– The chosen policy document may be the “National Security Strategy” of a state [this may be called by another name in a given country]; or, in the absence of such a document or lack of its public availability in some countries, it can be one or more documents related to a security policy and/or wider official public articulation (e.g. through speeches) of the country’s security strategy.
– By “a specific theoretical approach”, we mean one of the approaches to the study of security that we will cover in this course (See Part I of the course in particular). You will attempt to apply some insights from at least one of the theoretical approaches studied to your analysis of the document — whether to show that these insights are useful/applicable/help make sense of/explain, etc. some aspects of the document, or even in parts to show how they do not. We will discuss some illustrations and prompts for possible applications of theoretical approaches in the lectures and seminars.
– While the written piece is brief, it should demonstrate research into the wider empirical context of the chosen policy (e.g. geopolitical context of the region, policy context, i.e. what departments, through what documents and at what interval release national security strategy); as well as primary reading of the given policy document. The latter means, that through quotations and analysis, you should demonstrate your direct reading and engagement with the policy document, rather than rely on secondary sources and others’ interpretations alone. However, it is not expected that you can achieve a comprehensive application of the given theoretical approach, and /or applying it to the whole of (especially a long) policy document. Instead, the aim is to demonstrate your wider understanding of a chosen theoretical framework, and an empirically researched and supported attempt to bring some aspects of it to bear critically and analytically on some chosen aspects of the document.
– You will need to quote and illustrate from the text itself, to support your argument.
– The report should be written in a Report/Policy Brief style. This means, unlike a conventional student essay, it should have an Executive Summary or a synopsis of around 200 words clearly stating the purpose and main finding of the report; a brief introduction setting the context and briefing on the case background; a main section where your main analysis is laid out; and a brief conclusion.
– It must rigorously document all sources consistent with the academic conventions and referencing advice of the University.
For more general grade descriptors for written assignments, please check the Learn page section on assignment. Please, not that these are not specific to any subject area or concrete assignments and must be consulted in light of the given assignment brief and marking criteria, as above.