Global Threats and Challenges

The course covers the threats that challenge global security. This field of study concerns issues such as war and peace and the safety and survival of countries and peoples around the world. The meaning of “threats” within the context of global security covers a variety of interconnected threats in the world that affect the survival and stability of nations that need to be addressed and countered through multi-type military or non-military responses. These range from the collapse of governments and economies in weak states leading to massive refugee outflows; drastic climate changes that lead to environmental and economic catastrophes in the form of escalating hurricanes, severe droughts, rising sea levels and flooding, rising temperatures, or shrinking glaciers; cyber-attacks that damage and degrade countries’ critical infrastructures, and outbreaks of infectious virus pandemics that become global in nature and kill millions of people. Additional threats include terrorist and guerrilla insurgencies and wars within and between nations. These and related threats will be addressed, using case studies around the world. Potential solutions to these multi-varied threats will also be discussed in the course. (3)

close this window