Courses
How do policymakers understand threats to U.S. national security? What instruments of statecraft are available to address these threats? This course introduces students to strategic thinking and the challenges of crafting national security strategies. It explores the instruments of statecraft and the particular authorities, capabilities and cultures of the American institutions that make national security policy. Through case studies and role-playing exercises, the course will give students an understanding of policymaking and practice applying critical thinking.
Genocide is often described as the worst of crimes, the nadir of human behavior, and the world’s most “odious scourge.” The goal of this course is to examine the origins and causes of genocide and to introduce students to the key works and major debates in the growing field of genocide and mass violence research. This course is divided into three parts. First, we will discuss how genocide is conceptualized and defined, explore the theories that try to explain whygenocides occur, and discuss why people may participate in genocidal killing. In the second part we will examine several key case studies of genocide and mass violence. Third, we will complete the course by debating policy approaches to genocide and mass violence including prevention, intervention, post-genocide justice, reconciliation and memory.
This half-term course introduces the concepts and technology of air power, how they have been developed, used, and become a part of a country’s strategy. The course includes air power’s use in all military services, primarily of the U.S. military, linking as well the differing perspectives of air power by each service. The course will step though the major elements of air power: command of the air; air to ground operations (including strategic bombing, air interdiction and close air support); and the supporting structures of intelligence/surveillance/reconnaissance, air refueling, and air lift. The course will examine each of these elements through their uses in wars and crises as well as evaluating their future employment. Each student will prepare, present, and write on a selected recent or current air operation (Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Syria). This is a half-semester, two-credit course.
Prerequisite(s): Students may not register for this class if they have already received credit for SA.660.753[C]
Offers an introduction and overview of the discipline of intelligence. Structured around three themes: the policy context in which U.S. intelligence services perform their missions, the professional techniques of intelligence collection and analysis and the enduring issues, such as counterintelligence, that have characterized the field for centuries. Features a combination of lectures, discussions, field trips and practical exercises designed to give students experience in intelligence writing and briefing. No prerequisites, but Strategy and Policy is recommended.
Prerequisite(s): Students may not register for this class if they have already received credit for SA.660.779[C]
The course will build on the foundation established in Intelligence I (American Intelligence: It's Role, Practice, and Impact). A version of that course taken in Fall 2020 or Spring and Fall 2021 is a prerequisite. Intelligence II will consist of more advanced work on the theory of intelligence (as related to core intelligence concepts): history, with a focus on key episodes; covert action; ethics; and various aspects of practice and performance. The course will be team taught.
Prerequisite(s): Students may not register for this class if they have already received credit for SA.660.781[C]
What relevance does anthropology have for the formulation and execution of national security strategy? This course acquaints students who have a background in strategic studies with anthropological concepts and modes of thinking. Helps students map a social system, identify how power is apportioned within a society, interpret the system of communicative symbols that transmit meaning within a culture, appreciate how and why adversaries fight, identify how cultural forms express and transmit meaning and evaluate social change. Uses a series of case studies to examine how culture affects warfare and the effect of warfare on culture.
Prerequisite(s): Students may not register for this class if they have already received credit for SA.660.890[C]
Analyzes the bureaucratic political process by which the United States decides and implements its foreign and security policies. Drawing on decision theory and case studies, examines the key institutions involved in the National Security Council process, including the White House, the State and Defense departments and the intelligence community. Also considers the impact of Congress, the media and NGOs. Taught seminar-style, with several role-playing exercises.
Prerequisite(s): Students may not register for this class if they have already received credit for SA.200.701[C]
Sixteen students selected through an application process participate in a research trip to a designated conflict or post-conflict-region during the spring break. Students plan and coordinate the trip in close cooperation with Professor Vukovic. During the trip over spring break, students interview local government officials and representatives of the international community, NGOs, academia, and the media in order to assess the role of the international community and prospects for progress in the region. Students select a specific area of focus and write a separate analysis and review of their findings to present in a final report at SAIS after the trip. Note: successful completion of this course fulfills the capstone requirement for second-year MAIR students. <a href="https://livejohnshopkins.sharepoint.com/sites/SAISInsider2/SitePages/DC-Capstones,-Professional-Skills-Courses.aspx" target="_blank">Click here for Capstone course application information</a>
Prerequisite(s): Students may not register for this class if they have already received credit for SA.640.709[C]
Examines Congress as a legislative and political institution, rooted in the Constitution but adapting to new problems and pressures. Studies how members perform their legislative and representational roles and respond to political pressures. Devotes special attention to the legislative processes influencing foreign and defense policy, including the key committees, the budget process, foreign economic policy and use of force issues. Taught seminar style, with numerous role-playing exercises.
Prerequisite(s): Students may not register for this class if they have already received credit for SA.200.700[C]
Why bother with quantitative analysis? Because analysis drives many policy debates. The course explores the connection between quantitative analysis and policy formulation in areas such as strategy development, wartime operations, force structure design, budget tradeoffs and weapon system acquisition. Covers many different types of analysis, not only the classic kinds of cost-effectiveness and combat models but also manpower, investment and cost. Although geared toward students going into national security positions, the methods and approaches apply broadly. Aims to make students intelligent consumers of analytic products, not quantitative analysts. No advanced mathematics required.
Prerequisite(s): Students may not register for this class if they have already received credit for SA.660.776[C]
Disinformation—or Active Measures, in old-school intelligence terms—is as old as modern intelligence agencies. The rise of disinformation was linked to the ideological clashes that defined the 20th century, and the entire Cold War. As the Soviet Union went down, the internet went up. And after a short hiatus, disinformation was back with a vengeance. This class explores the history, evolution, and metamorphosis of disinformation over the past century. Students will appreciate some of the unique features of assessing disinformation, understand disinformation operations from an offensive point-of-view, understand the limits of active measures, develop a historical understanding of past the evolution of active measures, appreciate how the internet has changed the old discipline of disinformation, and foster the skills to evaluate and assess threats and develop appropriate responses.
Prerequisite(s): Students may not register for this class if they have already received credit for SA.660.718[C] OR SA.660.738[C]
The global community is increasingly drawing on economic tools to confront the whole panoply of security and policy threats, from terrorism, narcotics trafficking, corruption, and cybercrime to nuclear proliferation and human rights violations. Indeed, financial and economic sanctions have formed the primary U.S. government response to some of this past decade’s largest geopolitical threats, whether Iran or North Korea’s nuclear programs or Russia’s incursions into eastern Ukraine and election meddling. Other countries – most notably China and Russia – have also sharpened their use of economic tools of statecraft, although more often through foreign investment/aid and trade restrictions than through formal sanctions. This course will provide a grounding in the theory and practice of economic sanctions and statecraft as it is employed today – namely, how governments and the United Nations wield financial and economic tools to shape geopolitics and influence the behavior of state and non-state actors. We will examine the emergence of “smart” or targeted sanctions, as well as the oft-misunderstood “secondary sanctions.” We will pay particular attention to the design of sanctions programs and the practical elements that are necessary for a sanctions program to succeed. Beyond sanctions, we will assess how trade, assistance, and investment are being used by governments around the world to advance geopolitical, as opposed to economic, goals. Finally, we will take up the trend lines and potential unintended effects of the growing reliance on economic statecraft – how targeted countries are shoring up their defenses and striking back and how policymakers can prepare themselves for the challenges to come.
Prerequisite(s): Students may not register for this class if they have already received credit for SA.660.709[C]
Who are the hackers that dominate headlines? This course will answer that question not just with broad terms like “Russia” and “China” but with more focused and nuanced analysis. We will focus on known hacking groups, their methods, motivations, and relationship to greater geopolitical developments. The course will focus primarily on state-affiliated threats, though it will touch other realms of the cyberthreat ecosystem as well. Students completing this course will have a foundational knowledge of what nations are doing in cyberspace, an important step towards subject matter expertise.No background in computer science is necessary for this class, though you should be willing to push yourself out of your technical comfort zone and be persistent in learning new skills. We will examine many case studies of historic and contemporary adversary behavior. Students will gain strategic perspective by examining reporting that will include tactical, operational, and strategic insights. Many of these examples are available in the open source literature, but additional context will be provided in class discussion.
Prerequisite(s): Students may not register for this class if they have already received credit for SA.660.724[C]
This course will examine the methodologies used by criminals and terrorists to raise and move money, the tools that governments use to track and stop them, and the latest developments in the field. Students will look at how illicit finance campaigns are being fought in the areas of terrorism, organized crime, human rights violations, and cyber-crime. The course will cover both the systemic/structural and targeted/tactical levels of the fight. At the systemic level, governments are working to lift the tide for all boats, and enhance global anti-money laundering and combating terrorist financing (AML/CFT) standards and implementation. In the targeted arena, law enforcement, intelligence, and private sector compliance officers are tracking and targeting financial flows as a means to unravel plots, uncover conspirators, and disrupt networks. At the same time, illicit actors have become more sophisticated and more resourceful in hiding and moving money. Students will learn not just what is being done but how to critically assess tools and policy efforts in the field.
Prerequisite(s): Students may not register for this class if they have already received credit for SA.660.710[C]
Infosec is cybersecurity with a sense of history, with attention to technical detail, and with an appreciation for the limits of what is possible. Part of the underlying philosophy of this class is that we cannot understand cyber operations in the twenty-first century without first understanding intelligence operations in the twentieth century. The course will provide a framework for understanding cybersecurity in an intelligence context and the evolution of counterintelligence; provide a foundation to design and deliver cybersecurity policies; explore the main concepts and theories of cybersecurity; promote a technical understanding of the Internet, vulnerabilities, and attacks; develop a historical understanding of past cybersecurity incidents, and foster the skills to evaluate and assess threats and develop appropriate responses.
Prerequisite(s): Students may not register for this class if they have already received credit for SA.660.726[C] OR SA.660.714[C] OR SA.660.715[C]
This course examines the role of intelligence in the formulation of US national security by surveying intelligence organizations, relative strengths and weaknesses of collection disciplines, all-source analysis, and support to war fighters and national policymakers. Taught by a former analyst and executive with 26 years of experience, the course will emphasize intelligence from the practitioner’s point of view. The course will focus on current issues in intelligence, including the continuing evolution of post 9/11 reforms, the rise of non-state threats, and the intelligence lessons learned in Iraq and Afghanistan. A major theme throughout the course will be the challenges associated with reconciling civil liberties and individual freedom with the clandestine nature of collection, counterintelligence, and covert action.
Prerequisite(s): Students may not register for this class if they have already received credit for SA.660.736[C] OR SA.502.101[C] OR SA.502.102[C] OR SA.660.779[C] OR SA.660.781[C]
Examines bargaining and negotiations from the theoretical and policy perspectives in international diplomacy, including the role of individual negotiators, domestic politics, cultural context, and the international environment. Includes an analysis of bilateral, multilateral and third-party mediation on a wide range of substantive issues. Considers ways in which negotiations may ameliorate conflicts of interest and identity in international politics. Numerous case studies and simulation exercises will be utilized.
Prerequisite(s): Students may not register for this class if they have already received credit for SA.640.719[C]
Examines hands-on tactics of dispute settlement and mediation on both the local and international scenes. Although relating to conceptual approaches to mediation and negotiation, focuses primarily on interpersonal aspects and the business of bringing people to an agreement. Also looks at ethical aspects of mediation and conflict resolution. A “Weekend Negotiation Workshop” will be scheduled for mid-September. This workshop will be held in-person and is REQUIRED for all participants in the course. Please see course syllabus for more details.
Prerequisite(s): Students may not register for this class if they have already received credit for SA.640.753[C];SA.640.718[C]
The course provides an in-depth study of the current state of the art of international mediation. The aim is to systematically approach the various uses, techniques, and problems of using mediation as a form of third party intervention to manage, resolve, or transform international conflicts. The course will offer an analysis of the history and development of international mediation as a distinct form of conflict management. The students will also get familiar with various factors that affect both the process and the outcome of international mediation. First of all, the course will cover a variety of contextual factors that condition any process of international mediation, such as the nature of the dispute (i.e. levels of intractability, degree of violence used, and issues at stake), disputants’ characteristics (i.e. power symmetries and asymmetries in conflict, strategies and tactics used in conflict, and capacities to rally international support) and mediators’ characteristics (i.e. perceived credibility, reputation, bias, interests and leverage which they may employ in the dispute). Secondly, the course will also provide an analysis of various behavioral factors (i.e. mediation strategies) that affect the process and outcome of international mediation. Finally, the students will also study the importance of specific types of agreements that are reached through mediation and their particular impact on both the short and long run. After completing the course the students will be able to better analyze and understand international conflicts and indicate how and why international mediation takes place.
Prerequisite(s): Students may not register for this class if they have already received credit for SA.640.742[C]
<a href="https://livejohnshopkins.sharepoint.com/sites/SAISInsider2/SitePages/DC-Capstones,-Professional-Skills-Courses.aspx" target="_blank">Click here for Capstone course application information</a>
Prerequisite(s): Students may not register for this class if they have already received credit for SA.660.725[C]
What is America's purpose in international affairs? What are the major challenges in U.S. foreign policy? What is the future of American power in a changing global system? This course examines these and other critical issues in U.S. foreign policy and global strategy. We will study the opportunities and dilemmas the United States confronts in dealing with terrorism and the Islamic State, great-power competition vis-a-vis Russia and China, the threat of nuclear proliferation and "rogue states," and other issues from international economics to transnational threats. We will consider whether America can maintain its international primacy, and what alternative strategies it might pursue in the future.
Prerequisite(s): Students may not register for this class if they have already received credit for SA.200.734[C]
This course is part 1 of 2 of the new Kissinger Center curriculum in history, strategy, and statecraft. It provides students with an introduction to issues of strategy, statecraft, and decision-making, framed against the history of U.S. foreign policy. The course begins with a discussion of classic works on strategy and the role of history in policy-making; the bulk of the course then covers key strategic choices and periods in U.S. foreign policy from 1776 to the present, focusing on the post-1945 period. The course addresses subjects from the grand strategy of Washington's Farewell Address, to U.S. strategy in the early nuclear age, to decision-making surrounding the Iraq War and the U.S. response to 9/11. The course can serve as preparation for the core exam in American Foreign Policy.
Prerequisite(s): Students may not register for this class if they have already received credit for SA.200.738[C]
Net assessment is a novel approach to long-term, strategic, national security analysis developed by Andrew Marshall. The course explores how to analyze and integrate historical and emerging competitive dynamics, institutional and social behavior, innovation studies and technology trends in order to bring fresh, diagnostic insight to senior-level decision-makers. Uses case studies from World War II, the Cold War and the Revolution in Military Affairs. Graded material consists of executive-level, interactive issue papers and a final briefing.
Prerequisite(s): Students may not register for this class if they have already received credit for SA.660.756[C]
This half-term course will introduce students to the fundamentals of military operations analysis, their historical importance and their practical application. The overall goal of the course is to enable students to apply relatively straightforward analytic techniques to estimate the relative combat power of opposing military forces. Emphasis will be on modeling air and naval forces, but ground combat modeling will also be discussed.
Prerequisite(s): Students may not register for this class if they have already received credit for SA.660.704[C]
Why do leaders, institutions, and states make the decisions they do? International Relations scholars are increasingly recognizing the importance of psychological and other decision-making approaches to understanding world affairs, particularly the crafting and implementation of foreign policy. In this course, we examine individual cognitive biases and heuristics, organizational culture, groupthink, and other dynamics that produce often surprising, suboptimal outcomes in international politics. A major purpose of the course is to think broadly about ways in which these approaches can help inform theoretical work done by political scientists and policy analysts to provide more nuanced understandings of otherwise confounding cases of foreign policy decision-making. We will also draw from numerous empirical examples of crisis decision-making, major foreign policy shifts, and intelligence failure across time and space to evaluate the relative efficacy of various approaches in explaining specific cases.
Prerequisite(s): Students may not register for this class if they have already received credit for SA.600.738[C]
This course analyzes US foreign policy from independence through World War II. What is striking about these first 180 years of US diplomacy is how relevant many of its debates and crises are to US policy today. Central to the Founding Fathers was the question of the uniqueness, or exceptionalism, of the American experiment. The tension between Jeffersonian idealism and Hamiltonian realism remains the fundamental divide in US foreign policy debates. The intersection between the idea of Manifest Destiny and the institution of slavery opens a window on the powerful influence of racism on the formulation of US policy. The study of US relations with Native Americans and Latin Americans reveals patterns that persist in US relations with weaker states. In the late nineteenth century, the US clash with European imperialism, the conquest of the Philippines, and the opening toward China and Japan lay the foundations for the US global role in the 20th and 21st centuries. Wilsonian idealism continues to inform the present debate, and myths about American “isolationism” between the wars still distort our understanding of the past.
Prerequisite(s): Students may not register for this class if they have already received credit for SA.200.716[C]
Explores the background and discipline associated with simulated crisis events. This hands-on course focuses on developing detailed crisis scenarios and decision-making frameworks, then applying them to complex policy questions involving various national and international actors. Students design and control a campus-wide SAIS simulation in early March. Some 75–80 non-seminar students from all focus areas typically participate. Course meets across fall and spring semesters, though credit for one semester is earned. Limited to 10 students. Students will receive an I (incomplete) as a grade for the fall class and will receive their final grade for the course upon completion of the simulation. Note: Second-year MAIR students will receive capstone credit upon successful completion of the class, including the crisis simulation in the spring. Please note this course is offered in the fall semester, but the simulation takes place in the spring semester in late February or early March. <a href="https://livejohnshopkins.sharepoint.com/sites/SAISInsider2/SitePages/DC-Capstones,-Professional-Skills-Courses.aspx" target="_blank">Click here for Capstone course application information</a>
Prerequisite(s): Students may not register for this class if they have already received credit for SA.660.816[C]
This course deals with the application of historical method and historical learning more broadly to the making of policy, with particular reference to security and strategic issues. It aims to develop students’ research skills and thereby make them effective consumers as well as producers of applied research in the field of strategic studies. At the same time, it examines the way in which historical modes of thought can inform, or distort, strategic decision-making. Note: successful completion of this course fulfills the capstone requirement for second-year MAIR students. <a href="https://livejohnshopkins.sharepoint.com/sites/SAISInsider2/SitePages/DC-Capstones,-Professional-Skills-Courses.aspx" target="_blank">Click here for Capstone course application information</a>
Prerequisite(s): Students may not register for this class if they have already received credit for SA.660.751[C]
Provides an overview of strategic studies, which deals with the preparation and use of military power to serve the ends of politics. Discusses the development of warfare from the mid-19th century through the present and addresses major theoretical concepts, including those found in Carl von Clausewitz’s On War.
Prerequisite(s): Students may not register for this class if they have already received credit for SA.660.740[C]
A companion to Strategy & Policy or Strategy I (MASCI), this course examines strategic decision-making in war and peace. It asks what those decisions are and explores them in different contexts; it also investigates the obstacles to good decision-making, from cognitive bias to illness. The course is built on historical case studies, short lectures and discussion, with assignments that develop skills in policy writing, group work, and presentation. No prerequisite, but Strategy & Policy or Strategy I, helpful as background.
Prerequisite(s): Students may not register for this class if they have already received credit for SA.660.777[C]
Strategy II examines the current and future use of force to achieve national objectives, with particular emphasis on emerging domains of 21st century warfare. This course builds upon the courses "Strategy I" and "Strategy and Policy" that provide an introduction to strategic studies, which deals with the preparation and use of military power to serve the ends of politics. The course is structured to cover three broad areas: 1) US Strategy in a Changing World, 2) The Changing Character of War, and 3) Strategic Decision-Making. Lessons will include but are not limited to: Strategic Forecasting, Resource Tradeoffs, Surprise and Adaptability, Civil-Military Relations, Space and Space Warfare, Cyber and Information Warfare, Technology and Future Conflicts, and Asymmetric Vulnerabilities. At the end of the course, students will have a better grasp of the diverse and competing issues that confront today's strategists and policy-makers, with a particular focus on the security challenges facing the United States in the 21st century.
Prerequisite(s): Students may not register for this class if they have already received credit for SA.660.792[C]
This course examines the experience of war from the viewpoint of the frontline soldier, sailor, airman or Marine. The course will seek to understand what makes young men and women both fight and protect their comrades in the face of grave risks to personal survival, and look at how policy decisions made safely in national capitals translate into deadly combat tasks for young men and women in combat under fire. We will use works of fiction and nonfiction in literature and film to reflect on the enduring nature of war throughout modern history. Understanding what our societies ask of soldiers in battle is essential for future policymakers to make responsible decisions on how and when to use military force.
Prerequisite(s): Students may not register for this class if they have already received credit for SA.660.712[C]
This course will cover Thucydides, Machiavelli, Bismarck, Hans Morgenthau, Reinhold Niebuhr, Kissinger and Kenneth Waltz, plumbing their relevance for international politics today. How do the insights of 2500 years help us to understand—or not—the nature of statecraft today?
Prerequisite(s): Students may not register for this class if they have already received credit for SA.660.723[C]
Analyzes the actual implementation of containment in the Third World during the Cold War. Focuses on a number of events in Africa and Latin America that flared into international crises. Examines the motivations of U.S. policy, the role of covert operations and the importance of the domestic debates in the United States that they engendered. Assesses the costs and benefits of U.S. policy for Americans, Africans and Latins. Stresses the need to understand these crises from multiple perspectives–-not simply those of the relevant governments and international organizations, but also of nonstate actors such as communist parties, guerrilla fighters and independence movements including the African National Congress of Nelson Mandela. This course is based on the professor's research in the United States, Latin America (including the closed Cuban archives) and Africa.
Prerequisite(s): Students may not register for this class if they have already received credit for SA.200.711[C]
The US and major European powers have long sought to institute varying kinds of political order across borders. This course will provide a critical examination of such attempts in the 20th and 21st centuries and their legacies for today. The class looks at US and European attempts to compel, institute, or promote “new world orders” as empires waned, Communist regimes assumed power, new forms of European integration emerged, the Cold War unfolded, and technological advances reshaped politics. It will focus on the three times in the 20th century that the US competed in conflicts of European origin and subsequently tried to construct new forms of political order—first in 1918, then again in 1945, and yet again in 1989. Students will compare these episodes in the three parts of the course and evaluate their legacies for the 1990s and the 21st century. The class will set these episodes in their broader context, contrasting them with (1) the actions of Germany and other major European states; and (2) the Communist challenge and the Putinism of the post-Soviet space. It will also assess the impact of global events (such as those in Afghanistan, China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam) and of technological developments on transatlantic relations. Finally, the class will examine the failure on the part of both the US and European states to create actual “world order” and the consequences for transnational challenges today.
Prerequisite(s): Students may not register for this class if they have already received credit for SA.200.709[C]
How does intelligence and intelligence oversight work? What are the intelligence politics at play and the trade-offs in secrecy and national security? Intelligence oversight is the intersection of intelligence and politics. In this course we will examine how various intelligence oversight structures developed as well as the shifts in executive, legislative, and judicial oversight mechanisms. We will also explore the challenges of the media, the private sector, and ethics in intelligence oversight and politics. Students will gain insight into intelligence oversight theories as well as the practices and the prospects for oversight to prevent intelligence failures.
Prerequisite(s): Students may not register for this class if they have already received credit for SA.660.729[C]
As we look forward several decades, what problems of statecraft are likely to confront us? Will the fragmentation of world politics into three distinct conflict regions, contrasting modes of alliance behavior, and the advent of cyberwarfare threaten national security, thus undermining the capacity to maintain world order in the 21st century? In the face of nuclear proliferation, is deterrence subject to a lowering of the nuclear threshold? By mid-century world population will be in decline in most of the Great Powers. Will globalization suffer? How will oil politics shape future options? Will the advent of aging, urbanization, and increased wealth assist the search for stability and peace? Or will abrupt structural changes on the cycles of relative power of the big states unleash a return of the conditions that led to world war in the first half of the 20th century? What strategies of leadership and balance are available to the United States and to the other Great Powers? How can diplomacy help guide statecraft to surmount these problems in the effort to sustain world order?
Prerequisite(s): Students may not register for this class if they have already received credit for SA.600.788[C]
Public diplomacy is one of the most poorly understood instruments of foreign policy. In exploring the theory and practice of this key aspect of a nation's soft power, this course aims to fill that gap by examining how state and non-state actors seek to establish dialogue with foreign audiences, as well as to inform them and favorably influence their views and policies. Governments and non-government institutions now have a wide range of traditional and non-traditional diplomatic tools at their disposal, including modern technological and commercial techniques, social media, cultural and educational exchanges, and international broadcasting. Particular attention will be paid to "nation-branding" and the use of pop culture as main features of the new public diplomacy. The course is a mix of lecture/discussions, active student participation, guest speakers, and a class visit to a local cultural center. Case studies will focus on the public-diplomacy successes and challenges of the United States, Japan, South Korea, China, and Germany.
Prerequisite(s): Students may not register for this class if they have already received credit for SA.760.707[C]
Will the fundamental beliefs, practices and understandings which constitute the “rules-based international order” hold? Will multilateralism, international law, global institutions, and cooperation be possible in the future? Are the current architecture, governance, and modalities of coexistence still valid? Will the role of the state be the same? If not, what is next? More than a decade of traumatic events of different kinds (terrorism, financial crisis, pandemics, war) has challenged the international system to the extreme. New powers have emerged, including private actors; distrusts, polarization, hostile competition, and confrontation are increasingly becoming the norm; and yet, challenges, threats and most of all, opportunities, remain shared by all and therefore still demand collective answers. This course will reflect on these fundamental questions and provided students with a strong base to try to answer them.
This course examines the role that intelligence plays in the formation of national security policy. The course explores the forces and events that have shaped U.S. intelligence. It examines the steps involved in producing intelligence from requirements through collection, analysis and the actual making of policy. The role of intelligence in the major intelligence issues facing the United States today will be discussed as well.
This course examines the role of intelligence analysis in helping to inform the decisions of national security leaders, policymakers, and business executives. The course will explore topics such as the history of intelligence analysis and how it fits within the broader intelligence cycle; theory, tradecraft, and analytic tools of the intel analyst; analytic successes and failures; ethics and politicization; and intelligence analysis in the private sector. The course will highlight the challenges of delivering objective analysis in an increasingly dynamic and polarized information environment, employing case studies of analysis associated with the US war on terrorism, Iraq, the COVID-19 pandemic, and Russia-Ukraine, and consider the value of intelligence analysis as an independent stream of information to senior decision makers in government and industry.
Critical infrastructure protection is becoming increasingly important in the 21st century, but thepeople in charge of defending and regulating the different sectors often do not know enoughabout the systems themselves to make proper decisions. The course aims to provide studentswith foundational understandings of what critical infrastructure is and how it relates to cyber-threat intelligence for decision makers. The course material is designed to give students thetools they need to think critically about cyber threats to critical infrastructure and theassignments are designed to give students flexibility on the what to dig into.
This course will explore how global actors have weaponized false or misleading information and personas to shape public perceptions, achieve strategic geopolitical goals, make money, and pollute the information environment. Students will study the new tools being used by state and non-state actors and examine the reach/effectiveness of disinformation campaigns in shaping public dialogue. In particular, this course will explore how the practice of influence operations has changed in the information age, how both state and non-state actors weaponize technology, social networks, and other tools for dissemination, and what makes human beings and societies vulnerable to influence operations. In addition to covering state- sponsored influence operations, this course will also dive into financially motivated operations, the role of traditional media and state media, and the inadvertent spread of viral false information, otherwise known as misinformation. Students will study how to detect influence campaigns using open-source investigative techniques and discuss the difficulties of attribution particular to the influence operations space. Finally, this course will explore regulatory, diplomatic, technological, and societal mitigations and interventions aimed at protecting the information environment, assessing their effectiveness.
This course is designed to place information conflict into historical and theoretical context, examining the degree to which technological innovation either reinforces or upsets power dynamics between and among states. It is designed to present students with several frameworks by which to examine how information is wielded and controlled, drawing on foundational insights from international relations scholarship, cybernetics and information theory, and communication and security studies. Students who complete this course will be better equipped to diagnose the impacts of emerging technologies on national security and the geopolitical landscape.
This seminar will examine how the norms of international law and multilateral structures can contribute to the resolution of acute security crises – and also how they fail. The role of alliances as instruments of deterrence and commitment, the role of national and pooled intelligence, the function of the United Nations in convening negotiations and imposing sanctions, and the unapologetic survival of great power diplomacy and national military strength, will be addressed. We will also look at how atavistic differences – national economic ambition, ethnic competition, and ideological rivalries – can instigate and prolong conflicts. Seminar participants can prepare research papers or take an examination. Contribution to classroom discussions is required. The course will be taught by Jeffrey Pryce, former senior advisor to the Pentagon’s Undersecretary for Policy and counsel at the law firm of Steptoe and Johnson in the field of international arbitration.Close analysis of the role and strategy of international and national institutions in security crises is one way to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past – in the destabilized global situation so much in evidence now.
What is the role of the United Nations in maintaining minimum public order? Is it capable of effective action in crisis, and how should it work with other multilateral structures such as NATO and regional groups? The course looks at the crisis in Kosovo, the Dayton process in Bosnia and recent wars in Africa, as well as the work of the United Nations on weapons of mass destruction and human rights law. Discusses the current reform process, the competition for power between the General Assembly and Security Council and the role of the secretary-general and International Court of Justice.
The National Security and Emerging Technology Practicum is an innovative program that gives students extensive, in-depth, real world experience working with external client organizations on projects addressing cybersecurity, mis/disinformation, artificial intelligence, and national security and geopolitical tensions of foreign investment in the technology sector. The practicum provides quality research and analysis to the client, while students develop their research advisory skills and apply concepts learned in the classroom to critical problems. This course is by application only. Note: successful completion of this course fulfills the capstone requirement for second-year MAIR students.<a href="https://livejohnshopkins.sharepoint.com/sites/SAISInsider2/SitePages/DC-Capstones,-Professional-Skills-Courses.aspx" target="_blank">Click here for Capstone course application information</a>
Genocide is often described as the worst of crimes, the nadir of human behavior, and the world’s most “odious scourge.” The goal of this course is to examine the origins and causes of genocide and to introduce students to the key works and major debates in the growing field of genocide and mass violence research. This course is divided into three parts. First, we will discuss how genocide is conceptualized and defined, explore the theories that try to explain whygenocides occur, and discuss why people may participate in genocidal killing. In the second part we will examine several key case studies of genocide and mass violence. Third, we will complete the course by debating policy approaches to genocide and mass violence including prevention, intervention, post-genocide justice, reconciliation and memory.
This course covers the concepts, actors, processes, trends, and research practices central to understanding the U.S. defense budget. The course emphasizes building the analytical and professional skills needed to conceptualize, conduct, and communicate independent assessments of the U.S. defense budget. Although the course focuses on defense budgeting in the U.S. government, the skills developed in the course will prove useful in other contexts, including defense budgeting in other countries, managing technical aspects of defense policy, and working with the aerospace and defense industry.
In this course, contemporary security challenges and policy responses in East Asia are analyzed from a variety of different theoretical perspectives. The basic assumption is that only such a multi-facetted approach can help us understand and integrate the broad spectrum of security concerns and the intricate interactions between them, ranging from human security through traditional national security to regional and global security issues, in this highly complex region (defined here as China and its maritime environment in North and South East Asia). And onlysuch a comprehensive understanding of security in East Asia can provide us with useful tools to evaluate national, regional and multilateral policy responses.
This course is concerned with the historical process by which European nation-states have constructed the institution known as the European Union (EU). It dealsprimarily with political, diplomatic, and economic history, not legal history or the history of European public policy. By the end of the course, students will have aclear picture of principal forces that have driven European integration at the various stages in the 'European Project's' development.
The Indo-Pacific has developed into a new framework for regional co-operation and contestation between the major powers, replacing the earlier notion of the Asia-Pacific. It reflects the rise of China and its Belt and Road Initiative, which aspires to weld together the Eurasianlandmass and its adjacent areas in a two-pronged, transcontinental and maritime drive. This course explores the material foundations, the perspectives and strategies of the major players in this huge maritime area, the patterns of co-operation and conflict in their interactions andthe arrangements - and their deficiencies - for transregional international order.
Russia’s (second) invasion of Ukraine has brought war back to Europe: not Cold War, not civil war (as in the Balkans during the 1990s), not even ‘hybrid’ war (as in Ukraine in 2014) - just all-out conventional war (with ‘hybrid’ elements). While its outcome is still uncertain, its outbreak has surely ended the ‘Thirty-Year Peace’ that the European continent had enjoyed since the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Union.
In the two decades since the Cold War the United States and its allies have conducted major military interventions roughly every five years. This course examines the interventions in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Mali from the moral, political, and strategic perspectives. Emphasis is on understanding the key issues likely to shape military intervention in the future. Student focused, seminar format, with written and oral assessments.
This course will provide a brief overview of current challenges linked to both forced and voluntary migration and then proceed to examine and discuss how we can balance political, economic, legal and institutional issues linked to state as well as human security in the interest of a better national, regional and global management of migratory movements.
Scholars of war and conflict have long divided their subject into three segments: the strategic, the operational, and the technical. The most widely discussed of these, strategy, focuses on big questions like deterrence. Technical analysis is also common in specialized courses and, in a topic like cybersecurity, requires a fair amount of computer science knowledge. But operational analysis is still too rare. This course takes up this operational lens and uses it to understand how states project power in cyberspace. We will establish a model for offensive and defensive cyber operations, introducing key terms and concepts that can be flexibly deployed to understand a wide range of incidents. Then we will use this model in analyzing a series of case studies. In each case, we will examine how different groups of government hackers performed their missions and what outcome resulted. With this solid foundation established, we will then use our operational understanding to re-examine strategic ideas and policy debates like deterrence and defend forward in a new light.
This course analyzes in historical context the major ethical questions posed by modern warfare. The course addresses in detail such issues as the right to self-defence to aggression, humanitarian intervention, preventive war, the status of civilians in warfare, and non-violent resistance. The course is a seminar and will be taught primarily through the structured discussion of the set texts.
This course aims both to introduce the subject of Foreign Policy Analysis to those who have not studied it before, and to allow those with some existing familiarity the opportunity to develop their understanding to an advanced level, and in particular to apply concepts to the countries and cases of their choice. It should also provide a good foundation for those intending to write their dissertations on any aspect of foreign policy or of decision-making. In making agency its main concern it provides an essential complement to courses in International Relations (usually the majority) which focus on structural or system-wide features. (T&H)
On a practical level, state-nexus cyberspace ("cyber") operations have become a ubiquitous element of contemporary intelligence activities. To that end, this course presents cyber operations through a traditional intelligence tradecraft lens. This includes the specific role and function of cyber operations when they are employed to support intelligence collection, counterintelligence, covert action, and operational enablement activities. Students will also be exposed to how unique elements of cyber activity (such as cybercrime tactics) can and have been leveraged in an intelligence context, the ethics of cyber operations as an intelligence activity, and case studies regarding how different countries approach the conduct of such activities. Students who complete this course will be prepared to interpret state-nexus cyber operations in the context of traditional intelligence contests between states.
Beginning with the Manhattan Project, this course will explore the ways nuclear weapons transformed the world we inhabit today, the effects of nuclear weapons on the conduct of international politics, and how people dealt with the issue of the shifting strategic balance, especially the loss of the American nuclear monopoly. The main learning goal of the course is to give students a historical, strategic, and theoretical background to allow them to understand and assess the key debates and policies regarding nuclear weapons that the United States will likely face in the coming decades. We will do so through an examination of the development of nuclear strategy from World War II to end of the 20th century, the characteristics of nuclear weapons, and fundamental issues stemming from the possession of nuclear weapons. We will conclude by exploring what effect nuclear weapons might have on international politics and US foreign policy in the coming decades and the relevance of the classics of nuclear strategic thinking to the recent nuclear doctrine.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is among the most protracted and seemingly irresolvable conflicts of modern times. It is also a conflict that attracts much international attention while standing at the centre of heated political debates. The objective of this course is to provide an in-depth understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from its origin to the present, starting with the clash between Zionism and Arab-Palestinian nationalism during the British Mandate, the period of interstate rivalry between Israel and its Arab neighbours, the watershed event of the 1967 war, and the return to a struggle between Israel and the Palestinians in the last decades. While the course is structured chronologically, special attention will be paid to the different interpretations of history and the contrasting narratives of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. Of central importance are the questions of why the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has not been solved yet, and whether peace is possible.
This course provides an understanding of the risks associated with political competition and conflict in cyberspace. The course is organized in three parts. Drawing on information studies, game theory and arms control, as well as on the conflict resolution literature, Part I aims to enable students to understand cyberconflict, analyze risk associated with state actions in cyberspace, and develop cyberconflict mitigation strategies. Beginning with a review of actors, weapons, and targets as well as the evolving architecture of the internet from a geopolitical perspective, the course deploys game theory as a methodological framework for cyberconflict. A double session focuses on data-based political manipulation as a critical but distinct cyber front. Part I then concludes with a session comparing national cyber strategies of the US, EU, China, Iran, and Russia.Having established a basis for analysis, Part II next examines risk mitigation strategies. This segment begins by evaluating efforts to establish norms for state behavior in cyberspace as well as legal frameworks, domestic and extra-territorial, in the US and EU. The following session focuses on the politics of and compliance with the 2015 US-China accord as the most important bilateral cyber restraint agreement to date. An in-class examination ensures students’ grasp of the basics of cyber risk and stability in cyberspace. A more technical session evaluating the risk management industry’s engagement in cyber, including an introduction to cyber insurance and risk modeling, follows the examination. Part III applies the historical knowledge and conceptual approaches studied in Parts I and II to key cyber conflict arenas. A course review concludes the seminar.
This seminar/workshop might also be titled “Writing and Editing for Policy Debate.” Following short lectures and class discussion of fiction and non-fiction models for good writing, students will participate, in real time, in a ‘shadow editorial process’ putting together two issues of the bi-monthly journal, Survival: Global Politics and Strategy. Students will also meet with the instructor in individual tutorial sessions to assess and edit drafts of their own writing.
Napoleon once famously remarked, the policy of all powers is in their geography. Yet geography does not determine, but conditions; the meaning of particular geographic features changes over time and depending on circumstances. This course explores how geography interacts with human elements to affect foreign policy. The content is organized thematically, from basic conceptual issues (e.g., determinism vs. possibilism, levels of analysis) to strategic spaces (e.g., land, sea, air) and the role of human factors (e.g., perception, technology). Each session will introduce major ideas on the influence of geography (e.g., “sea-power”) and apply them to relevant historical (e.g., Britain’s maritime strategy) and contemporary examples (e.g., U.S.-China relations). By the end of this course, students will be equipped with conceptual tools and real-world examples to think about world affairs geographically—with reference to geographic features underlying the course of daily political events.
The course offers both a general introduction and a more in-depth approach to the way in which the European Union (EU) acts in international relations. It is meant to provide a balanced analysis of all the main issues involved inside as well as outside Europe proper, and to stimulate the students to address specific themes while giving them a flavor of how policy is actually made in Brussels.
Nationalism fueled the bloodiest conflicts in modern Europe, starting with the French Revolution. Today, the Western nation-state is beset above by integration and globalization, and from below by the rise of sub-national identities, changing loyalties and the nature of war. What are the trends and the outcomes?
This seminar proceeds on three levels: history, theory and policy. First, we will analyze contemporary American foreign policy against the foil of previous traditions (Wilsonianism, “Bushism”). Second, we will look at America’s position in the international system. What is the system like – uni-, multi-or a-polar? How does the system shape behavior, what is the nature of power? Is America’s declining? The third level is policy-oriented/ normative. What should American policy be in the light of rising powers (China), failing states, wars of order (or regime change), and non-state threats like terrorism?
Examines the war with jihadi-salafi violent extremism by looking at the roots of the conflict and the reasons for 9/11 and other terrorist attacks. Follows the current course of the war with a focus on Africa and South Asia, including Afghanistan. Introduces students to the evolution of extremist Islam, jihadist ideology and groups such as al Qaeda and ISIS, while not neglecting the influence of U.S. policy in the Muslim-majority world. Also examines in detail the strategies and tactics that both the extremists and the United States have adopted to fight the war.
Prerequisite(s): Cannot take if already received credit for SA.660.789[C]
Examines phases of conflict and techniques that may be introduced at various stages of conflict to halt escalation, minimize violence, and to move conflicts towards resolution. This includes an analysis of the prevention of violent conflicts, crisis management, negotiations to terminate violent conflict, the resolution and/or transformation of conflicts, and post conflict peace-building. Special emphasis will be placed on the role of third parties, such as international institutions, state governments, eminent persons, and NGOs in conflict management.
The traditional counterintelligence and cyber threats posed to the United States by nation-state and cyber-criminal actors is at an unprecedented level. Our nation state adversaries and criminal cyber enterprises routinely target United States-based companies, academic institutions, and various other organizations for their own gain. These gains are for the purpose of economic and political advantages and come in the form of Intellectual Property theft, surreptitious collection of policy positions, and financial extortion. But, how (and why) do our adversaries select their United States-based targets and how effective are our adversaries at accomplishing their strategic objectives? In understanding how our adversaries select their targets, we can begin to understand our adversaries’ strategic intent. In this course, you will learn not only about these threats and how they manifest in the United States – both at the strategic and tactical level – but also how the Intelligence Community understands the strategic intent of our adversaries and combats their actions in our country.
This course is centered around three main questions: whether business should be concerned about its human rights impacts, the increasing importance of corporate human rights due diligence, and what type of remedy is available for victims of corporate abuse. Students will gain expertise on human rights related business risks and how to advise companies in a transnational business environment through role-playing exercises and case studies like the FIFA 2022 World Cup in Qatar and Apple in China. The course will focus on corporate sustainability, in light of pressures facing business at home and abroad, including their response to issues such as climate change, the COVID pandemic, and systemic racism.The class will address the crucial role of investors, civil society and consumers, and the legal regime in rewarding (and penalizing) businesses that do not take human rights and the environment into account. By the end of the course, students will have gained advocacy writing experience from the point of view of a civil society activist, as well as a corporate change maker, and the opportunity to engage first hand with guest lecturers working on these issues.<a href="https://sais.jhu.edu/users/ngardne6" target="_blank">Click here for the faculty bio</a>
Why do countries experience civil wars? How can the international community act and try to prevent, or stop, such wars? The course revolves around these two basic but fundamental questions to understand international security nowadays. Civil wars have been a constant feature of the contemporary global security environment across different continents, and beginning with the end of the Cold War, there has a been a spike in international activism through UN mandated peacekeeping and peacebuilding missions. This story is fraught with some partial stories of success and failures. The course aims to address these themes and try to and respond to these questions:? What are civil wars, and why do they occur?? What strategies armed actors use in civil wars? Why do they often target civilians?? What tools does the international community has to prevent and stop civil wars?? How effective are international interventions in stopping wars?? What measures can international actors undertake to build a sustainable peace?The class is divided in 2 parts. Part 1 deals with conflict analysis and discusses what civil wars are, the major theories discussing the causes of civil wars and approaches to the study of civil wars’ dynamics (e.g., intensity and types of violence and wars’ duration). Part 2 deals with international interventions, addressing peacekeeping and peacebuilding as they evolved through the decades and assessing the factors that can explain success and failure of such activities. Through the two sections, different case studies – such as Bosnia, Colombia, Lebanon, the Sahel region and Syria, will be analyzed through both instructors’ lectures and brief students’ presentations.
How do decisionmakers leverage intelligence to understand complex national security challenges? How are intelligence tools such as collection, covert action, and analysis used to advance US foreign policy objectives? This course explores the role of the US Intelligence Community in informing US policymakers, the relationship between intelligence and policy, and the challenges of delivering intelligence in an increasingly dynamic and polarized information environment. Employing case studies associated with the US war on terrorism, Iraq, Iran, and Vietnam, written exercises, and simulations, students will gain an understanding of the intelligence cycle, intelligence tools and tradecraft, and the value of intelligence as an independent stream of information to US policymakers in a representative democracy.
The US cyber apparatus is an oft-discussed but little understood instrument of US national power. This course will define the defensive and offensive cyber elements of the USG and private sector and explain the historical evolution of the terms and concepts. This will include a basic overview of the evolution of the internet, the concepts of computer network exploitation vs computer network attack, and a study of nation state and non-nation state cyber threats. This baseline understanding will then allow students to understand the economic, military, and counter-intelligence threat posed by adversary cyber actors and methods for the USG and private sector to counter these threats. Finally, with this knowledge on-hand, students will debate the efficacy of recently published National Cyber Strategy and associated policies and pending legislation.
Semiconductors are the quintessential foundational, and therefore geostrategic, technology. They are simultaneously essential for (a) military and defense technology, weaponry, and equipment; (b) broader geopolitically significant science and technology, such as biosecurity and Artificial Intelligence (AI); and (c) the critical infrastructure and services upon which the daily functioning of societies rest, such as 5G networks. It is this breadth of use-cases that has raised the semiconductor industry from 'important' to the level of 'national security imperative’. This course will take students beyond the buzzwords to examine the technology (and technologies) in question, the supply chains underpinning them, the use-cases they enable, and the evolving and diverging security and economic interests animating the global policy landscape.
This course explores cybercrime's complex and rapidly evolving world. The course is designed to provide students with a solid foundation in investigative techniques for understanding cybercriminals' actions, including their motives, tactics, and strategies. Students will gain a thorough understanding of the various roles and functions within cybercriminal organizations. In addition, they will learn the methods used to monetize stolen data and other ill-gotten gains. Through lectures, case studies, and hands-on exercises, students will develop the skills to investigate cybercrime threat actors and assess intelligence reports' reliability and relevance. Upon completing this course, students will understand the inner workings of the cybercrime landscape. They will also be able to make informed decisions when faced with complex cyber threats. This course is ideal for graduate students interested in cybersecurity, law enforcement, or intelligence analysis.
This class will explore the different economic, political, and civil tensions that have shaped cyber policy over the last 20 years. Too many practitioners of cyber policy and operations have not thought deeply about the underlying assumptions and history that current policies are based on. Similarly, there is minimal appreciation for how other countries experience the US-dominated approach to the development of the internet economy and how this shapes their own approach to cyber policy. Students will finish the class with an understanding of the fundamental principles of US cyber policy that have remained constant and emerging trends that are leading the US and other countries to assert greater dominance. The class will dive deeper into the accepted wisdom of established cyber norms and principles and determine whether the assumptions these are based on are flawed. Students will also gain a deeper understanding of the domestic and international dynamics that shape Russian and Chinese approach to cyber policy.
This class is intended to give students experience in conducting and writing analysis of online information operations and disinformation campaigns, conveying practical skills for those seeking professional threat intelligence analysis or other similar roles. Throughout the semester, students will develop and conduct their own open source investigation of their choosing, culminating at the end of the semester in the completion of a polished threat intelligence report. While open source intelligence (OSINT) investigative techniques will be employed by students throughout the course, it is not intended to be an OSINT techniques course per se. Rather, focus will be placed on producing coherent, concise, accurate and insightful analysis. As part of this, heavy emphasis will be placed on analytic writing, and students will also be exposed to—and conduct—some basic quantitative data analytics. No prior exposure to information operations or disinformation campaigns is expected, as students will learn relevant concepts and lingo as the course progresses.
Foundations of Cybersecurity covers the basics of the field, in a unique way, by using three things in every session: concepts, tools, and history. What is computer networking? What is artificial intelligence? What is encryption? What are digital forensic artifacts? How has the geolocation challenge evolved? What makes threats “advanced and persistent”? What are influence operations? What are truly advanced, technical intelligence capabilities? What’s the state-of-the-art in attribution? How has threat intelligence changed? Foundations is an entry gateway into an entire field. The class lays the conceptual, practical, and case-study groundwork that will enable students to get the most out of other cybersecurity-related classes down the line. We will use ChatGPT (and other AI tools) as accelerants and assistants, especially for coding and command-line exercises.
This course is an introduction to strategic studies, which deals with the preparation and use of military power to serve the ends of politics. Although the treatment is topical, two themes run throughout: (1) the nature of war based largely, but not exclusively, on Carl von Clausewitz's On War and (2) the evolution of warfare from the late nineteenth century to the present. There are no prerequisites for this course; nevertheless, students will require a basic grasp of 20th and 21st century history.The course is divided into three main parts: an introductory discussion of strategic theory focused on Clausewitz and alternatives to his theory of war; an examination of the paradigmatic form of mass warfare that emerged in the nineteenth through the mid- twentieth century; and, an examination of challenges that have emerged to that paradigm since World War II.The course is taught through a combination of lecture and discussion. By the course’s conclusion, students will have a fulsome understanding of the theory and history of strategic studies, and will be equipped to apply that knowledge to the major dilemmas animating international security affairs today.