U.S. National Security

Catalog description

This class examines American national security from the cultural, institutional and policy perspectives. It will pay close attention to those enduring factors that shape American defense policies as well as exploring developments that have modified America’s approach to security. Moreover, in addition to studying the structure and operation of today’s policymaking process, the course will investigate the way the process has evolved in the past fifty years and will analyze the way key policies are produced and implemented by the U.S. government. Finally, reflecting changes in the world and in the field of national security studies, the course will cover not only the traditional concerns of national security (e.g., creation and use of military force for physical security of the territorial-state), but also the definition and achievement of individual and global security in the face of non-military problems.