World Affairs
Introduction
The lexicon on international peace and security has changed after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Homeland security has become an important paradigm for the United States. While USA has altered its security structures and created homeland security as an independent vertical, Europe has retained homeland security as part of the broader security structure. The difference between the American and European approaches arises primarily from the European viewpoint that terrorism is a part of a continuum and not a new development (McLean, Wallace, Soppitt, Parrish, Silander & Irving, 2011).
Over time, homeland security has grown to encompass all calamities. Apart from terrorist threats, homeland security is concerned with natural disasters like earthquakes and global environmental challenges emanating from climate change (Bellavita, 2011).
Role of Homeland Security Education
Any education in homeland security has to focus on a number of core aspects: current and emerging threats of terrorism, manmade and natural disasters, the political and organizational contexts, legal and regulatory aspects, management and leadership paradigms, the use of technology and its applications related to homeland security and associated research and analytical methods (Bellavita, 2011).
Legitimacy as a Separate Academic Discipline
The aspects of homeland security have a significant overlap with the discipline of ‘Emergency Management’. For homeland security to emerge as a separate academic discipline, there needs to be greater clarity on its definition, an emergence of a grand theory explaining its phenomenon, articulation of paradigms and philosophies and clear delineation of faculty roles (Bellavita, 2011).
Proposed Academic Coverage
Till such time these aspects are clear, it would be prudent to cover homeland security under the overarching discipline of Emergency Management. At the undergraduate level, homeland security could be an elective subject. At the graduate level, it could be a sub-field within the traditional discipline of Emergency Management (Bellavita, 2011).
It would also be prudent to develop a trans-Atlantic consensus on the status of homeland security as an academic discipline. If the subject were to be treated as an academic discipline only in the USA, it would result in a severe restriction to future employment and applicability to its students.
Conclusion
Homeland security is an important emerging field of study. The contours of academic parameters for the subject are yet to be clearly defined for homeland security to become an academic discipline. It should function under the overarching theme of Emergency Management till its nuances are better developed and consensus on the creation of a separate academic discipline brought about with European Universities.
References
Bellavita, C. (2011). The challenges of developing a homeland security discipline to meet future threats to the homeland. Retrieved 12 Dec 2014, from http://www.hlswatch.com/2011/08/08/the-challenges-of-developing-a-homeland-security-discipline-to-meet-future-threats-to-the-homeland/
McLean, C., Wallace, D., Soppitt, S., Parrish, W., Silander, D., & Irving, A. (2011). Developing a Transatlantic understanding in homeland security academic education revision: The emergence of a new academic discipline? (Paper presented at the ISA Annual Convention, 16 Mar 2011). Retrieved 12 Dec 2014, from https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/static/5007/sasspdf/dev_hstrat.pdf
