Intelligence Analysis & Policy Making HIST5138

  • Academic Session: 2024-25
  • School: School of Humanities
  • Credits: 20
  • Level: Level 5 (SCQF level 11)
  • Typically Offered: Either Semester 1 or Semester 2
  • Available to Visiting Students: Yes
  • Collaborative Online International Learning: No

Short Description

This course explores the relationship the collection, analysis and dissemination of intelligence, on the one hand, and the policymaking process, on the other. It combines concepts and methodologies from thearts and social sciences and placed particular emphasis on the challenges inherent in producing reliable intelligence assessments.

Timetable

1x2hr seminar per week for 10 weeks as scheduled in MyCampus

Requirements of Entry

Standard Entry to Masters at College level.

Excluded Courses

None

Co-requisites

None

Assessment

2,500-word Essay (60%)

Team Intelligence Briefing (30%)

Participation (10%)

Course Aims

This course aims to:

■ offer students the opportunity to study previously unfamiliar methodological approaches and new concepts.

■ introduce complex conceptual debates in the field of intelligence studies, to develop skills in interpreting primary and secondary sources where appropriate, and to inform these discussions with new ideas derived from the course readings.

■ encourage the development of transferable skills by fostering individual initiative, personal choice, writing skills, group discussion and, where appropriate, problem-solving team work.

Intended Learning Outcomes of Course

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ Reflect critically on core concepts in the field of intelligence studies. These concepts include 'politicisation'; the 'intelligence cycle'; the 'producer/consumer dynamic' and 'intelligence failure'.

■ Provide their own working definition of 'intelligence' and 'security'.

■ Understand and take a position on key debates in the literature on intelligence and policy-making.

■ Evaluate the role of intelligence in shaping western responses to key security challenges in the Twenty-First Century.

Minimum Requirement for Award of Credits

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.