The University of Warwick
Department of Politics and International Studies
THE VIGILANT STATE:
THE POLITICS OF INTELLIGENCE AND SECRECY
PO382
Undergraduate Module Handbook, 2010-11 – updated 2 Oct 2010
Lectures (Term 1) Wednesday 11.00 PS1.28
Lectures (Terms 2 & 3) Wednesday 11.00 MS.03
Seminars Thursday 10.00 S1.69
Thursday 11.00 S1.69
Thursday 2.00 S0.03
Thursday 4.00 S0.03
Module tutors: Richard J. Aldrich & Antony Field
Office hours: Tuesday 12.00-1.00 (Aldrich)
Wednesdays 12.00-1.00 (Aldrich)
Thursday 1.00-2.00 (Field)
Office BO.12
Tel: (024765) 74074
THE VIGILANT STATE:
THE POLITICS OF INTELLIGENCE AND SECRECY
Contents
Module aims and objectives 3
Assessment 4-5
Non-Assessed Essays 5
Assessed Essays 6-7
Lecture schedule 8
Seminar schedule 9
Approach to Reading and Key Material 10
Reading List 12
* The title of this module draws its inspiration from Bernard Porter, The Origins of the Vigilant State: The London Metropolitan Police Special Branch before the First World War (1991).
Module Overview
This module aims to investigate the nature of the 'vigilant state'. It focuses upon the apparatus developed by modern states to permit the surveillance of both international and domestic threats to their security. It will examine the major competing theories concerning the repeated failure of the vigilant state in the face of surprise attack at the international level, subjecting these to careful comparative analysis and reviewing the competing theoretical explanations. Consideration will be given to the role of domestic political monitoring within both democratic and authoritarian states. Attention will also be given to the problem of reconciling clandestine and/or covert methods, traditionally associated with operational efficiency, with the degree of transparency and accountability normally expected of the executive of a democratic state. The final section of the module will turn to look at the future development of some of these issues against a background of rapid technical change and globalisation.
In short, this module aims to introduce to the various debates that have characterised the use of secret service by the state in the international and domestic context. Although the terms 'espionage', 'intelligence' and 'secret service' are all central to the concerns of this module they have been deliberately avoided in the above module description given in the handbook. This is because this module aims to situate all these things in a broader governmental context, viewing them as aspects of international statecraft or as constitutional problems or as issues of civil rights. Accordingly, this module is as much about how policy-makers make use, or fail to make use, of intelligence, and how secret services might be regulated within a constitutional framework, as about the practice of secret service itself.
Aims - The module aims to:
· develop an understanding of the origins and developments of intelligence services
· explore the main theoretical approaches to intelligence and surveillance
· offer an understanding of the issues surrounding intelligence failure
· analyse key ethical and policy dilemmas and issues raised by CT intelligence
· assess the contemporary debates about globalization and the future of intelligence
Objectives- On completion of this module, you should be able to:
· demonstrate an appreciation of the historical context of intelligence
· critically discuss the characteristics of the accountability frameworks
· assess the strengths and weaknesses of the key theoretical debates governing the intelligence cycle
· critically analyse, both orally and in writing, the current issues facing national and regional approaches to intelligence
Learning Methods
There will be a weekly lecture and a weekly seminar running through the academic year. This is a lecture and seminar-based module, entailing a 40 min lecture by Richard Aldrich on Wednesdays. This will be followed on Thursday by a seminar discussion of the previous week's topic, led by Antony Field, with student presentations and structured student interaction (in the form of group discussion, for example). Students are expected to complete the essential reading for each week and to actively contribute to the discussion. Students are further expected to engage in independent study, employing the reading lists and other sources to deepen their knowledge of the subject.
MODULE ASSESSMENT
The mode of assessment for this module is via one of three methods:
(a) Two assessed essays (each equating to 50% of your final mark).
(b) A 3 hour, 4 question, unseen exam paper
(c) One assessed essay plus a 2 question, 1½ hour unseen exam (each equating to 50% of your final mark).
All students handing in assessed work should ensure that they are aware of the
relevant information in the Undergraduate Handbook.
ESSAY GUIDELINES
- for the assessed 5,000 word essay, you can either choose a title from the Assessed Essay title list, or alternatively you can negotiate your own title. I recommend the former.
- if you negotiate a title with your tutor you must submit a title form to the office by the Negotiated Title Deadline listed in the PAIS Undergraduate Handbook 2009/2010.
- do not produce fact-hogging 'term papers' on 'topics' as they will get low marks
- pay attention to identifying where the schools of thought are
- make sure you produce an essay that answers the question directly
- get it in 24 hrs before the deadline to allow for computer problems
- DON'T MISS THE DEADLINES
ESSAY QUESTIONS ARE LISTED HERE
Non-assessed Essays (Formative)
1,500 WORDS FOR 14 JANUARY - OPTIONAL - NOT COMPULSORY
1. Are we best defining intelligence largely in terms of "information" or in terms of "secrets"?
2. Could some small states now abandon secret collection through human and technical methods, in favour of harnessing abundant open sources?
3. Consider Michael Handel’s view that surprise attacks are best explained in terms of "paradoxes" ? Are these paradoxes impossible to resolve?
4. Why are leadaer typically poor consumers of intelligence?
5. Why has most sharing of intelligence traditionally occured through cautious bilateral relationships. Has this changed since 9/11?
6 Reading Week
7 "9/11 was not primarily a failure of intelligence but a failure of counter-terrorism policy over the previous decade" Discuss
8 Why have conspiratorial accounts of 9/11 proved to be prevalent in the United States and what can we learn from this?
9 Given that Iraqi WMD was a familiar 'Cold War Type' intelligence problem of strategic weapons estimates, why did western agencies get this so wrong?
10 How might we better reconcile effective counter-terrorist intelligence with the protection of civil liberties?
11 "The paramilitaries in Northern Ireland were largely defeated thought the remorseless application of intelligence pressure." Discuss.
12 How has US counter-terrorist intelligence activity changed since January 2009?
13 Was secret policing the defining characteristic of Stalin's Russia?
Assessed Essay Titles (Summative) 5,000 words
1. Is it is useful to talk about secret intelligence as a form of 'soft power', as defined by Joseph Nye? And does it need hard power to make it effective?
2 Western states have spent most of their budgets on technical collection (sigint and imint) rather than humint and opint. Was this a mistake?
3 Does warning of surprise attacks fail more because of bureaucratic obstacles or psychological obstacles to a smooth intelligence process?
4 How can intelligence analysts serve decision makers directly and yet be insulated from politicization by the policy process?
5 What are the main hazards presented by intelligence co-operation between states?
6 Reading Week
7 Critically assess Amy Zegart's assertion that the intelligence failures that resulted in 9/11 reflect a refusal to adapt?
8 How far was the Iraqi WMD fiasco in the USA a product of 'intelligence failure' or else a product of interference by policy-makers and politicians?
9 Why does gathering intelligence in the counter-terrorist context present the liberal state with special problems and dilemmas?
10a Examine how US counter-terrorist intelligence changed since 9/11 in pursuit of the 'new terrorism'.
10b How might current UK counter-terrorism intelligence be reformed and improved?
11 Propaganda and not state security agencies were the defining characteristic of Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia. Discuss.
12a Assess the effectiveness of the UK Intelligence and Security Committee. How might it be improved?
12b How might we go about extending accountability to intelligence operations involving more then one country?
13 Is the increase in surveillance over the last ten years down to the “cult of counter-terrorism” or do all technological societies and knowledge-based economies naturally produce ‘states of surveillance’ ?
14 'Espionage can deploy ethical codes - but it can never be moral'. Discuss.
15a If an ethical case can be made for shooting an armed bank robber to save lives, then a case can be made for torture during interrogation. Discuss.
15b What exactly is assassination and can an ethical case ever be made for its use as part of state policy?
17 How far would you agree with W. Scott Lucas’s assertion that CIA cultural activities during the Cold War indicate ideological aggression?
18 Use the Fortitude D-Day Deception Campaign to explain the role of intelligence in assisting wartime deception.
19a Should intelligence officers serve as clandestine peace brokers? What advantages and disadvantages do they have?
19b Does intelligence generate transparency and therefore produce a safer and more stable world? Or does it create risk?
[You may answer this with reference to the Cold War period, or to post 1989]
20 How should intelligence change to meet the myriad challenges of globalization?
21 We have a narrowly Anglo-American typology of intelligence. How might this be adapted to reflect intelligence ideas and practices elsewhere in the world?
MODULE TIMETABLE
LECTURES - WEDNESDAYS
A: INTRODUCTION
1 What is secret intelligence? 6 Oct in F1.11 Enginering
B: FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE
2 In the field: the gritty problems of collection 7 Oct in SO.21
2a Steve Hewitt on Human Agents and Informers 20 Oct in PS1.28
3 Estimates and interpretation: the problems of analysis 27 Oct in PS1.28
4 Intelligence at the top: producer-consumer linkage 3 Nov in PS1.28
5 Reading Week: No Lectures 8-12 Nov
6 Liaison: the delicate diplomacy of intelligence 17 Nov in PS1.28
C: COUNTER-TERRORISM AND SECURITY
7 9/11 - What kind of failure 24 Nov in PS1.28
8 Proliferation and WMD - the Iraq Case 1 Dec in PS1.28
9 Intelligence and the liberal state: counter-terrorism [VIDEO] 8 Dec
10 Intelligence and counter-terrorism: the market state 8 Dec in PS1.28
11 Intelligence and Tyranny: the non-democratic State 12 Jan in MS.03
D: CONTROLLING INTELLIGENCE
12 The problems of accountability and democratic control 19 Jan in MS.03
13 The problems of civil rights and intelligence 26 Jan in MS.03
14 Ethics and Espionage 2 Feb in MS.03
15 Torture and Assassination 9 Feb in MS.03
16 Reading Week 14-19 Feb
E. INTELLIGENCE AND THE NEW WARFARE
17 Covert Action 23 Feb in MS.03
18 Intelligence and Deception 2 Mar in MS.03
19 Intelligence for NGOs and Peacekeeping 9 Mar in MS.03
F: THE FUTURE OF INTELLIGENCE
20 Intelligence in a globalising world 16 March in MS.03
21 Revision Q&A session 27 April in MS.03
SEMINAR -THURSDAYS
A: INTRODUCTION
1 Meet to assign seminars and roles 7 Oct
2 What is secret intelligence? 14 Oct
B: FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE
3 In the field: the gritty problems of collection 21 Oct
4 Estimates and interpretation: the problems of analysis 28 Oct
5 Intelligence at the top: producer-consumer linkage 4 Nov
6 Reading Week: No Lectures 8-12 Nov
7 Liaison: the delicate diplomacy of intelligence 18 Nov
C: COUNTER-TERRORISM AND SECURITY
8 9/11 - What kind of failure 25 Nov
9 Proliferation and WMD - the Iraq Case 2 Dec
10 Intelligence and the liberal state: counter-terrorism 9 Dec
11 Intelligence and counter-terrorism: the market state 13 Jan
12 Intelligence and Tyranny: the non-democratic state 20 Jan
D: CONTROLLING INTELLIGENCE
13 The problems of accountability and democratic control 27 Jan
14 The problems of civil rights and intelligence 3 Feb
15 Ethics and Espionage 10 Feb
16 Reading Week 14-19 Feb
17 Torture and Assassination 24 Feb
E. INTELLIGENCE AND THE NEW WARFARE
18 Covert Action 3 Mar
19 Intelligence and Deception 10 March
20 Intelligence for NGOs and Peacekeeping 17 March
F: THE FUTURE OF INTELLIGENCE
21 Intelligence in a globalising world 28 April
APPROACH TO READING & KEY MATERIAL
1. Quantity and Quality of Reading
The module text books. You are expected to read widely, but selectively. As a broad guideline, for most essays, semester-time or exam-time, it is sufficient to look at the two course text books, two additional books and four articles. There is a lot of reading on this list because different books address different essay titles under each topic heading, and also because I wish to ensure an ample supply of literature.
Please note that this is a new module at Warwick, confronting the Library with the problem of trying to acquire a lot of books that are now out of print. They have done wonders. They do not yet have everything on the bibliography - but they have secured quite a lot of material. If it is not yet there I have entered NIL - but new stuff is arriving all the time, so if the class mark is not added, that does not mean its not there.
This is a fast-moving subject, never more so than the last few years. Accordingly, journal articles are increasingly important. Warwick has everything we need here so if in doubt head for the journal articles. Many of the best ones are collected in the various edited collections/readers.
Subject to legal and operational requirements, copies of all core readings are available either in the Library Short Loan Collection (SLC), Learning Grid or online. If a core reading is not available in this manner, you should consult the Subject Librarian and your module tutor.
2. Case Studies
You may approach your essays in a variety of different ways. You may wish to write a broad generic essay (and this is a broad generic module) or you may wish to choose to answer a question by focusing upon one or a number of case studies. HOWEVER, YOU MUST BE CLEAR THAT CASE STUDIES IN THIS MODULE ARE INTENDED TO THROW LIGHT UPON GENERAL IDEAS AND PRINCIPLES, NOT VICE VERSA.
3. Module text book -