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Poslední úprava: PhDr. Jan Hornát, Ph.D. (29.01.2024)
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Poslední úprava: PhDr. Jan Hornát, Ph.D. (29.01.2024)
The objectives of the course are that upon completion, students will have an understanding of:
(a) The ethical strictures around which all military action must adhere for legal and moral rationales, which are essential if statecraft can be clearly delineated from immoral, illegal, and inexcusable violence. (b) The defense institution and how it is uniquely different from other government ministries and agencies. Critical to understanding a particular defense institution is to have an appreciation of the country’s national culture. As well, there are certain key ‘iron laws’ related to defense management that need to be acknowledged. (c) Defense policy and its influence in defense decision-making. A case study of an air operations ‘policy’ is presented to provide students with a real life example of how policy priorities can be translated into guidance, training objectives, and budgets. (d) The essential role ‘war plans’ need to play in a defense force in order to guide prioritization of finances, training, and manpower, as well as to provide the entire organization with needed context to appreciate its policy objectives and supporting military missions. (e) The role played by nuclear weapons in the contemporary international security environment and how they influence a nuclear weapon state’s defense policy and military strategies. (f) Defense economics and how decision-making regarding financial resources are the sine qua non of any defense institution. (g) The changing and essential role that is played by the global defense industry and appreciate how previous Western government policies need to change radically and quickly in order to enable them to continue to provide support to Ukraine, as well as re-stock supplies and modernize their own armed forces. (h) Tactical lessons from the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war and how these should be examined by Western defense institutions with the view towards adopting those that are relevant. |
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Poslední úprava: PhDr. Jan Hornát, Ph.D. (29.01.2024)
To pass the course students must:
(a) Attend courses. Due to the short timeframe of the course, it is essential to attend courses. If an absence is necessary, students are to present themselves to the instructor with an explanation beforehand whenever possible. (b) Active participation is required. The course is taught in the Socratic method and discussion and debate are an essential part of the course design. (c) An individual paper that looks at the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war through a selection of the themes addressed during the course. (i) Examples of possible paper topics: Are threats to use nuclear weapons credible, why did Ukrainian deterrence fail, are there any similarities between the 1914 war plans of France and Germany that resemble Russia’s failed 2022 invasion, how defense industry must change due to the war, how did the Ukrainian and Russian defense institution fail, etc.? (ii) Written requirement: a cogent, clear argument based on the course readings/discussion of no more than 500 words. (iii) Papers will be due within 7 days of the last session (8th May). Students will be offered the opportunity to discuss their topics and ideas at the end of each session on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and time will be made available on the afternoon of Friday, 3rd May for students to go over their theses and arguments orally with the instructor and classmates. |
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Poslední úprava: PhDr. Jan Hornát, Ph.D. (29.01.2024)
Assigned readings:
(a) Monday: (i) Carl von Clausewitz. On War (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1976), passim (N.B.: follow instructor’s page markings)
(b) Tuesday: (i) Hofstede Cultural Compass Tool Definitions (infra). (ii) Douglas Bland. Transforming National Defense Administration (Kingston: Queen’s University, 2005), skim for context. (iii) Thomas-Durell Young. ‘Reinforcing NATO’s Eastern Airspace: The Institutional Challenges of Transitioning from Soviet/Russian Fighters to Western Multi-Role Fighter Aircraft’, RUSI Journal, 168, nos. 1-2 (2023): Skim essay but read carefully Annex A, p. 49.
(c) Wednesday: (i) Sir Michael Howard. The Franco-Prussian War. London: Methuen, 1961, Chapters I, II, III (skim). (ii) L.C. F. Turner. ‘The Significance of the Schlieffen Plan’, in The War Plans of the Great Powers, 1880-1914, ed. by Paul Kennedy (Boston: Allen & Unwin, 1985), skim. (iii) S.R. Williamson, ‘Joffre Reshapes French Strategy’, in The War Plans of the Great Powers, op. cit., skim. (iv) James J. Wirtz. ‘How Does Nuclear Deterrence Differ from Conventional Deterrence?’ Strategic Studies Quarterly 12, no. 4 (Winter 2018): 58-75.
(d) Thursday: (i) Charles J. Hitch and Roland N. McKean. The Economics of Defense in the Nuclear Age (New York: Atheneum, 1965), pp. 1-5. (ii) Thomas-Durell Young. “Introduction’ in, The Economics of Defense Industry: Contemporary Prospects and Challenges ed by Thomas-Durell Young (Abingdon, OXON: Routledge, 2022), pp. 1-9. (e) Friday: (i) Mykhaylo Zabrodskyi, et al. ‘Preliminary Lessons in Conventional Warfighting from Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine: February–July 2022’ (London: RUSI, 2022), skim for context. |
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Poslední úprava: PhDr. Jan Hornát, Ph.D. (29.01.2024)
This is a week-long bloc course taking place twice a day in the week of 29 April 2024 to 3 May 2024 and taught by visiting scholar Thomas-Durell Young of Defense Security Cooperation University in Washington DC. |
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Poslední úprava: PhDr. Jan Hornát, Ph.D. (29.01.2024)
(a) Monday (29 April): (i) Introduction to the course, review course readings, explain expectations, and define the subject of strategic and defense studies (ii) Philosophy of ‘war’
(b) Tuesday (30 April): (i) Understanding the defense institution (ii) What is defense policy (and what does it look like?)
(c) Wednesday (1 May): (i) Linking defense plans to war plans and CONOP (ii) Nuclear weapons and deterrence theory
(d) Thursday (2 May): (i) Defense economics (ii) Defense industry
(e) Friday (3 May): (i) Lessons from the Russo-Ukraine war (ii) Oral presentations of individual student papers (~5 minutes for each student) |