Societal Security, Climate Change and Sustainability (SAM550)

This course explores the intricate relationship between societal security, climate change, and sustainability. Special emphasis is placed on understanding issues related to climate security and how it impacts sustainability.

NB! This is an elective course and may be cancelled if fewer than 10 students are enrolled by 20 August for the autumn semester.

In an era marked by accelerating environmental change, growing geopolitical tensions, and increasing societal vulnerabilities, to better understand the relationship between societal security, climate change, and sustainability has become urgent. This course invites students to critically examine how climate risks, ranging from extreme weather events to long-term ecological shifts, interact with social systems, governance structures, and security frameworks.

We will explore how societies can build resilience in the face of climate-induced disruptions, and how sustainability principles can inform strategies for long-term security and stability. The course draws on interdisciplinary perspectives, integrating insights from international relations, disaster risk management, crisis management, and political science to understand the multifaceted challenges posed by climate change.

Key themes will include:

• The concept of societal security according to the securitisation theory and its evolution in the context of environmental stressors.
• The role of climate change adaptation and mitigation in shaping societal security and sustainability.
• International policy frameworks and cooperation for managing transboundary climate risks.
• The ethical dimensions of sustainability and justice in global climate governance.

Through case studies and policy evaluations, students will develop the analytical tools needed to assess vulnerabilities, design adaptive strategies, and contribute to sustainable security solutions in a rapidly changing world.

After completing the course, it is expected that students will have attained the following knowledge, skills, and general competencies:

Knowledge of:

• how societal security, climate change and sustainability mutually influence each other
• key concepts in societal security and the securitisation theory, including threat, risk, hazards, vulnerability, resilience, crises, and disasters
• natural and man-made threats that can pose risks and affect security and vulnerability
• key dilemmas, uncertainties, and challenges related to climate security

Skills:

• students should be able to analyse and critically relate to various sources of information and use these to structure and formulate societal security-related reflections
• students should be able to critically reflect on dilemmas, challenges, uncertainties, and linkages between societal security, climate change, and sustainability
• students should be able to critically reflect on security objects, to develop a better understanding of how societal security, climate change, and sustainability can be problematised

General competence:

• students should be able to analyse research-relevant critical issues related to societal security and climate change.
• students should master different analytical frameworks to study complex questions related to uncertainties
• students should become better positioned to engage critically in discussions, reports, and projects concerning societal security, climate change, and sustainability at the global and European levels

Compulsory assignment with a limited number of words. Students must submit an individual written assignment, which must be approved to gain access to the on-campus oral exam. Students will be informed about the deadline to deliver the assignment on the first day of teaching. The assignment must be written in English.

It is not necessary to deliver the assignment again if the assignment has been approved and the student wishes to take the oral exam later.

When artificial intelligence is used in the assignment, the student must document this by completing and submitting the self-declaration form. If the student submits text that is directly copied from an AI writing tool, this will be regarded as presenting the work of others as your own and therefore constitutes cheating.