The Security Dilemma Online Activity

Welcome to the School of Areas Studies, History, Politics, and Literature. Our programmes and courses focus on making sense of the world in which we live and developing new approaches to better understand and respond to major global, national and local issues in politics, culture, history, identity, sustainability and gender.

Politics and International Relations Online Activity

Students studying on our Politics and International Relations courses explore the most pressing issues in the field, and our research strives to find real solutions to these challenges. For example, through security and defence research, we’re searching for ways to reduce the impact of war, and create a safer, more peaceful world.

On this page you’ll:

• Get a taste of the kind of global issues that our Politics and International Relations students work towards
• Solve and explore ‘The Security Dilemma’
• Learn the difference between Politics and International Relations

What is the difference between International Relations and Politics?

As you can see, Politics deals with issues within state borders and International Relations deals with issues that cross state borders. Of course, though, in reality these lines of distinction often become blurred as we will see in our discussion of The Security Dilemma

The Security Dilemma – what is it?

One of the core questions that all states must ask themselves is: how much security is enough security? In other words, what must states do in order to protect their borders from threats, but not seem like a threat themselves?

The reason why this question receives so much attention is due to the fact that sometimes in world politics, a seemingly rational action, can produce an irrational outcome!

Take a look at the cartoon to see for yourself; this is the security dilemma in action.

The security dilemma shows us that, sometimes, actions taken by a state as defensive measures can be misperceived as aggressive measures by other states.

Offensive versus Defensive Reactions

Watch the video to learn more about what offensive and defensive reactions by states look like and how they might be perceived by other states. Once you have watched the video, there is a task for you to complete - either on your own or in a group.

As individuals or in groups - complete the following activity:

Find out more about Politics, International Relations and related courses