Academic Programmes | Programme Requirements and Description of Courses | Admissions | Tuition Fees | Scholarships and Financial Aid | Course Registration | Examinations | Academic Standing and Grading Systems | Medals and Prizes

S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies

Description of Courses


M.Sc. (Strategic Studies) / M.Sc. (International Relations) / M.Sc. (International Political Economy) Programmes / M. Sc. (Asian Studies)


AS6000 The International History of Asia

This course provides an overview of the international history of East and Southeast Asia. It focuses on the themes of cooperation, order, and conflict in the region. Topics to be covered include regional security issues, inter-state tensions, and the foreign policies of the major players in East and Southeast Asia.


AS6001 Comparative Politics of Asia

This course is a core seminar on the theories and methods of the field of comparative politics, with special reference to Asia. Some of the topics we will cover include the development of comparative politics as a field, methodologies used in comparative politics, such as authoritarianism, democratization, corporatism, nationalism, nation-building, modernization, development, dependency theory, state-society relations (including civil-military relations), identity and ethnic politics, social movements, revolutions, institutional analysis, political culture, and political economy. We will discuss the relative merits of rational choice, cultural, and institutional approaches.


AS6002 Language Study

Candidates will be given the opportunity to study an Asian language of their choice. They will be introduced to the language, learn basic grammar, and be acquainted with the essential vocabulary. The School offers Bahasa Melayu, Japanese, and Mandarin Chinese. Subject to instructor availability, the total number of languages offered for study in a given year is subject to change. Students intending to read this course will also be required to read a language that they have little prior knowledge of.


AS6003 Directed Reading

This is an independent study course that will pair candidates and appropriate faculty members to undertake a programme of study that will enable candidates to gain a rigorous and thorough understanding of the countries or of pertinent security issues of their choice. Candidates may wish to examine the politics or foreign policy of a country such as Japan or Singapore in depth, or deal with issues such as ‘multilateralism’ and ‘military transformation’ with special reference to East Asia.


AS6004 Political Change and Political Development in East Asia

This course aims to familiarise students with the key debates and concepts on political change and development. It examines two of the core issue areas of comparative politics that deal with the relationship between socio-economic and political change, and how best to analyse and theorise about political change and development. The course will also analyse some of the major debates on political transitions, particularly between the key schools of transitology and consolidology, and examine the interplay of a number of factors, including: institutional change, civil society, social movements, rule of law, and international factors, in so far as they help to (re)define statesociety relations and explain the dynamics of political change taking place in East Asia.


AS6005 Religion and Identity in Asia

Religion continues to play a vital role in the social, cultural, and political developments in Asia. This course will provide students with overviews of the broader religious developments in the region. Cases where religious affiliation has served as important identity markers and sources of conflict (and, where possible, of collaboration) will be examined. Various perspectives– developmental, structural, post-structural, postcolonial and feminist – on politicised religion, globalisation, conflict, and identity will be explored. The course will focus on how groups, communities, and nations use religious traditions in multiple ways, for instance, as means of expression, gaining recognition, channelling resources, legitimizing conflicts, and as sources for identity.


AS6006 Military Evolution and Revolution in Asia

The purpose of this seminar is to examine the phenomenon of war in Asia. It approaches the subject by studying the actors, their objectives, the stakes, the forms of violence, military organisations, and how war has affected Asian societies and influenced regional and international relations.


AS6007 Government and Politics of Southeast Asia

This course will examine the dynamics of the domestic politics of Southeast Asia. Within the framework of Comparative Politics, this course focuses on the political actors, institutions, and. processes that define the characteristics of political systems in the region. It will explore and analyze the challenges that states face along several themes which include, among others: political development and legitimacy; democratization and globalization; the role of elites and civil societies; ethnic and religious conflicts; and the politics of identity. While the course adopts a comparative country study approach, the objectives however go beyond knowing about the Southeast Asian countries. More importantly, it aims to enable students to think conceptually and comparatively about differing political systems and processes, and to critically analyze common problems, issues, and trends that cut across the dynamics of governance and politics of Southeast Asia.


AS6008 Contemporary Maritime Security in Asia

This course will address the dynamics of maritime security in Asia with a particular focus on issues of concern in Southeast Asia, including the safety and security of shipping using the vital waterways in the region. Shipping and seaborne trade continue to grow and the marine environment of the region is under increased threat from higher levels of land-based marine pollution, increased shipping traffic, degradation of marine habitats, and over-fishing. Meanwhile, naval budgets in the region are increasing and there is a risk of maritime strategies becoming competitive rather than cooperative. Law and order problems at sea are becoming more serious with piracy and armed attacks against ships, people smuggling, and drug smuggling, as well as the threat of maritime terrorism. Countering this illegal activity is handicapped by the lack of maritime boundaries in many parts of the region and conflicting claims to sovereignty over offshore islands. All these issues place a premium on the need for cooperation and regime building to address them. This need will be an important theme of the course.


AS6009 China and Ethnic Chinese in Southeast Asia

Ethnic Chinese or ‘Chinese overseas’ constitute a significant minority outside China but they do not form a homogenous group. Nevertheless they have played an important economic role in their residing countries. This graduate course examines China’s changing policies towards ethnic Chinese, with special reference to those in Southeast Asia where most of them live. It also addresses Southeast Asian government policies towards this ethnic group and ethnic Chinese responses to these policies. Problems and prospects relating to the group in an era of globalization also make up part of the course.


AS6010 State and Politics in Modern Indonesia

This course evaluates the main currents in Indonesia’s domestic politics since its independence in 1945. It evaluates the institutions, processes and practices of Indonesian politics. It begins with a basic analysis of pre-colonial and Dutch colonial history, the experiences of Japanese occupation, revolution, and the independence period divided into the sub-periods of Parliamentary Democracy, Guided Democracy, the New Order, and the current Reform era. The course identifies the major actors in the political system, the nature of their interaction and the sources of their power. It seeks to answer some of the more complex questions in the study of Indonesian politics: Is Indonesia a democracy? Who rules Indonesia: the politicians, the bureaucrats or the military? What are the causes of political corruption and money politics? Other themes include the impact of electoral reforms; civil-military relations; the politics of patronage; the resurgence of Islam; issues of national integration; and the role of the government in the economy. Whilst highlighting the more distinctive aspects of Indonesian politics, the broader comparative perspective is not ignored, with references to democratic theory, pluralist, elitist, and corporatist models of interest groups, electoral theory and other concepts. Contemporary policy problems are examined, including military, environmental and administrative reforms and decentralization.


AS6011 State, Society, and Politics in Malaysia

The course examines the successes and failures of Malaysian State, Society and Politics. The “State” is the vestibule of political power and includes all those institutions of government and political governance. “Society” represents all those other activities arising out of business and civil society that are not directly related to the “State”. In this course, “politics” refers to the distribution of power across private and public domains. Malaysia’s constitutionally-enshrined system of federal government exhibits unitary state characteristics rather than a federalist tone involving greater political devolution. The course also includes the role and function of the Malaysian Armed Forces and the Malaysian Special Forces. The course emphasizes an understanding of the shifting “Triangle of Power” that has evolved dramatically since the introduction of the NEP (1970). Students are encouraged to explore and consult as many historical and contemporary works on Malaysian politics well beyond those listed in the readings. State, Society and Politics in Malaysia includes all political, economic, and social activities across all Malaysian states in the Semenanjung, and the Eastern Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak and has been designed for the newcomer to Malaysian politics.


AS6012 Government and Politics of Northeast Asia

The purpose of this course is to examine the past, present, and future of various countries in Northeast Asia in terms of political and socioeconomic changes. Emphasis shall be given to the differing paths of modernization and development previously or presently chosen by Japan, China, and the so-called Newly Industrialized Economies (NIEs) of Korea and Taiwan. This course will focus on the political systems and development ‘models’ of China, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan, although students will be able to choose their own topics of specialization for the research paper, subject to approval by the instructor. The course will also examine in some detail the rise of nationalism and communism in Northeast Asia, inter-Korean and cross-Taiwan Straits issues, and social problems and human rights concerns.


AS6013 State, Society, and Politics in China

This course is intended to be an in-depth examination of the key aspects of contemporary Chinese political economy. There will be four major parts in the course. First, we will have a quick survey of the political and economic legacies left by Mao. Second, we will look at the origins of China’s reform and opening up policy, and the political dynamics of the incremental reform approach. Special attention will be paid to the question why and how China adopted and implemented its gradualist reform program. In the third part, we will focus on the results and consequences of the reform, including such topics as the changes in center-local relations, state-society relations, income gap and regional imbalance, rural political economy, and social instability and social welfare. In the last section, we will try to understand the Chinese society in a broader context of globalization, the ideological and institutional evolutions of the CCP, and China’s political reforms. The ultimate purpose of the course is to encourage students to understand and analyze contemporary China by grasping the complex interactions of cultural, historical, societal, political, economical, as well as global forces.


AS6014 The United States and Asia

It has been said that the United States presence in Asia has been a major stabilizing influence. This seminar probes the establishment of this U.S. presence in the region, and its impact on Asia since World War II. The following questions direct the inquiry: What motivated, and continues to motivate, Washington’s involvement in Asia? What was/is the nature of that involvement? Have U.S. interventions been productive or counterproductive? What do they tell us about U.S. power and how it has been wielded in Asia?


AS6015 Non-Traditional Security Issues in Asia

Non-Traditional Security (NTS) issues are challenges to the survival and well-being of peoples and states that arise primarily from non-military sources. These challenges include climate and environmental change, resource scarcity, infectious diseases, natural disasters, irregular migration, food shortages, people smuggling, drug trafficking, and transnational crime. These dangers are often transnational in scope. They typically defy unilateral solutions. And they customarily demand the attention of multiple agencies and states. This seminar investigates the idea and scope of non-traditional security, the key trends and developments in NTS, and the multifaceted strategies that have been implemented to address NTS issues in Asia. It will also provoke thinking on future trends in NTS and consider new strategies to deal with the challenges posed by new developments in NTS.


AS6016 Selected Topics in Asian Studies

This seminar will furnish candidates with the opportunity to comprehensively examine a selected theme, trend, or event in the field of Asian studies.


B6005 Financial Management

The Internet era has forced financial managers to re-examine the way that corporations evaluate projects, finance them, as well as manage them. For example, conventional securities valuation models (such as price-earning ratio and dividend discount models) have not been successful in valuing hightechnology companies. While the main emphasis is still on the essential elements of the financial management process, this course will, in addition, address the valuation, financing, and employee compensation issues associated with the Internet era. The major topics covered include the time value of money, financial statement analysis, working capital management, risk and return, security valuation, cost of capital, capital budgeting, capital structure, corporate financing and dividend policy.


B6007 Marketing Management

The objectives of this course are to demonstrate the role of marketing in the company; to explore the relationship of marketing to other functions; and to show how effective marketing builds on a thorough understanding of consumer behavior to create value for customers. The course addresses the management challenge of designing and implementing the best combination of marketing variables to carry out a firm’s strategy in its target markets. The course seeks to develop skills in applying the analytic perspectives, decision tools, and concepts of marketing to such decisions as product offering (including the breadth of product line, life cycles of product), communication programs (advertising, sales promotion), distribution channels (role of distributors, retailers and other intermediaries), and pricing to capture the value created for the customer.


B6011 Financial Accounting

The course focuses on key concepts and principles in financial accounting and how these concepts are applied in decision making and continue to be relevant even as organisations change in the way that they operate and compete. The foundations of accounting thought, the assumptions underlying the accounting process, the conventional measurement techniques, reporting procedures and relevant Statement of Accounting Standards are emphasized. Contemporary issues such as accounting for intangibles, measuring customer acquisition/loyalty and performance of dot.com start-ups will be covered.


B6013 Economic Analysis

This course focuses on the application of economic principles to the conduct of business. Microeconomic applications include the workings of the market mechanism and the strategic interaction between firms. Macroeconomics discusses how interest rates, inflation, exchange rates and government policies affect the economic environment that firms operate in. Information and network economic principles highlight how different economic models may be needed for E-commerce and knowledge-based businesses. How will governments tax information goods? How will positive feedbacks affect economic growth? Will the knowledge-based economy require a new economic paradigm?


B6014 Technology & e-Business

This course aims to build the foundations for understanding the digital economy and the power of new IT-driven organisational forms and marketplaces. It particularly focuses on the internet and the WWW as the key enablers of the online revolution that have dramatically altered the way companies create, share, and protect value. The course will have a strategy perspective in its look at the rise of new information-enabled enterprises and the power of electronic interactions in changing the rules of the game in virtually all contexts. From a managerial perspective, the course will outline the new competencies and skills required in the e-business environment. A third prong will be a technology perspective that explains and details the underlying IT infrastructure for electronic commerce.


B6015 Corporate and Business Strategy

Pre-requisites: B6005 Financial Management; B6011 Financial Accounting; and B6013 Economic Analysis. This course encourages participants to develop the mindset required to formulate business strategies that can beat the competition. ECommerce is transforming the business landscape and participants will discuss the relevance of classical strategic thinking in the light of the information economy. They will also be required to integrate and apply the principles and methods acquired in earlier core courses; discern strategic issues, and adopt a spirit of enquiry that will enable them to challenge existing business models by creating new and more imaginative models.


B6016 Managing Business Operations

This course will address a broad-spectrum of issues related to the design, planning, control, and improvements of business operations for both manufacturing and service organisations. The focus is on providing a basic understanding of the operations management function. The coverage encompasses understanding the operations management function in different contexts, analysing typical decision problems in business operations, and enhancing linkages with other business functions. Topics covered include operations strategy, analysis and design of business processes, forecasting, inventory and supply chain management, quality management and decision tools for management including tools for understanding and managing uncertainty in business. A variety of pedagogical tools are employed and key tactical and strategic imperatives that concern managers are emphasized throughout the course.


B6017 Accounting for Decision Making and Control

Pre-requisite: B6011 Financial Accounting The aim of this course is to introduce the design and use of management accounting information for planning, control and decision making within business organizations. The organizational architecture will be used as the organizing framework. The major topics covered in this course include product costing, activity-based costing and management, strategic cost management practices, transfer pricing issues, tools for decision making such as cost profit-volume (CVP) analysis, and performance evaluation, measurement and compensation issues. The course will conclude with a discussion on ethics and social responsibility within the decision making framework.


B6018 Leadership and Organisational Behaviour

This course comprises two objectives. The first is to increase participants’ insights and understanding of the behaviour of people at work, and of organisations as complex systems. The second objective is to improve the capabilities of participants to give leadership through an understanding of the nature of leadership; through building participant’s leadership skills, and through improving their meta-skills of self reflection. The aim is to develop greater self-awareness, a deeper understanding of the impact of their actions on others, hence building the capability of participants to lead and take effective action in complex organizational settings.


B6833 Strategy Formulation

This course examines the process of strategy formulation. Both formal and emergent approaches to strategy formulation as well as control issues are discussed. Particular approaches to formal planning covered in detail include environmental scanning and scenario planning.


B6834 Strategy Implementation

This course reviews how strategy is aligned with structure, control and reward systems in organisations. A prominent position is given to organisational learning as a process underlying on-going implementation.


B6835 Competitive Strategy

Participants study how firms allocate resources and make investments to maximise long-term returns in the face of competition. The course reviews aspects of industrial organisation and economic theories of organisation (transaction cost economics and agency theory).


CC6001 The Making of Modern China: Historical and Social Perspectives

This subject provides an overview of Chinese history, with emphasis on the 19 th and 20 th centuries. It examines the key events – and analyzes the domestic and international factors – that shaped the course of modern Chinese history. In particular, the subject discusses the decline of the Qing Dynasty, the Western impact, and the dynamics of reform and revolution in the making of modern China. Topics include social change, intellectual discourse, political movements, nationalism, and foreign relations.


CC6002 China's Economy in Transformation

China 's economic development consists of a two-fold transformation: from a centrally planned economy to a bureaucratic market economy and from an overwhelmingly agrarian economy to a rising economic power in the twenty-first century. This subject develops a broad understanding of the current state of Chinese economy from a historical perspective with focus on political, social, demographic and cultural factors. In examining the strengths and weaknesses of the Chinese economy, the subject also assesses the changing economic reform agenda and the problems and prospects of economic growth.


CC6300 Social Change and Inequality in Contemporary China

Rapid economic growth in China has engendered significant social change. This subject examines the demographic shifts and social divisions that have resulted from urbanization, internal migration, unemployment, and the growth of a consumer society. Emphasis is placed on the gaps between social groups in terms of income and wealth, education and occupation, status and lifestyle. It discusses various forms of social inequality and exclusion (e.g. poverty, gender discrimination, and the urban-rural divide) and the policies (e.g. social welfare, population and employment) that are intended to address new social problems.


IP6000 Theories and Issues in International Political Economy (IPE)

This graduate course is designed to give students an introduction to key theoretical and empirical concepts in the study of international political economy (IPE). IPE sits at the intersection of politics and markets. Many political scientists study political decisions divorced from the economic context. Similarly, economists frequently study the mechanisms of the market as though the economy works without manipulation by political actors. Yet these two areas should not be regarded separately. This course will study the interaction between production, distribution and the use of wealth with politically organized rules and institutions in the global environment. This interaction will be studied at two levels-theoretical and practical. At the theoretical level, four primary approaches to IPE, including liberalism, mercantilism, Marxism and critical approaches will be examined. These theories will help structure students’ comprehension of real-world examples. The course will also examine substantive issue areas like trade, monetary and fiscal policy, foreign investment, globalization, development, foreign aid, and international cooperation. An economics background is not a prerequisite for this course.


IP6001 Economics for International Political Economy

This module provides the necessary macroeconomic principles to enable students to tackle some of the major issues and problems in the arena of international political economy, including the comparison of living standards across countries, the costs and benefits of globalization, proposals to reform the international financial architecture and the case for countries to pursue closer monetary and financial integration. The course begins with the basic macroeconomic framework of national income accounting in an open economy and the construction of the ‘workhorse’ AD-AS macroeconomic model. This is followed by a discussion of the policy issues facing small open economies as they attempt to cope with problems of inflation, unemployment, slow economic growth, balance of payments deficits, foreign exchange market fluctuations and the forces of globalization. Finally, we examine the evolution of the international monetary system since 1944, recent proposals to reform the international financial architecture and the case for closer monetary cooperation, both in Europe and in East Asia. The module is aimed at students with little or no background in Economics who want to develop the necessary tools to analyze contemporary issues in international political economy.


IP6002 Regional Integration in the World Economy

This course focuses on political regionalism and regional economic integration as a classic case of the union of the political economy of international relations and international economics. Regionalism and regional economic integration are hardly new, as evidenced by the transformation of the European Coal and Steel Community into the European Union, driven as much by economics as the socio-politics of Europe. What has evolved as the “new regionalism” since the mid-1980s appeared triggered by frustration with the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and its Uruguay Round. Despite GATT’s makeover into the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the regional impulse gathered momentum with the formation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) by 1993. New regionalism may be as much a reflection of disappointing multilateralism as the reality of a potent brew of new globalization, new information communication technology and the knowledge based economy – mixed with politics and security concerns - that have raised issues and challenges over and beyond traditional cross border activities under internationalization. The main objective of this course is to explain the emergence of the new regionalism within the theoretical context of international relations and international economics and politics as well as its role and relationship to the multilateral WTO system. The empirics of regionalism and regionalization in major regional and bilateral schemes observed in the world economy will be surveyed and evaluated. Whether and how such regional and bilateral trading arrangements have value in and of themselves, and their implications for multilateralism, will be considered. The course is multidisciplinary, covering how economics, politics, security, technology and law motivate and affect regional and bilateral trading arrangements. Case-studies in Asia Pacific and East Asia will be highlighted.


IP6003 Global Public Policy

This course addresses global policy processes and considers new forms of authority beyond the nation-state that are necessary in an age of globalization. Among the issues explored are the problems and prospects in the delivery, financing and regulation of global public goods, and the dynamics of policy formulation at the global level. The course examines the differences between global policy processes and national-level policy formulation, addresses the implications of those differences and asks whether and how to reconcile the two processes. A key question is whether policy transfer is leading to greater convergence and harmonisation of public policies across states, or whether it has resulted in increased tension and conflict.


IP6006 The Political Economy of Development

This course examines different paths that states can take enroute to development. It begins with a review of liberal recommendations that have formed the bedrock of Western objectives for development. It considers the role played by three key institutions—the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization (WTO). It will then explore possible alterations in these institutions that might improve the prospects for growth in the least developed states. The final section of the course reviews critical approaches to development, including Marxism/Leninism, the legacy of colonialism, and world systems theory. Throughout the course, both theoretical and practical aspects of economic growth, will be considered.


IP6007 Public Choice and International Public Goods

This course focuses on the forces behind the successes and failures of international cooperation. After introducing the basic concepts of the public choice theory and the major issues related to the provision of international public goods, students will be exposed to a wide range of supranational collective action problems such as environmental protection, peace and security, public health, water management, equity and justice, market efficiency, and financial stability.


IP6008 A Globalizing China in the World Economy

This MSc-level course aims to help non-China specialists familiarize with, and develop an appreciation for, the multi-faceted linkages between post-1979 China and the world economy. This objective is to be achieved through a combination of instructor’s lectures and class discussions, guest lectures, as well as group or individual presentations of case studies. The course examines the growth and patterns of China’s international trade, trends in inward and outward investment flows, as well as China’s participation in global financial activities. It tries to assess how a rapidly globalizing China affects its own domestic economy, as well as its external economic partners and international institutions/regimes. Finally, it attempts to dissect the possible “fault lines” in the Chinese economy and evaluate China’s place in the world economy by 2030-2050. At the end of the course, participants are expected to have gained a holistic comprehension of China’s broadening engagement with the world economy, in the recent past, at present, and in the medium-term future.


IP6009 Monitoring, Forecasting and Managing Country Risk and Economic Crisis

Since the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997-98, several similar but smaller-scale crises have erupted in some developing economies like Brazil, Argentina, Russia, and so on. These events have spurred multilateral institutions (e.g. World Bank, IMF), MNCs, international investment banks and national governments to develop more rigorous early-warning systems to anticipate such economic crises in countries where they have invested in or lent to. Failure to monitor these kinds of crises would entail extremely high costs for international investors and lenders. Recognizing this, country risk monitoring and forecasting have become more sophisticated and elevated management functions in these international and national organizations. This course aims to introduce students to the concepts, theories and methodologies of country risk assessment and crisis prediction. It takes a holistic approach, combining the tools of political, economic and financial risk analyses from both the qualitative and quantitative perspectives. The course will incorporate real life, retrospective crises as case studies to help students gain an in-depth understanding of the ingredients that lead to the successes and failures of country risk monitoring and forecasting.


IP6010 U.S. Foreign Economic Policy

The United States—as the world’s largest economy—has the greatest impact on global trade and economics. Therefore, understanding the processes of American foreign economic policymaking is critical to understanding outcomes in the world economic order. This course is divided into two broad sections. The first considers the tools of economic statecraft available to policymakers. These tools include sanctions; bilateral, minilateral, or multilateral trade agreements; subsidies; and currency and exchange rate manipulations. We will also consider the special levers of power available to Americans including special voting weights in economic institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or the World Bank and the role of the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency. The second section of the course considers the processes of American trade and economic policymaking in greater detail. By the end of the course, students should be able to understand American trade and economic policymaking processes sufficiently and to follow current globalization debates and the U.S. role in these debates. Finally, students should also have developed greater insights into the tools of economic statecraft available to state actors everywhere.


IP6012 Shifting Fundamentals and Structural Bases of The Asian Political Economy

This course is designed primarily to assess the shifting fundamentals and structure of the Asian political economy, in terms of corporate and public political and economic risks assessment and management. This policy-oriented program focuses on the shifting structural bases of the Asian political economy, which could particularly influence the public sector’s policy planning imperatives as well as the corporate sector’s investment and marketing strategies.


IP6013 Varieties of Capitalism

This course will first examine why and how countries' capitalist institutions differ from one another. We will then examine the origins of these institutions among high-income countries. By understanding how these processes have worked among wealthy countries in the twentieth century, we will consider the implications for developing/Asian countries (e.g., China, India, etc.) in this century.

Capitalist systems are often stylized as Liberal Market Economies, as in the United States and Great Britain, or as Coordinated Market Economies, as in Germany and Japan. There are a wide range of political, legal, social, and economic dimensions that differentiate LMEs from CMEs. For example, LMEs tend to have larger capital markets, a British common law tradition (as opposed to a civil law tradition as found in Continental Europe), and fewer social welfare services. How these dimensions differ leads countries to develop a comparative advantage in different types of goods and services. For example, the United States excels at creating radical innovations, such as biotechnology and the internet, whereas Germany and Japan tend to excel at producing goods that require highly skilled labor and build upon innovations in existing technologies, such as automobiles. The implications that emerge from this perspective are far-reaching, with potential consequences for fiscal policy, monetary policy, education and training, the nature of innovation, trade, the structure of the global financial system, and other areas.


IP6015 Quantitative Methods in the Study of International Politics

This course is broken into two parts: statistics and formal theory. Depending on students’ backgrounds and interests, they may wish to focus more on one part of the course than the other.

I) Statistics
The statistics portion of the course is intended to help you understand quantitative research in political science. Although the emphasis will be on statistical methods, most of the principles we will learn apply to all types of systematic research, regardless of whether it relies on qualitative or quantitative comparisons. The course aims at helping you understand the basic logic of research and equip you with tools to carry out your own research. Since statistics play a large role in social science research, it is essential to understand how statistics can be used and to be able to evaluate how it is used in published research and controversies, even for those who do not rely on statistical methods.

II) Formal Theory
The formal theory portion of the course will introduce students to game theory and formal modeling in a political economy framework. The first part offers a ‘math-light’ introduction to game theory, with Morrow. The aim is to help build students’ intuition about game theory and formal modeling before embarking on more mathematical treatments, as with Gibbons. In the second half of the course, we will focus on the formal modeling typically used in political economy; however, the methods in this half are also widely used for formal models in international relations and security studies. But do note that the structure for this half of the course is tentative, and subject to revision.


IP6016 Energy Security

Energy is a private good but a fungible commodity while security is a public good. When two distinct goods are combined, the underlying characteristics of the composite good are multifaceted. Though the concept of energy security is not well known, energy security could be simply an assurance of energy supply that can be depended upon both in times of abundance as well as in times of scarcity. As recent international affairs such as China’s deepening relationship with African nations, a cooperation between the UN and India on nuclear technology or Iran’s initiation to build pipelines to India via Pakistan have shown, efforts to secure energy resources are believed to have shaped relations within and across energy-deficient and energy abundant countries. Hence, energy security is not only a security issue but an economic issue. This course aims to understand the multi-faceted characteristics of energy security ranging from the inherent economic aspect of energy security to strategic and geopolitical nature of energy security. As a way of the understanding, it studies various aspects of energy, security and energy security in the four broadly defined frameworks– economic, political economic, geopolitical, and legal and regulatory context. First, it reviews the economics of energy security, mainly the consequences of import dependence and instability of energy markets. Second, it examines the political economy of energy security, especially interrelations between crude power and oil-importing and -exporting countries. Third, it explores how geopolitics of international relations influences and shapes coalition, cooperation or unilateral action for energy security. Fourth, it analyzes the aspects of energy security in legal and regulatory frameworks in local, regional and international context. Apart from the multi-faceted characteristics of energy security, it also discusses particular issues in energy security such as the different perceptions of energy security between developed and developing countries, a different time dimension of energy security, the risk perception of energy security, the role of government, and the nature of the threat. Throughout this course, students are required to read recommended books, reports, and scholastic papers among others and present and discuss what they found from the readings, and write an analytical paper on energy security.


IP6017 Management of the Labour Markets for Competitiveness

This course will examine various approaches in managing manpower and labour costs for competitiveness. Competition among countries and cities depends on the ability to create competitiveness in management of the labour markets specifically with regard to labour and wage costs. Certain types of competitiveness advantage can be emulated and therefore the sustained advantages are short term. Competitiveness that is embodied in a larger setting such as in a society cannot be emulated therefore is more lasting. It is important to create lasting competitiveness via managing the labour markets.


IP6901 Selected Topics in International Political Economy - The Political Economy of Economic Development and Integration in Asia

This course will focus on identifying the factors which contributed to the "Asian Economic Miracle" and the host of issues confronting the new post-crisis Asia. It will draw upon existing academic literature and policy papers, among others, from the ADB, the World Bank and the IMF as there is no single text book which can be used for the purpose. The course will have a strong policy focus and enable students to develop an understanding of emerging issues facing a new post-crisis Asia such as evolution of production and supply chains and free trade agreements, efforts to develop local currency bond markets, promote policy dialogues, and establishing regional financing mechanisms.


IR6001 The Study of International Relations

This course introduces students to the advanced study of international relations through an understanding of competing analytical and normative frameworks, including realist, liberal, constructivist, and critical methods such as Critical Theory, feminism, and poststructuralism. The relationship between these perspectives and the global realities they engage with can be rather complex, which can be viewed in three ways. First, perspectives are templates or tools for analyzing major developments and transformations in international relations. Second, perspectives are means of critique not only to assess existing states of affairs, but to censure and expose them as repressive structures from which people need liberation. Third, perspectives are constitutive practices that socially and linguistically produce particular political realities but exclude other possibilities. Students are exposed to the interplay between power, interest, ideas, identity, discourse, socialization, and resistance, in explaining continuity and change in international relations. Conceptual and policy debates surrounding several key sources and mechanisms of stability and change, whether structural, institutional and/or cultural, are examined.


IR6003 Critical Security Studies

This course is an introductory survey of various theoretical-cum-analytical approaches to the study of international security. The disciplinary domains of international relations and security studies are evolving in response to a social world in transition. What many regard as the dominance of a traditional state-centric notion of security has given way to a rich contestation of ideas on what security is or ought to be – its referent objects, subjects/agents, issues, etc. – and how it should be measured and assessed. In this sense (though clearly not the only), the discipline can be said to evince “critical” dimensions. Indeed, most of the perspectives with which we will be engaging serve, in moderate and radical ways, as critiques – and, in not a few cases, also as endorsements – of the status quo conception of security. For our purposes, however, to be critical also means to treat all claims on security – including our own – with a persistent attitude of estrangement, especially if a claim is presented as natural, self-evident and beyond debate.

We must, in Merleau-Ponty’s words, “never consent to be completely at ease with what seems evident” – particularly, in our case, the world of world politics which security intellectuals and practitioners so confidently affirm and delimit, deliberately or otherwise. In this course we will examine prevailing assertions about the “nature”, meanings and practices of security as understood by those in the business of defining, expounding, teaching, exercising and pontificating on international security in its various dimensions, including the self-professedly critical. Of interest to us, therefore, are the participants, processes and practices germane to the business of making, remaking and unmaking of global political life.


IR6004 International Relations of Northeast Asia

This course emphasizes a historical and systemic approach toward understanding the international relations of Northeast Asia (and international politics in general). The course is designed with two convictions. The first conviction is that a decent understanding of history is the foundation for any understanding of international politics, and focusing only on current affairs actually tends to obscure some causes and issues that were there decades or even centuries ago. The second conviction is that a systemic approach is absolutely necessary for understanding international politics, and the broader system called human society.


IR6005 International Relations of South Asia

The course focuses on three dimensions of the international relations of South Asia. The first section explains the structural factors, including the Great Game and the Partition of the Subcontinent on the basis of religion, that have had an enduring effect on regional politics. The second part examines the interplay of inter-state conflict, great power alliances, religious extremism and nuclear proliferation on the Subcontinent. The third section explores the impact of globalisation on South Asian security politics. The emphasis will be on understanding the shifts in power distribution within the region, the challenges of constructing a regional order, and South Asia’s growing impact on world politics.


IR6006 The Study of Institutions

The primary purpose of this course is to provide students with an understanding of the major theoretical perspectives on the study of international institutions and of the evolving role of international institutions in international relations. The latter involves examining the impact of international institutions on policy making and implementation as well as analyzing their limits and the problems they face in contemporary international politics. A secondary objective of this course is to explain how competing understandings of, and approaches to, institution building and regionalism apply to Southeast Asia and the wider Asia-Pacific region. Consequently, this course provides an understanding of the conceptual and theoretical debates on international institutions and regionalism, the historical evolution of multilateralism, the factors affecting its principles and practice in the post-Cold War era, and the strengths and weaknesses of contemporary international institutions. Apart from global institutions such as the United Nations and the World Trade Organization, regional institutions in Europe and Asia are examined.


IR6008 U.S. Foreign Policy

The United States occupies the primary position in today’s‘ unipolar’ world. The aim of this course is to examine critically American foreign policy from the historical and theoretical perspectives in order to understand the origins, nature, and consequences of the ascendancy of the United States. The course has three broad components: (1) an historical survey of U.S. foreign policy from its founding to the present, with an emphasis on the Cold War period; (2) an introduction to the field of foreign policy analysis, focusing on the multi-level processes by which decision-makers formulate and implement their policy goals in the U.S. system; and (3) case studies. The course will equip and require students to evaluate the prospects for the exercise of American power and the role of the U.S. in international society in the contemporary post-Cold War, “post-/11” era.


IR6009 The History and International Politics of the Cold War (1945-1989)

An understanding of the history and politics of the Cold War is critical to the study of contemporary international relations and strategic security issues. This graduate-level seminar course, taking advantage of new archival sources from various parts of the world, examines the major events of the Cold War with a focus on Asia. While keeping in mind the overall changing dynamics of the Cold War between the two antagonistic camps, we will have in-depth discussions on such topics as the origins of the Cold War, the Korea War, the Vietnam War, the Sino-Soviet split, as well as the dynamics of the Cold War in South Asia and Southeast Asia. Since it is impossible to delve into details for each of the topics, we will instead focus on examining major scholarly interpretations of those events. Another important task of this course is to relate Cold War history to contemporary international politics, particularly major issues in the Indo-Pacific region, such as the rise of India and China, the problem of Taiwan, the problem of North Korea, ASEAN, Sino-Japanese relations, and the future of East Asian security. Students are also encouraged to use these historical cases in the Cold War to empirically test major International Relations theories that have been covered in other courses.


IR6010 Human Security

While human security has become a buzzword in the international community, it remains till today a widely debated concept. Human security has meant different things to different people. Notwithstanding this conceptual quagmire, the discourses on human security have continued to resonate well in and outside the Asia-Pacific. In addressing the questions, “security for whom, from what and by what means?” the concept of human security has emerged to challenge the conventional notions of military security. This course will explore the broad dimensions of human security—its various meanings, its scope, its coherence and policy relevance. It aims, inter alia, to provide a better understanding of the nature of human security conditions that beset individuals and communities and to pose questions with regard to state-society relations, principles of inter-state conduct and responsibility, and possible instruments for global governance.


IR6011 Foreign Policy and Security Issues in Southeast Asia

The objective of this course is to analyze and understand the internal and external factors which shape strategic perceptions and the conduct of foreign and defence policies in the Southeast Asian region. The course will adopt both historical-structural as well as thematic approaches to help identify key sets of forces internal and external to the state that shape the foreign policies of Southeast Asian countries and the security environment of the region. At the end of the course, participants should develop a deeper understanding of the security challenges facing post- Cold War Southeast Asia as well as the on-going Asia-Pacific security discourse.


IR6013 Asian Security Order

The key purpose of this course is to review major factors and trends that have affected and promise to shape Asian security politics. Three key dimensions are assigned special emphasis: (1) cooperative and competitive relations among the region’s major powers: the United States, China, Japan, India and Russia; (2) the evolution of ‘Asian Institutionalism’ during the postwar era with emphasis on the security trends underwriting alliance persistence or adaptation, institution-building in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and other regional security architectures; and (3) some key issues that will inevitably shape the ongoing Asian security order, including regional ‘flashpoints’ and the question of ‘trans-regional’ or ‘human’ security. A related fundamental objective of the course is to assist students in acquiring the intellectual skills required to become more proficient analysts of regional security trends and challenges.


IR6014 Nationalism and Multiculturalism

National, cultural, religious and ethnic identities form an important and inescapable element of modern-day politics. This course addresses the issues of nationalism and multiculturalism in contemporary societies by examining the key concepts and theories as well as the specific problems and cases relevant to the understanding and practice of nationalism and multiculturalism. The course deals with the following topics:

(1) theoretical understandings of identity; (2) understanding nationalism; (3) benefits and problems of nationalism; (4) understanding difference and the multicultural; (5) multiculturalism and the management of difference; (6) national resilience and the future of nationalism and multiculturalism. In each case, the course offers a critical examination of the existing theoretical literature together with empirical examples, case studies and problems.


IR6015 Japanese Foreign Policy

This course focuses on contemporary issues to do with Japanese diplomacy, and explores their implications for global international relations in general, and Asian regionalism in particular. Critical views and theoretical diversity are sought: the course addresses issues from several different perspectives, without supporting any policy or promoting a particular theory. Students are encouraged to develop their own views. The aim of the course is to enhance the students’ knowledge of Japanese diplomacy and to build up their analytical skills – to provide them with tools useful for analyzing diplomacy and international relations. The issues explored include: What are the implications of Japan’s“ normal” defense policies vis-‡-vis Asia? Can China and Japan cooperate to preserve regional peace? Can ASEAN benefit from its relations with Japan? How does Tokyo develop its foreign policies? How does history affect policymaking in Tokyo and the country’s relations with Asia? What were the key determinants of Japan’s economic successes after WWII? Who is the key player in the East Asian community – ASEAN, China, India or Japan?


IR6017 Islam: Tradition and Modernity

An overview of the appearance, development and extent of Islam as a universal faith-religion and world civilization until the postcolonial era. The focus is on foundational community experiences, central practices and institutions, and the historical unfolding of Muslim societies, schools and orientations. Concern for cultural, intellectual, and ideological aspects is uppermost, with some attention given to the spread of religious nationalism, Jihadist trends, and the potential for reform and democratization in the contemporary Muslim world. (No previous background in the study of Islam is required; all work done in English.)


IR6018 Muslim Polities: Peace and War in Islam

A survey of Islamic thinking on just governance, social order and political authority in historical and ideational perspectives. Emphasis placed upon: legal constructions of Jurists and their relations with the Court & power-holders; Sunni doctrines of Caliphate & Sultanate; the Shi‘ah Imamate; and international relations of Muslim states in the medieval and near-modern periods. Some attention is paid to how Jihad was conceptualized and is currently being re-conceptualized; as well as to recent impacts of transnational ‘non-state’ forces. (Basic exposure to the study of Islam is expected but not required; work is done in English via translated texts, students with added linguistic competence expected to exploit wider materials.)


IR6019 The Politics of Risk

This course introduces students to contemporary debates about risk. A critical understanding of risk suggests its meaning and application to be dependent upon historical context. Accordingly, considerable time will be devoted to being clear as to what the key social and political drivers are today. Specific case-studies will explore the tension between risk analysis, management and communication, and perceptions of threat shaped by broader global and cultural forces.


IR6020 European Union and Contemporary European Security

Key purpose of this course is to understand the important developments in the European security environment since 1989, and to analyze the role of the European Union in shaping the new security order in Europe. Traditionally, the Union institutions fostered security among EU member states by facilitating transactions in areas such as trade and communications. Its success is seen in the creation of a zone of peace and stability in Europe based on mutual trust. With the end of the Cold War, the new dynamics in global security have had a significant impact on the meaning and nature of security. The course will examine these important trends in Europe such as the widening of the concept of security and the shift from balance of power politics to cooperative security and the theoretical discourse that underpin these developments. It will also explore the political, institutional and legal developments that shape post-Cold War Europe, and focus in depth on the role of the European Union (EU). The Common Foreign and Security Policy and the “birth” of the European Security and Defence Policy will be examined in greater detail, and how the role of the EU as a security actor relates to other organizations such as the OSCE and NATO in the security architecture of Europe will also be discussed.


IR6021 Islam and the West

This course examines the relations between the ‘west’ and the Muslim world. To provide a backdrop to contemporary interactions between the ‘domains of Islam’ and the ‘west’, the course will begin with a historical review of the relations between Islam and Christianity and Judaism as well as the myriad types of interactions between the Muslim world and the west. The course will then move on to critically analyze specific case studies and issues which epitomize the relations between the Muslim world and the west in the contemporary period. The course adopts a critical approach towards analyzing these relations and not only problematizes the categories ‘Islam’ and ‘west’ but also calls into question popular perceptions of a clash between the two. With regards to this, the course will emphasize the non-monolithic nature of Islam and demonstrate how the meanings attached to Islamic concepts such as jihad and dar-ul-Islam, which are seen by many as key determinants in defining the political relations between Muslims and non-Muslims, have themselves been shaped – and continue to be shaped - by intellectual and political engagements with the non-Muslim world. Developing from this, the course will be attentive to the socio-political factors that have given rise to clashes between the west and the Muslim world. The course will, however, also examine the role of ideology in shaping the relations between the Muslim world and the west. Specifically, it will examine the emergence of Islamic fundamentalism, extremism and terrorism as players in the international political landscape. It should be noted that when speaking of the impact of the west on the Muslim world, the course will primarily – though not solely – engage with the impact of the emergence of the United States as the global superpower. The course will also analyze the symbolic importance of Palestine and the war in Iraq in shaping perceptions about Islam and the west as well as providing sources of collective grievance in the Muslim world. Finally, the course attempts to provide an assessment of the impact of the west in the contemporary Muslim world primarily with regard to the development of, or lack of, democratic governance in the Muslim world.


IR6023 An Introduction to International Law

This is a foundation course in public international law, or what has been classically known as the law of nations. The course introduces the student to the nature, processes and institutions of the international legal system, as well as the major legal principles governing relations between states, states and international organizations and also between individuals and the international community. In the course of our studies, we will consider the relationship between international and domestic law and the role of law in promoting world public order. The student will learn to appreciate the interaction between law and international politics, how norms are created, why they are obeyed, and how these rules govern behaviour among international actors.


IR6024 International Human Rights Law

This human rights course deals with competing ideas about the appropriate relationship between individual and the state and the role of law in regulating that relationship. In particular, we will explore the extent to which human rights are an indispensable and universally-desirable aspect of legal regulation. Starting with an historical overview of the development of international human rights law, the course will consider key international human rights documents and conventions and asks if there are reasons to believe that either the idea of human rights or the content attributed to some human rights cannot be justified as appropriate for all societies in all contexts? Selected cases and scenarios from international human rights law – such as group rights (women, children, indigenous persons) and particular rights (education, language, health) – provide the concrete focus for exploring the broader theme.


IR6901 Selected Topics in International Relations: Introduction to Discourse Analysis, with a special emphasis on Religio-Political Discourse

This is an introductory course aimed at students with little or no background knowledge in linguistics or philosophy of language. It is divided into two parts: Part I introduces the students to the fundamental theories of discourse analysis, including a brief introduction to linguistics and philosophy of language. It aims to identify what is a ‘discourse’ and how discourses function. Main authors to be studied include Saussure, Locke, Ayer, Russell and Wittgenstein. (Texts provided.) The second part involves the application of linguistic theory to the analysis of religio-political discourses in general, offering close readings of key texts, speeches and propaganda from a host of different religio-political actors. The aim is to teach students how to understand the working of such discursive systems, and how to understand the discursive effects of such language in a public context and the political domain. No prior knowledge of discourse analysis is required.


S6003 Management of Defence Technology

This course provides an appreciation of the important strategic relationships between management, technology and defence. The study of these relationships within a strategic studies programme can be justified on the basis that effective management of military-related industrial and technological resources represents an integral component of contemporary global power structures. Seminar topics include: historical antecedents of defence and technological innovation; the economics of defence; defence industrialisation processes; the Revolution in Military Affairs; parallel revolutions in defence management; defence science and technology strategy; technology transfer and sharing; defence globalization; China’s military-industrial complex; Japan’s defence-industrial ‘model’; and Singaporean defence-development policy and progress.


S6005 The Analysis of Defence/Security Policies

This course introduces students to the United States’ national security policymaking process. By examining the evolution of security policy through periods of changing threats and shifting public perspectives, students will understand the means by which the United States formulates defence and security policies and will recognize how the roles of various actors adapt as conditions change. In the early classes students will identify, explain, and assess the importance of different factors in U.S. policymaking. This offers a foundation for understanding how American thinking about national security is formed and how perspectives on the use of force and the role of government shape policy, which will be consistent themes throughout the course. Students will later be asked to identify security concerns and explain how the policymaking process will likely work. By the end of the course students should be able to devise a model of the factors affecting U.S. security policy so as to understand how these policies might change and what they may look like in future environments.


S6007 Professional Skills Enrichment

It is divided into three parts:

(a) Analyzing International Politics: Concepts and Methods - A graduate level introduction to method and theory in the study of international politics. What constitutes a valid claim in the social and political sciences? How different or similar are the latter to the natural sciences? How is progress in the social sciences judged? What are some of the most exciting theories debated, and methods used, by international relations specialists today? These are the main questions addressed by this team-taught module. Each week, a faculty member will introduce a method/ methodological issue (MI) and a conceptual/theoretical issue (CI) relevant to the analysis of international relations. The aim is to introduce you to some of the key methods and concepts of the field, encourage you to think critically about them, and enable you to use them in your work.

(b) A series of workshops, talks, lectures, films and documentaries that aim to provide a forum for discussion and debate of major contemporary developments in international security. The theme is The Emerging Global Order: Security and Defence Issues in the Post-Cold War Era.

(c) A series of workshops on critical skill sets including handling media interviews and developing negotiation skills.


S6010 The Revolution in Military Affairs: Defence Transformation, State Power and the Future of Force

In 1955, the British historian Michael Roberts introduced the idea of a Military Revolution, an event or process in the conduct of war so profound as to alter the entire shape and character of the societies in which it occurred. Since that time, the term has been used to describe the current alteration in military technology caused by the development of sophisticated information and communication devices. This course will examine the role that force has played in the relations of states at the international level and then examine the shifts being caused by the technological, conceptual, and organisational developments in modern military operations to consider if such a revolution is currently underway and what its implications for international society may be. Additionally, the course will examine how individual countries are addressing the RMA in a practical sense, the challenges presented by the RMA when it comes to defense transformation, and whether their militaries are or are not transforming themselves.


S6011 Globalization, Security, and the State

Globalization is the new buzzword. Since the end of the Cold War, the pace of global integration appears to be quickening. What is globalization, and why is it important? Is globalization really a new phenomenon? Is it irreversible? This course addresses these questions and explores others raised by the greater internationalization and interdependence of international politics. Its focus is on a few key issues at the heart of the globalization debate as it relates to security (broadly defined). We begin first by assessing the continued relevance of the statecentric political-military focus of security studies. The rest of the course examines issues such as: the trans-nationalization of security threats, such as the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, crime, environmental degradation, migration, and public health issues; and the continued relevance of international organizations. We will focus on the substance of these issues but also think about them in broad theoretical terms. The goal is for students to develop the analytical and theoretical skills necessary for thinking critically about the concept of security in an age defined by porous borders, heterogeneous allegiances, and interconnected economies.


S6014 The Evolution of Strategic Thought

This module is designed to provide students with the opportunity to analyze the ideas of key strategic thinkers on the nature and conduct of non-nuclear warfare. The course examines important ways of theorizing war as a phenomenon and addresses the various methods of studying it and applying the insights. The major portion of the module analyzes major theories of warfare, drawing attention to the historical, political, ideological, moral, economic and technological factors that shaped their formulation. In the process the course also provides students extensive opportunities for evaluating the continuing validity of these theories. The module finally examines the ways in which strategic theory helps both students and practitioners of policy determine the optimal use of military power in an increasingly complex post-Cold War, “post modern” environment.


S6016 The Study of War

This course examines the phenomenon of war, from the processes of making strategy to the actual conduct of the military operations that comprise war. It looks at the preconditions to strategy - in particular the facets of geography, strategic culture and armaments - as well as the concepts that underpin particular state strategies. Finally, through a series of case studies, the course will propose a typology of wars in the 20th Century, and examine how wars have been transformed since.


S6019 Terrorism, Intelligence and Homeland Security

The course seeks to provide students of counter terrorism a clear conceptual framework for understanding the national response to the threat of terrorism to the internal security of a state. It intends to examine the state response to both the “old” and “new” terrorism. The course will examine the changing nature of the state and the threats faced by the state in the post-cold war and post-9/11 world. The key questions of the course: How do different states view the concept of homeland security? Does terrorism pose a threat to state sovereignty? The course will also offer a practical look at protecting critical functions of the state and private sector.


S6020 Chinese Security and Foreign Policy

This course is intended to be a comprehensive and in-depth survey of China’s foreign and security policy in the post-Cold War era, with a particular emphasis on the rise of China and its implications for East Asia and the future world order. We will first look at the historical legacies of the PRC’s foreign relations and theoretical approaches to the study of China’s foreign and security policy. The next part will focus on China’s major bilateral relations. We will examine the state of China’s relations with major international powers and the forces that are shaping the interactions between China and other major international actors. The third part explores some of the most important issues of concern to scholars and the international community, including the foreign and security policy making in China, China’s use of force, the Taiwan problem and other potential conflicts concerning territory, and non-traditional security issues such as China’s energy policy. The last session sums up the course in a bid to help students develop deeper and more balanced views on China’s rise and future development of China’s foreign and security policy.


S6022 The Military, State and Society in Southeast Asia

The study of civil-military relations addresses a simple puzzle: can we have a military strong enough to protect civilians yet not so strong as to ignore or subvert civilian authority? After all, a military that is strong enough to defend the state from its external enemies is also strong enough to seize power so as to rule for itself. How can governments have a strong military capability without being swallowed by it? How do political leaders, society and military organizations interact, and how do their cultures overlap and diverge. This graduate-level seminar will answer these questions and help students gain a better understanding of civil-military relationships from both a theoretical and applied perspective, with a particular emphasis on Southeast Asia.


S6023 Indian Ocean Security

The Indian Ocean occupies a position of unique geo-strategic importance among the maritime arenas of the world. Indeed, the earliest networks of seaborne commerce and cross-border interaction were made directly possible by the compact and closed character of the Indian Ocean. But the evolving dynamics of governance, commerce, demography, knowledge and religion, along with emergent patterns of collaboration and conflict in an increasingly interconnected world, are today compounded by new energy and security concerns that dominate any meaningful contemporary analyses of the region. The ‘Indo-Pacific maritime space’ has acquired fresh strategic significance in the post-Cold War era and the new age of globalization, particularly with the economic renaissance of East Asia and the rise of regional powers such as China and India. Post-9/11, maritime security issues in the Indian Ocean region have also been amplified by the expanding context of a transnational war against terrorism. The dawn of the twenty-first century has ushered in a vital phase of ‘globalized’ maritime trade via dense sea-lanes of communication; a spectrum of asymmetric conflicts across maritime and littoral domains; a changing maritime balance of power; and a host of other challenges in traditional and nontraditional areas of maritime security. This course offers exposition and analysis of the issues of maritime order; maritime doctrines of the littoral and extra-regional powers; littoral security; naval force orders of battle in relation to naval force modernization and (conventional as well as nuclear) arms buildup; maritime access and basing; energy security; sea-based asymmetric threats; and arms trafficking (including weapons of mass destruction). The course reviews issues of maritime security co-operation; maritime-naval transformation; and the role of navies in addressing transnational and asymmetric threats as well as performing humanitarian and constabulary functions.


S6024 Problems in Combating Insurgency and Terrorism

This course examines the nexus of terrorism and counterterrorism. It is intended to acquaint students with the dynamics, policy options, and challenges involved in countering terrorism by doing so to establish a solid foundation upon which further expertise can be built. The course considers a wide range of questions in order to provide students with a deeper understanding of the how terrorism can best be fought. Among the questions it examines are: What is terrorism? How has terrorism changed and evolved over time and what are the contemporary implications of these changes? What accounts for the success or failure of government counterterrorist efforts? What are the essential components of an effective counterterrorist strategy? Specifically, the course will assess and analyze the application of various government terrorism countermeasures and the challenges governments face in crafting a response to this threat. An added feature of the class is the viewing of videos to enhance student understanding of terrorism and how to counter it by hearing directly from the terrorists themselves and those charged with fighting them. To that end, the class will view and discuss such landmark films as“ The Battle of Algiers” as well as such award-winning documentaries as “Death on The Rock”; “One Day in September”; and, “Operation Thunderbolt: Raid on Entebbe,” among others.

This course also examines the nexus of Insurgency because countering it involves a solid knowledge of its nature, its organization and of its various techniques. It will deal with the genealogy of “small wars” from the origins to our days and especially on how guerilla warfare has become revolutionary warfare and the evolution of irregular conflicts until the present insurrection in Iraq. What accounts for the success or failure of this type of warfare? The course will assess and analyze the application of various States countermeasures to deal with this type of threats, which combines guerilla, sabotage, the use of terrorism and of psychological warfare.


S6025 India’s Foreign and Security Policy

The course introduces the ideological and geopolitical drivers of India’s foreign and security policy. The first part delves into the sources of India’s conduct by focusing on the ancient origins of its strategic culture and the enduring legacy of the British security structures. The second part analyses the evolution of India’s policies in the three concentric circles that surround it— the immediate neighbourhood, the extended neighbourhood and the Indian Ocean, and the global system. The final section focuses on the new policy challenges to India as a rising power. The emphasis will be on understanding the India’s difficult transition from a weak third world state to a potential great power that can shape the regional and international system.


S6026 Intelligence and National Security

The course will examine two issues, their origin, development and functions and the Relationship and interfaces of intelligence to national security policy – national tasking, intelligence community coordination and challenges, international Cooperation and relationship between intelligence and decision makers.

We will examine the intelligence cycle: tasking, collection (overt and covert), Analysis (why intelligence analysis failures are common), dissemination, special Operations and their complexity.

The role of Intelligence in policy making, intelligence missions such as strategic warning, failures and successes of intelligence will be analyzed and discussed.

Politization of Intelligence and relationship with the decision maker will be discusses. In depth, theories and practice (how it really works).


S6027 Technology and Strategic Policy

This course aims to provide students with an appreciation on how the development of science and technology shape security policies and affect international relations.

As the world progress from the industrial era to the information age, the spectrum of threats has also broadened to encompass both conventional warfare as well as non-traditional security issues such as natural disasters, pandemics, and economic stability. The solution to alleviate or mitigate these contemporary threats often lies in the acquisition of technology. Hence, propelled by technological advancements, nations at the forefront of technology is likely to attain significant advantages over their counterparts. However, nations need to strategize and select appropriate technology policies that would position themselves favorably in this new era. The topical security themes of warfare, economies, climate change, energy scarcity, as well as human security would assess how relevant technology can affect the strategic policies of nations.


S6028 Countering Religiously-Motivated Terrorism in Southeast Asia: Issues and Challenges

This course examines the diverse explanations that purportedly shed light on the global phenomenon of religious radicalization, often resulting in terrorist violence, with particular reference to Southeast Asia. Employing insights from a range of perspectives including traditional terrorism studies; Islamic philosophy; Southeast Asian area studies; social and cross-cultural psychology, the course seeks to illuminate the roots, as well as various modalities of countering, the religiously-motivated terrorism phenomenon in general, but especially with special reference to the Southeast Asian region.


S6029 Nuclear Politics in Asia

Asia is the location of several existing and potential nuclear powers. This course is designed to develop an advanced understanding of the politics of nuclear weapons in East, South and West Asia within a comparative framework. Drawing on the experiences of the Cold War era and more recent nuclear relationships in Northeast and South Asia, it develops the student's capabilities to anticipate the future of nuclear politics across Asia. Strategic politics is usually studied from the standpoint of the apparently distinct disciplines of strategic studies and international relations theory. Here, the relationship between the two is treated as integral in order to encourage a more holistic and critical understanding of nuclear politics. The course examines central issues about why states want nuclear weapons (motivations); how nuclear-armed states think (concepts and doctrines); how they interact (crises and cooperation; the termination of rivalries); efforts to manage nuclear weapons (arms control, nonproliferation); and the impact of non-state actors (nuclear/radiological terrorism).


S6030 Special Forces

Since time immemorial, elite units have played a significant part in political strategy, diplomacy, and strategic decision-making. The modern uses of elite units are marked by their use of military science and military technology. Elite units have developed significant combat experience since World War I. However, by the end of World War II, elite units in Allied Forces were on the economic chopping block. Even the US Navy Seals had units that were disbanded. However, the advent of the Cold War from 1955 to 1989 saw a resurgence of the commissioning, training and development of elite special forces. Elite unit training and tactics were revised away from single-terrain/weather type functions to multi-terrain/all weather elite units. The catchphrase was “anywhere, anytime”. The end of the Cold War – around 1989/1990 – resulted in another downsizing endeavour by political leaders in North America, Asia, Latin America and Europe. Large scale downsizing was not limited to elite units but was an across the board policy for all unit types. Clarke and Subic, two of the largest overseas US military bases were closed. The role and special functions of elite units had to adapt to a rapidly globalizing world. This meant that commanders of these elite units whether they were in Germany, France, Czech Republic, Sri Lanka, Egypt or Japan had to refocus their efforts to the expectations imposed by a rapidly globalizing world. Global media would play a significant role in exposing the secret, black operations conducted by Special Forces worldwide. By the time of the 1997 Asian financial crisis it became clear that the majority of Special Force units were facing deep cuts in their budgets. Increasing costs of military technology meant that traditional services were now fighting harder to keep their share of the budgetary pie. Across the world, Special Force units were quickly being reinvented as Counterterrorist agencies in addition to becoming Peacekeeping troops in Asia and Africa. These units were being literally cannibalized for their weapons while older generations of SF commanders who had served as recently as the first Gulf War were being retired from active duty. The performance of these SF units did not justify the outcome of their missions in the Middle East regardless of whether they were from the SAS or Delta Force. However, in an ironic twist of late modern history, September 11, 2001 happened. The new found security consciousness among Americans and their political leaders meant very good news for SF units. The military privatization initiated during the Reagan administration would now take full swing during the George W. Bush presidency. SF units had finally discovered their universal mission. Counterterrorism was again in vogue. With the United States throwing its Superpower weight behind the use of SF against the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), other countries soon took heed and sought closer international cooperation against the terrorists of the New Terrorism. The stars that shine on the epaulets of Special Forces commanders have never been brighter. This course examines the value, tactics and functions of Special Forces and their related communities. The course will cover Asian, European, American and other SF units with a focus on their doctrine, tactics, logistics, roles and functions.


S6031 Globalisation, Maritime Security and Naval Development in the Asia-Pacific

The course begins with a review and discussion of the central concepts of classic maritime strategic theory and explores the way in which recent legal, political and technological developments have altered and developed those concepts. With this as a background, students will then analyse the maritime dimension of globalisation, and its effects on the role and nature of contemporary navies. Two competing models of naval development will be developed. The first will be a system based collaborative model in which navies cooperate in defence of the trading system. The second will be a potentially more conflictual model in which navies serve narrower and perhaps more traditional state purposes. These models will then be applied to the Asia-Pacific area by means of a close comparative examination of interactive naval development in the United States, the PRC, India and Japan. Students will be encouraged to come to their own conclusions about the impact of these developments for the future of globalisation and of international relations in the Asia-Pacific region.


S6901 Selected Topics in Strategic Studies - Theoretical and Practical Approaches to the Future

This course will engage students in a trans-disciplinary dialogue and inquiry about the future. In particular, it aims to imbue and impart students with knowledge of: (i) the roots and historical trajectory of Futures Studies; (ii) the diverse array of Futures methodologies, frameworks and techniques; (iii) the possible convergence, integration and synergies of these tools; and (iv) the practical application of these tools.

The last objective ties in excellently with the Risk Assessment and Horizon Scanning (RAHS) initiative of the Singapore Government whereby students will have a rare and unique opportunity to gain exposure to invaluable industrial experience: collaborate with the National Security Coordination Centre (under the Prime Minister’s Office) in using the newly developed RAHS system to test and operationalize ideas and theories relating to the future.