Security and Intelligence Studies – (M.A.)

This programme aims to deliver a deep, nuanced and research-led understanding of the contemporary security and intelligence environment in western democracies with a focus on the UK. Security and Intelligence studies are an important new field in political science but there is also widespread recognition that a good knowledge of how security and intelligence agencies operate, of the environment in which they operate and of how their products are, and should be, used has become a key component of good and successful governance. Emphasis is placed on relating academic and historical analyses to contemporary problems and policy questions especially in the UK but also to western states in general, uniquely using a degree of 'practice' expertise.

From a policy and practice points of view, emphasis is placed on the very skills that the intelligence community itself has been urged to develop in the wake of the Butler Review on Intelligence on WMD. This specifically recommended the development of a greater degree of 'professionalisation' in intelligence analysis skills, including critical thinking and analysis (developed in part through an element of exercising and collaborative working on challenge problems), and a better ability to evaluate and assess disparate sources of sometimes conflicting information. The government is already involved in the implementation of these recommendations. In this way, the programme prepares those students aspiring to work in security and intelligence policy, and assists the career development of those already doing so.