Objectives
Suitable for members of international organisations, including UN agencies and non-government organisations, diplomats, civil servants, military officers, police, academics, journalists, politicians, and others who need the capacity to analyse the complex interactions linking contemporary security issues and roles, or those seeking to move into these areas. Takes you on to senior positions in the armed forces, government, international organisations, media and academia. You will be taught by Cranfield University academic staff at the Defence Academy - College of Management and Technology who understand the challenges of translating theory into practice. With this in mind, the Cranfield MSc also places more emphasis on field work than other comparable courses. Visiting lecturers include experts from Government, other universities, think tanks, industry, research establishments and non-government departments.
Course description
In the period since the end of the Cold War, the range of problems defined as threatening personal, group, state, international and global security has widened considerably, as has the range of agencies involved in providing such security.
Together, the events of 11 September 2001, the Indian Ocean tsunami in December 2004 and the 7/7 attacks in London in summer 2005 - and the multi-agency response to them - exemplify this new security paradigm.
It is clear that the risk of major armed conflict between states, which has absorbed soldiers', scholars' and statesmen's attention for the last two centuries, has been compounded by new threats of economic dislocation, crime, drugs, environmental damage, state collapse, non-state actors, anti-elite action, 'super-terrorism' and the re-emergence of racial, religious and tribal tension. These factors threaten the lives and wellbeing of many people and groups, the fabric of society and the structure of the nation state.
This course comprises five compulsory and two elective modules, followed by a thesis.
Modules:
In the first term, students take compulsory foundation modules in:
* Research Methodology
* Art and Science of War
* Security, Demography and the Physical Environment
* Law, Strategy and Military Operations
In the second term, they take the core compulsory module:
* The Nature of Security
During this second term, students also take two electives chosen from:
* Disaster Management
* Weapons of Mass Destruction, Control and Verification
* Risk Management and Corporate Security
* Terrorism
* Security in the Asia-Pacific Rim
* Military and Security Policy of Russia and the Soviet Union
* Managing Defence in the Wider Security Context
Cranfield University does not guarantee to offer all electives in a given year but every effort will be made to meet students' wishes.
In the third term, students complete the thesis, which may be in any area covered in the course.
Duration
1 year full-time.
Assessment
Written examinations, oral presentations, coursework assignments on each module plus a 15-20,000-word thesis.
