Dr Jurgen Haacke

This course is available on the MSc in International Affairs (LSE and Peking University), MSc in International Relations, MSc in International Relations (LSE and Sciences Po), MSc in International Relations (Research) and MSc in Theory and History of International Relations. This course is not available as an outside option to students on other programmes. This course uses controlled access as part of the course selection process. For information on controlled access courses, including eligibility, application processes, deadlines, and departmental contact details, please refer to the Controlled Access Courses webpage.

All International Relations (IR4) optional courses at LSE are Controlled Access and require an application via LfY. Students must include a statement in their LfY application of no more than 200 words explaining their interest in the course and its relevance to their academic and/or career goals.

Application deadline: 12:00 noon, Friday 25 September 2026.

Notification of outcome: by 12:00 noon, Monday 28 September 2026.

After this date, students should consult the MSc Course Availability Spreadsheet (2026/27) for remaining spaces on IR4-level courses. 

For further details, see the LSE Selecting Courses webpage in the first instance or contact IR.Programmes@lse.ac.uk only if necessary.

All students are required to obtain permission from the Teacher Responsible by completing the Student Statement box on the online application form linked to course selection on LSE for You. Admission is not guaranteed. 

This course introduces students to literature on strategy and the conduct of war. Focusing on strategic theory and strategies in practice, the course examines the objectives and uses of military power in different domains. The course also covers topics such as military ethics, military innovation and effectiveness, and debates about hedging with respect to grand or security strategies of secondary states.

15 hours of seminars and 10 hours of lectures in the Winter Term.

This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Winter Term.

Students will be required to write one essay (2000 words) which is to be submitted by Week 8 in WT. The formative essay will help students prepare for the summative assessment by enabling early engagement with one of the course topics and provide an opportunity to receive feedback to guide their preparations for the e-exam. 

Students are also encouraged to practice writing under timed exam conditions. 

• Christopher Blattman. Why We Fight: The Roots of War and the Paths to Peace. (Viking, 2022).
• Jeremy Black. Military Strategy: A Global History (Yale University Press, 2020)
• Antulio J.Echevarria II.  Clausewitz & Contemporary War (Oxford, 2007)
• Colin S.Gray. The Strategy Bridge: theory for practice (Oxford, 2010)
• Kevin D. McCranie. Mahan, Corbett, and the Foundations of Naval Strategic Thought (Naval Institute Press, 2021).
• Robert A. Pape, Bombing to Win: Air Power and Coercion in War (Cornell University Press, 1996).
• Vipin Narang, Nuclear Strategy in the Modern Era: Regional Powers and International Conflict (Princeton, 2014).
• Jacqueline L. Hazelton, Bullets not Ballots: Success in Counterinsurgency Warfare (Cornell University Press, 2021).
• George Lucas, Ethics and Military Strategy in the 21st Century: Moving beyond Clausewitz (Routledge, 2020).

Exam (100%), duration: 120 Minutes in the Spring exam period.