BSSb1194 Unintentional and natural threats to security

Faculty of Social Studies
Spring 2025
Extent and Intensity
1/1/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Jakub Drmola, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Mgr. Marek Dvořáček (lecturer)
Mgr. MUDr. Jan Greguš (lecturer)
Mgr. Jan Kleiner, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
Mgr. Jakub Drmola, Ph.D.
Department of Political Science – Faculty of Social Studies
Contact Person: Mgr. Lucie Pospíšilová
Supplier department: Division of Security and Strategic Studies – Department of Political Science – Faculty of Social Studies
Prerequisites
! BSS194 Unintentional threats && !NOW( BSS194 Unintentional threats )
Communicative level of English language is required for active participation.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 40 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/40, only registered: 0/40, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/40
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The course aims to provide an overview and wider context for security threats which are not intentional. Security studies usually focus on threats which are man-made, conceived with an intention to harm, or are at least a side-effect of an deliberate human activity (i.e. warfare, extremism, crime, ... ). At the same time, unintentional threats or phenomena which are entirely independent of human activities can be considered at least as dangerous.
Learning outcomes
Students will be able to explain the difference between intentional and unintentional threats; demonstrate it on examples and they will be able to identify them and discuss possible countermeasures.
Syllabus
  • - Introduction
  • - Man-made yet unintentional threat
  • - Societal, Cultural and Historical aspects
  • - Biological, Environmental and Geological
  • - Planetary and Stellar
  • - Collapse, Mitigation and Resilience
Literature
    required literature
  • Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. IPBES Workshop on Biodiversity and Pandemics. Executive Summary. 2020
  • Foot, D. K. (2004): “Easter Island: A Case Study in Non-sustainability”. Greener Management International,
  • Butzer, K. W. (2012): „Collapse, environment, and society“. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 109, No. 10, Pp. 3632–3639
  • Kalkman, J. P. (2020). Military crisis responses to COVID-19. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, September, 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-5973.12328
  • Kareiva, P. - Carranza, V. (2018): “Existential risk due to ecosystem collapse”, Futures, ISSN 0016-3287, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2018.01.001
  • United Nations (UN). World Population Prospects 2022: Summary of Results; 2022
  • National Research Council (2010): Defending Planet Earth: Near-Earth- Object Surveys and Hazard Mitigation Strategies
  • Brauch, H. G. (2011): „Concepts of Security Threats, Challenges, Vulnerabilities and Risks“, in Coping with Global Environmental Change, Disasters and Security
Teaching methods
lectures, presentations, interactive class work
Assessment methods
Students will be graded by accruing up to 25 points from presentations, essay, group work and final test.
Language of instruction
English
Further Comments
The course is taught annually.
The course is taught: every week.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2025, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/fss/spring2025/BSSb1194