In his seminal book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Thomas Kuhn introduced the concept of looking at the history of science through the psychological and sociological interactions of a community of people who exist in a ‘paradigm’. Extending his ideas from the physical to the social sciences, as many have done, this course will examine the paradigmatic shifts in security, development and human rights over the years. This course will emphasise on various aspects of the shifts in these three ideological concepts in practice. The goal of the course is to use Kuhn’s notions of paradigms and paradigm shifts to understand the need for change in our approach towards global issues and challenges.

Students will learn to question the nature and content of paradigm shifts in security, development and human rights through case studies.