Crisis and Security Management

Degree: MSc in Crisis and Security Management
Mode of Study: Full-time
Duration: 1 year
Start date: September and February
Language of instruction: English
Location: The Hague
Croho/isat code: 60417
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Security is one of the most important responsibilities of a state. In recent years, however, the capacity of national governments to protect citizens and to secure critical infrastructures has come under pressure. Serious incidents such as terrorist attacks, urban riots, disasters, political scandals and industrial accidents do not occur frequently. But when they do, they demand full attention of all involved in the management of these incidents to avoid or minimize disastrous consequences. Also there are less visible but not less important threats, like (organised) crime, political and religious radicalism, anti-social behaviour, and fear of crime.

This new master’s programme starts February 1st, 2012 and replaces the master’s specialisation in Crisis and Security Management. The programme is taught at the Institute of Public Administration at Leiden University’s Hague Campus.

We expect governments at all levels of society – from national government to European Union, from local police to international organisations – to protect citizens from these threats. If a threat materialises, we expect governmental elites to manage the crisis. In the aftermath of critical breakdowns governments are expected to investigate what went wrong and to make sure it will never happen again. All these activities fall within the scope of security and crisis management.
Building a just, safe and secure society is a high-ranking priority in most Western countries. It is a prominent task of the state, but it cannot be done by the state on its own. Public opinion often views the criminal justice system as inadequate or ineffective. As a result governments increase their efforts in ‘the fight against crime’. Another consequence is the existence of a large market in private security. For decades different forms of private security have grown, also in public domains.

Students of the Master’s programme in Crisis and Security Management (CSM) will become familiar with the causes of different forms of threats to security, with patterns of responses to these threats, with strategies of prevention and with ‘best practices’. In the master’s programme students will have the opportunity to develop a broad approach with an international perspective or to focus on the specific security questions in The Netherlands.

Pre-master programma

Candidates who do not fully qualify for entering the master’s in Public Administration directly can be admitted to the pre-master’s programme
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Prof. Edwin Bakker

The recent attack in Norway not only illustrates the diversity in political background of terrorism, but also debunks the myth that only Jihadists terrorists aim to cause mass casualties.

Sadly, it also puts an end to the false idea that some smaller countries are exempted from this menace. In a very brutal way, the events in Oslo and on the isle of Utøya have provided us with a less pleasant, but also more balanced view on terrorism in Europe. Now it is clear to all that terrorism in Europe is a very diverse phenomenon that includes a wide range of actors that aim to create havoc. This is not to say that Islamist terrorism does not stick out as the potentially most dangerous one. Whatever the scale of the tragedy in Norway, given the number of arrests, the (foiled and failed) attacks in the past, and the frequency of the threat statements to EU Member States, Islamist terrorism should still be regarded as the most lethal and threatening type of terrorism. Moreover, its political and social impact can be enormous, as exemplified by the Islamophobic ideas that fueled Anders Breivik’s process of radicalisation and his belief that Islamist groups are on the verge of taking over Europe.

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