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Central Challenges of American National Security, Strategy, and the Press

4 Weeks

$ 100

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Brief Introduction

In this course, students analyze some of the hardest national security challenges the United States will face in the decade ahead.

Description

This course is set to Open-Archived mode. You may register for this course and peruse the content at your own pace, but at this time you may not pursue a certificate.

How can Iran be stopped from getting a nuclear bomb—negotiations, sanctions, or military action? As a participant in this course, you will advise the president in deciding whether, and how, the U.S. should act. Once you’ve made your assessment, you will move on to wrestle with other scenarios preoccupying policy makers. Between the Assad regime and ISIS, civilians in Syria and Iraq face unimaginable atrocities. Should the U.S. intervene? China’s rise is rattling capitalist economies and a half-century of Pacific peace. What counterbalancing actions should Washington take? Leaks are a fact of life — but why do they happen? Who gets them, and why? Should journalists publish or withhold them? Does legal accountability lie with the leaker—or the journalist?

This six-week course casts you as advisors on the hardest decisions any president has to make. We will go behind the veil to see the dynamic between the press and the U.S. government, to explore these dilemmas. We will also have to contend with the reality that government secrets rarely stay that way. Participants will learn to navigate the political landscape of an era in which private remarks become viral tweets, and mistakes by intelligence agencies become front-page stories.

Weekly assignments require strategic thinking: Analyzing dynamics of challenges and developing strategies for addressing them. Students will learn to summarize their analyses in a succinct “Strategic Options Memo,” combining careful analysis and strategic imagination with the necessity to communicate to major constituencies in order to sustain public support. They will also examine how policymaking is affected by constant, public analysis of government deliberations.

Ways to take this course

From this page, you may register to view the content for the Open version of this course. It has also been offered in the past as an intensive online course (limited enrollment, by application only). Admitted participants took the course on a private platform, read approximately 75 pages per week, completed and received individual feedback on assignments including four short policy memos, participated in sections led by the course Teaching Fellows, and engaged with fellow learners in moderated discussion forums. Information on any plan to offer future Limited Enrollment versions will be posted to this page.

HarvardX requires individuals who enroll in its courses on edX to abide by the terms of the edX honor code : https://www.edx.org/edx-terms-service. HarvardX will take appropriate corrective action in response to violations of the edX honor code, which may include dismissal from the HarvardX course; revocation of any certificates received for the HarvardX course; or other remedies as circumstances warrant. No refunds will be issued in the case of corrective action for such violations. Enrollees who are taking HarvardX courses as part of another program will also be governed by the academic policies of those programs.

HarvardX pursues the science of learning. By registering as an online learner in an HX course, you will also participate in research about learning. Read our research statement : http://harvardx.harvard.edu/research-statement to learn more.

Harvard University and HarvardX are committed to maintaining a safe and healthy educational and work environment in which no member of the community is excluded from participation in, denied the benefits of, or subjected to discrimination or harassment in our program. All members of the HarvardX community are expected to abide by Harvard policies on nondiscrimination, including sexual harassment, and the edX Terms of Service. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact harvardx@harvard.edu and/or report your experience through the edX contact form : https://www.edx.org/contact-us.

Knowledge

Issues in international affairs from a “policy perspective”
How to think strategically about feasible interventions
Effective communication of issue analysis in policy memorandum format
How to operate within current national security policymaking processes surrounded by an intrusive, inquiring press
An appreciation for the complexities of communicating national security policies to multiple audiences

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