Gwybodaeth Modiwlau

This module introduces students to the ways that states use their militaries in response to crises. In addition to serving the more traditional purposes of defending a state's territorial borders from attack, projecting state power abroad, supporting allies and engaging in peacekeeping operations, armed forces are increasingly called upon to support civilian authorities in a range of natural and man-made crises that pose threats to the state and its citizens.

This module aims to introduce students to key academic literatures on civil military relations and military-strategic thinking and give them the opportunity to apply the concepts from these literatures to a series of case studies. It also aims to help students develop key employability skills, especially teamwork, presentation and writing for non-specialist audiences.

Students will engage with the academic literature on civil-military relations and its intersection with strategy and security studies to gain an understanding of the key principles, concepts and debates that underpin a state's decision to use its armed forces as an instrument of crisis response. A selection of case studies will connect military-strategic thinking to academic debates about change and disaster response, nuclear crises and global health. In a series of workshops, students will explore a range of crises and examine the role played by militaries and the strategic calculation behind their interventions. Students will also consider the impact on military cultures of militaries' use as crisis responders, and explore crises internal to militaries themselves, such as gender and military masculinities.