OAIN 2155 - Intelligence Power in the 21st Century

***NEW COURSE***

This course examines how intelligence organizations adapt to contemporary strategic challenges. It specifically investigates the adaptive responses of intelligence bureaucracies to systemic shifts in the global order, analyzing how renewed great-power competition, rapid technological innovation, and evolving threat landscapes are reshaping intelligence priorities, methods, and institutional cultures. Through a thematic structure and drawing on a wide range of historical and contemporary case studies, the course provides students with a rigorous and multidimensional understanding of the changing functions, operational practices, and dilemmas of intelligence power in the 21st Century. This course will be particularly valuable for students aspiring to careers in national security, as well as those considering doctoral research in intelligence and strategic studies.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

• Analyse the adaptation of intelligence organisations to systemic change – Students will develop the ability to critically assess how shifts in the international system shape the evolution of intelligence institutions and practices.br>
• Understand emerging domains of intelligence activity – Students will gain a nuanced understanding of how developments in cyber operations, artificial intelligence, and open-source intelligence are transforming intelligence collection, analysis, and covert action.
• Compare the political and ethical dimensions of intelligence across contexts – Students will learn to critically examine how regime type, oversight mechanisms, and public accountability influence intelligence behaviour and legitimacy in democratic and authoritarian systems.
• Applied conceptual reasoning – Students will be able to apply theoretical frameworks from intelligence and security studies to interpret contemporary security challenges

PROFESSIONAL SKILLS

• Critical evaluation of sources and narratives – Students will strengthen their ability to critically evaluate diverse sources of information to analyse contemporary international security issues and identify biases, disinformation, and gaps, developing essential skills for independent thinking.
• Exposing and arguing about complex ideas in a structured manner – Students will gain an ability to communicate complex ideas about regime types, intelligence and security in clear, structured, and persuasive ways, both orally and in writing.
• Directly employable competencies to enter a career in government or academia – Students will be able to engage in a professional career in government equipped with the knowledge of intelligence functions or pursue a research agenda rooted in intelligence studies at postgraduate level

Prior familiarity with the key concepts of intelligence studies is not a prerequisite, but such background will be a plus to engage with the specific discussions of the course.

• An individual oral presentation focused on a designated topic or historical case, demonstrating critical engagement and ability to build and demonstrate an argument (45%)
• An individual academic research paper exploring a technical or historical topic in relation to contemporary intelligence challenges (45%)
• Participation, including regular involvement in discussions and commitment to course activities, will determine the remaining 10% of the final grade

• In Class Presence: 2 hours a week / 24 hours a semester
• Reading and Preparation for Class: 5-6 hours a week / 60-70 hours a semester
• Research and Writing for Individual Assessments: 60 – 70 hours a semester