About the Course

In the autumn of 2003, the NATO Defense College (NDC), located in Rome, Italy, approached the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP) with a request to develop a two-hour e-learning course on ESDP in English. The GCSP, in turn, invited the International Relations and Security Network (ISN), at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich), Switzerland, to jointly develop the proposed course. Every year, the NDC runs strategic-level courses on political-military issues designed to prepare selected personnel for NATO and NATO-related appointments, and undertakes other programmes and activities in support of NATO. Officers and officials from the alliance's Cooperation Partner countries participate in these programmes.

In preparing the ESDP course, it was envisaged that it would be structured in such a manner as to be suitable for both pre-Senior Course preparation and ‘outreach’ purposes to other defence colleges, while also capable of standing independently and of being further developed for use by others.

The course was first published in July 2004. Last update of the course: August 2007. The course will be updated annually.

Read about course authors and developers here.

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