Consistent with the broad understanding of security which has become the norm throughout much of the Asia-Pacific, threats and challenges of an internal variety are a pressing and prominent concern for many governments in this region. This course traces the historical origins of this relatively widespread preoccupation with internal security issues and examines its contemporary manifestations. The course adopts a predominantly country-based approach, looking at why governments in many Asia-Pacific countries are so focused on internal security issues and analyses the approaches they have adopted in responding to them. The course considers, for instance, the raft of internal security challenges that China's leaders face, ranging from separatist pressures in Tibet and Xinjiang, to the growing gap between rich and poor and the public order problems this is creating. It examines the causes of the cycle of civil unrest in Thailand. It questions why such internal instability does not appear to feature as visibly in impoverished North Korea? It examines ongoing separatist pressures in Indonesia and demographic pressures in Japan. The course will consider the perspective of leaders from the small island states of the South Pacific, whose attention is often focused almost exclusively on security challenges of an internal variety. Finally, a constant theme running through the course will be analyzing the potential for challenges of an internal variety to impact upon Asia-Pacific security writ large, both now and into the future.

• To provide course members with an empirical understanding of a range of internal security challenges in the Asia-Pacific, both through the material delivered in lectures, as well as via the reading material assigned.
• To provide course members with a series of analytical frameworks for better understanding the complexities of internal security challenges in an Asia-Pacific context.
• To assist course members with developing the skills required to clearly and confidently articulate their ideas regarding internal security challenges in the Asia-Pacific through in-class discussions, a variety of written assessments and tutorial based activities.

Tutorial attendance and participation (10 per cent); Short assignment (700 words) (20 per cent); Essay plan (500 words) (10 per cent); Research essay (2,500 words) (30 per cent); Take home exam (1,500 words) (30 per cent).

34 contact hours per semester.

A 2-hour lecture session per week for twelve weeks and a 1-hour tutorial per week for ten weeks of the semester.

STST2001, or the permission of the coordinator

Rudimentary knowledge of the history of Asia-Pacific conflict and the features of the contemporary regional security environment.

An E-brick will be provided free of charge to course members