BSS107 Security Threats

Faculty of Social Studies
Autumn 2018
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 7 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
doc. Mgr. Josef Kraus, Ph.D. (lecturer)
doc. Tomáš Šmíd, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Mgr. Adam Potočňák, Ph.D. (seminar tutor)
Mgr. Alexandra Šmídová (seminar tutor)
Guaranteed by
prof. JUDr. PhDr. Miroslav Mareš, 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
We expect a thorough knowledge of this book: Buzan, Barry – Ole Waever – Jaap de Wilde (2005): Bezpečnost. Nový rámec pro analýzu. Brno: Barrister & Principal.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The course aims to introduce risks and threats of the modern era. The new approaches to security research will be taken into account, so the course will not be restricted to "hard security" only. The attention will be given to so-called new security threats (asymmetric threats) as well as to the research of contemporary armed conflicts which have a different character than classical "clausewitzian" war.
Learning outcomes
Knowledge of the most important phenomenon in current security issues, such as terrorism, religous extremism, organized crime, security privatization etc. Students should be able to analyze chosen security problem. All based on their knowledge of theoretical background and proper methodology.
Syllabus
  • 1. Introduction, definitions, new security threats, war etc. 2. Theoretical approach towards conflict 3. Conflict and natural resources anc conflict of interest 4. Ethnicity, nationalism, and a conflict of values 5. Conflict solution 6. Privatization of armed conflict 7. Religious radicalism 8. Organized crime 9. Terrorism 10. Arms proliferation 11. State failure as a security threat 12. Migration, demographic pressures and civilization colapse 13. Environmental threats
Literature
    required literature
  • ŠMÍD, Tomáš. Etnické konflikty v postkomunistickém prostoru (Ethnic conflicts in Post-Communist Area). In VAĎURA, Vladimír. Etnické konflikty v postkomunistickém prostoru. Brno: Centrum pro studium demokracie a kultury, 2007, 278 pp. ISBN 978-80-7325-126-0. info
  • BUZAN, Barry, Ole WAEVER and Jaap de WILDE. Bezpečnost : nový rámec pro analýzu. Translated by Ivo Lukáš. 1. vyd. Brno: Centrum strategických studií, 2005, 267 s. ISBN 8090333362. info
  • PARIS, Roland. At war's end : building peace after civil conflict. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2004, xi, 289. ISBN 0521541972. URL info
  • SINGER, P. W. Corporate warriors : the rise of the privatized military industry. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2003, xi, 330. ISBN 0801489156. info
  • Natural resources and violent conflict : options and actions. Edited by Ian Bannon - Paul Collier. Washington: The World Bank, 2003, xviii, 409. ISBN 0821355031. info
  • KLARE, Michael T. Resource wars : the new landscape of global conflict. 1st ed. New York: Metropolitan Books, 2001, 289 s. ISBN 0805055762. info
Teaching methods
lectures, position papers, seminar papers
Assessment methods
Seminary papers and position papers: Each student will work out a seminary paper. The issue of the paper has to be agreed by the lecturer. The minimal length is 10 pages, maximum 15 pages. Seminary paper is handed out in electronic form till the 8th week of the course and in paper form in the same term. It is not possible to hand out the seminary paper, if this happens, the student is classified F and has to repeat the course in the next possible half-year. The issue of the seminary paper will be set until the 3rd week of the course, till Friday 3 p.m. If this is not fulfilled, the student is classified F. The seminary paper is evaluated with 0-30 points. The areas evaluated are: 1) quality of analysis, use of theoretico-methodological tools and factual accuracy - 0-15 points 2) originality, stylistic, orthographic and formal quality - 0-10 points 3) quality, richness and diversity of resources and literature - 0-5 points If the seminary paper does not meet the criteria of ethic codex of scientific work (plagiarism), it will be passed to the disciplinary action and the student will be classified F. It is not possible to work out a new (reparatory) seminary paper. The seminary paper has to include the list of key words and an English abstract and it has to be worked out in the format .doc or .rtf. Because of the number of students and insufficient capacity of the faculty, the seminary lessons will be substituted with 2 arrangements. One of them is a regular study of working texts, which will be checked by working out position papers. Each position paper should be 2-3 pages long. Each student can work out at most 10 position papers, at least 5. Each position paper will be evaluated with 0-5 points. The position papers will be sent into the Information system till 23:59 of the day that precedes the day of the lecture. The main areas of evaluation will be the ability of dealing with the issue and its critical evaluation. Activity: Discussion on the issues of particular lectures will be held via Information system and the discussion strings established in connection with the particular issue. This activity will be evaluated with 30 points at most. The entries not dealing with the issue, personal attacks and evident nonsenses will be evaluated with minus points. It is also not possible to work out one entry longer than 1,5 page (2700 signs) - this will be also evaluated with minus points. The strings will be split into 4 seminary groups. Every student will have the right to set at most 2 entries to a particular issue. There will be also a mid-term test held during the course. The exact term of the test will not be told to the students in advance; it should be held between 4rd and 10th week of the course. The test will consist of 2 open and 4 closed questions. The open questions will be evaluated with 0-6 points, the closed ones with 0-2 points. The maximum of the points is thus 20. Final examination test: The final examination test will consist of 8 open and 8 closed questions. The maximum of points for this test will be 100; it is necessary to pass it with at least 60%, which means 60 points (without taking into account previous study outcomes). The overall evaluation will be done according to this schema: The maximum amount of points for all the activities during the course is 230. A = 230 - 210 points B = 192 – 209 points C = 174 – 191 points D = 157 – 173 points E = 138 – 156 points F = 137 and less.
Language of instruction
Czech
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
The course is taught: in blocks.
Information on course enrolment limitations: Předmět si mohou zapisovat pouze studenti, kteří jej opakují. Ostatní nechť si zapíší kurz BSS112
Listed among pre-requisites of other courses
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2007, Autumn 2008, Autumn 2009, Autumn 2010, Autumn 2011, Autumn 2012, Autumn 2013, Autumn 2014, Autumn 2015, Autumn 2016, Autumn 2017.
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/fss/autumn2018/BSS107