NATO and International Security

This course will provide an overview of NATO’s role in international security since its establishment during the Cold War until Russia’s unprovoked aggression of Ukraine in 2022. Its aim is to introduce students to NATO’s structures, policies, and operations as well as to provide them with analytically informed and critical awareness of its role in international security and of the current issues facing the Alliance. Students will learn about the Alliance’s organization and structure, its decision-making process, strategy and defence planning, acquiring detailed knowledge of the Alliance’s three core tasks of collective defence, crisis management, and cooperative security. Issues, such as NATO’s nuclear policy and role in arms control, partnerships, eastern enlargement, relations with Russia and China, and emerging security threats in the energy, cyber, and climate domains will also be debated and addressed.