Master in Politics, Security and Crisis

Thanks to its focus on security policy and crisis management, the Master’s Programme gives you a rare educational grounding. The course will give you deeper knowledge and understanding of how security and insecurity situations arise, and a broader perspective on crisis and crisis management. The emphasis lies on international security issues, but you will also study crises in a societal perspective and learn more about the increasingly transnational character of contemporary security challenges. Thus, this programme gives you a very broad, but also deep, understanding of how society conceives and shapes its security policies and how it is able to handle contemporary and future crises.

The programme will also give you rigorous training in scientific methods designed to promote advanced analytical skills. Scenario based role games, wargaming and a semester devoted to practical training in the form of an internship also form part the of the programme. In other words, the programme will give you not only theoretical and case-based knowledge of security, risk, and crisis management but also the relevant vocational skills.

At the Swedish Defence University students have access to Sweden’s foremost experts on security issues; lecturers and researchers who are not only foremost in their field, but who frequently act as consultants to the media. Research conducted in the field of political science covers a broad spectrum of subjects including crisis management, security and political psychology.

Structure of the programme

Semester 1

During your first semester you will attend an introductory course to political science which focuses on security and crisis, followed by a course in scientific methods. The course will give you basic knowledge of political science with focus on crisis management, while the course in methodology provides you with tools for analysing and understanding policy, security policy and crisis management in a scientific framework.

Semester 2

During your second semester you will be able to read four elective modules. You decide for yourself if you wish to delve deeper into a specific area by following the suggested thematic tracks, or if you would prefer to take courses with a broader span. The elective courses offer a broad spectrum of subject matter. For example, you could choose in-depth studies of various types of crisis management, global threats and security policy or opt for modules in War Studies, which focus on warfare, strategy or defence and defence policy. In other words, the master programme offers both breadth and in-depth knowledge based on the latest findings.

Semester 3

The third semester is reserved for work on your master’s thesis. A master’s thesis gives you the opportunity to conduct an in-depth study of the issues that interest you most and to put your proficiency in scientific methods to the test.

Semester 4

For the fourth semester you are free to decide whether you wish to apply for an internship or if you prefer to take additional elective courses. In other words, you can choose to engage in in-depth, empirical and theoretical studies or to focus more directly on practical situations in a work environment.

The second and fourth semesters also open up opportunities for studies abroad via our exchange agreements with partner universities.

Student exchanges

The Swedish Defence University takes part in the Erasmus exchange programme, which means that our students have the opportunity to spend one semester of their studies at a university abroad. Participation in an exchange programme is an excellent way of broadening one’s perspectives and acquiring new experiences at prestigious universities such as the University of St Andrews (Scotland), Sciences Po (France) and the University of Bologna (Italy). Our partner universities offer a broad selection of relevant courses, which means that your master’s degree may come to include several different specialties.

Of all the academic institutions in Sweden, the Swedish Defence University (SEDU) is the only one that offers the Master’s Programme Politics, Security and Crisis. Our students move on to careers in relevant fields in public agencies and government departments, such as ministries for foreign affairs, defense research agencies, and agencies and organisations involved in civil contingencies work. Other potential employers are organisations involved in total defence, local crisis and risk organisations, and national and international organisations such as the EU, UN and various international aid organisations. In addition to jobs as analysts there are also opportunities in civil contingency planning and protection at the local, regional and national levels. For graduates who are Swedish citizens there are also openings for a civilian career in the Swedish Armed Forces.

Completion of the programme also makes you eligible for a number of research programmes, for example in the fields of political science, peace and conflict research, war studies and international relations.