responsibility to combatant commanders for every area of the globe and maintaining a military presence in well over 100 countries. Finally, the course addresses whether the myriad U.S. alliances systems are sufficient to meet the contemporary security threats.
3 Credits
Prerequisites: None

""The abject poverty, state weakness, the presence of an abundance of ungoverned spaces or safe havens and official corruption"" has made parts of Africa attractive destinations for terrorist relocation and the conduct of operations. Opportunities have developed during the pre and post-9/11 periods in Africa for the recruitment of terrorists, attainment of bases of operations and sources of funding for Al Qaeda or its affiliated terror groups. This comprehensive course provides students with an extensive examination of major terrorist groups and activities across Africa. The course highlights the internal and external indices that illustrate why Africa is second only to the Middle East in terroris t-related violence.
3 Credits
Prerequisites: None

One of the central functions of intelligence is to provide a comparative advantage during peace and war time. This course examines the role of intelligence inherent in confronting all forms of struggle and to assess how intelligence organizations-American and foreign-have adapted to meet traditional security threats and those posed by non state actors.
3 Credits
Prerequisites: None

This course introduces students to a growing body of literature that rethinks security theory from feminist perspective and provides a comprehensive framework for the emerging field of feminist security studies. Students taking the course explore feminist readings of security studies and a feminist narrative approach to security that challenges the politics of security and the conceptual legitimacy of existing security practices. The gendered causes, costs, and consequences of violent conflicts are reviewed as well as the links between gender and human conceptions of security and insecurity. Upon completion of the course, students will have a greater understanding of the complex, changing relations between women and men in their quest for security in societies facing violence and conflict and will be able to apply a feminists lens to their analysis of global security issues.
3 Credits
Prerequisites: None

Initially implemented in the late-1970s with domestic and rural reforms, China's economic growth set the stage for its emergence as a ""hinge threat""-not quite a superpower, but a country that possesses attributes that threaten regional security in Asia and international security as the leaders of the country continue to transfer the profits from China's economy and shift to modernization of its military. This course provides a comprehensive examination of China's economic modernization and how this newly established major power threatens regional security from two perspectives-how China's regional economic prowess threatens U.S. dominance of APEC, and because of the Chinese mili tary modernization, Taiwan, Japan and the United States are concerned about the evolving military threat. Second, the course examines Chinese economic investments around the world and its arms sales and illustrates how both undermine regional and international security. Finally, covering the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations, the course evaluates the U.S. response to what experts refer to as the ""nascent"" Chinese threat to international instability.
3 Credits
Prerequisites: None

Combining theory and practice, and employing the comparative approach, this course explores the increasing role and security interests of the emerging powers-China, Russia, and India. The course introduces students to the major regional flashpoints in the Middle East, Asia, Eurasia and South Asia and how those threats impact regional and international security. Additionally, the course explores how a host of transnational threats-Narco-Terrorism, Energy Security, Human Security, Population and others-have dramatically impacted international security.
3 Credits
Prerequisites: None

Since the conclusion of World War II, the United Nations took its place as the most important international organization. Over the course of its history two questions have defined the role of the United Nations: ""Is it a debate society? Or does it have a role, as forum, vehicle, or actor, in addressing the most important security issues facing the world today? This course examines the role of the UN in preventing international and civil violence, arms control, deterring and reversing aggression, and addressing humanitarian crises. Similarly, this course is designed to provide a comprehensive understanding of the critical issues, positions, and problems confronting the United Nations and its member states in the post-September 11 environment that have offered increased opportunities for Security Council intervention and the issues that have called into the effectiveness of the organization designed to confront threats to international security.
3 Credits
Prerequisites: None

Historically the American struggle against terrorism commenced long before the tragic events of September 11, 2001. Similarly, while a host of U.S. presidents have dealt with the threat of terrorism, only four have called for a war on terrorism. At issue, when did the struggle begin and when did the American response to terrorism become global? This course informs students about the origins of transnational terrorism and traces the American response. With regard to the response, the course explores the dissimilar responses by Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Of particular interest, this course pays attention to aforesaid presidential the strategies and the extent to which they impacted the threat of global terrorism to US and international security.
3 Credits
Prerequisites: None

This course examines the theoretical debates on the evolution of transnational terrorism and then explores a host of counterterrorist responses. The opening part of the course investigates the origins of modern terrorism and it explores the always controversial debate surrounding the ""definition of terrorism."" Second, students are introduced to the multiple approaches to terrorism-subnational and transnational terrorism and it explores ethnic based terrorism and religious sponsored terrorism. Third, the course examines the comprehensive tools-negotiation, diplomacy, intelligence and use of force-associated with counterterrorism. Fourth, the course explores American presidential and global approaches to counterterrorism and then accesses the success and failure of these strategies. Finally, the course explores the future of counterterrorism. 3 Credits
Prerequisites: None

The course examines the major security challenges in the contemporary Middle East. The opening portion of the course explores the major terrorist threats in the region whether in the form of Hezbollah, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) or the diminished threat posed by Al Qaeda in Iraq or the larger threat posed by Al Qaeda central. The second portion of the course explores the Arab-Israeli conflict and the impact of U.S. negotiation strategies. At another level, the course examines the role of the United States in the stalled Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. Finally, the course explores the potential for regional nuclear proliferation in the wake of Iranian efforts to develop a n uclear device.
3 Credits
Prerequisites: None

This course introduces students to a variety of competing conceptions of ""security""-from human security, environmental security, food security, state security, regional and global security. Second, students are exposed to a host of methodological tools and theories that indicate how international security is achieved and maintained. From another perspective, the course explores the role of regional and international organizations and the soft power and hard power strategies that are employed to maintain and preserve security. Finally, the course provides a historical perspective-utilizing crises during the Cold War, Post-Cold War and Post-September 1lth Worlds-to illustrate why security is and continues to be an elusive concept.
3 Credits
Prerequisites: None

Violent Non-State Actors (VNSAs) have increasingly impacted state, regional and international security. This course examines the major VNSAs-with particular focus on the Al Qaeda's transnational network, Hezbollah, the Taliban insurgent movement, Transnational Criminal Organizations, particularly Mexican and Colombian Cartels, Somali Pirates, the MEND, to name a few-and their motivations. The second part of the course examines how violent non-state actors have impacted security at the state, regional, and international levels. The final portion of the course explores the strategies pursued by the United States (and other states or international organizations) and accesses the success/failure of those strategies to confront the threat posed by VNSAs.
3 Credits
Prerequisite: ISS 501

This course explores humanity's most persistent and tragic problems by addressing a series of topics ranging from military power, the influence of international law and organizations to prevent war, understanding the choice between war and peace, codifying the recent changes in contemporary warfare, and the impact of nuclear weapons and terrorism. These issues are viewed through the prism of globalization to enhance student understanding of an emerging interpretation of international security. From another perspective, this course evaluates three distinct 'processes' of globalization-the intensification of economic exchange, the flow of information, and marketization-and explores how these dynamics impact regional and international security.
3 Credits
Prerequisite: ISS 501

This course explores the intersections between homeland and international security and the implications of these connections for preparedness. Second, the course explores why traditional strategic tools such as ""deterrence and dissuasion"" have been supplanted by not just the Department of Homeland Security, but new instruments such as U.S. Northern Command and a litany of cooperative networks designed to preserve U.S. national security. Third, the course explores a wide range of topics such as the effectiveness of government response to potential and actual threats of terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, cyber threats, and border threats to the homel and.
3 Credits
Prerequisites: None

Cyber terrorism remains an increasing threat to international security. In this evolving security environment, scholars and governmental analysts at multiple levels continue to analyze cyber terrorism. This course provides a historical examination of the development of cyber terrorism. Second this course provides students with the opportunity to illustrate how cyber warfare is conducted at multiple levels and against disparate targets. Third, through the use of case studies this course explores how the United States, China, Russia, North Korea, and a host of other states, along with non-state actors, particularly Al Qaeda, have employed cyber terrorism as an instrumen t of warfare. By approaching this subject from a security studies perspective, this course closes the gap between practical and theoretical academic approaches, and illustrates why cyber warfare is an ever-evolving threat to international security.
3 Credits
Prerequisites: None

This course explores contemporary security issues in South Asia. Additionally, this course explores the regional security dynamics posed by Indian-Pakistani tensions and how the possession of nuclear weapons by both parties further inflames tensions in the region. Second, the course examines the threat posed by the Taliban insurgency to Afghanistan and Pakistan security. The third part of the course explores how the twin threats posed by Al Qaeda and the Taliban impacts regional and U.S. security interests. Finally, this course examines the interplay of the aforementioned dynamics and those associated with authoritarianism, ethnic and regional conflicts, nationalism, religious extremi sm and poverty further exacerbate stability in the historically turbulent region of South Asia.
3 Credits
Prerequisites: None

Insurgent movements have existed throughout history but there has been considerable period of ebb and flow. Thus throughout the decade of the 1990s many scholars argued that insurgencies became dormant and therefore declined in strategic significance. Prior to and since the post-conflict period of the Iraq War, the world entered another period where insurgencies were common and once again strategically significant. In the wake of the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan, along with the burgeoning insurgent movements sponsored by the MEND in Nigeria or Al Shabab’s insurgent struggle in Somalia, not to mention Al Qaeda? ??s global insurgent movement, insurgencies are once again in vogue. Divided into three parts, through the use of case studies, this course opens with a historical exploration of the most destabilizing insurgent movements.
3 credits
Prerequisites: None

The spread of weapons of mass destruction poses one of the greatest threats to international peace and security. Few would doubt the specter of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons looms over relations among many countries. Additionally, the tragic events of September 11, 2001 provide a vivid example of the consequences of the failure to address the gaps in current nuclear proliferation policies and regimes and how they continue to be exploited by terrorists or non-state actors. This course traces the security dilemmas posed by the Democratic Republic of North Korea’s (DPRK) nuclear program, the Iranian nuclear prog ram, the regional instability in South Asia (nuclear weapons in India and Pakistan), the burgeoning trafficking of arms in Africa, and the continuing threat from non-state actors (unconventional and conventional).
3 credits
Prerequisites: None

This course explores U.S. security policy in Latin America since the 1990. This course examines U.S. security strategy in the region from a host of perspectives: (1) as an effort to establish democracy in the region, (2) to promote the rule of the law and establish order in the region, (3) an examine of disparate presidential strategies to implement a war on drugs in the region, (4) as a response to Narco-terrorism in Colombia and Mexico, (5) as a strategy to address immigration and (6) as a strategy that confronted suspected safe havens that may be used as a vehicle for terrorism. This course assesses the degree to which these strategies succeeded in preserving U.S. security interests in the region. Finally, at another level , the course explores the consequences of U.S. policies in the region and asks if there was any unintended ""blowback"" that exacerbated the already declining security environment in the region.
3 Credits
Prerequisites: None

This course is designed to connect resource politics, state and regional vulnerability, war and security. The course endeavors to address a basic query: To what degree have energy security and the diverse regional politics changed since the publication of the 1980 report entitled Energy, Vulnerability and War? Put another way how has resource politics in South Asia, the Middle East, in parts of Africa, and elsewhere undermined security? The course surveys how non-actors have used resource politics to increase their standing within states and undermined state and regional security. Finally, there is this supplemental dimension: what is the role of the United States, regional and international organizations in containing these threats to security?
3 Credits
Prerequisites: None

In the wake of a wave of successful post-9/11 counterterrorism strategies aimed at eliminating high value nodes of the Al Qaeda leadership cadre, Osama bin Laden's transnational network and a host of affiliates responded by unveiling a new and more dangerous phase of the radicalization, conversion, and recruitment of terrorists. This course is designed to introduce students to the theoretical and conceptual foundations of radicalization and recruitment through the prism of the ""root causes"" of ideology and politics in the Muslim World and as a response to American foreign policy objectives. Second, the course explores the efforts by law enforcement and the intelligence community to respond to the current wave of recruitment within the United States (and outside the country), and explores how recruitment is being orchestrated through the Internet and via radical clerical elements and other means that have employed sanctuaries to recruit ""homegrown threats"" to attack U.S. security interests.
3 Credits
Prerequisites: None

This course has three objectives. The opening part of the course explores of the contributions of female scholars to international security studies. The second portion of the course addresses the degree to which females have worked to secure peace in the form of conflict resolution and peace in the form of drawing attention to violence toward women or efforts to eliminate violence. The course will utilize a host of case studies to ensure that students comprehend the extensive efforts of women in these two critical areas. Finally portion of the course examines the state of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325. The objective of UNSCR 1325 called for, among other things, to respect the rights of women and called for the ""adoption of a gender perspective"" that called for special needs of women and girls during periods of repatriation and resettlement in the wake of post-conflict reconstruction. At issue, how successful was the UN in meeting these objectives? The course assesses the degree to which the resolution was implemented by the United Nations.
3 Credits
Prerequisites: None

This course provides students with a comprehensive foundation for understanding Intelligence and Counterintelligence (IC) as concepts, processes, and careers. The course emphasis is on the historical and contemporary approaches to Intelligence and Counterterrorism and why both are needed more now than ever to confront the ever-evolving threats to international security. Over the course of the term students will become familiar with the diverse Intelligence and Counterintelligence communities and the responsibilities these organizations have in protecting U.S. security interests. The process of collection, dissemination, consumption, and feedback within the intelligence discipline is explained. Students will also begin to consider the tr ansformational challenges that exist within the IC communities for the 21st century.
3 Credits
Prerequisites: None

The course provides students with a comprehensive examination of the security threats posed by Al Qaeda. The course is divided into four sections. The opening portion of this course is foundational, exploring the Western formations of warfare. The second component of the course explores the regional expressions of fourth generation warfare. Here the course examines the influences of Mao Zedong and Ho Chi Minh’s application of FGW in Asia in advancing communism. Similarly, the course explores the application of FGW from two dissimilar perspectives: from two major Middle Eastern groups—The Muslim Brotherhood (based on the politicalization of Sunni Islam) and Hezbollah (based on the politicalization of Shia Islam). The third portion provides a comprehensive exploration Al Qaeda’s transformation from a regional terrorist threat to a transnational network that radically altered FGW. Finally, the course concludes with the U.S. military response to Al Qaeda’s new and improved version of FGW.
3 Credits
Prerequisites: None

This course addresses the dynamics and consequences of the post-9/11 global security environment. Employing the historical and case study approach, this course explores the creation of what many security scholars refer to as the Absolutist Security Agenda (ASA) that led to the “development and protection of the American security interests since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The ASA explicitly and aggressively articulates U.S. National Security as global security since the collapse of the USSR and the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the United States unilaterally defined, implemented, and continues to efforts to manage a “systemic security policy.”
3 Credits
Prerequisites: None

Private Military Contractors (PMCs) have increased in size and responsibility. These organizations protect U.S. and foreign officials in war zones; they protect U.S. supply convoys, and PMCs train foreign militaries. Additionally, the United States and many other Western states employ these organizations around the world where armed conflicts have impacted state sovereignty and U.S. security interests. Events in Afghanistan and Iraq have amplified media and scholarly attention on the often controversial activities of PMCs. The central objective of this course is to examine the problems and advantages for those states that employ private military companies and how and in what ways these organizations contr ibute or negatively impact international security. From another perspective a major set of issues incessantly resurface: what are the laws governing PMCs? How does the “blowback” associated with “incidents” involving PMCs improve or retard the presence of regular U.S. forces abroad.
3 Credits
Prerequisites: None