Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt University

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Aim and Scope

Security perceptions, threats and problems of today's societies are highly complex and diversified. Security threats are not limited to military threats, but have targeted all areas and segments of society. By evolving the concept of security, many types of warfare and security problems have arisen that should be the subject of security studies such as hybrid warfare, asymmetric warfare, proxy war, economic warfare, currency wars, or commercial, biological, and cyber warfare.

In this context, contemporary security studies do not limit security to military security and capacity that only involve hot conflict, but it shows a more inclusive and holistic development. Therefore, demography, migration, environment, economy, finance, health, food, cyber life, energy etc. are used to maximize the safety outcomes of societies. It is essential to address such fields with an interdisciplinary approach and in the context of security studies.

This master's program with thesis, designed within the framework of contemporary security concept, will provide students with the theoretical and practical skills and background that the public and private sector will need at the international level. The program is designed to contribute to the development of students' careers and provide them with the equipment to enable them to serve the security of the country and the world better. The program's mission is to train new generation analysts, academics, decision makers, consultants, and practitioners for the security challenges which societies and governments in today's international environment face with.

The Master's Program in Security Studies is considered as an interdisciplinary master program that interacts with branches of science such as political science, international relations, economics, business, engineering, sociology, history and public health. The program will address security issues with a holistic and interdisciplinary approach. Especially focusing on Turkey's neighboring countries, it is expected that the master's degree program including security issues’ economic, historical, political, military, foreign polical, cultural and health dimensions.

The methodology of the proposed program is different from the existing similar programs. With this interdisciplinary approach, students will be provided with data, evidence, findings and analysis-oriented technical equipment such as statistical / numerical methods, impact analysis / economic evaluation, social network analysis, game theories, decision techniques, geographic information systems (GIS) and artificial intelligence. Thanks to this difference, students will be able to approach national and global security problems with a stronger analytical approach, and have the ability to use rich tools and methods for both analysis and presentation in their studies

Security Studies Master Program with Thesis

COURSE CODE	SEMESTER	COURSE NAME	CREDIT	ECTS	TYPE
GÜÇ 501	FALL	Güvenlik Çalışmalarına Giriş	3	20	Required
GÜÇ 503	FALL	Güvenlik Çalışmalarında Araştırma Yöntemleri ve Bilimsel Etik	3	20	Required
GÜÇ 505	FALL	Avrupa Güvenliğine Karşı Tehditler	3	10	Elective
GÜÇ 507	FALL	Savunma ve Güvenlik Ekonomisi	3	15	Elective
GÜÇ 509	FALL	Türkiye’nin Deniz Güvenliği ve Uluslararası Deniz Hukuku	3	10	Elective
GÜÇ 511	FALL	Etnik Çatışma ve İç Savaş	3	10	Elective
GÜÇ 513	FALL	Güvenlik Çalışmalarında Sosyal Ağ Analizi	3	15	Elective
GÜÇ 515	FALL	Global Güvenliğe Ekonomik Yaklaşımlar	3	10	Elective
GÜÇ 517	FALL	Güvenlik Çalışmalarında Örgüt Teorileri	3	10	Elective
GÜÇ 519	FALL	Güvenlik Çalışmalarında Sistem Mühendisliği	3	10	Elective
GÜÇ 521	FALL	Yumuşak Güç Stratejisi ve Güvenliğin Geleceği	3	8	Elective
GÜÇ 523	FALL	Suç Ekonomisi ve Terörün Finansmanı	3	10	Elective
USE 501	FALL-SPRING	Uzmanlık Alanı		8	Required
USE 503	FALL-SPRING	Seminer		10	Required
GÜÇ 502	SPRING	Güvenlik Çalışmalarında İstatistik ve Sayısal Yöntemler	3	20	Required
GÜÇ 504	SPRING	Enerji ve Çevre Güvenliği	3	15	Elective
GÜÇ 506	SPRING	Güvenlik Çalışmalarında Etki Değerlendirme ve Politika Analizi	3	10	Elective
GÜÇ 508	SPRING	Ortadoğu’da Çatışma ve Güvenlik	3	10	Elective
GÜÇ 510	SPRING	Uluslararası Güvenlik	3	10	Elective
GÜÇ 512	SPRING	İstihbarat Disiplinleri ve Savunma Teknolojileri	3	10	Elective
GÜÇ 514	SPRING	Siyasal Şiddet	3	10	Elective
GÜÇ 516	SPRING	Çağdaş Güvenlik Sorunları ve Türkiye	3	10	Elective
GÜÇ 518	SPRING	Güvenlik Çalışmalarında Seçilmiş Konular: Sağlık, Gıda ve Siber Alan	3	10	Elective
GÜÇ 520	SPRING	Güvenlik Çalışmalarında Oyunlar ve Stratejiler	3	10	Elective
GÜÇ 522	SPRING	Güvenlik Çalışmalarında Yapay Zeka ve Güvenlik	3	10	Elective
GÜÇ 524	SPRING	Güvenlik Çalışmalarında Sistem Çözümü ve Dizaynı	3	10	Elective
GÜÇ 526	SPRING	Amerikan Dış Politikası ve Küresel Güvenlik	3	10	Elective
GÜÇ 528	SPRING	Suç ve Güvenlik Stratejileri	3	10	Elective
GÜÇ 532	SPRING	Asya ve Hint-Pasifik Güvenlik ve Strateji	3	10	Elective
GÜÇ 534	SPRING	Sürdürülebilir Gıda Güvenliği	3	10	Required
USE 506	FALL-SPRING	Tez Çalışması		30	Required

 

Compulsory and Elective Courses to be Taken with the Total Number of Credits Required to Obtain a Master's Degree

In order to successfully complete the Security Studies program, a minimum of 120 ECTS must be successfully completed, taking nine (9) courses in total (three compulsory and one seminar course). In addition, all students must enroll in a specialty course until they graduate. In addition to the specialization course, students who are at the thesis phase must register to the thesis work course.

 

FALL SEMESTER

GÜÇ 501 – Güvenlik Çalışmalarına Giriş - 20 ECTS

In this course, the major theories in international security studies will be discussed critically, from realism to post-modern approaches. In the course, basic security concepts and theories will be explained and students will be provided with analytical and critical thinking skills on security issues.

GÜÇ 503 – Güvenlik Çalışmalarında Araştırma Yöntemleri ve Bilimsel Etik - 20 ECTS

This course aims to introduce students to research methods in social sciences and to gain research ability. The course aims to equip students with topics such as philosophy of science, scientific writing, citation, scientific ethics and scientific publication preparation.

GÜÇ 505 – Avrupa Güvenliğine Karşı Tehditler - 10 ECTS

The aim of this course is to provide students with the ability to analyze based on a new generation of threats threatening European security. Highlights of these ongoing threats can be concluded as follows: cross-border hybrid threats, global terrorism, mass migration movements, infectious diseases, financial crises, etc.

GÜÇ 507 – Savunma ve Güvenlik Ekonomisi - 15 ECTS

This course focuses on the generating and financing of defense and security services. The course analyzes the effects of natural resources distribution, interest rates, exchange rates, trade deficits, migration waves on the security of countries and regions. The course aims to help students understand the relationship between international security, trade wars and economic structure by examining the effects of economic factors on current global security theoretically and empirically.

GÜÇ 509 – Türkiye’nin Deniz Güvenliği ve Uluslararası Deniz Hukuku- 10 ECTS

This course is an introduction to the maritime security of Turkey and international law of the sea and is intended to cover fundamentals and introduce a great number of selected topics for more advanced study. The course will focus on some important maritime security subjects and international law of the sea subjects, including today’s some of the leading issues. These selected topics include maritime security, development of the international law of the sea, legal Regime of the Turkish Straits, the security of the Turkish Straits, delamination issues regarding Turkey’s jurisdiction in the Eastern Mediterranean, maritime security of Turkey, maritime cybersecurity. These topics provide opportunities for students to analyze and synthesize the role of international law of the sea for maritime security at an advanced level.

GÜÇ 511 – Etnik Çatışma ve İç Savaş - 10 ECTS

After the cold war, the number of interstate wars decreased dramatically, while the number of civil wars and ethnic conflicts increased. Such wars can be quite difficult to solve depending on the number of actors involved, and offer difficult options for post-war reconstruction, justice and peace. This course will deal with ethnic conflict and civil wars in different aspects and in the light of different cases.

GÜÇ 513 – Güvenlik Çalışmalarında Sosyal Ağ Analizi - 15 ECTS

Within the scope of this proposed course, it is aimed that the students have a theoretical background regarding the basic assumptions of social network analysis on security issues and learn the basic application areas of theoretical framework through programs. The course focuses on the analysis of interactions between decision-making units and actors in terms of frequency, distance, weakness / strength.

GÜÇ 515 – Global Güvenliğe Ekonomik Yaklaşımlar - 10 ECTS

This course aims to integrate economics as a science into security discourse and to consider it as a determining factor in security studies. In addition, it aims to provide the students with the ability to apply mathematical economic models in solving certain problems that can be associated with concepts such as security, conflict and threat.

GÜÇ 517 – Güvenlik Çalışmalarında Örgüt Teorileri - 10 ECTS

This course aims to enable students to define the concepts of organization and theory and to summarize the development process of organizations in the field of security, the reasons for the existence of organizations and the development of the organization research area, and to learn different perspectives of organizations. The course deals with the organizational forms of the units that can be the subject of security studies within theoretical frameworks.

GÜÇ 519 – Güvenlik Çalışmalarında Sistem Mühendisliği -  10 ECTS

This course explains what chaos and system are. It shows the philosophical relationship and transitions between them. The system identifies the crisis and chaos processes and reveals the logical connections between them. For this reason, the course explains different system approaches.

GÜÇ 521 – Yumuşak Güç Stratejisi ve Güvenliğin Geleceği -  10 ECTS

GÜÇ 523 – Suç Ekonomisi ve Terörün Finansmanı -  10 ECTS

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SPRING SEMESTER

GÜÇ 502 – Güvenlik Çalışmalarında İstatistik ve Sayısal Yöntemler - 20 ECTS

This course aims to help students who specialize in security studies by making use of statistics and quantitative methods, to predispose to express their security issues in digitized ways. Throughout the course, topics such as creating research questions, developing hypothesis, choosing methodology, collecting data, data management, data analysis, inference, quoting, referencing techniques, ethics in research are explained in a theoretical and practical way. Data sets and examples to be used in the lesson will cover more security issues.

GÜÇ 504 –Enerji ve Çevre Güvenliği - 15 ECTS

The distribution of energy resources and transfer routes are one of the areas that have important effects on global security. This course aims to teach students the relationship between energy and environmental issues in the current global system through their effects on the international security system.

GÜÇ 506 – Güvenlik Çalışmalarında Etki Değerlendirme ve Politika Analizi - 15 ECTS

This course includes systematic comparison approaches to identify the most valuable uses of scarce resources. It will enable students to assess the potential and predicted impacts of a policy or project in policymakers and decision makers in the field of security, and to acquire the knowledge and skills to which extent relevant decisions meet / can meet the objectives. Thus, actors, processes and possible results can be evaluated together.

GÜÇ 508 – Ortadoğu’da Çatışma ve Güvenlik - 10 ECTS

The aim of this course is to make students aware of major conflicts and security issues in the Middle East. Within the scope of the course, the background, current situation, the positions of the parties and the discussions in the literature will be discussed.

GÜÇ 510 – Uluslararası Güvenlik -  10 ECTS

This course aims to enable students to grasp and discuss current issues in international security literature and practice. The course addresses international security issues around historical and current case studies.

GÜÇ 512 – İstihbarat Disiplinleri ve Savunma Teknolojileri - 10 ECTS

This course aims to enable students to learn and follow new technological developments in defense and intelligence technologies. The course deals with intelligence and defense technologies around historical and current case studies.

GÜÇ 514 – Siyasal Şiddet - 10 ECTS

This course examines the different reflections and types of what we call political violence. The course discusses whether terrorism is the only form of 'political' violence and whether we should update what we understand from 'political'.

GÜÇ 516 – Çağdaş Güvenlik Sorunları ve Türkiye - 10 ECTS

Turkey must overcome serious safety problems due to its geopolitical position. This course is designed to discuss and show the reflections of Turkey’s contemporary security issues.

GÜÇ 518 – Güvenlik Çalışmalarında Seçilmiş Konular: Sağlık, Gıda ve Siber Alan - 10 ECTS

This course deals with security studies around health, food and cyberspace. Life safety is ultimately about health and quality of life. Food and information security is also an important part of quality life. In this context, the course addresses security issues in health, food and cyberspace within the framework of selected issues.

GÜÇ 520 – Güvenlik Çalışmalarında Oyunlar ve Stratejiler - 10 ECTS

Game theory is about analyzing strategic situations that are defined as situations of interdependence among rational agents. Game theory can be applied to many real-world cases, such as interstate conflicts, resolution of trade disputes, and efforts to prevent climate change. Throughout this course, game theory will be linked to strategic situations in the real world. Thus, connections between abstract game theory and international political economy, international public policy and international security practices will be established.

GÜÇ 522 –Yapay Zeka ve Güvenlik - 10 ECTS

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become an important subject of national and international political debates today as it is the main driving force of changes in economy, society and the state. Besides the effects of artificial intelligence on foreign policy and defense, the effects on internal security cannot be ignored. In particular, AI-based applications contain the expected risks of conflict and even war, caused by competition on AI technology and the resulting power changes, the regulation and governance of AI, and changes in the activities of the intelligence services. This lesson plan includes theoretical and applied materials on artificial intelligence, national and international security policies.

GÜÇ 524 – Güvenlik Çalışmalarında Sistem Çözümü ve Dizaynı – 10 ECTS

The system tells the analysis of crisis and chaos processes by using different methods. It investigates the relations of the system with other systems and evaluates whether a system studied is a system of systems. It uses various approaches and methods for these evaluations. It shows how an existing system can be repaired and improved. Although a new system will be installed, it tells how to install it step by step from the foundation.

GÜÇ 526 – Amerikan Dış Politikası ve Küresel Güvenlik – 10 ECTS

The objective of this course is to introduce the main factors, debates and actors in American Foreign Policy. Questions we will analyze include: What are the origins of the American Foreign Policy? What is the role of American Foreign Policy in international crises? What is the role of the international community in preventing crises from escalating to war? What are the relationships of American Foreign Policies and international organizations such as UN, NATO, EU, OSCE in maintaining world peace and managing complex relations among states?

GÜÇ 528 – Suç ve Güvenlik Stratejileri – 10 ECTS

The participants of the course present their written works prepared in accordance with the scientific method by making library work on the crime topics. Topics are discussed and all participants of the course are informed about each topic.

GÜÇ 532 – Asya ve Hint-Pasifik Güvenlik ve Strateji – 10 ECTS

GÜÇ 534 – Sürdürülebilir Gıda Güvenliği – 10 ECTS

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