Security practice questions.

'Securitisation' theory argues that:

• Framing an issue as an existential threat to justify extraordinary measures
• All national security policy should be handed over entirely to private security firms
• Security is guaranteed only by nuclear weapons
• States should never treat any issue as a threat

Answer: Framing an issue as an existential threat to justify extraordinary measures

Associated with the Copenhagen School. Securitisation is a 'speech act': labelling something a security threat can justify emergency powers, e.g. framing migration as a threat.

'Collective security', as embodied in the UN Charter, is based on the principle that:

• An attack on one is a threat to all, warranting a joint response
• Each state should defend only itself and must never assist any others
• Only the most powerful state may use force
• Security is best achieved by dismantling all alliances

Answer: An attack on one is a threat to all, warranting a joint response

Distinguish collective security (inclusive, e.g. the UN) from collective defence alliances like NATO, which target external threats. Both differ from the balance of power.

According to deterrence theory, a state prevents an adversary from attacking primarily by:

• Eliminating the adversary's weapons through pre-emptive strikes
• Deepening mutual economic interdependence so that war becomes clearly unprofitable
• Convincing the adversary that aggression would cost more than any gains
• Joining as many intergovernmental organisations as possible

Answer: Convincing the adversary that aggression would cost more than any gains

Deterrence works through credible threats of retaliation: the adversary is dissuaded because expected costs exceed expected benefits. Pre-emption, interdependence and institutionalism are different logics of security.

NATO's Article 5, under which an attack on one member is treated as an attack on all members, is best described as an example of:

• Collective defence within a military alliance
• Collective security open to all states in the international system
• Multidimensional peacekeeping
• A regional disarmament regime

Answer: Collective defence within a military alliance

Collective defence binds a defined group of allies against external attackers, whereas collective security (as in the UN Charter) is directed at aggression by any state, including members of the system itself.

Which scenario best illustrates asymmetric warfare?

• Two neighbouring states with comparable armies fight a conventional border war
• Two great powers engage in a naval arms race without fighting
• A state imposes economic sanctions on a rival of similar size
• An insurgent group uses guerrilla tactics against a far stronger state army

Answer: An insurgent group uses guerrilla tactics against a far stronger state army

Asymmetric warfare occurs when a much weaker actor avoids direct conventional battle and instead exploits unconventional tactics against a stronger opponent's vulnerabilities.

Under the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine adopted at the 2005 World Summit, coercive military intervention to stop mass atrocities:

• May be launched unilaterally by any state that identifies atrocities
• Requires authorisation by the UN Security Council under Chapter VII
• Is triggered automatically once a genocide is declared by an NGO
• May only ever be carried out by regional organisations such as the AU

Answer: Requires authorisation by the UN Security Council under Chapter VII

R2P's third pillar allows collective coercive action, but only case by case and through the Security Council under Chapter VII — it did not create a right of unilateral humanitarian intervention.