Recommended Reading

Detailed reading lists for individual courses are provided at the beginning of each semester. The following is a list of texts that students may find useful to consult over the summer in preparation for starting the programme.

These texts are mostly general reading texts that provide introductory commentary to some of the key security challenges in today’s world. 

All of these texts are available via one or more of the three University Libraries. There is also a dedicated Book Store on campus at the University of Glasgow. If you shop at Amazon then you can support IMSISS Alumni by using the dedicated link below.

For online access please follow the links below:

  • Aldrich, R. and Andrew, Christopher (2008). Secret Intelligence: A Reader. London: Routledge
  • Dover, R. (2015). Routledge Companion to Intelligence Studies. London: Routledge
  • Ferris, John Robert (2005). Intelligence and strategy: selected essays. London: Routledge
  • Hughes, Christopher, W. (2011). Security Studies: A Reader. London: Routledge.
  • Knorr, Klaus Eugen (2017). Power, Strategy and Security: A “World Politics” Reader. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
  • Mahnken, T.G. and Maiolo, J.A. (2014). Strategic Studies: a reader. (2nd edition) London: Routledge
  • Omand, David (2014). Securing the State: Intelligence and Security. Oxford: OUP
  • Baylis, J., Wirtz, J. and Gray, C. (2018). Strategy in the Contemporary World. (6th Edition). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Collins, A. (ed.) (2018). Contemporary Security Studies (5th edition). Oxford: Oxford University Press
  • Williams, P.D. and McDonald, M. (2018). Security Studies: An Introduction. (3rd Edition). London: Routledge

The following texts will be central texts on the core courses making up this degree programme. Copies are available in the Glasgow University Library, but you may wish to purchase ones marked *.

  • Smith, Michael E. (2017). International Security: Politics, Policy, Prospects (2nd edition) Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan
  • Heuser, Beatrice (2010). The Evolution of Strategy: Thinking War from Antiquity to the Present. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • *Hough, Peter (2018). Understanding Global Security (4th edition). London: Routledge
  • Hough, Peter (2015). International Security Studies: Theory and Practice. London: Routledge.
  • Bourne, Mike (2014). Understanding Security. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan
  • Jarvis, Lee & Holland, Jack (2015). Security: A Critical Introduction. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan
  • Johnson, Lock K. (2012). The Oxford Handbook of National Security Intelligence. Oxford: OUP.
  • Buzan, Barry; Waever, Ole; deWilde, Jaap (1998). Security: A New Framework For Analysis. London: Lynne Rienner Publishers
  • Buzan, Barry & Hansen, Lene (2009). The Evolution of International Security Studies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  • Clauser, Jerome (2008). An Introduction to Intelligence Research and Analysis. Scarecrow Press
  • Coaty, P.C. (2018). Small State Behavior in Strategic and Intelligence Studies: David’s Sling. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
  • Combs, C.C. (2018). Terrorism in the Twenty-First Century. London: Routledge.
  • Dannreuther, Roland (2013). International Security: The Contemporary Agenda. (2md edition) Cambridge: Polity Press
  • Detraz, Nicole (2012). International Security and Gender (Dimensions of Security). London: Polity Press.
  • Freedman, Lawrence (2015). Strategy: A History. Oxford: Oxford University Press
  • Kay, Sean (2011). Global Security in the Twenty-first Century: The Quest for Power and the Search for Peace. (2nd edition). Oxford: Rowman and Littlefield
  • Leigh, I. and Wegge, N. (2018). Intelligence oversight in the Twenty-First Century: Accountability in a Changing World (Studies in Intelligence). London: Routledge.
  • Lowenthal, Mark M. (2012). Intelligence: From secrets to policy. London: Sage.
  • Moore, David, T. (2011). Critical Thinking and Intelligence Analysis. Lulu Press
  • Peoples, Columba and Vaughan-Williams, Nick (2010). Critical Security Studies: An Introduction. Abingdon; Routledge
  • Snyder, Craig A. (2011). Contemporary Security and Strategy. Basingstoke: Palgrave