The RCDS Course is a post-graduate-level course in international strategic studies, focusing on defence and security issues at the grand strategic level – the level at which governments take decisions on these issues both nationally and within the international community. We seek to inculcate an understanding of trends in the world today and a habit of strategic thinking for those who will be the policy and strategy makers of tomorrow or their senior advisers. In a trusted environment protected by the Chatham House rule, it attracts the best speakers from the UK and abroad, not only top academics but also practitioners in the form of Ministers, diplomats, senior officers and officials, and even Heads of State.
The course is delivered across an academic year in four terms:
This module seeks to enhance understanding of the nature, function and requisite qualities of leadership at the strategic level, taking in both the public and private sectors. It concludes with a 'decision game' in which the skills in strategic analysis and strategy-making developed on the course are put to the test in a crisis scenario set in the real world in the near future.
The main course serves as the foundation for an MA in International Security and Strategy offered by King’s College London to those Members electing to undertake additional studies in parallel.
All elements of the Course may be taken as separate modules.