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ANU National Security College · ANU College of Law, Governance and Policy
This course is available for on-campus & remote (online) learning. All students participate in interactive, real-time classes. This is a core course in the Master of National Security Policy degree. It is also available as an elective to other students seeking a broad introduction to national security policy that bridges the practical and the conceptual. This course examines the structures, processes, actors and norms of national security policymaking, with reference to the Australian experience. The subject matter includes: the challenge of translating national security concepts into addressing practical policy problems; the nature, purpose and limitations of national security policymaking; actors, interests and structures in national security; practical aspects of national security policymaking including strategy, risk management and the impact of technology; the role of the private sector, interest groups, the media and academia/think tanks; national security policymaking in comparative perspective; and prospects for reform. In line with the NSC’s signature pedagogy, this course is delivered as a collaboration between an academic convener and a policy practitioner. Guest presentations are included, both from other national security academics and from current and former senior policymakers, with the course convener and practitioner acting as discussants to sustain engagement with the content combining concepts and practice. Several of the seminars in the course provide a preview of other national security (elective) courses, improving students’ ability to structure their study experience. A highlight of the course is a fully-fledged exercise simulating whole-of-government national security policymaking in a crisis scenario.
Oral presentation: framing a policy problem
Learning outcomes 1, 2, 3, 5
Analytical research essay (3,000 words)
Learning outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
1500 word policy brief
Learning outcomes 1, 2, 3, 5
12 weekly 2-hour seminars and 12 one-hour tutorials. In addition the expectation of a further independent study to total 130 over the duration of the semester.
Course reading list and guide to library resources. Preliminary Reading Catherine Althaus, Peter Bridgman and Glyn Davis, The Australian Policy Handbook: A Practical Guide to the Policy-making Process, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 2018. Allan Behm, No Minister: So You Want to be a Chief of Staff? Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2015. Andrew Carr, ‘I’m here for an argument: why bipartisanship on security makes Australia less safe’, Australia Institute paper, 2017. Lawrence Freedman, ‘Academics and policy-making: rules of engagement’, Journal of Strategic Studies 40 (1-2) (2017): pp. 263-268 Allan Gyngell, ‘The rumble of think tanks: national security and public policy contestability in Australia’, in Daniel Marston and Tamara Leahy eds., War, Strategy and History: Essays in Honour of Professor Robert O'Neill, ANU Press, 2016, pp. 265-285. David Omand, Securing the State, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. Kori Schake, ‘The national security process’, in The Oxford Handbook of US National Security, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2018. At least one Australian policy white paper or parliamentary committee report.