Strategic Studies

Overview

Strategic Studies at Nanyang Technological University  is designed to help students better comprehend the application of military power, as well as the coordination and direction of different resources to achieve political outcomes. It aims to develop broadly educated, politically sensitive, defence and security practitioners as well as defence and security sensitive civilians who have the following skill sets:

• A nuanced understanding of the pressing national, transnational and regional strategic challenges and issues in the Indo-Pacific;
• A systematic understanding of the security interactions between states and non-state actors in an increasingly globalised world; and
• The critical thinking skills essential for the crafting of the national security policies and defence strategies, as well as private sector security policies.

Relevance

Today, the security of state and non-state actors is increasingly complicated. Core security issues—focusing on the security of the state from the application of power by hostile actors—remains fundamental; however, the threats to states are today more diverse and take numerous forms. In addition, so-called non-traditional security issues—catastrophic climate change, resource scarcity, infectious diseases, to name but three—are gaining in importance in the security calculus of public and private actors. The core security mechanisms—the military and national security forces of the state—remain salient, but they are increasingly being complemented, if not replaced, by non-violent mechanisms of national security – global and regional multilateral institutions are experimenting with new techniques of dealing with conflict, such as preventive diplomacy, and humanitarian intervention.