Course Programme for the Master's degree in International Security Studies
Students spend the first year at the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Pisa, where teaching is focused on the main issues concerning security, including hard and soft security, technological security, environmental security, and human security. These and other germane topics are dealt with through different disciplinary approaches, including International Relations, International Law, Political Philosophy, Political Economy, Statistics, Criminal, Constitutional, Environmental and Comparative Law.
The second year is based at the School of International Studies in Trento, where students have a closer look at the specific security challenges modern societies are faced with, such as migration, energy issues, environmental degradation, financial flows, armed and other violent conflicts. During the second year, students are encouraged to spend a period abroad for research purposes, to prepare their dissertation, or pursue an internship. MISS students can apply for a place on one of the numerous exchange agreements and mobility programmes the School of International Studies and the University of Trento have with prestigious academic institutions all over the world.
For course content please see:
- Course structure
- Programme for each Academic Year
- the Syllabus of each course for the current Academic Year
Attendance to compulsory courses is mandatory. In case of absence, students should, whenever possible, inform the lecturer beforehand via email. Any absence should be duly justified. In order to obtain the credits, students are expected to follow at least 80% of the classes. The board will be informed in case any student exceeds the 20% threshold of absence and will make the necessary determinations. These may include a forfeiture of the possibility to sit the final exam of the course
First year - Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna (Pisa)
Courses | Credits (ECTS) |
---|---|
The Role of Universal and Regional Organizations in Promoting Peace and Security The course aims to introduce students to the collective security system of the UN, regional security systems (with particular attention to the situations in Europe, Africa and Latin America) and how these universal and regional systems interact. To this end, the course firstly plans to reconstruct the duties of States in terms of prevention and resolution of international disputes, both from a standpoint of the duty to resolve disputes by peaceful means and from a standpoint of the ban on the recourse to force (and exceptions). Attention will later focus on the UN system, and in particular on Chapters VI, VII and VIII of the UN Charter as well as on the role of the various UN bodies in the matter of maintaining and promoting peace and international security. The course will then address the issue of the different components of regional systems tasked with maintaining and promoting regional peace and security, concluding with a detailed analysis of possible synergies and collaborations between the UN system and regional systems in the matter of maintaining and promoting peace and international security. At the end of the course the students will have gained the following knowledge and skills:
Students will be required to work independently to apply the concepts learned, through the presentation of case studies too, during which their analytical and communication skills will also be assessed. |
6 |
Genealogies and Aporias of Security The course aims to offer the broadest possible, differentiated philosophical framework of the concepts of security and human security, from both genealogical and definitional points of view. The course seeks to develop a path that, from the origins of the lexicon regarding technology and security methods within the philosophical debate of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, arrives at the deconstruction and critical analysis of the most recent technologies and developments (cybernetics, bionics and robotics) as regards the two concepts (security and Human Security) and the semantic constellations surrounding them. As a result, the main contemporary innovations concerning human empowerment (Optimierung, Perfectionierung, Human Enhancement,) and the so-called "warrior machines" (drones, robotic warriors) will be outlined and discussed. At the end of the course, it is expected that the students will have gained the following skills and knowledge:
Develop the skills to judge and interpret the results reached whether on an individual or group level, through a continuous and controlled process of elaboration, sharing, internal and also external dissemination, as the level of learning gradually increases, through research seminars devised by the students themselves. |
6 |
Armed Conflicts and International Law The course aims to equip students with mastery of the institutions of law of armed conflicts (international humanitarian law) and - as far as is relevant - international human rights law and international criminal law. Students will be required to apply independently the concepts learned through the presentation of case studies too, in which their analytical and communication skills will also be assessed. After an introductory lecture on the historical development of humanitarian law, attention will focus on identifying its scope in situations of international and internal conflict. Sessions on the status of fighters and prisoners of war and on the conduction of military operations in conflict zones will follow. Specific lectures will also be devoted to issues of international responsibility of States and individuals for violations of humanitarian law and to the legal regulation of humanitarian operations in support of a civilian population. Finally, the question of the application of humanitarian law, along with its interaction with international human rights law, will be examined. At the end of the course students must: a) possess the practical and theoretical tools to legally define a certain conflict situation and understand which rules of law apply; b) know how to identify the relevant legal framework aimed at ensuring certain categories of protected persons are respected; c) know the legal consequences tied to violations of the law of war and other international legislation in force in situations of armed conflict; d) understand the ways in which different branches of international law interact with international humanitarian law. |
6 |
Security Studies: Concepts, Methods, and Issue areas The course plans to include security doctrines and policies - after first observing how the concept of security has been explored, defined, redefined and studied, with particular attention to the debate ongoing since the mid-1980s. The course recounts the evolution of security studies from a variety of theoretical angles that, starting from strategic studies and the concept of national security, have led to a re-focusing around the security of the individual, of society and of transnational and global-scale phenomena. In the second half, after identifying some emerging fields in the literature, the course will concentrate on certain issue areas and trends linked to the challenges that characterise conflict and post-conflict studies. The course is designed to encourage active forms of learning: it will therefore be taught through a mix of lectures and seminars. Lectures will correspond to the introduction of new concepts, topics and theoretical perspectives; discussion in class will be encouraged to lead on from the reference literature and recommended reading is given weekly. The main educational objectives of the course consist of developing:
|
7 |
Probability, Certainty and Security in Economics: Concepts and Methods The course provides students with a description of the concepts of risk and uncertainty and their importance in economic decision-making processes. The first part of the course is dedicated to illustrating the microeconomic approach to analysing decisions in conditions of risk and uncertainty. Particular attention is paid to the regulatory and descriptive implications of rational choice theory, in reference to choices in conditions of strategic interaction as well. In the second part of the course, the role of risk and uncertainty is analysed from a macroeconomic point of view. Particular attention is given to the workings of financial markets and the monetary system, by comparing different economic paradigms and discussing their impact on relevant economic policies. At the end of the course, students will be able to understand - in both theoretical and practical terms - the role of risk and risk management in economic decision-making processes and its role within the institutions that make these decisions. |
8 |
Transnational Global Governance The course aims to tackle security issues of a transnational nature, taking into account the rise in actors operating outside the scope of a state. These actors often have a hybrid nature and tend to adopt innovative and multilevel governance arrangements. Even for security issues, transnational governance is characterised by the involvement of formal and informal actors and by the creation of mechanisms, processes and forms of management that require careful analysis. The course plans to further examine some particularly important policy areas. The course aims to provide the analytical tools for understanding the challenges of global governance in terms of actors, mechanisms and forms of governance. At the end, students will have developed a knowledge of the main concepts and terms employed in this field of study and policy, having developed critical analysis skills with respect to the main theoretical and policy-making debates. |
6 |
Statistical reasoning The course intends to provide a systematic introduction to the basics of statistical thinking, language, and techniques with examples of real-world applications of statistics. Topics discussed include displaying, describing and summarizing data, basic probability including random variables and probability distributions, confidence intervals and hypothesis tests, linear regression. At the end of the course students will be able to: a. develop a critical understanding of the use of statistics in contemporary social science, b. think of ways to extract the most information using the most common basic statistical methods. c. critically evaluate research from a statistical perspective. |
3 |
English from B2 to B2 plus More information available at page Foreign Languages |
3 |
Courses | Crediti (CFU) |
---|---|
European Security: Politics and Policies The course aims to study the concept of security's multidimensional nature in the European Union. Over the last decade, the EU has faced crises of various kinds, some ongoing, that put its security and, in certain cases, its very existence at risk. From the economic and financial crisis to the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria, from the emergence and rise of populist parties to the possible 'disintegration' of the Union brought on by Brexit, from the migration crisis to the success of illiberal democracies in Central and Eastern Europe, the EU has experienced a troubled decade of 'polycrisis'. The course plans to analyse the impact of these different crises - social, economic, political, military, cultural - on the Union's security policies. The course will therefore attempt to respond to the following questions, among others: what consequences could Brexit and the growing politicisation of the European Union have on Community security policies? Which institutions and actors are the most important in the various areas of security policies, and how has their role changed over the last ten years? At the end of the course, the students will have developed the conceptual baggage and analytical tools to understand and analyse EU security policies independently - whether in theoretical or applied terms. |
6 |
Ethics of Security The course aims to present the profile and role of ethics in relation to emergency management, whether the emergency results from a natural catastrophe or from the behaviour and actions carried out by man in the social, political, legal and military context, at national and transnational level. The basic ethical values to be specifically discussed include: responsibility, justice, fairness, trust, care, respect. What kind of ethical dialogue appears possible in the context of national and transnational security issues? What fundamental values and rights are at stake and need to be critically rethought? What criteria should inspire behaviour and methods of action in specific contexts and how can these criteria be justified? The first part of the course will concentrate on these topics and questions. The second part will tackle the relationship between ethics and international relations, focusing on the analysis of a State's sovereign power in relation to peace and war. Particular attention will be paid to reflections on the "just war" and to contemporary debate concerning the concept of "civilian power”, which is connected to a different interpretation of foreign policy and international cooperation, as an alternative format to military power. At the end of the course students are expected to be capable of:
|
6 |
Courses | Credits (ECTS) |
---|---|
Security and Constitutions. Addressing Security from a Constitutional Law Perspective |
3 |
Global Food Security |
3 |
International Criminal Law |
3 |
A Practical Introduction to cybersecurity |
3 |
Gender and Security |
3 |
Middle East and North Africa: transformations and challenges |
3 |
Terrorism and International Law |
3 |
European security governance between continuity and adaptation |
3 |
Second year - School of International Studies (Trento)
Courses | Credits (ECTS) |
---|---|
The Use of Force in International Politics The course plans to:
|
6 |
Test in a second language at level B2 (German, French, Spanish, Russian, Portuguese, Chinese, Arabic) More information available at page Foreign Languages |
6 |
English test at level C1 More information available at page Foreign Languages. |
3 |
Information technology test More information available at Test Center - ECDL certification for MISS page (in Italian only) |
3 |
Courses | Credits (ECTS) |
---|---|
Democratizing Security |
6 |
Global Migration and Security The course aims to equip students with specific knowledge regarding the phenomenon of global migration from legal as well as economic points of view. With regard to the first point, focus will be on the protection of migrants in international law, taking into consideration the legal status of refugees and asylum seekers, as well as that of so-called economic migrants. This will allow students to understand what the challenges are in relation to the legal regulation of the global migration phenomenon and how this impacts on issues concerning the topic of security. With regard to the second point, the economic point of view, the basic reasons underlying migration flows will be analysed, that is to say the differing demographic changes and levels of development that characterise various parts of the world. The economic effects of these flows in the countries of origin and in the countries where migrants are located will be examined, along with the implications of economic policies and regulation of the phenomenon. The course will consist of lectures and practical exercises, which will allow students not only to strengthen and expand their previous knowledge of the subject, but also to apply this knowledge, in an interdisciplinary way (legal and economic), through the presentation and class discussion of case studies. The chosen teaching methods, interdisciplinary approach and course content will enable students to gain specific skills in managing complexity and to consider the ethical and social consequences of choices made within the regulation of migration policies. Furthermore, active participation in the course will enable students to learn to communicate and reason their thoughts clearly and articulately. Lastly, the critical abilities acquired in relation to the theme of migrations (which is both highly complex and multifaceted), will help ensure that students can continue their studies in an increasingly informed and independent way. |
6 |
Courses | Credits (ECTS) |
---|---|
Natural Resources and Energy Security
At the end of the course students will be able to i) independently analyse the interaction between economic and legal aspects associated with the exploitation of energy and natural resources and their international trade, at national and supranational level; ii) understand and describe critically the main characteristics and trends of the relevant markets. |
6 |
Global Markets and Security Issues The course plans to:
|
6 |
International Cooperation, Development and Security The course tackles the relationship between development and security from a historical perspective. It is planned that students will:
|
6 |
Courses | Credits (ECTS) |
---|---|
Academic writing Course objectives: 1) To introduce the reader expectation approach to writing through five interactive online modules. More specifically, students will be introduced to the concepts of action, agency, separations, theme and stress position; 2) To develop an awareness of how these concepts contribute to effective writing and to develop an ability to recognise effective use (or not) of this approach in written texts, academic and non-academic; 3) To develop students' ability to use the reader expectation approach to writing to produce clear, effective prose in English. Learning outcomes: On completion of all components of the course, students will be able to apply to their own written production the notions, concepts and skills acquired, with a particular focus on clarity, coherence and thematic/logical progression. More specifically students will : 1) have achieved an understanding of textual cohesion through collaborative writing tasks; 2) have achieved an understanding of how arguments are constructed, developed and supported through evidence; 3) have achieved an understanding of how information can be organised to best effect in a text; 4) have developed an ability to write concise prose; 5) be able to present, develop/argue a position, and draw meaningful conclusions, in written English, through persuasive lines of reasoning; 6) be able to edit their own written production by employing techniques to ensure the intended message is effectively communicated to the reader, limiting instances of potential misunderstanding. |
3 |
Internship related to the preparation of the thesis |
3 |
Italian Language level A2 (compulsory for non Italian students) More information available at page Foreign Languages |
3 |
Courses | Credits (ECTS) |
---|---|
Minority Rights |
6 |
China and the World from the Cold War Years to the Global Era (1949-2020) |
6 |
People, Politics and the Planet |
6 |
Peace and Conflict Studies: Theory and Methods |
6 |
Labour Rights in the Global Economy |
6 |
Minorities, Regionalism and Borders in Europe |
6 |
Science, Technology and Global Affairs |
6 |
Activity | Credits (ECTS) |
---|---|
Final exam |
15 |