AMER0105 (In)Security in the Americas: Transnational Challenges

***NOT RUNNING IN 2025/2026***

Module convenor: to be confirmed.

Outline:

The module introduces MSc students to key security themes in the Americas. While the predominant analytical lens for studying security has been the nation-state in traditional International Relations (IR), this module also reflects two recent developments: first, many security challenges nowadays cut across state borders and, second, state security is no longer the only concern, with increasing attention being paid to the security of other actors, especially individuals.

Further, the module is framed around a key tension between traditional and novel security challenges in the Americas, and adopts a Global IR approach (Acharya 2014), actively incorporating the too often-marginalised voices from the Global South in theory and knowledge production.

The initial two sessions present key concepts and theories of the course: the first focuses on the state, sovereignty and borders, human security, and the transnational sphere, while the second provides a toolbox for analysing the themes covered in the course, by introducing critical IR theories (i.e., Feminism, Securitisation, and Green Theory) and alternative epistemologies and frameworks from Latin America and the Caribbean (i.e., Decolonial Theories, and Dependency Approaches).

The rest of the module focuses on themes and cases studies regarding both traditional and novel security challenges in the Americas. These include:

  • Transnational Repression and Operation Condor in the 1970s South America
  • (R)evolutions in human rights (especially focusing on women, indigenous and LGBTI people), with case studies from the Southern Cone
  • Resource and Food Security, with case studies in Central America and the Caribbean
  • The Environment and Climate Change, with case studies from Brazil and the Andes region
  • Health and Pandemics, with case studies of Covid19 and the Zika virus
  • Terrorism and Cybersecurity, with case studies from the US and Mexico
  • Drug Trafficking and Criminal Networks, with case studies from Mexico and the Northern Triangle

Border Crises and Human Mobility, with case studies from Venezuela, Colombia, and the US-Mexico, and US-Canada borders.

Assessment:

Methods of assessment vary between modules, and are subject to change.  Please email ia-programmes@ucl.ac.uk for further information.