INAF Selected Topics Courses- Summer 2022

Instructor: Ryder McKeown

What is military strategy and why does it matter? Different conceptions abound, but strategy is always about exerting control – over adversaries, the environment, friendly forces, and, one hopes, the future. This seminar addresses strategy in theory and practice. In doing so, it addresses pressing, even existential, questions: How do militaries exercise control in different contexts? Is strategy ethical, necessary, or even possible? How should it be judged? And how can its study shed light on contemporary issues from Ukraine and the Indo-Pacific to cyberspace and Artificial Intelligence.

Instructor: TBA

The course aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the Black Sea regional security challenges and their implications for the wider European, transatlantic and global security. The core part of the course will be focused on the period between the two Russian wars in Ukraine (2014-2022), however some background information will be provided when necessary.

The program is structured in two main parts. The first, will address major security issues defining regional agenda at the current stage (political-military crises, including frozen and hot conflicts in the region; energy infrastructure and sustainable development; information and hybrid threats etc.). The second, will explore the strategies (if any) and policies of the key regional and global stakeholders. Special emphasis will be made on the regional stance of Turkey, which enjoys a unique status in the Black Sea basin and in the Russian-Ukrainian war as a NATO member and a strategic partner of both Ukraine and Russia.

While focusing on practical aspects of regional security dynamics and diplomacy, the course will equip the students with necessary knowledge and analytical tools to dive deeper into the subject, better understand current developments and enhance political forecasting skills. A balanced mixture of lectures and interactive sessions, workshops and creative writing assignments will enable participants to apply lessons learned in different contexts from the early days of the program.