PSIR 450 | Course Introduction and Application Information - Department of Political Science and International Relations

Course Name

International Security

Code	Semester	Theory (hour/week)	Application/Lab (hour/week)	Local Credits	ECTS
PSIR 450	Fall/Spring	3	0	3	6

Prerequisites	None
Course Language	English
Course Type	Elective
Course Level	First Cycle
Mode of Delivery	face to face
Teaching Methods and Techniques of the Course	-
National Occupation Classification	-
Course Coordinator	-
Course Lecturer(s)	Doç. Dr. SITKI EGELİ
Assistant(s)	Arş.Gör. İREM DUMLU TAYLAN

Course Objectives	International security’s theoretical approaches, as well as international security’s principle current issues and challenges will be analyzed using critical lenses.
Learning Outcomes	The students who succeeded in this course; Explain international relations’ classical and contemporary theories with respect to their differences and interactions with each other in the context of international security, Analyze the impact and reflections on international security of recent historical developments and patterns, Recognize the agendas and objectives of the leading state and non-state actors within the context of international security, Analyze contemporary issues and challenges of international security and their root-causes using critical lenses, Recognize new security risks and threats likely to be faced by the international community in upcoming years, Create their own perspectives and interpretations on at least some of the international security issues and challenges.
Course Description	In order to review and scrutinize the more important of international security’s current issues, this course will first be analyzing the theoretical foundations of international security, which shall then be followed by an analysis of today’s and tomorrow’s primary security challenges. The learning systematic of the course would be students reading their assigned readings prior to attending each week’s lectures, followed by lectures structured around the lecturer’s explanations and class discussion with students’ active participation. In order to succeed, students would be expected to perform satisfactorily in two (midterm and final) exams, read the course’s weekly assigned materials, and participate in all lectures and take part in class discussions.
Related Sustainable Development Goals

Course Category	Core Courses
	Major Area Courses	X
	Supportive Courses
	Media and Management Skills Courses
	Transferable Skill Courses

Week	Subjects	Related Preparation
1	Introduction: Course objectives, content, methodology	Presentation and overview of the course.
2	Conceptual and Theoretical Foundations-I: Understanding International Security, Importance of Paradigms, Realism	Daniel W. Drezner, “How everything became national security,” Foreign Affairs, August 12, 2024; Jonathan Kirshner, “Trump’s ‘America First’ Is Not Realism,” Foreign Affairs, January 22, 2025; Paul Poast, “A Wolrd of Power and Fear,” Foreign Affairs, Junes 15, 2022; Joseph Bosco, “A lesson from World War II: Appeasement never works,” The Hill, 14 May 2022.
3	Conceptual and Theoretical Foundations-II: International Security as seen by Liberalism, Feminist Security Studies, Constructivism	Stephen M. Walt, “How to get a B.A. in International Relations in 5 Minutes?”, Foreign Policy, May 19, 2014; Stephen M. Walt, “An International Relations Theory Guide to the War in Ukraine,” Foreign Policy, 8 March 2022; Stephen G. Brooks, “The Trade Truce?” Foreign Affairs, July/August 2024; Michael Doyle, “Why They Don’t Fight,” Foreign Affairs, July/August 2024.
4	Security Regimes, International Organizations, Collective Security, United Nations	Robbie Gramer and Anushi Rathi, “A Crisis of Faith Shakes the United Nations,” Foreign Policy, September 19, 2022; Famaz Fassihi, “The World Has Changed, but Can the U.N.?” The New York Times, September 29, 2023; Richard Gowan, “How the World Last Faith in the UN,” Foreign Affairs, November 9, 2023; Jean-Pierre Lacroix, “Peacekeepers Need Peacemakers,” Foreign Affairs, September 2, 2024; Barbara Walter and V. Page Fortna, “The Astonishing Success of Peacekeeping,” Foreign Affairs, November 19, 2021.
5	Human Security; Natural Resources and Environment in International Security, Population Movements	Michael Oppenheimer, “As the World Burns,” Foreign Affairs, November/December 2020; The Economist, “Who counts as a refugee?” , 27 July 2021; Lant Pritchett, “Only Migration Can Save the Welfare System,” Foreign Affairs, 24 February 2020; Lydia Polgreen, “Something Extraordinary Is Happening all Around the World,” The New York Times, January 31, 2025; Christopher Ketcham, “Europe’s Crackdown on Environmental Dissent Is Silencing the Voives the World Needs to Hear,” The New York Times, August 18, 2024; Peter S. Goodman and Finnbar O’Reilly, “Catastrophe Is Emerging in the World’s Most Vulnerable Places,” The New York Times, May 18, 2026.
6	Changing Face of Conflict (1): Civil/Ethnic Conflicts, “New War”, Failed States, Private Militaries	Jason K. Stearns, “Rebels Without a Cause,” Foreign Affairs, May/June 2022; The Economist, “The world’s deadliest war last year wasn’t in Ukraine,” 17 April 2023; Rachel Chason and Sarah Cahlan, “Russia’s Wagner mercenaries are leading a campaign of terror in Mali,” The Washington Post, March 11, 2025.
7	Changing Face of Conflict (2): Technological Warfare, Arms Trade	Tanisha M. Fazal and Sarah Kreps, “The United States’ Perpetual War in Afghanistan,” Foreign Affairs, August 20, 2018; Cullen Hendrix, “Russia’s Boom Business Goes Bust,” Foreign Policy, May 3, 2023; The Economist, “Meet the world’s hottest upstart weapons dealers,” August 31, 2025; Franz Stefan-Gady, “Israel’s Military Tech Fetish Is a Failed Strategy,” Foreign Policy, October 26, 2023.
8	Midterm Exam
9	Weapons of Mass Destruction	Patricia Jaworek and Isabelle Williams, “A House of Dynamite sequel you didn’t know you needed,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, October 31, 2025; The Economist, “Could the war in Ukraine go nuclear?” September 29, 2022; Hans Kristensen and Matt Korda, “Why should we worry about nuclear weapons,” The Washington Post, June 4, 2025; Andrew Metrick, “A World Full of Missiles,“ Foreign Affairs, March 28, 2024.
10	Military Security – I: Russian and Western security before, during, after Cold War	Dara Massicot, “What Russia Got Wrong,” Foreign Affairs, March/April 2023; Fareed Zakaria, “Russia’s biggest problem isn’t the war,” The Washington Post, June 30, 2023; Tatiana Stanovaya, “Putin’s Age of Chaos,” Foreign Affairs, August 8, 2023; Svtelana Shkolnikova, “Germany would need up to 100 years at current rearmament pace to deter Russia, report says,” Stripes, September 9, 2024; Jo Inge Bekkevold, “The Cost of Ignoring Geopolitics,” Foreign Policy, March 14, 2025.
11	Military Security –II: Security in Asia-Pacific and China	Elizabeth C. Economy, “History with Chinese Characteristics”, Foreign Affairs, June 13, 2017; Kevin Rudd, “How Xi Jinping Views the World”, Foreign Affairs, May 10, 2018; Jonathan Tepperman, “China’s Dangerous Decline,” Foreign Affairs, December 19, 2022; Stephen M. Walt, “Can China Pull Off Its Charm Offensive?” Foreign Policy, January 23, 2023; Derek Grossman, “The Once Wobbly Quad Is Here to Stay,” Foreign Policy, October 10, 2024; Keith Bradsher and River Akira Davis, “China and Japan, With Trump in the Middle, Are in a Showdown,” The New York Times, November 25, 2025..
12	Terrorism	Barbara F. Walter, “The Jihadist Threat Won’t End With ISIS’ Defeat”, Foreign Affairs, December 22, 2017; Robert Malley and Jon Finner, “The Long Shadow of 9/11”, Foreign Affairs, June 14, 2018; Cynthia Miller-Idris, “From 9/11 to 1/6,” Foreign Affairs, September/October 2021; The Economist, “Beware, global jihadists are back on the march,” April 29, 2024.
13	Cyber Security	Amy Zegart, “The NSA Confronts a Problem of Its Own Making,” The Atlantic, June 29, 2017; John Mueller, “The Cyber-Delusion,” Foreign Affairs, March 22, 2022; The Economist, “What is a responsible cyber power?” April 5, 2023; Elizabeth Dwoskin, “Sy vs. spy: How Israelis tried to stop Russia’s information war in Africa,” The New York Times, October 21, 2023; David A. Sanger, “U.S. Indicts Members of Russian Military Intelligence Over Cyberattack on Ukraine,” The New York Times, September 5, 2024; Bruce Scheier, “Israel’s Pager Attacks Have Changed the World,” The New York Times, September 22, 2024; Zane Irwin, “Iranian Cyberattackers Tracked Phones of U.S. Military Personnel,” The New York Times, July 14, 2026.
14	Shape of Future: New Concerns, New Risks, New Conflicts	Stephen M. Walt, “What Will 2050 Look Like?”, Foreign Policy, May 12, 2015; Kevin Drum, “Tech World,” Foreign Affairs, June 14, 2018; The Economist, “War in space is no longer science fiction,” January 31, 2024; The Economist, “Killer drones pioneered in Ukraine are the weapons of the future,” February 10, 2024.
15	Review of the Semester
16	Final Exam

Course Notes/Textbooks

This course does not have a specific book. Instead, there will be weekly reading assignments comprising articles, book chapters, op-eds, reports and news stories drawn from various academic journals, magazines and newspapers (*). List of material under the Syllabus’ Weekly Subjects is preliminary and may be subject to revisions throughout the semester. Therefore, all students enrolled in this course will be expected to visit the course’s IEULearn page before each week’s lecture, so as to check, download and read the assigned reading in preparation for the lectures.

* All assigned readings will be available to students on the course’s IEULearn page for downloading.

Suggested Readings/Materials

Reputable journals, magazines, newspapers and websites covering current issues of international security.

Semester Activities	Number	Weigthing
Participation	1	20
Laboratory / Application
Field Work
Quizzes / Studio Critiques
Portfolio
Homework / Assignments
Presentation / Jury
Project
Seminar / Workshop
Oral Exams
Midterm	1	40
Final Exam	1	40
Total

Weighting of Semester Activities on the Final Grade	3	60
Weighting of End-of-Semester Activities on the Final Grade	1	40
Total

Semester Activities	Number	Duration (Hours)	Workload
Theoretical Course Hours (Including exam week: 16 x total hours)	16	3	48
Laboratory / Application Hours (Including exam week: '.16.' x total hours)	16		0
Study Hours Out of Class	16	4	64
Field Work			0
Quizzes / Studio Critiques			0
Portfolio			0
Homework / Assignments			0
Presentation / Jury			0
Project			0
Seminar / Workshop			0
Oral Exam			0
Midterms	1	28	28
Final Exam	1	28	28
		Total	168

#	Program Competencies/Outcomes	* Contribution Level
#	Program Competencies/Outcomes	1	2	3	4	5
1	To be able to use the theoretical and practical knowledge acquired in the areas of Political Science and International Relations.	-	X	-	-	-
2	To be able to have the basic knowledge of, and make use of other disciplines which contribute to the areas of Political Science and International Relations.	-	X	-	-	-
3	To be able to distinguish the differences between classical and contemporary theories and to assess their relationship.	-	X	-	-	-
4	To be able to recognize regional and global issues, and develop sustainable solutions based on research.	-	X	-	-	-
5	To be able to assess the acquired knowledge and skills in the areas of Political Science and International Relations critically.	-	X	-	-	-
6	To be able to transfer ideas and proposals on issues in the areas of Political Science and International Relations to other people and institutions verbally and in writing.	-	-	-	-	-
7	To be able to identify the historical continuity and changes observed in the relations between the actors and institutions of national and international politics.	-	-	-	X	-
8	To be able to examine concepts, theories, and developments with scientific methods in the areas of Political Science and International Relations.	X	-	-	-	-
9	To be able to take responsibility as an individual and as a team member.	-	-	-	-	-
10	To be able to act in accordance with the scientific and ethical values in studies related to Political Science and International Relations.	-	-	-	-	-
11	To be able to collect data in the areas of Political Science and International Relations and communicate with colleagues in a foreign language ("European Language Portfolio Global Scale", Level B1).	-	-	-	-	-
12	To be able to speak a second foreign language at a medium level of fluency efficiently.	-	-	-	-	-
13	To be able to relate the knowledge accumulated throughout human history to their field of experience.	-	-	-	-	-