Gwybodaeth Modiwlau
Course Delivery
| Delivery Type | Delivery length / details |
|---|---|
| Seminars / Tutorials | 10 x 2 hour seminars |
Assessment
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Assessment | 1 x 3,500 word essay | 40% |
| Semester Assessment | 1 x 4,500 word essay | 50% |
| Semester Assessment | 1 x Seminar performance | 10% |
Learning Outcomes
1. Describe and analyse the role of intelligence services in current democratic societies and explain the emphasis on international intelligence gathering.
2. Discuss and reflect on key concepts such as intelligence, secrecy, democratic accountability and oversight in relation to the academic study of international relations.
3. Identify the reasons and challenges for establishing a system of democratic accountability for secret and intelligence services.
4. Outline and analyse the major current debates in the US and the UK concerning democratic accountability in the post-9/11 era.
5. Evaluate the ways in which intelligence communities are currently overseen.
6. Assess the advantages and shortcomings of existing systems of intelligence oversight in the countries covered in the module
Brief description
This module will explore and investigate the relationship between intelligence and democratic accountability with respect to contemporary intelligence issues. It will examine the tools, structures and mechanisms of democratic accountability that Western liberal democratic societies have been developing since the 1970s. In particular, consideration will be given to both parliamentary accountability and public accountability, the latter one being primarily channelled through the media. Students will engage in detail with the reasons why systems of democratic accountability have been introduced and the main political and academic debates regarding intelligence accountability and oversight. In addition, the module will critically explore historical and contemporary challenges and issues related to the effectiveness of accountability mechanisms.
Aims
The proposed module engages with the relation between contemporary intelligence and democratic accountability and oversight. By exploring and analyzing the democratic principles applicable to the intelligence sector and critically examining existing intelligence oversight mechanisms, the module adds to Departmental provision in the area of intelligence studies and counter-terrorism.
Content
a. What is intelligence good for in democratic societies?
b. Secrecy and transparency in liberal democratic societies: the case of counter-terrorism
c. Legitimacy, Ethics, Public Policy and Intelligence
2. Purposes and forms of intelligence oversight
a. Key purposes: monitoring efficiency, protecting human rights, avoid abuse, addressing complaints of citizens
b. Forms of intelligence oversight: managerial/internal accountability, executive oversight, legal oversight and democratic accountability (through parliaments and the media)
c. The Role of Parliamentary Oversight Bodies (including theirMandates, Members and Powers)
d. The Role of the Media
3. The 1970s in the US: intelligence ‘scandals’ and the establishment of a system of democratic accountability
a. How to regulate secret and intelligence services within a democratic
governmental framework?
b. ‘Scandals’ and intelligence failure as push-factor for reforms
4. Intelligence and democratic oversight in other Western countries and transitory democracies
a. Oversight system of the UK
b. Exception of France
c. Eastern Europe / Latin America
5. Intelligence as an issue of civil liberties and human rights
a. Torture and assassinations
b. Covert Action, Espionage and Ethics
c. Surveillance and Privacy Rights
6. Debates about democratic accountability in the post-9/11 era I: The 9/11 commission, extra-ordinary rendition and Guantánamo (US)
a. Increased international intelligence co-operation raises new challenges
b. Co-operation with non-democratic states / countries known for human
rights violations
7. Debates about democratic accountability in the post-9/11 era II: The case of the UK
a. Iraq & WMD: Hutton inquiry and Butler report
b. Debates around the case of Binyam Mohamed
8. Intelligence oversight at a regional level? The case of Europe
a. Intelligence co-operation in Europe and at the EU level
b. Challenges for a regional system of intelligence and of intelligence
oversight: examples of the Council of Europe and the European
Parliament
c. The European Court of Human Rights and the case of the ‘five
techniques’ (Northern Ireland)
9. Intelligence and the media in liberal democratic societies
a. Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo Bay
b. Role of investigative journalists / media in general
10. Final session: ‘Intelligence in an age of terror’ & democratic
accountability
Concluding discussion about intelligence failures, reforms and democratic accountability in the 21st century
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 7