Hi there.
This video is a short recap of Module 2 of the course on Security Studies.
I will briefly mention what we've learned so far,
and I will take a look at what lies ahead of us.
All right, so far, we explored the following things.
First of all, we identify the concepts of safety and security.
We learned that both are about threats to values we wish to protect.
However, they differ in the nature of the threat.
To be more precise, safety issues are caused by non-intentional and
accidental threats.
Security issues, on the other hand, are caused by intentional actions and
human behaviors.
Second, we explored what issues are actually considered a security issue.
We concluded that security issues depend on the historical and cultural context.
And we learned that what we considered values to be protected from harm
changes throughout history, varies across cultures, is related
to a level of control, and is affected by the context in which we operate.
Third, we took a closer look at the concept of risk.
We looked at risk management as a dominant paradigm for
dealing with risk in modern societies.
We also stumbled upon some criticism on the idea
that risks can actually be calculated and managed.
And this brought us to the social constructionist approach to risk.
The latter centers around the idea that risks are always defined by various
actors, with their own interests and world views.
Therefore, multiple interpretations and qualifications of risk exist.
Next module,
we will continue to explore relevant concepts in the field of security studies.
We will introduce two perspectives, a multi-actor and a multi-level perspective.
These will enable you to detect the multiplicity of actors and
governance levels in the security domain.
We will also introduce three basic steps to analyze security issues:
explore, understand, and do.
All of these will prepare us to analyze real world security
cases later on in this course.
In fact, in Module 4, we will unravel the following three cases together.
The sinking of the Russian submarine Kursk in the year 2000,
this we consider a safety case.
The Boston bombings in the United States in 2013,
which we consider an example of a security case,
and a gas leak in a pesticide plant in Bhopal in India in 1984,
this case has both safety and security elements.
In order to get fully equipped to analyze these real-life security challenges,
we need to continue exploring relevant concepts in the field of security studies.
Nevertheless, we do feel it is important to provide you with a dose of reality at
this stage already.
We can suspect that some of you cannot wait to find out more about
actual security cases.
Therefore, we recommend the Seconds From Disaster documentary on Hurricane Katrina.
This natural disaster, which occurred in 2005,
took lives of thousands of people and led to billions of dollars in property damage.
The documentary shows you a detailed timeline of events.
And while doing so, it touches upon various topics and
security studies that we identified in earlier videos.
For example, what are the causes of this disaster?
We can label these as non-intentional failures or intentional actions.
And what does your answer mean in terms of safety and security?
Is the Katrina disaster a safety or a security case, or maybe both?
We invite you to keep these questions in mind while watching the documentary.
Consider it a take home exercise in applying the knowledge you've gained so
far to a real life disaster.
A link to the video will be provided on the course page.
For now, I thank you for
completing the second module of the course on security studies.
See you back next time.