21st Century Security Challenges
UndergraduateMUR-POL1022025
Course information for 2025 intake View information for 2024 course intake
Explore security threats that extend beyond military solutions. Delve into new and emerging security challenges like climate change, cybersecurity and food scarcity. You’ll look into the efforts in place today that are working to address these issues.
Enrol today with instant approval and no entry requirements
- Study method
- 100% online
- Assessments
- Subject may require attendance
- Enrol by
- 20 July 2025
- Entry requirements
- No ATAR needed, No prior study
- Duration
- 13 weeks
- Price from
- $2,125
- Upfront cost
- $0
- Loan available
- HECS-HELP and FEE-HELP available
21st Century Security Challenges
About this subject
At the completion of this subject students will be able to:
- Demonstrate a broad knowledge of a range of historical and contemporary security challenges.
- Demonstrate substantive knowledge of the principal actors and tools that can address security problems.
- Demonstrate a critical understanding of various conceptual approaches and arguments in relation to the analyse of security issues, such as securitisation, human security and non-traditional security approaches.
- Identify and appraise a number of contemporary security challenges such as climate change, global pandemics, transnational crime, civil conflict and energy and food security.
- Old and new securities
- Security threats in the modern age
- Providers of security: State actors
- Provides of security: Non-state and private actors
- Development
- War and peace
- Transnational Crime
- Food and Health
- Water
- Political Security
- Climate change and environmental degradation
Security has traditionally been associated with the integrity of the state and its protection by military means. Since the end of the Cold War, however, international war and state survival seem less severe threats to security as compared to a range of new and evolving security challenges. The latter include climate change, pandemics, inequality and economic underdevelopment, and irregular migration, among others. This has given rise to debates about whether security is a problematic social construct. Whom it should be for and how, and it should focus primarily on the well-being of individuals (human security)?
This unit provides students with a comprehensive introduction to the history of security and conceptual debates about the term. Afterwards, it discusses a broad range of new and emerging security challenges, including civil war, climate change, poverty, transnational crime, cybersecurity as well as insufficient access to food, water and energy.
Please Note: All students studying at Murdoch University will need to complete the compulsory unit, Murdoch Academic Passport (MAP100), which only takes 2-3 hours to complete online. Find out more: http://goto.murdoch.edu.au/MurdochAcademicPassport.
- Mid-semester Invigilated Exam (40%)
- Policy brief (45%)
- Tutorial participation (15%)
For textbook details check your university's handbook, website or learning management system (LMS).
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Entry requirements
No entry requirements
Study load
- 0.125 EFTSL
- This is in the range of 10 to 12 hours of study each week.
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What to study next?
Once you’ve completed this subject it can be credited towards one of the following courses
Bachelor of Global Security (Terrorism and Counterterrorism Studies)
UndergraduateMUR-BGS-DEG
Bachelor of Arts (International Aid and Development)
UndergraduateMUR-AID-DEG
Bachelor of Arts (Sustainable Development)
UndergraduateMUR-ASD-DEG
Bachelor of Arts (Community Development)
UndergraduateMUR-CDV-DEG
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