You can still enrol for classes starting in July
This subject is accepting enrolments until 7 Aug
Strategic Thinking
PostgraduateMAQ-PICX80502025
Previously MAQ-PICX850
Produce theoretical and empirical academic research by absorbing foundational concepts such as security, war, coercion, intervention, arms races, geopolitics, civil-military relations and cyber warfare.
- Study method
- 100% online
- Assessments
- 100% online
- Entry requirements
- Prior study needed
- Duration
- 13 weeks
- Start dates
- 28 July 2025
- Price from
- $4,155
- Upfront cost
- $0
- Loan available
- FEE-HELP available
Strategic Thinking
About this subject
On successful completion of this subject, you will be able to:
- Demonstrate specialised knowledge of key concepts, theories and contemporary issues in the field of strategic studies, aligned with the field’s leading thinkers, texts and paradigms.
- Comprehend the challenges and complexities of strategy-making as well as the main features, applications and relative merits of various strategic approaches.
- Apply disciplinary knowledge to analyse and critically evaluate real-world historical and contemporary strategic decisions, cases and issues.
- Apply critical thinking skills in order to cogently and effectively defend intellectual positions and to produce well-reasoned, theoretically informed and empirically substantiated written work.
- A week-by-week guide to the topics you will explore in this subject will be provided in your study materials.
This subject was previously known as PICX850 Strategic Thinking.
This subject addresses the challenges of formulating, assessing and engaging with strategy in historical and contemporary geopolitical contexts. It exposes students to classical and formal approaches to strategic thought, and teaches students how to write policy briefs where they will engage with strategic challenges in relation to real-world policy contexts. Content will include the fundamentals of strategy and the challenges of strategy formulation and assessment given uncertainty and the logic of military operations, the logics of bargaining in different strategic contexts, diplomacy, signalling and strategic narratives, making strategy in conventional and unconventional scenarios given uncertainty about power, credibility and conflict dynamics, the implications of domestic politics and asymmetric warfare. Students will further address these challenges through identifying them in cases and assessing the implications of these for contemporary challenges.
- Online quizzes (20%)
- Policy memo (35%)
- Research Essay (45%)
For textbook details check your university's handbook, website or learning management system (LMS).
This research-intensive university in north-western Sydney offers a range of undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. With over 44,000 current students, Macquarie has a strong reputation for welcoming international students and embracing flexible and convenient study options, including its partnership with Open Universities Australia.
Learn more about Macquarie University.
Explore Macquarie courses.
- QS World University Ranking 2025, within Australia:
- 11
- Times Higher Education World University Ranking 2025, within Australia:
- 10
Entry requirements
Equivalent subjects
You should not enrol in this subject if you have successfully completed any of the following subject(s) because they are considered academically equivalent:
MAQ-PICX850 (Not currently available)
Others
NCCW (pre-2020 units) PICT850, PICX850
Pre-requisite Admission to MPICT or MCPICT or GradDipPICT or GradDipCPICT or PGCertPICT or MPICTMIntSecSt or MCPICTMIntSecSt or MIntSecStud or GradDipIntSecStud or MSecStrategicStud or MCyberSec or MSecStrategicStudMCrim or MSecStrategicStudMIntell or MSecStrategicStudMCyberSec or MSecStrategicStudMCTerrorism
Additional requirements
- Other requirements - Students who have an Academic Standing of Suspension or Exclusion under Macquarie University's Academic Progression Policy are not permitted to enrol in OUA units offered by Macquarie University. Students with an Academic Standing of Suspension or Exclusion who have enrolled in units through OUA will be withdrawn.
Study load
- 0.125 EFTSL
- This is in the range of 10 to 12 hours of study each week.
Equivalent full time study load (EFTSL) is one way to calculate your study load. One (1.0) EFTSL is equivalent to a full-time study load for one year.
Find out more information on Commonwealth Loans to understand what this means to your eligibility for financial support.
What to study next?
Once you’ve completed this subject it can be credited towards one of the following courses
Master of Security and Strategic Studies
PostgraduateMAQ-SEC-MAS
PostgraduateOUA-PSU-GCE
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