Security and Development (POLS7325)
Information valid for Semester 1, 2023
Course level
Postgraduate Coursework
Faculty
Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
School
Politic Sc & Internat Studies
Units
2
Duration
One Semester
Attendance mode
External
Class hours
Seminar 2.0 Hours/ Week
Recommended prerequisite
8 units of postgraduate POLS-coded courses
Assessment methods
Essays
Course enquiries
Doctor Heloise Weber ()
Current course offerings
Course offerings | Location | Mode | Course Profile |
Semester 1, 2025 (24/02/2025 - 21/06/2025) | St Lucia | In Person | Course Profile |
Please Note: Course profiles marked as not available may still be in development.
Course description
It has long been recognised that security and development are intricately linked. There are competing approaches to the relationship between security and development, which in turn are contingent upon how security and development are conceptualised. In this course, we familiarise ourselves with new conceptual and methodological approaches aimed at understanding and explaining not only the co-constitution of development and security, but also contexts in which development creates insecurities, or in which security policy has adverse implications for development aspirations.
Through investigating case examples from both historical and contemporary contexts and settings, we critically examine the many connections and tensions between development and security. Among the topics we cover are 'fragile states', human security, conflict minerals, privatisation of security (the 'security-industrial complex') and development contractors, resistance to security/development policies, colonial legacies and continuities, and 'zapatismo'.
After completing this course you will be able to analyse complex situations in which experiences of (in)security are conditioned by, or condition development aspirations or practices. You will also be in a position to work towards achieving development and security in more just and sustainable ways.