OFFICE HOURS

Mr Pascal Carlucci (Autumn Term):

Defence budgets comprise a significant proportion of national wealth, while decision-making in defence has profound implications for the lives of citizens in the country concerned, as well as people at the receiving end of military operations. Military power also forms a central dimension of states’ power and influence in the international system. However, the post-Cold War era has witnessed significant variation in the extent to which states’ defence reforms have delivered a strategic advantage, with a number of cases of inappropriate or faulty military innovation and/or emulation.

This module analyses the content and sources of change in defence policy during the post-Cold War era. It will focus on changes to the objectives of defence policy, military capabilities, force structures and doctrines of the world’s major military powers. In so doing, it will analyse the extent to which these reforms have helped the state concerned to meet its central security challenges. In addition, the module will explore the embedding of defence policies within regional and international institutions and the sources of defence cooperation. It will also analyse the role and implications of non-state actors in defence, notably the media, private military companies and NGOs. The module will be informed by the insights of political science and I/R approaches to the sources of military change.