This piece of assessment requires students to identify an existing security ‘crisis’ in world politics, and to provide a briefing document that outlines the nature of the crisis, its urgency, the appropriate response and responders, and why this constitutes a security crisis. This briefing, similar to reports developed by organisations such as the International Crisis Group, should clearly target relevant stakeholders to articulate a clear and compelling case for action in response to an ongoing security crisis. Students must prepare their briefing in accordance with a teacher-provided template and strict word limits for each section of the briefing. The briefing must address:
- What is the issue (no more than 100 words): what is the crisis?
- Why is this urgent (no more than 100 words): why does this issue require the immediate attention of particular stakeholders (whether national decision-makers or the international community more broadly)?
- Who should act (no more than 100 words): which actors specifically are you calling on to respond to this crisis?
- What should be done (no more than 100 words): what exactly are you asking the above actors to do?
- How is this a ‘security’ crisis (no more than 100 words): make it clear how this connects to the course content by being clear about why this can be viewed as an issue of security.
- Overview (no more than 500 words): this is your opportunity to outline all of the above at length, giving more background and detail to areas of the briefing that might have been missed in the briefer summary at the start.
This briefing should be set in the present, be written within the template and must not contain any in-text references. It should be no more than 1000 words or two pages in length. A separate bibliography (not included in the word count) is to be provided.
Details
- CLASS SIZE
- 10-20, 20-40, 40-60, 60-80, 80-100
- CLASS LEVEL
- Second year, Third year
- ASSESSMENT SECURITY
- Medium security
- TIME REQUIREMENTS
- Medium time
- CONDITIONS
- Work-related
Advantages
- This assessment item is authentic in that the task replicates briefings typically prepared in the working environment.
- The template helps to keep students on track and provides a scaffold for the largely unfamiliar task of preparing a briefing.
- Strict word count for each section of task compels students to be concise.
Challenges
This is most likely the first time students will have been required to prepare a crisis briefing so they will benefit from clear teacher directions, support and reassurance.
Tips for implementation
Provide examples of briefings completed to various standards. Run a class exercise requiring students to apply the marking rubric to these examples so they see what is expected of them.
Learning outcomes
1. Demonstrate knowledge related to the broad area of international security and conflict
2. Assess different strategies and approaches in international security
3. Relate issues of current affairs to broader area of academic interest
How it supports academic integrity
This task replaces another that was thought to be too susceptible to the use of GenAI. Students must use a teacher-provided template to complete this task and connect their response to the course content.
Associate Professor Matt McDonald
matt.mcdonald@uq.edu.au
Matt McDonald joined the School of Political Science and International Studies in January 2010, and is the current Director of Teaching and Learning in the School. After completing his PhD at UQ in 2003, Matt held lectureship posts in international relations at the University of New South Wales and the University of Birmingham (UK), and was Associate Professor in International Security at the University of Warwick (UK). His research focuses on critical theoretical approaches to security and their application to issues such as environmental change, Australian foreign and security policy, climate politics and Asia-Pacific security dynamics. He has published on these themes in a range of journals and is the author of Ecological Security: Climate Change and the Construction of Security (Cambridge UP, 2021);, Security, the Environment and Emancipation (Routledge 2012); and (with Anthony Burke and Katrina Lee-Koo) Ethics and Global Security (Routledge 2014). He was formerly co-editor of Australian Journal of Politics and History. He is currently completing an ARC-funded project on comparative national approaches to the climate change- security relationship. Find out more