Strategic Thinking
PostgraduateMAQ-PICX8502019
Course information for 2019 intake View information for 2025 course intake
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.
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- Study method
- 100% online
- Assessments
- 100% online
- Entry requirements
- Part of a degree
- Duration
- -
- Loan available
- FEE-HELP available
Strategic Thinking
About this subject
At the completion of this subject students 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 Strategic Concepts.
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.
- Assessment 1 (25%)
- Assessment 2 (25%)
- Assessment 3 (50%)
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.
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- 10
Entry requirements
To enrol in this subject, you must be admitted into a degree.
Additional requirements
No additional requirements
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.