Module Directory

What is security? Why should we pursue it? At what cost and for whom? How do phenomena get elevated to a matter of 'security', who decides, and what are the consequences? How do states and other agencies deal with contemporary security challenges, including migration, pandemics, cybersecurity, and cybercrime? And how do we sacrifice our privacy online in the name of security? This interdisciplinary module will critically assess current research, policies and practices in global security and explore the contributions made to our understanding of security by social sciences, law, and philosophy.

This module is organised around key questions in contemporary thinking and debate about security, considering theoretical and conceptual debates in the context of real-world phenomena and events. The first part of the course focuses on getting students to grips with fundamental questions and developments in security studies. We then move on to consider dilemmas of securitisation in the context of global migration and pandemics. The final weeks of the course focus on the challenges posed by the Internet, cyberspace, and the advent of surveillance and mass online data gathering.

The aims of this module are:

• To familiarise and engage students critically with complex issues of contemporary and enduring importance.


• To open up new thinking and to expand career opportunities within government, policy analysis, non-governmental institutions and the security sector, both nationally and internationally.

By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:

1. Show a sophisticated understanding of the contemporary debates in global security.


2. Distinguish and appreciate different aspects of the debates around security, including, conceptual, epistemological, and normative discussions.


3. Have developed a critical awareness of the broad social, legal, conceptual, and political aspects of global security.


4. Assess the distinctive contributions as well as the intersections of different fields in researching global security challenges.


5. Demonstrate a good understanding of some key topics in contemporary security, including migration, health, and cybersecurity.


6. Make sound judgements in the complexity of data related to global security challenges and communicate these ideas clearly.  

Module topic list - Spring Term

• What is security?


• Securitization: making something a matter of security.


• Security and human rights.


• Human security.


• Reading week


• Global migration


• Militarization and pandemics.


• Cybersecurity and cybercrime.


• The Dark Net.


• Privacy, security and surveillance.

This module will be delivered via:

• One 2-hour seminar each week.

Attendance in person is expected.

• Marta Poblet; Jonathan Kolieb. (2018) 'Responding to Human Rights Abuses in the Digital Era: New Tools, Old Challenges', in Stanford Journal of International Law. vol. 54 (2) , pp.259-283
• VG exposed the largest child sexual abuse forum. It was run by the police., https://www.vg.no/spesial/2017/undercover-darkweb/?lang=en
• Waldron, Jeremy. (2003-06) 'Security and Liberty: The Image of Balance*', in Journal of Political Philosophy. vol. 11 (2) , pp.191-210
• Minárik, Tomáš; Osula, Anna-Maria. (2016-02) 'Tor does not stink: Use and abuse of the Tor anonymity network from the perspective of law', in Computer Law & Security Review. vol. 32 (1) , pp.111-127
• Roderick S. Graham. (October 19, 2017 12.33am BST) 'The difference between cybersecurity and cybercrime, and why it matters', in The Conversation.
• Yar, Majid; Steinmetz, Kevin F. (2019) Cybercrime and society, Los Angeles: SAGE.
• Rothschild, Emma. (no date) What is Security?.
• Elbe, Stefan. (2006) 'Should HIV/AIDS Be Securitized? The Ethical Dilemmas of Linking HIV/AIDS and Security', in International Studies. vol. 50 (1) , pp.119-144
• Wall, David S.; Williams, Matthew L. (2013) 'Policing cybercrime: Networked and social media technologies and the challenges for policing', in Policing & Society. vol. 23 (4) , pp.409-412
• The Securitization of COVID-19: Three Political Dilemmas | Global Policy Journal, https://www.globalpolicyjournal.com/blog/25/03/2020/securitization-covid-19-three-political-dilemmas
• Bowling, Ben; Westenra, Sophie. (2018) ''A really hostile environment': Adiaphorization, global policing and the crimmigration control system', in Theoretical Criminology., pp.1-21
• Elbe, Stefan. (2006-03) 'Should HIV/AIDS Be Securitized? The Ethical Dilemmas of Linking HIV/AIDS and Security', in International Studies Quarterly. vol. 50 (1) , pp.119-144
• Eric Jardine. (no date) The Dark Web Dilemma: Tor, Anonymity and Online Policing.
• Clough, Jonathan. (2015) Principles of Cybercrime, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Baldwin, David A. (1997) 'The concept of security', in Review of International Studies. vol. 23 (1) , pp.5-26
• King, Gary; Murray, Christopher J. L. (2001) 'Rethinking Human Security', in Political Science Quarterly. vol. 116 (4) , pp.585-610
• McDonald, Matt. (2008-12) 'Securitization and the Construction of Security', in European Journal of International Relations. vol. 14 (4) , pp.563-587
• Shue, Henry. (2010) 'Deadly Delays, Saving Opportunities: Creating a More Dangerous World?', in Climate ethics: essential readings, Oxford: Oxford University Press., pp.146-162
• Yochai Benkler. (2014) 'A Public Accountability Defense for National Security Leakers and Whistleblowers', in Harvard Law and Policy Review. vol. 8, pp.281-326
• Zedner, Lucia. (2009) Security, Abingdon: Routledge.
• Reveron, Derek S. (c2012) Cyberspace and national security: threats, opportunities, and power in a virtual world, Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
• Hawkesworth, M. E.; Kogan, Maurice. (2004) Encyclopedia of government and politics, London: Routledge.
• Bartlett, Jamie. (2014) The dark net: inside the digital underworld, London: William Heinemann.
• Deibart. (2018) 'Trajectories for Future Cybersecurity Research', in The Oxford Handbook of International Security: Oxford University Press.