Introduction to National Security

This course introduces students to the theory and practice of national security. It seeks answer a basic question: how do states (and primarily the United States) control, develop and use force to accomplish their national objectives?

The course is divided into four sections. First, it will introduce military strategy and its relationship to military power. Second, it will then look at the primary actor in this course—the military—and delve into a series of questions, ranging from how the military interacts with civilians to how the military learns (or does not learn). Third, the course will explore how states can use different types of force and the threats of force—from airpower to economic coercion—to accomplish their national objectives. Finally, the course concludes by looking at the future of war and strategy in the twenty-first century.

By the end of this course, students should be able to:

• Understand the basic debates about military strategy in the modern era
• Develop a framework for analyzing what the use of force can and cannot accomplish
• Apply these concepts to current and future conflicts