International Security

The International Security (IS) field offers courses related to the onset, conduct and termination of large-scale political conflict, violence and war, as well as civil-military relations, crisis management, decision-making, intelligence, non-violent resistance, strategy and statecraft. The field also provides courses devoted to emergent security threats, including cybersecurity, climate change, terrorism, and demographic shifts as well as emerging tools for addressing insecurity such as security sector reform. Course offerings reflect theoretical and practical considerations and historical and contemporary perspectives. Courses might be based in case studies of countries or regions, examine the play of politics within states, or span the international and global system of states. In addition to studying critical events around violence, war, and peace, students will engage crucially important concepts and phenomena including power, legitimacy, authority, sovereignty, institutions, cooperation, democratization, ethnicity, nationalism and  self-determination, and religion. The field also offers courses in international relations theory and political systems that seek to describe, explain, and compare the different units and actors that comprise the world in the 21st century.  

In essence, students in the IS field are presented with a broad understanding of the historical and contemporary dynamics of the international security environment and acquire requisite knowledge of the key theories, concepts, and leading thinkers in this field. Our curriculum is geared towards developing graduates who can effectively analyze, discuss, and act on key challenges in the contemporary international security environment.  

The many achievements of former students and military fellows attest to the efficacy of the International Security field at Fletcher. Our students have gone on to successfully work in a variety of professional career fields, including in the U.S. government, foreign governments, non-governmental organizations, international and national policy institutes, global consulting, international and national media, and academia.