The course, making use the theoretical background of the International Relations course, focuses on two analytical categories, that is, conflict and security, which matter a great deal to making sense of world politics. Conflict and security are taken to result from the driving forces of competition and cooperation in the anarchical international society, which in turn determines the evolution of peace and war. Within this theoretical framework, the course seeks to discuss conflict and security in the view of: a) the traditional and contemporary IR theories, b) the part that state and non-state agents play in determining their evolution, and c) the experience of practice, and of the challenges of the future.