NDC SC 121 Study Period A, Part 1 – The Global Security Environment.

On 3rd September 2012 Senior Course (SC) 121 inaugurated its academic programme, which focuses on the global security environment. The initial Study Period began with an overview of the fundamental processes and conceptual issues underlying the security environment of the 21st century. This introductory week is to be followed in the next few days by a consolidation exercise, affording Course Members the opportunity to discuss their “Vision of the World in 2035”. The lectures and discussions so far completed have helped set the scene for this exercise, which will provide an important stepping stone to the remainder of the SC programme.

The week began with a lecture on strategic thinking, by Dr Christopher Coker, Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics. His presentation was challenging and thought-provoking, offering not only a historical overview of how the concept of strategy has evolved but also a thorough analysis of its implications for NATO, with particular reference to the Strategic Concept and the Alliance’s response to new threats and challenges.

When studying the development of the global security environment, theories of International Relations provide a useful framework within which the issues involved can ultimately be related to three essential factors: man, society and politics. Ambassador Fred Tanner, Director of the Geneva Centre for Security Policy, helped clarify that against this conceptual backdrop no single approach can satisfactorily account for so complex a scenario as that of contemporary world politics. Course Members had the opportunity to engage in fruitful discussion of various approaches and analyses, as well as of the practical lessons to be drawn from them. This afforded particularly relevant insights into many contemporary security issues and their impact on international relations, seen through examples based mainly on the realist and liberal paradigms.

The Study Period continued with a panel lecture entitled “Conflict and Confrontation: the changing nature of conflict”. This fundamental topic was discussed by two speakers: Dr Thomas X. Hammes, a former US Marine Corps Colonel, and Dr Peter Viggo Jakobsen, Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science of the University of Copenhagen. Current wars involve actors other than states, hence producing new risks and threats to the security of the international community. Against this background, the lecturers discussed the range of emerging challenges to the international community in general, and to the Alliance in particular. Discussion on how to confront these effectively was developed in considerable detail.

The lecture on “Globalization and its impact on Defence and Security Policy” was given by Dr Mikkel Vedby Rasmussen, Professor at the University of Copenhagen and Director for the Centre of Military Studies at the Department of Political Science. What emerged was that, although some experts see globalization as enhancing global security, others consider it a source of greater economic inequality, often associated with social unrest and conflicts at both the domestic and the international levels. During the final discussion of this topic, many questions were raised regarding the most appropriate response to the demands created by the contemporary geopolitics of globalization.

Given the importance of international law, the first academic week of SC 121 concluded with lectures on the subject of “Legal Frameworks and Norms of International law”. The topic was addressed by Prof Moreau-Defarges, Senior Fellow at the French Institute of International Relations, and by Mr Rishikof, Chairman of the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Law and National Security. Both experts examined the dynamics of international relations, and how their legal nature can affect the global security environment.

In conclusion, this first week of SC 121 offered a comprehensive introduction to the main issues which underlie and to a considerable extent shape the current global security environment. Course Members had the opportunity to attend talks by a number of high-level experts, and to reflect on contemporary security issues in an era of global interconnectedness and interdependence.

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