International Security (M.A.)
Faculty
John Davis, Assistant Professor of International Security Studies
Description
The International Security Studies Master of Arts Program equips students with a strong foundation to confront the ever-changing fast paced and challenging international security environment. With an emphasis on traditional and emerging transnational security threats, students are prepared for analytical, operational, and leadership careers in international security in the public and private sectors.
Degree Requirements
The MA ISS is structured around Core, Concentration, Elective, and Research components.
There are currently five concentrations available in the MA ISS Program. Students may elect to choose up to two concentrations, or they can take six electives. The available concentrations are:
The Intelligence concentration equips students with analytical skills to assess long-standing traditional and non-traditional threats. Additionally, this concentration examines the need and use of a legal/ethical framework to understand the international security environment. Finally, the concentration informs students about the critical intelligence concepts (process of collection, dissemination, consumption, assessment and feedback) required in policymaking and execution.
Terrorism represents one of the more diverse concentrations within the ISS program. In this concentration students examine the counterterrorism strategies that were implemented during the Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations to confront the Al Qaeda transnational terrorist network. Additionally, students are offered an in-depth exploration of terrorism in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia.
The Africa and International Security concentration explores a number of critical issues: the impact of weak and failed states, the proliferation of safe havens and the expansion of terrorist-related violence, the link between piracy in Somalia and Al Shabab, and the response by regional organizations to local food, resource, environmental and human security threats.
The Middle East and International Security concentration examines the peace negotiations that governed the historic Arab-Israeli and the intractable Israeli-Palestinian disputes. On another level, the concentration exposes students to Iraq’s fledgling democratic experiment; Iran’s quest for nuclear weapons and the consequent regional instability, and it informs students about the on-going “unfinished revolutions” and the impact these tumultuous changes have had on regional stability.
The Gender and International Security concentration provides students with a systematic approach to the gendered causes, costs, and consequences of violent conflicts and the links between gender and human conceptions of security.
Core Courses (15 credit hours)
Topics covered in the core classes include but are not limited to: (1) the history of the field, (2) competing conceptions of security, (3) the role of theory, (4) the use of force by state and non-state actors, (5) the role of regional and international organizations, (6) the impact of globalization on security, (7) the emergence of new rivals to the United States, (8) how states deal with transnational crime and transnational terrorism. The objective of the core courses is to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the fundamental issues that impact international security.
ISS 501
ISS 505
ISS 511
ISS 515
ISS 521
Concentrations
Terrorism Concentration:
ISS 621
ISS 625
ISS 629
Intelligence Concentration:
ISS 631
ISS 635
ISS 640
Gender and International Security Concentration:
ISS 661
ISS 665
ISS 667
Africa and International Security Concentration:
ISS 645
ISS 653
ISS 655
Middle East and International Security Concentration:
ISS 651
ISS 662
ISS 675
Elective Courses (18 credit hours)
Electives may be selected from among any ISS courses in the catalog and also approved cross-listed courses in the SPS catalog. Electives may also be taken from other schools in the Washington Consortium with prior permission or accepted as transfer credit in accordance with the policy on acceptance of graduate transfer credit.
ISS 530
ISS 550
ISS 601
ISS 605
ISS 611
ISS 621
ISS 629
ISS 635
ISS 640
ISS 645
ISS 651
ISS 660
ISS 661
ISS 665
ISS 670
ISS 675
ISS 681
ISS 682
ISS 683
ISS 684
ISS 685
ISS 686
ISS 687
ISS 688
Research (6 credit hours)
The research component includes ISS 680 for 3 credit hours; and ISS 690, a thesis under directed study for 3 credit hours. The thesis may optionally be substituted by additional elective coursework requiring substantial analytical written products.
ISS 680
ISS 690
ISS 698
ISS 699