PLT4609

Strategic studies: a critical introduction

Andrew Butfoy

12 points - 2 hours per week - First semester - Clayton

Objectives This subject has three key objectives: (a) to facilitate an understanding of the role of military power in international relations, and the ways in which this might change in the future; (b) to illuminate the strategic implications of perspectives on world politics which stress common and cooperative approaches to security; and (c) to assist students in the identification and critical assessment of the central assumptions and themes in the strategic studies literature.

Synopsis This subject presents strategic studies as a sub-discipline of international relations. Within this setting, the subject has five themes: the relationship between strategic studies and theories of international relations; US policy on nuclear weapons (during and after the Cold War); Australian defence policy (historical context and future directions); the search for `common' and `cooperative' security; and threats to international security.

Assessment Essay (6000 words): 50% - Examination (3 hours): 50%

Recommended texts

Butfoy A `Rationalising the bomb? strategic studies and the US nuclear umbrella', Australian journal of politics and history 40:2, 1993, pp. 145-161
Butfoy A Common security and strategic reform: a critical analysis Macmillan, 1997
Betts R (ed.) Conflict after the cold war: arguments on causes of war and peace Macmillan, 1994

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