Traditional conceptions of security, including perceptions of today’s most pressing threats, are shifting. A focus on power politics and interstate violence, although still present in the modern age, has diversified to include transnational threats driven by non-state actors (such as terrorism), activities (crime), incidents (energy shortages), or even pathogens (pandemics). This course examines the pursuit of global security in theoretical and empirical terms. It covers such questions as: What does it mean to provide “security” today? How is security best achieved? What are the sources of insecurity in today’s world? What are the trade-offs between today’s open societies and societal security? Who frames such choices, and what is the role of the private sector and civil society in shaping policy choices? The course evaluates such questions with an eye toward understanding how global inequality, gender, and ethnicity factor into the debate on pursuing global security.