This course aims to provide students with a broad overview of key Asia-Pacific security challenges, while also exposing students to core debates concerning the nature, evolution and prospects of the contemporary Asia-Pacific security order. The course begins with a consideration of competing visions of Asia-Pacific order, before then proceeding to a consideration of core security issues as they manifest themselves in the four sub-regions of the Asia-Pacific macro-region: (a) Great Power rivalry and cooperation in the Northeast Asian ‘triangle of tension'; (b) Counter-proliferation, counter-insurgency, and counter-terrorism challenges in South Asia; (c) Southeast Asian security challenges and regional institution-building - the evolving ASEAN ‘security community'; and (d) The South Pacific ‘arc of instability' and the challenges of state-building and stabilization missions.  A fundamental objective of the course is to assist students in acquiring the intellectual skills required to become more proficient analysts of regional security challenges. It is also designed to facilitate the application of major international relations theoretical approaches for better understanding and dealing with these trends.

• To cultivate students' appreciation for the key dynamics shaping major strategic changes in Asia-Pacific security politics and evolving regional order-building ;
• To build conceptual understandings by integrating (where appropriate) theoretical and empirical perspectives about why and how key Asia-Pacific actors (state-centric, institutional and individual) shape their regional security behaviour;
• To identify and assess those issue-areas most likely to shape or drive Asia-Pacific security politics over the next decade and beyond;
• To assess the growing importance of so-called 'non-traditional security' problems within the general Asia-Pacific security context; and
• To evaluate important factors of conflict escalation and conflict resolution as they affect the region's overall geopolitical landscape.

8 hours per week: two for seminar attendance, and six for reading and writing. Please note this is a general guide, averaged over the semester and the final hours ultimately depend on the individual's ability in reading and writing.

Delivery Mode:

Semester 1, 2010; delivered on campus, using a mix of lecture sessions, small group session, skills-training and research support workshops for 12-unit students.