Undergraduate Course Descriptions

Fall 2023

IAFF 1001 First Year Experience

First-Year Experience assists students in developing their personal, academic, and career goals. Restricted to students in the Elliott School.

IAFF 2094 Europe in Transition

Attributes: Comp. Political, Economic & Social Systems (EFCA), Int’l Politics (EFCH), Europe & Eurasia (ERCC), Europe & Eurasia: Regional Foundation (ERFD)

This course provides students with an understanding of European domestic and foreign affairs in the current context of great power competition. The course offers analysis of key European actors and issues: Brexit, France and Germany as European powers, the rise of national populism, threats to European democracy, climate change and energy security, issues of migration and identity, increasing divisions between Western and Eastern Europe, Russia’s hybrid warfare in Europe, China, and the political effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. What is the European Union’s and NATO’s role in an increasingly competitive and globalized environment? How did the Trump Administration impact Transatlantic relations and what can we expect for the West under the Biden Administration? In Europe today, what are the major issues of contention? Within the European Union, what are the competing visions? Students will leave the course possessing a broad comprehension of Europe’s most important domestic and foreign affairs.

IAFF 2190W North Africa & the World

Attributes: Conflict Resolution (EFCB), Int’l Development (EFCE), Int’l Politics (EFCH), Security Policy (EFCI), Africa, Group A (ERCA), Middle East, Group A (ERCE), Africa: Regional Foundation (ERFA)

This WID course provides area familiarization of North Africa (Al-Maghreb) with a focus on those issues that are most relevant to an understanding and analyzing a sub-region that has a potential to greatly impact U.S. national security interests. The approach will emphasize the importance and cultural--political, economic, and social--dynamics of the countries in this subregion-- Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco, and Egypt—thematically and comparatively. Hence the heavy focus on comparative analysis. The course is also divided into four blocks. Each is arranged under separate topics and includes issues revolving around the region’s interaction with the outside world, its society and culture, areas of conflict and reconciliation, religion, gender, geo-strategic considerations, US Africa Command (U.S. policy and strategy), the Pan-Sahel Counterterrorism Initiative, and many more. Most importantly, the course will focus on the current political ferment especially after the popular spring uprisings of 2011 and the current uncertainties as a result of persistent domestic, regional and international tensions. In short, it will assess the nature and character as well as the challenges of nation-building following the revolutionary upheavals in modern North Africa today. The course combines a conceptual analytical approach to the region as well as practical analysis gleaned from over 31 years of U.S. Government experience in foreign and defense strategy and policy.

IAFF 2190W Politics & Cultures of the Middle East

Attributes: Comp. Political, Economic & Social Systems (EFCA), Conflict Resolution (EFCB), Contemp. Cultures & Societies (EFCC), Int’l Development (EFCE), Int’l Politics (EFCH), Security Policy (EFCI), Middle East, Group A (ERCE), Middle East: Regional Foundation (ERFE)

Politics and Cultures of the Middle East is a multi-disciplinary WID course that introduces students to major political and cultural events and trends in this diverse and complex region. Thematic readings and case studies of regional states will focus on historical developments of the recent past to contextualize many present realities; examine sociological trends, with emphasis on identity, kinship, faith, and communal development; and explore colonial legacies, nationalism, modernization, and political change. This class operates as a seminar and places considerable attention on the careful reading and creative interpretation of texts. Attendance is mandatory, and active participation in discussions means critical thinking and not simply textual summaries. This is an intense course with a heavy reading load, but for students truly interested in the region, the topics will be more than stimulating – and the outcome of the course rewarding.

IAFF 3172 Conflict & Conflict Resolution

Attributes: Conflict Resolution (EFCB), Int’l Politics (EFCH), Security Policy (EFCI), Int’l & Comp. Politics: Advanced Fundamental (ESIP)

This course is designed to familiarize students with the interdisciplinary field of conflict analysis and resolution, providing an overview of core concepts of contemporary theory and practice. The course will examine frameworks for analyzing the origins and processes of social conflict, and leading practical approaches to the conduct and evaluation of conflict resolution interventions. Our study will focus on intergroup and international levels of analysis, highlighting collective struggles over ideology and power, sovereignty and self-determination, while highlighting the roles of culture, identity, power, relational dynamics and social structure. The first half of the course emphasizes conflict analysis; the second half emphasizes approaches to conflict resolution.

IAFF 3180 Global Energy Security

Attributes: Comp. Political, Economic & Social Systems (EFCA), Int’l Economics (EFCF), Int’l Environmental Studies (EFCG), Int’l Politics (EFCH), Security Policy (EFCI)

This course will provide students with an understanding of major factors and policies involved in achieving energy security at country and regional level. The course uses energy security conceptual models to examine security frameworks of energy importing and exporting countries. Students will learn about the supply chains of crude oil, natural gas, liquefied natural gas, electric power, energy markets and physical/cyber threats that can affect a country’s energy security. The impacts of the U.S. Shale Oil and Gas Revolution, Covid-19 pandemic, OPEC+ and the Russian-Ukrainian War on energy security will be discussed throughout the semester. Students will be able to explore their country or regional interests through a course paper.

IAFF 3180 Airpower and International Politics

Attributes: Int’l Politics (EFCH), Security Policy (EFCI)

This course is an introduction to the use of airpower as an element of national power. Starting with the original air power theorists, the course walks through significant milestones in the evolution in airpower theory, the use of airpower both for war and events short of war, air power's contribution to nuclear deterrence during the cold war and today, airpower as a diplomatic and humanitarian tool, and finishes with a review of the airpower debates occurring today. Students will complete the course with an understanding of the implications of airpower for a nation's ability to deter, coerce, or compel.

IAFF 3180 Global Energy Markets

Attributes: Int’l Development (EFCE), Int’l Economics (EFCF), Int’l Environmental Studies (EFCG), Int’l Politics (EFCH), Security Policy (EFCI)

This course entails a deep dive into the physical and financial energy markets associated with crude oil, refined petroleum projects, natural gas, liquefied natural gas, coal, energy transition minerals, and electricity. The course is open to students pursuing degrees in international affairs and business; graduate students may enroll with the permission of their academic advisors. Students will learn how to buy and sell energy commodities in the physical markets and how energy derivatives (futures, options, and swaps) influence global energy prices and flows. Students will learn about energy supply chains, supply and demand, the terminology used to buy/sell physical energy commodities, and how energy derivatives hedge and speculate on price movement. The instructor will also cover how the Russia-Ukraine War and energy policies and actions by the US, EU, UK, and OPEC+ BRIC countries influence global energy markets and security and the level of energy investment. Students can explore their country or regional interests through a course presentation or paper.

IAFF 3180W U.S. Grand Strategy

Periods immediately following major wars cause fundamental changes in strategic policies of winners, losers, and non-participants as all adjust to new power realities. In the 20th Century, the U.S. had such basic shifts after: the Spanish-American War, WW I, WW II, and Cold War (lesser shifts after Korea and Vietnam). We will examine these “hinge periods” to discern the origins, evolutions, and outcomes that affected national security policy for years afterwards. The introductory classes study hinge periods during the first century of American foreign policy, before turning in more detail to the 20th and 21st Centuries, the main focus of the course. We will examine contemporaneous documents that reflected and shaped the ideas and policies of principal statesmen and the nation during its history, as the U.S. evolved into the superpower of today. These hinge periods and their impact at home and abroad are essential to an understanding of the “American Century.” They also offer perspectives on the nation’s place today and for the future. Central to the course are required readings, and research on strategic topics. We will not cover the full history of American policies, only periods after major wars and strategic outcomes. Students are expected to "fill in the gaps” from prior courses and readings for the periods not covered.

This is a WID course. Emphasis on good writing and research is part of the course. Development of writing skills is important and comes from disciplined writing AND editing, and careful readings of excellent writers. We will concentrate on essentials -- logic, accuracy, specificity, clarity, and brevity. Both content and style count.

IAFF 3180W Nuclear Security

Attributes: Conflict Resolution (EFCB), Int’l Politics (EFCH), Security Policy (EFCI)

This course will provide students with a basic orientation to the technology, policy, and politics associated with nuclear weapons. Students will gain an understanding of the scientific breakthroughs and technologies related to nuclear weapons. They will also gain an understanding of the policy implications and political dynamics affecting the acquisition and potential use of nuclear weapons. This is a Writing in the Disciplines (WID) course. Students are required to write a comprehensive term paper on a current Nuclear Policy topic.

3181 Israeli-Palestinian Peacebuilding

Attributes: Conflict Resolution (EFCB), Int’l Politics (EFCH), Security Policy (EFCI), Middle East, Group A (ERCE)

Why does the Israeli-Palestinian conflict persist, after decades of determined peace efforts by heads of state, social movements, civil society organizations and ordinary citizens? What strategies can be effective in future attempts to resolve this intractable diplomatic problem? This course provides a historical and theoretical overview of Palestinian/Israeli peace and conflict resolution efforts at all levels - state, civil society, and grassroots. Drawing on leading frameworks for Conflict Resolution theory and practice, the course will examine a range of cross-conflict peace initiatives, including official and unofficial negotiations, political campaigns, social movements, interfaith and intergroup dialogue, peace education, media, human rights advocacy and nonviolent direct action. Students will be challenged to understand peace and conflict resolution initiatives in their complex historical, political, social and theoretical contexts, and to assess the contributions of these initiatives to any potential future resolution. Course materials will include film, literature, media, and online resources as well as conversations with practitioners and scholars of the field.

IAFF 3182 China's Rise and Implications

Attributes: Comp. Political, Economic & Social Systems (EFCA), Int’l Development (EFCE), Int’l Politics (EFCH), Security Policy (EFCI), Asia (ERCB)

The course assesses the political, economic, social, military and foreign policy priorities of China’s leaders. It focuses on the period following Mao Zedong (d. 1976), and examines the political, economic, social, military and foreign policy changes and reforms that have made China a great power in Asian and world affairs. It assesses the implications of these developments for China and its neighbors and other concerned powers, U.S. relations with China and U.S. interests in Asian and world affairs.

IAFF 3182 Contemporary Uses of Military Power

Attributes: Conflict Resolution (EFCB), Int’l Politics (EFCH), Security Policy (EFCI)

The course will examine how military power has been used successfully and unsuccessfully in the recent past, currently, and how it might be used in the future. The course’s case studies will include U.S. policy during the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, the first and second Gulf Wars and Afghanistan. The course will also examine the current Russia-Ukraine War and possible future military contingencies, involving the Iranian nuclear program and China/Taiwan. The course would be useful for those interested in government service and in private sector work and non-governmental organizations that relate to the consideration of, and possible use of, military force.

IAFF 3183 Globalization and Sustainable Development

Attributes: Comp. Political, Economic & Social Systems (EFCA), Conflict Resolution (EFCB), Contemp. Cultures & Societies (EFCC), Int’l Development (EFCE), Int’l Economics (EFCF), Int’l Environmental Studies (EFCG), Int’l Politics (EFCH)

Some questions addressed in this course include: What is globalization? What is sustainable development? What does the history of humankind teach us about our use or misuse of natural resources, including water resources? What is the nexus between globalization and sound natural resource management? How is climate change affecting sustainable development and what are we doing about it? What drives the relentless process of globalization and how does this process in turn affect economic development, poverty and sustainability? The overall goal is to understand key concepts (e.g. carrying capacity and others) related to natural resource management as well as the linkages between globalization and sustainable development.

IAFF 3186 International Relations of South Asia

Attributes: Comp. Political, Economic, & Social Systems (EFCA), Conflict Resolution (EFCB), Int’l Development (EFCE), Int’l Politics (EFCH), Security Policy (EFCI), Asia, Group A (ERCB), Asia: Regional Foundation (ERFC)

This course will introduce you to South Asia and its importance as a dynamic, yet deeply divided region. It contains the world’s largest democracy and rising power with a new religious-cultural nationalism (India), two of the world’s nuclear states (India and Pakistan), two epicenters of violent extremism (Afghanistan and Pakistan), one post-conflict society facing a meltdown (Sri Lanka), and one growing economy with an increasingly fragile democracy (Bangladesh). The course will analyze these five countries, with recognition of India’s predominance. We will consider the unique mix of religious nationalism, nuclear politics, globalization, post pandemic geo-economics, the challenges of India-China rivalry in the Indian Ocean, and the impact of these factors regionally and beyond.

IAFF 3186 Economic Development of East Asia

Attributes: Comp. Political, Economic & Social Systems (EFCA), Int’l Development (EFCE), Int’l Economics (EFCF), Asia, Group A (ERCB), Asia: Regional Foundation (ERFC)

This course will use analytical and empirical tools from economics to address a range of

questions about developing East Asia – China and the emerging economies of South East Asia. How does their development record -- in terms of income growth, equity, and sustainability – compare to that of developing countries elsewhere? What has underpinned their success in raising living standards and improving a range of development outcomes? What are the main challenges they now confront in sustaining their success, including in the face of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic? What should their priorities be for policy and institutional reform to address these development challenges?

IAFF 3186 Comparative Politics of Southeast Asia

Attributes: Comp. Political, Economic & Social Systems (EFCA), Asia Concentration (ERCB), Asia: Regional Foundations (ERFC)

Southeast Asia, including Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia, is perhaps the world’s most diverse region politically, including single-party dominant regimes (Singapore, Vietnam), military dictatorships (Myanmar), communist (Vietnam, Laos) and non-communist governments, multi-party democracies (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines) and constitutional monarchies (Thailand). Most of the world’s great religious traditions (Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism and Islam) play important roles in shaping politics in these countries and the the intersection of religion and politics is an important focus here. This course analyzes major aspects of the comparative politics of the major countries of Southeast Asia. It places contemporary politics against the backdrop of: rule during the classical kingdoms of mainland Southeast Asia (Angkor, Pagan, Ayutthaya); the period of European (and briefly Japanese) colonial subjugation; nationalism and anti-colonial resistance; and the process by which formerly colonized territories achieved independence in the mid-20 th century CE. Contemporary thematic topics include: Islam and nationalism; the military in politics; monarchies and militaries; democracy in retreat; state control of civil society and media; and women leading and influencing. One unique feature of this course is that students enjoy the opportunity to choose which work they perform for the second half of the semester, involving focused analysis resulting in individual projects, group reports, and/or longer analytical policy position papers or major research papers on topics of students’ choosing.

IAFF 3186 Women in Asia

This course examines the social, cultural, political, and economic roles of women in Asia in a comparative context, both in terms of historical development (from the mid-19th century to the present) and within different Asian societies. Through an interdisciplinary approach, the class will investigate the place of women in the family and in society, their relationships with one another and with men, and their relationship to politics and the state. By doing so, it will seek to identify major social and institutional constraints on Asian women for expanding their role in their respective societies and to explore both ideas and specific measures to narrow the existing gender gaps in these societies. Emphasis will be placed on China, Taiwan, Japan, and Korea, but other countries in Southeast and South Asia will also be examined.

IAFF 3186W Equitable Development in Southeast Asia

Attributes: CPESS (EFCA), Intl Dev (EFCE), Intl Pol (EFCH), Asia (ERCB), Regional Foundation Asia (ERFC)

In recent decades, many Southeast Asians have experienced improved health, expanded opportunities for education, a wider range of job opportunities, and a rising standard of living. However, as in other parts of the world, these benefits have not been evenly realized across or within countries. In this multidisciplinary course, we will begin with an overview of Southeast Asia and a consideration of what equitable development means. We will then examine various global and domestic factors (political, economic, and social) that have exacerbated or reduced inequities. We will also look at the specific roles of foreign and domestic governments, international development organizations, and citizen organizations in shaping development policies and outcomes. While we will talk about all countries in Southeast Asia, the course will be organized around case studies of key development concerns in certain countries. Students will produce an equitable development analysis of a particular country in Southeast Asia, and class sessions will include debates, panel presentations, and group work.

IAFF 3187 Latin America-U.S. Relations

This course will analyze the evolution of relations between Latin America and the United States and explore the merits and viability of different policy approaches. While the course will examine several cases (e.g. Guatemala, Chile, Cuba) from the Cold War era, the principal emphasis will be on the post-Cold War period to the present. Grasping important changes in the relationship requires understanding the main trends and dynamics within the region as well as notable transformations in the domestic politics of the United States. The course will survey the global environment and relevant multilateral fora, as well as the role and implications of increasingly influential external actors in hemispheric affairs, particularly China, but also Russia and other countries. The focus will be on the policy choices and dilemmas confronting decision-makers both in Latin America and the United States. A mix of academic and policy-oriented readings cover salient, longstanding issues such as migration, trade, drugs, as well as new challenges such as climate change. Efforts to address authoritarian rule (e.g. Venezuela) and democratic backsliding (e.g. Central America) will also be assessed. Engaging in wide-ranging policy discussions from both Latin American and US perspectives, students will identify strategic objectives and the obstacles to pursuing them.

IAFF 3187 Security in the Americas

Attributes: Conflict Resolution (EFCB), Int’l Politics (EFCH), Security Policy (EFCI), Latin America, Group A (ERCD), Latin America: Regional Foundation (ERFB)

Security is an ever-present need and demand throughout the Americas. Everyone has a right to security but how security is achieved shifts depending on how its challenges are defined. This course will unravel the multidimensional aspects of security in our hemisphere seeking to understand the various security challenges from differing perspectives; the limits to providing security in a democratic society; and the appropriate roles for militaries, civilian authorities, and civil society in providing security. We will look thematically at how national defense is defined in different sub regions; how it differs from public security, and examine various strategies for tackling transnational organized crime, gangs, and the nexus between climate change and security. We will also examine security in particular geographies such as the U.S. – Mexico border; Central America; Colombia and Venezuela; and the Southern Cone. Throughout, students will be exposed to a variety of viewpoints through scholarly articles and research reports; official documents; and in discussions with specialists and experts.

IAFF 3188 American Policy in the Middle East

Americans, and the American government, are thoroughly sick of the Middle East. Iraq, Afghanistan, the wearisome Arab-Israeli peace process, and the perception of numerous American policy failures, all have led successive US administrations to the conclusion that America should pare its involvement in the region and focus its attention elsewhere. Should we?

The so-called Pax Americana has largely kept order in the region for seven decades, and has been considered a vital US interest. Left unattended, the region has a way of drawing America back in. It’s undoubtedly an arena of competing interests involving the United States, Russia and China, which increasingly bears implications for US global policy. Students will study the history of and rationale for US engagement in the region; we will have active class discussions on current developments, debate opposing views, and hold a simulation that will pull these strands together in a policymaking exercise with real-world implications. At the end of the course, you’ll know what the US is doing there and why it matters.

IAFF 3188 Iran - US Relations

Attributes: Conflict Resolution (EFCB), Int’l Politics (EFCH), Security Policy (EFCI), Middle East, Group A (ERCE)

Since a CIA-backed coup in 1953 against a popular Iranian prime minister, Iran and the US have had a love-hate relationship. Animosity has only grown since the 1979 revolution and has had a negative impact not just on the peoples of the two countries but on the entire Middle East and beyond. The course will cover the reasons for this estrangement, missed opportunities for improvement, the breakthrough on the nuclear issue under the Obama administration, the deterioration and reversion to hostility under the Trump administration and the outlook for the future.

IAFF 3190 Introduction to Intelligence

Attributes: Int’l Politics (EFCH), Security Policy (EFCI)

The course will focus on the role of intelligence, and particularly the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC), in the formation of national security policy. The course will examine the functions of intelligence in peace time and war time and the various components of the IC that serve those functions. Students will examine intelligence successes and failures using historical case studies. The class will conclude with a discussion of contemporary intelligence issues such as privacy vs. counter-terrorism concerns and counter-terrorism interrogation methods. This course will help students to make informed views about issues pertaining to the IC during the coming decades. The course will also help students who are interested in government careers in intelligence.

IAFF 3190 The COP Process for Fighting Climate Change

Approved Attributes: Conflict Resolution (EFCB); Int'l Development (EFCE); Int'l Environmental Studies (EFCG); Int'l Politics (EFCH)

This course will examine the work of the annual United Nations conference meeting to fight climate change. This year COP28 is taking place in Dubai in November/December 2023. The course will examine the development of the COP process, the negotiations that go into the annual treaties, efforts to influence the negotiations, and the role of the COP conferences which typically bring together tens of thousands of climate change negotiators and activists. Using a variety of simulations and active discussions, the course will give students insights into defining and mobilizing the most effective ways to address climate change.

IAFF 3190 Science, Technology, and Espionage

Attributes: Security Policy (EFCI)

Nearly two hundred years before the cyber age, undersea cables became the nerve center of the British Empire, but were also an important target for sabotage and espionage. The Second World War witnessed the rise of more formal organizations dedicated to scientific and technical intelligence. During the Cold War, scientists and engineers became critical elements in a sprawling American Intelligence-Industrial Complex dedicated to developing capabilities for keeping tabs on the Soviet Union and its Communist allies. For centuries, science and technology have been integral parts of intelligence tradecraft. This course will explore the interactions among science, technology, and espionage from the 19 th century up through the present time. We will investigate how science and technology have transformed espionage, but also how the needs of this secret area of statecraft have shaped the development of science and technology.

IAFF 3190 Spaceflight & The Modern World

Attributes: Int’l Politics (EFCH), Security Policy (EFCI)

At the present time, the media is flooded with reports about a new space race and the efforts of billionaire tycoons to colonize the cosmos. Since the Soviet Union launched the world’s first artificial satellite in 1957, forty countries have put over 9,000 satellites into space that perform a wide variety of civil, scientific, commercial, and military functions. During the Cold War, human space exploration endeavors were intended to serve as a proxy for superpower conflict and to demonstrate the superiority of competing ideological systems. At this same time, space was presented as a sanctuary from the accelerating arms race. Space enthusiasts hoped that the 1969 moon landing was only the first step towards establishing permanent human settlements in the cosmos that would be free from inequality and conflict. Yet, aspirations to use spaceflight to overcome earthly challenges had to increasingly contend with dystopian notions of space war and hyperbole about weaponization of the heavens. These imaginations of spaceflight have overshadowed the reality that space technologies have become a hidden, but essential, part of life. This course will use a global perspective to explore how imagination, combined with terrestrial concerns, have shaped the human experience with spaceflight from the 20th century to the present time.

IAFF 3190 Global Governance

Attributes: Conflict Resolution (EFCB), Int’l Politics (EFCH), Security Policy (EFCI), Int’l & Comp. Politics: Advanced Fundamental (ESIP)

This course examines global governance - the creation, revision, and enforcement of the rules that are intended to govern the world. We will begin by considering the international order that lurks behind and defines any governance arrangement. This section also will examine the changing architecture of global governance. Once upon a time, the architecture of global governance was dominated by large intergovernmental organizations, who were invariably created by states and for states. One of the dramatic changes in the last several decades, though, is that the architectures and the architects of global governance are nongovernmental organizations, private-public partnerships, regime complexes, private governance authorities, and on and on. We will explore two different issues areas – security and humanity – and two topics within each: in security, we will examine the rules governing the use of force, peacekeeping, and humanitarian intervention; and in humanity we will study emergency relief and refugees.

IAFF 3190 Space Policy

Attributes: Int’l Politics (EFCH), Security Policy (EFCI)

This course is an examination of the origins, evolution, current status, and future prospects of U.S. space policies and programs. It will cover the U.S. government’s civil, military and intelligence space programs, U.S. commercial space activities, and the interactions among these four sectors of the U.S. space enterprise. This examination will also include the space activities of other countries, and resulting international cooperation and competition. The goal of the course is to give the student an exposure to the policy debates and decisions that have shaped U.S. efforts in space to date, and to the issues that are shaping the future goals, content, pace, and organization of U.S. space activities, both public and private.

Taught by ISTP/IISTP/SPI Director, Professor Scott Pace

IAFF 3190 Holocaust Memory

Attributes: Comp. Political, Economic, & Social Systems (EFCA), Conflict Resolution (EFCB), Contemp. Cultures & Societies (EFCC), Int'l Politics (EFCH), Security Policy (EFCI), Europe/Eurasia (ERCC), Middle East (ERCE)

Accurate and inaccurate sources of Holocaust memory, its uses, misuses and abuses, and its roles in national and international affairs. What does the Holocaust teach about human behavior and political leadership? Does it have usable lessons? And what will be its memory in the future?

IAFF 3190 Issues of Contemporary Diplomacy & National Security

Attributes: Int’l Politics (EFCH), Security Policy (EFCI)

This course is a historically-oriented class which evaluates the current administration's national security grand strategy, primarily as expressed in official documents, speeches, and Congressional testimony. It broadly compares and contrasts the contemporary U.S. approach with the perspective of other recent administrations, and with competing scholarly observations about the U.S. role in the world over the last 70 years. The course is structured such that the readings, lectures, and assignments prepare students to hold professional positions requiring the ability to concisely and clearly assess U.S. defense and foreign policies, and situate them within broader historical trends.

IAFF 3190 Climate Change & Social Change

Attributes: Comp. Political, Economic & Social Systems (EFCA), Int’l Development (EFCE), International Environmental Studies (EFCG)

While the earth's natural systems are being transformed by climate change, movements for social change in the areas of equity, justice, and environmental relations are expanding across the globe. This course prepares students to understand and engage with crucial issues at the intersection of these two trends through analysis of current events and literature from both the natural and social sciences. Students will apply what they learn through an in-class simulation of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP) and a project on a social issue related to climate change of their choice.

IAFF 3190 Law and Diplomacy

This course is intended to develop an understanding of the uses of law and diplomacy in foreign policy creation and implementation. This course instructs students on the sources of law that comprise American diplomacy and foreign policy, scope and limitations, how diplomacy relates to other instruments of national power, and the legal parameters under which diplomats operate. It also explains the interaction of international law within the US domestic legal framework. The course is divided into three parts. The focus of this course begins with the legal authority under which US foreign policy goals are achieved within a domestic legal framework. It looks at constitutional bases for foreign affairs powers of the three branches, the application and interpretation of international treaties, the role of international law within the domestic framework. The second third of the course discusses viewpoint of the practitioner and examines the intersection of law, diplomacy, and policy in the enactment of national and foreign policy objectives. The last third of the course will discuss the role and function of international organizations and the future of American diplomacy in a multiplex world. Specific case studies this year include the role of finance in foreign policy, international sanctioning, international incidents, and specific bilateral agreements by which to effect foreign policy goals. Former and current State Department and DOD officials will guest lecture on a variety of topics. The law of warfare and the role of the military will be discussed, but only in relation to diplomacy and multilateral agreements.

This will be a moderately intensive reading course, emphasizing critical reading, analysis, and group discussion. The assigned readings will include conceptual, legal, and historical materials to provide a framework for examining bilateral and multilateral diplomacy, domestic and legal mechanisms to execute diplomatic objectives, and the contexts in which foreign affairs are conducted. You will not be expected to memorize dates and names, but to understand issues conceptually and historically. This course should help students begin to think about how to better utilize legal and diplomatic tools to effect foreign policy.

IAFF 3190 The UN and Global Security

This year, the United Nations (UN) will be 78 years old. The passage of this major milestone and maturation of the UN provides a unique opportunity to review the trajectory of the organization since its creation in 1945 and how it has fared in the face of challenges to global peace and security in a complex and changing political environment.

We will engage in this undertaking through the lenses of the organization’s role in global governance and security. The first part of the course provides an overview of the way in which the UN organs have been theorized to function and how they function in practice, the scope and expansion of the organization’s mission and work, examination of the tools that have been developed and at how these have been applied to address some of the most pressing peace and security challenges confronting the world; and discussion of the ability of the UN–in the current polarized international environment–to carry out its mandate toward the maintenance of international peace and security and to address new and changing threats. The course aims at providing elements that would help in further reflecting on the following set of interconnected questions: (1) Has the UN overall lived up to the hopes it generated and fulfilled the ambitions assigned to it in the realm of peace and security? (2) To what extent has the UN been able to adjust its tools and modus operandi to the evolving peace and security issues it is grappling with? Going forward, what can be learned from these efforts? (3) Can the UN be an effective peace and security actor in the twenty-first century and is it equipped to deal with emerging non-traditional threats to stability and security? In other words, is it the indispensable organization that was envisioned in the twentieth century?

IAFF 3196 - Internship Professional Development Seminar

The purpose of this course is to help you maximize what you gain both experientially and intellectually from your internship. Our explicit focus is on your professional development and increasing your career opportunities through strengthening your leadership capacities and other professional competencies. Reflection on your internship experiences will be integral to this process. A fundamental assumption for this course is that to be an effective international affairs practitioner, you will also need to look inward, and critically interrogate your vocation to work in international affairs so that, through this self-awareness, you will improve your efficacy in making a positive impact in the world. Moreover, we will also consider our relationships with individuals with whom we work, and enhance concrete skills that strengthen our abilities to collaborate with others. The course is structured around these key topics and how your internship experience informs and is informed by them. With a unique design of academic, mentorship, and professional components, this course seeks to offer you plenty of opportunities to integrate the knowledge and skills you gain from your internship with course content. The class helps you to define goals, discover your own strengths, and form a vision for your career – a successful career that will build upon your internship experience. NOTE: Your internship must be 1) directly and clearly related to international affairs and 2) a minimum of 15 hrs/wk and at least 180 hours total over the course of the semester in which you are enrolled in this course.

IAFF 3190W Masculinities in International Affairs

This course will critically examine the diverse experiences, roles, relationships and responsibilities of men and boys in international affairs and development sectors. These contexts will include pre-conflict normative discourses on gender and masculinities as well as masculinities in war and conflict, violent masculinities, militarized masculinities, diplomatic masculinities, and peaceful masculinities. The major thrust of the course is to examine how the gendered social order influences men’s actions and behaviors and how men perceive themselves, other men, women, diverse gender identities, and socio-political contexts. Feminist theory is the critical frame for the class, with substantive coverage of masculinities theory, gender policymaking and programmatic design and implementation. The course will unpack power from a relational perspective as well as an institutional analysis. The course will use an intersectionality lens to explore relationships between multiple dimensions of social relations and gender inequalities, including race, ethnicity, class, geographic location, nationality, and sexual orientation. The students will be equipped with both theoretical and practical understandings and intersectional feminist analysis of the patriarchy and masculinities and their relevance in the current international affairs, development, and security sectors. The students will examine key thematic issues related to international diplomacy, development, and security from a masculinities theoretical and practical perspective. With this we expect the students to be equipped with knowledge and tools to work in addressing the intersections of gender, and international peace and security concerns.

IAFF 3210W Migration, Gender, and Development

Attributes: Contemp. Cultures & Societies (EFCC), Int’l Development (EFCE), Int’l Politics (EFCH)

The relationship between migration and international development can be both positive and negative for the migrants and nations involved. Well-established scholarship about the topic has long explored how migrant workforces affect household, community, national, and international socioeconomic systems. Research for the past several decades also shows how gender and related aspects of socioeconomic inequality are part of migration and development. Scholarship now examines how relations of gendered and other aspects of disparity can affect decisions of whether to migrate, which household members do so, migration flow patterns, and migrant as well as receiving nation and community experiences. Studies also examine how these relations engage with development: it is known that migration occurs in response to socioeconomic opportunity as well as to hardship, crisis, or need yet it remains in debate whether and which migrants might benefit. Students in this course learn to effectively synthesize and discuss questions about research on migration, development, and gender. Students examine and communicate on those topics and the policies and programs that operate in response.

IAFF 3501 International Development Theory, Policy, and Practice

Attributes: Contemp. Cultures & Societies (EFCC), Global Public Health (EFCD), Int’l Development (EFCE), Int’l Economics (EFCF), Anthropology/Geography (ESAG)

This reading intensive course will critically examine the history, theories, policies, and practices of development from an anthropological perspective. The course will analyze some of the fundamental assumptions that have informed the emergence of development, and its practices, including how the recipients of development are constituted, how development “problems” are constructed, and how different development paradigms have influenced the role of the state (either increasing it or reducing it) in implementing development.

The first part of the course will review the history of development since the end of World War II to current times, critically examining the various theories and paradigms that shaped development practices and targets. The second part will be more focused in specific cases which will highlight the most important issues and features of development interventions, such as global health, the environment and climate change, war and post-conflict, democracy and human rights, or gender.

The aim of this course is not to mobilize students “for” or “against” any form of development, nor is it to prepare students to do development work. Rather, the main goal of this course is to critically engage with the multiplicity of effects generated by development as policy and practice.

IAFF 3513 Human Rights and Ethics

Attributes: Comp. Political, Economic & Social Systems (EFCA), Conflict Resolution (EFCB), Contemp. Cultures & Societies (EFCC), Global Public Health (EFCD), Int’l Development (EFCE), Anthropology/Geography (ESAG)

“Human rights” as a value is widely supported across the American political spectrum, so much so that fundamental questions about what the term actually means are seldom discussed, either by elected officials or in the popular media. This course examines the theoretical and empirical basis of human rights from a multi-disciplinary perspective. To do so, we will examine how rights have been conceptualized, envisioned, imagined, promoted, and asserted by philosophers, political scientists, anthropologists, and other scholars, as well as how rights have been conceptualized and practiced in different societies. The starting point of this course is that all of the above questions cannot be separated from ethics.

This is not a prescriptive course. In other words, our focus is not on deciding who lacks rights, or on methods, strategies, or programs to provide rights. Rather than beginning with a rulebook of rights and then using this as a guide for evaluating the presence (or absence) of particular rights in various nation-states, we will analyze the historical, cultural, and theoretical basis of human rights as a relatively recent political movement, value system, and ideology. In doing so, we will necessarily reflect on the tensions between individual rights and collective cultural values, the culture of rights, and claims to culture as a right.

Summer 2023

IAFF 2101 IA Research Methods

Attributes: Research Methods (ERSM)

IAFF 3172 Conflict & Conflict Resolution

Attributes: Conflict Resolution (EFCB), Int’l Politics (EFCH), Security Policy (EFCI), Int’l/Comparative Politics Adv. Fund. (ESIP)

IAFF 3187 Racial & Ethnic Politics in Latin America

Attributes: Latin America Concentration (ERCD), Latin America: Regional Foundations (ERFB)

Spring 2023

IAFF 1001 First-Year Experience

First-Year Experience assists students in developing their personal, academic, and career goals. Restricted to students in the Elliott School.

IAFF-1005 Introduction to International Affairs

This course provides an introduction to the main approaches to the study of international affairs as well as many of the main issues facing the world today. The course begins with an overview of the key concepts and theories that help us understand international issues. It then examines inter-state conflict and cooperation, including the causes of inter-state war, the dynamics of arms racing and arms control, the challenges of crisis management, and current inter-state flashpoints. The final section of the course examines wide-ranging challenges, including globalization and the global economy, global poverty, climate change and environmental threats, human rights and gender equality, transnational actors, information technology and cyber-security, as well as efforts to promote international cooperation and action through international organizations.

IAFF 2091 East Asia-Past and Present

The Course provides a broad survey of East Asia, focusing on China, Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia. There is emphasis on modern history and salient contemporary political, economic, security and cultural-intellectual issues and developments

IAFF 2093 Africa: Problems and Prospects

This course is designed to provide a broad understanding of the problems and prospects of contemporary Africa. It focuses on topics and issues rather than countries and regions. Following a brief background of Africa’s geography and history, it treats topically subjects such as, politics, economics, development, health, education, international relations, conflict, terrorism, HIV/AIDS, ethnicity, refugees, human rights, and religion.

IAFF 2094 Europe in Transition

IAFF 2101 International Affairs Research Methods

This course covers basic research methods and methodologies that undergird international relations scholarship, as well as the ontological and epistemological assumptions particular to the research traditions explored. Students are exposed not only to general research platforms, such as regression and case-study analyses, but also to the more specific research tools that accompany ethnography, discourse and survey analyses. A portion of class time is devoted to gaining familiarity with research resources available both online and at sites in the Washington area, providing students with the means to initiate their own original research in the field of international relations.

IAFF 2101 IA Research Methods-Qualitative

This course is an introduction to qualitative research methods—conceptualization, design and data collection procedures. The course will discuss the objectives of research, kinds of philosophical assumptions and the importance of social inquiry. We will cover some of the key themes including framing and conceptualizing a research project, developing a research question, designing a strategy for answering a research question, distinguishing among various qualitative methodologies, and challenges of conducting research. The course will cover the broader issues and principles– such as the definition and formation of concepts after data analysis, and the selection of cases, and the ethical consideration in research. Students will undertake a pilot research study as part of the course requirements and as a means of trying out their research, conceptualizing and data collection skills.

IAFF 2190 Philosophy of the Environment

We face, and work on four ways to resolve, our problematic relationship with the natural systems on Earth: technology, economics, culture and the institutional compass. We face the problems by visiting the Santiago River in Mexico during the Spring break. This is the most polluted river in Mexico. We see the river from the perspectives of government officials, academics, NGOs, indiginous people, industrialists and farmers. As for the resolutions: technology is very helpful, but there are unintended consequences and dangerous feed-back loops. Economics is promising provided we think of it as not only pertaining to money. We learn about environmental and ecological economics as alternatives to neoclassical economics. For the cultural fix we look at everyday practices, such as washing our clothing, and see where and how this affects the environment. More radically, we learn about how indiginous people see nature, and how they think of technology and business. Lastly, we learn how to coordinate technological, economic and cultural efforts through a new multi-criteria decision aid requiring a novel technique of data analysis. We apply the technique to the Santiago River Basin.

IAFF 2190W Arab Politics

Arab Politics asks students to rethink many aspects of comparative politics of the Arab Middle East (and its neighbors) that they have perhaps previously viewed as static or dull. The course makes use of readings geared to certain special topics in the region's politics and will build on students' exposure to more rudimentary materials utilized in introductory politics and regional studies courses. Also, exposure to pressing questions and various theoretical approaches involved in the study of politics in the Arab Middle East will give students the ability to contextualize popular press and other materials related to the region.

This course will satisfy a WID requirement.

IAFF 2190W Turkey and Its Neighbors

This course focuses on modern Turkey and its current relationship with the Arab states, the Caucasus, Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the European Union, Central Asia, and the United States.

It will reinforce ideas and concepts that impact Turkey's domestic, regional, and international dynamics. The course will also analyze the driving factors behind Turkey’s interest in expanding its soft and hard power beyond the Greater Middle East.

The first part of the course will focus on Turkey’s evolving domestic dynamic while the second part will focus on Turkey’s changing foreign and defense policy as well as its international relations challenges.

This course will satisfy a WID requirement.

IAFF 2190W Terrorism & Counterterrorism Policy

The course will provide an introduction to terrorism as a major topic for US foreign policy. The class will examine the evolution of modern terrorism as a threat to the United States, and the nature of U.S. policy responses to it. After evaluating the events leading to the 9/11 attacks and the US government response, the focus of the class will be on a series of discrete policy problems: Countering the narrative of violent extremism; countering the rise of right-wing and online extremism; problems of effective organization in the intelligence community; the use of drones; countering terrorist finance; countering terrorism travel; the protection of privacy and civil liberties; dealing with past abuses relating to rendition, detentions and interrogations; future threats post-withdrawal from Adghanistan and from ISIS. There will be a heavy emphasis on writing, with several short writing assignments.

This course will satisfy a WID requirement,

IAFF 2092 Introduction to East Central Europe, Russia, and Eurasia

This course is a broad, multidisciplinary introduction to the lands, peoples, history, and contemporary politics of the vast area stretching from East Central Europe in the west to the Russian pacific shores in the East, an area that includes all the states of the former Soviet Union and the former Soviet bloc. The course aims to ground you in the historical (and geographic/demographic) context that shapes the present reality in the region, and then explore selected social, political, economic, and cultural issues emerging out of that context. Selected guest lecturers will give you an idea of the variety of ways professors at GW approach studying this part of the contemporary world, and possibly suggest further courses you could take.

IAFF 2095 Middle East: An International Affairs Survey

This is an introductory course on Middle Eastern society and politics in the current world. It focuses on issues of political change, religion, conflict, and culture and is designed to help students develop an understanding of the ways in which social and political dynamics in the Middle East are experienced by people within that region.

Title : Identity, Politics and Society in Israel

Description : Why is the lifespan of Israeli governments so short? Why does Israel hold elections more often than any country with a comparable parliamentary system? This course will provide a detailed portrait of contemporary Israeli society and politics, tracing the evolution of salient ethnic, ideological, religious, and socioeconomic divisions – Arab/Jewish, Religious/Secular, Right/Left, Center/Periphery among others - and their expression in parliamentary politics and social movements. The course will equip students to link today’s political parties and blocs with social constituencies and defining issues, highlighting the complex social dynamics underlying chronic political instability and their implications for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and regional diplomacy. The course will conclude with a role-play simulation of Israeli parliamentary politics in which students will represent coalition and opposition parties debating controversial legislation.

IAFF 3179 Space in International Affairs

This course will address international space policy issues facing the United States and other space powers, placing them within the larger context of technological advances and a changing strategic environment. The course will briefly examine the space environment, the policy foundations of U.S. space policy, and the current international space legal regime. The course will then address current international issues on the equitable, peaceful, and open use of space and space-enabled capabilities. The challenges and opportunities for international space cooperation, along with the evolving space security environment, will be examined as it relates to great power competition in space.

IAFF 3180-14, Gender, Conflict and Security

This course begins with an overview of the gender and security agenda. We will assess key factors and actors that shape gender and security dynamics, drawing on feminist, masculinities, and gender scholarship. We will also analyze the development of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) movement—one of the pillars of the gender and security agenda in the 21^st century. The core of the course is an issue-by-issue examination of current security problems, with a focus on the gender dimensions of these issues. This includes both traditional security issues (armed conflict, extremism and terrorism, the roles of women and LGBTQ people in military organizations) and human security concerns (development, environmental challenges, humanitarian emergencies and pandemics, human rights and governance). The course concludes with an assessment of policy priorities and prospects for the 2020s and beyond.

IAFF 3180 Women and Terrorism

This course explores the oft-repeated question: Why do women join male-led terror groups and what do they hope to gain? Counter-terrorism expert and award-winning author of Invisible Martyrs Farhana Qazi will guide students through the female motivations for joining terrorist and violent extremists (VE) using analytical studies, field research, and a multi-disciplinary approach. The course will provide a grounding in selected thematic issues relevant to the roles, motives, and impact of women and girls in terrorism and VE groups worldwide, to include domestic terror networks in the United States. The course is designed to combine theoretical and practice-based approaches to issues of gender, conflict and terrorism, drawing on differing conflicts and cultural contexts, to recognize the myths and realities of female-perpetrated terrorism. By the end of the course, students will have a strong understanding of female terrorism and its varied aspects as well as recognize prevention policies and strategies used by different countries to combat the largley misunderstood threat. Students will receive a free copy of the award-winning book, Invisible Martyrs: Inside the Secret World of Female Islamic Radicals by Farhana Qazi.

IAFF 3180 Gender, Conflict & Security

This course provides an introduction to understanding the gendered dimensions of armed conflict and security. The course will provide a grounding in selected thematic issues relevant to the study of gender, conflict and security such as gendered frames for understanding militarism and combatancy, gender-based violence related to conflict, peacekeeping and humanitarian response and gendered approaches to understanding the aftermath of conflict, such as transitional justice measures. The course is designed to combine theoretical and practice-based approaches to issues of gender, conflict and security, drawing from interdisciplinary theoretical and policy resources, as well as case studies from differing situations of armed conflict globally. Classes are discussion-based and interactive, and students are expected to fully engage actively in discussion and debate.

IAFF 3180 Global Electricity Markets

This course will cover global energy markets and how they influence international affairs and related energy and environmental policy development, infrastructure investments and global energy security. Each of the physical and financial markets of petroleum, natural gas, liquefied natural gas, coal, nuclear power, renewables and electricity will be covered. Emphasis will be on European, Russian, Middle East, Asian, South American and North American markets. Students will learn about the supply chains of each energy resource and how each commodity is priced. The course will then cover global trading hubs for energy derivatives (futures, swaps and options) used to hedge energy price volatility in specific regions and markets. The role of energy derivatives in price formation of oil, natural gas, coal and electricity and how they affect infrastructure investment and international affairs. The course is aimed at students interested in an overall understanding of global energy markets and students pursuing regional studies. Students can pursue regional interests through projects. Contemporary examples will be used extensively in this class.

IAFF 3180 Air Power and International Politics

This course is an introduction to the use of Airpower as an element of national power. Starting with the original air power theorists, the course walks through significant milestones in the evolution in airpower theory, the use of airpower both for war and events short of war, air power's contribution to nuclear deterrence during the cold war and today, airpower as a diplomatic and humanitarian tool, and finishes with a review of the airpower debates occurring today. Students will complete the course with an understanding of the implications of Airpower for a nation's ability to deter, coerce, or compel.

IAFF 3180W Security Policy & Qualitative Analysis

This WID course offers you the opportunity to develop and hone your research, analytic, and writing skills by investigating an important contemporary or historical security policy change that is of special interest to you. Potential topics may range from traditional to non-traditional security concerns, and cover choices of war or peace, dilemmas of development or human rights, problems of gender or human security, or concerns of intelligence or conflict resolution, among others. Class discussions will employ historical case studies and breaking news events to address and resolve key dilemmas in research design, research planning, and research implementation, and causal framing, process tracing, and path dependence methodologies will be highlighted throughout. Class papers will focus on establishing the best explanation of your preferred security policy change and include a practical and actionable policy recommendation for a current national or international leader.

IAFF 3181 Israeli-Palestinian Peacebuilding

Why does the Israeli-Palestinian conflict persist, after decades of peace efforts led by heads of state, social movements, civil society organizations and ordinary citizens? Are there effective strategies for supporting resolution of this intractable conflict? Drawing on frameworks for Conflict Resolution theory and practice, this course provides a dual-narrative analysis of the historical background of the conflict and of Palestinian/Israeli peace and conflict resolution efforts at all levels - state, civil society, and grassroots. The course examines a wide range of cross-conflict peace initiatives, including official and unofficial negotiations, political campaigns, social movements, dialogue, peace education, advocacy and nonviolent direct action. Students will be challenged to situate peace and conflict resolution initiatives in social and political context, and to evaluate the contributions of specific initiatives to any potential future resolution. Course materials will include film, literature, media, and online resources as well as conversations with practitioners and scholars of the field.

IAFF 3183 Int’l Energy & Environmental Regulations

This course will focus on the development and implementation of energy and environmental regulations and deregulation and how they affect international affairs. This course will discuss regulations and deregulation of petroleum, natural gas, liquefied natural gas, coal, nuclear power and electricity of various countries and regions. Students will learn about how the European Union and member states, Canada, Mexico, South America, Asia and North America regulate the extraction of energy fuels, processing and refining and transmission of fuels to customers. The course will compare the various approaches used to regulate electricity generation, storage, transmission and distribution in various countries and regions. The course will also discuss the growing conflicts between energy and environmental regulations that are used to protect air, water, coastal resources, cultural and socioeconomic resources and discuss the capacity of government institutions to adequately regulate energy infrastructure and protect the environment. The course is aimed at students interested in an overall understanding of global energy regulation and can be aimed at students pursuing regional studies. Students can pursue regional interests through projects. Contemporary examples will be used extensively in this class.

IAFF 3184 Rising Market Powers and 21st Century Globalization

This course introduces undergraduate and graduate students to the political economy of policymaking at the intersection of global markets and foreign affairs. The majority of economic growth is now occurring in countries that are not historically wealthy high-income democracies, and where many of the textbook assumptions regarding how markets function often do not hold. Focusing on rising market powers, including China, Brazil, India, and Russia, the course examines how their unique approaches to global markets and economic governance will shape the global geopolitical competitive landscape moving forward. By surveying historic waves of globalization and development strategies, this course will offer students the tools to evaluate how states influence market dynamics, industrialization, and globalization in the contemporary world. The goal of this class is to make students conversant in the dominant themes of modern political economy, preparing them to do original research and analysis in the development subfield. It will also provide students with a substantive knowledge of the history of economic development, including a contextual knowledge for the role of institutions, ideas, and political leaders in forging national economic policies in a financially and commercially interdependent world.

IAFF 3185 Ukraine and Georgia between Russia and the West

The escalation of Russia’s war against Ukraine since February 2022 has captured the world’s attention, and the war that has been going on since 2014 has regional and global ramifications. The issues at stake include Ukraine’s sovereignty, the future of Vladimir Putin’s regime and Russia’s political system, and peace and stability in Europe as a whole. Russia’s war-waging and nuclear threats have also made issues of nuclear and conventional deterrence more urgent than in a long time, and the war additionally affects energy markets, the global economy, food security, and a wide range of other issues. The 2008 Russo-Georgian War, which can be seen as a prelude to the current war in Ukraine, also had a significant impact on post-Soviet and European security, and the underlying causes of that war are still unresolved. The course examines these two wars and places them in the wider context of Russian-Western relations and increasing great power competition, relations between Russia and its neighbors, and the relations between the West and Ukraine and Georgia. The policies of the relevant parties are analyzed against the backdrop of processes and issues such as global and regional security orders, the continuing turmoil after the disintegration of the Soviet empire, nationalism and national identity formation, NATO and EU enlargement, the “post-Soviet” countries’ aspirations to define their roles in a wider European security order, Russia’s changing foreign policy, energy security, and domestic politics (including issues such as democratization and repression, corruption, and the rule of law). The roles and aspirations of de facto states on Georgian and Ukrainian territory – Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and the “People’s Republics” of Donetsk and Luhansk – are also examined. The course combines a historical perspective with application of International Relations and Political Science theory on issues such as national security decision-making and crisis management. The course covers the time period since the end of the Cold War and discusses the present situation and possible future scenarios in greater depth.

IAFF 3186 Asian Order & Community-Building

Asia, perhaps the world’s most dynamic region, is currently in a state of flux and high uncertainty. This course analyzes major aspects of international relations of Asia, by specifically focusing on both the evolution and the current state of regional order and patterns of intra-regional interaction in terms of both cooperation and competition. After reviewing key concepts and critical historical developments, the course first focuses on major regional actors, such as China, Japan, ASEAN, and India, and assesses their respective policy preferences and approaches toward regional order, governance and community- building. It then examines existing regional institutions and coordination networks, both formal and informal, in various issue areas, including trade and finance, human rights, environment, and popular culture production. One unique feature of this course is that students will have a rare opportunity to interact with prominent guest lecturers who will share their expertise and experience regarding concrete regional actors and contemporary policy issues. In addition to developing the knowledge and analytical tools for discerning the current state of regional order, students will undertake focused research to write a major paper on their chosen subject pertaining to some aspect of emerging order and community-building in Asia.

IAFF 3186 Central Asia & Security Issue

This is an undergraduate course designed to explore and understand the security issues of the Central Asian region. Situated between Russia, China, India, and Iran, the five states of Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan) have gone through a drastic transformation since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The region has a stronghold of authoritarianism and still struggles to provide basic services but is gradually becoming more pluralistic. Amidst all this, the region has significant security challenges. Throughout this course, students will explore domestic and regional security issues, internal and external factors of securitization of Central Asia and the ever-evolving security arrangements.

IAFF 3186 Writing/Rewriting Taiwan

In 1542, the Portuguese discovered a new island and named it Ilha Formosa ("beautiful island"). Since then, Europeans had named the island Formosa until the 1970s. By reconsidering the meaning of names and naming, the course examines Taiwan's history, diverse communities, collective and individual memories, and identities.

IAFF 3187 Climate Change & Environmental Policy in Latin America

Latin America is endowed with significant natural resources and environmental assets, including almost one third of the world's fresh water, the largest rainforest on earth, a quarter of proven oil and natural gas reserves and among the world's highest potential for renewable energy sources, such as hydropower, wind and solar energy. However, Latin American countries are also some of the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, including hurricanes, droughts and rising sea levels. Meanwhile, Latin America's contribution to energy-related emissions is increasing due to strong economic growth and a spike in demand for transportation and electricity. Thus, one of the greatest challenges for policymakers in Latin American countries is to construct a path toward sustainable, low carbon economic development. This course aims to give students a sound understanding of the concepts of climate change and environmental policy, the major policy challenges facing Latin American countries and best practices being used in Latin America and other countries around the world.

IAFF 3187 Latin American Migration

The themes that will be addressed are the history of migration within Latin America and to North America, the impact of this migration on both sending and receiving countries, and the various policy strategies and issues concerning migration. In order to capture the socio-economic and cultural consequences of modern mass migration, films, class discussion, and scholarly articles will be used to supplement the themes of the course.

IAFF 3188 Arabic Lit: Arabia to America

This course will introduce Arabic literature beginning in the sixth century and continuing into the modern era. We will read selections in translation from representative works of Arabic literature from many different genres including classical love, praise, boast and lampoon poetry. We will also read selections from Arabic stories and anecdotes, advice literature, the modern Arabic novel and modern poetry. In addition, we will explore the Qur’an and its influence on the Arabic literary tradition. We will treat Arabic literature not as a static text frozen in time, but as part of a living tradition, with an emphasis on its performance, reception and cultural impact. Students will study Arabic literature in its relationship to other world literatures, and will be encouraged to explore parallels between it and other works of literature. All texts are in English. There are no prerequisites.

IAFF 3188 Identity, Politics, and Society in Israel

Why is the lifespan of Israeli governments so short? Why does Israel hold elections more often than any comparable country with a comparable political system? This course will provide a detailed portrait of contemporary Israeli society and politics, tracing the evolution of ethnic, ideological, religious, and socioeconomic divisions – Arab/Jewish, Religious/Secular, Right/Left, Center/Periphery among others - and their expression in parliamentary politics and social movements. The course will equip students to link today’s political parties and blocs with social constituencies and defining issues, highlighting the social dynamics underlying chronic political instability and their implications for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and regional diplomacy. The course will conclude with a role-play simulation of Israeli parliamentary politics in which students will represent coalition and opposition parties debating controversial legislation.

IAFF 3188 National Security Decisionmaking Lab: Middle East

The heart of this course is a semester-length simulation of the national security decision-making process, in which students role-play members of the US National Security Council. During the course, students will respond to an ever-shifting crisis in the Middle East that will test regional knowledge, analytical capacity, and written and oral communication abilities, as well as negotiating, bureaucratic, and interpersonal skills. They will navigate a challenging political/military landscape, interagency battles, occasionally runic intelligence updates, duplicitous allies, and a sometimes mercurial president. Students will learn in detail about the functions and responsibilities of the officials they embody, current real-world regional dynamics of the Middle East, and how national security decisionmaking and the interagency process work. They will apply what they learn in simulations of NSC, Principals, Deputies, and Policy Coordinating Committee meetings. These activities will be supported by readings, lectures, and guest speakers as appropriate.

IAFF 3189 Hip Hop & Social Change in Africa

The course will examine the development of hip hop culture in Africa, focusing on the role of hip hop as a method of social commentary. The course will also highlight the role of hip hop artists and culture in social and political changes occurring across the continent. The course will first examine the rise of hip hop in Africa. The course will then focus on the use of hip hop culture’s commentary on democracy, corruption, social institutions, and gender. The course will also examine the ways in which hip hop culture has engaged youth, social institutions, and the state. The course will finally focus on case studies of hip hop communities in order to show the diversities found across Africa. This is a joint course that students take with students from Howard University. Each week, students from both universities will alternate meeting on the GW campus and the HU campus.

IAFF 3189 Africa Declassified

This course examines how Cold War rivalries shaped US intelligence analysis on sub-Saharan Africa from the 1950s to the 1990s. The course will focus on specific African countries to understand how analysts explained political, economic, and security developments during an era of geopolitical competition and then apply those lessons to current day events. The course reviews declassified intelligence assessments, as well as journalistic reports and diplomatic memoirs, to evaluate how intelligence and analytic tradecraft informed US decisionmaking on sub-Saharan Africa. Through these case studies, students will learn about the opportunities, challenges, and pitfalls for intelligence professionals and foreign policy practitioners.

IAFF 3189 Africa in the Global Economy

Africa in the Global Economy examines the significant changes underway on the Continent that are transforming its relationship to the rest of the world. The course will consider the impact of specific issues, and integrate them into the kind of coherent narrative that policy makers and private sector leaders employ to understand and address critical trends. Issues covered will include Africa’s commercial integration, the impact of climate change and the green economy, the changing nature of health, rapid urbanism and demographic change, digital transformation and challenges and opportunities in finance.

IAFF 3190 Counter Intelligence: Concepts and Practices

This is a foundational course covering counterintelligence concepts and practices used in supporting operations and investigations. Part One considers what intelligence is: Why do nation-states conduct intelligence operations and what are the key components of those operations? Part Two focuses on what counterintelligence is and focuses on important counterintelligence concepts, how counterintelligence works, and the tradecraft used in operations and investigations. Part Three provides you with the opportunity to work within a group to address a hypothetical counterintelligence scenario, applying what you've learned/discovered in the course.

IAFF 3190 Oil: Industry, Economy, Society

This course takes a multidisciplinary approach (primarily political economy and management) to oil and its effects on business, nation-states, conflict, and the world economy. The first half of the course adopts a top-down viewpoint, examining the global oil environment. The second half is more bottom-up, using cases to grapple with industry issues. In addition to the specific objectives below, the course uses oil as a vehicle for applying and deepening understanding of intentional-economics and business concepts. As by far the largest global industry, oil reflects and influences broader sociopolitical issues and developments, facilitating its pedagogic use. The course is conducted in a mixture of seminar and lecture formats, and active participation is expected.

IAFF 3190 Global Mental Health Policy and Practice

This course will provide an introduction to the field of global mental health. Global mental health is a field that addresses research, care, and policy solutions to reducing inequities and disparities in mental health service in low resource settings around the world. This course will introduce students to the global burden of mental health conditions around the world. We will example the social determinants of mental health from a global perspective. Strategies to reduce the global burden include task-sharing mental health services to non-specialists such as community health workers. Cultural adaptation of mental health measurement tools and interventions will be discussed. Students will be introduced key resources in global mental health distributed by the World Health Organization, Unicef, and other global organizations. Solutions to the untreated global burden of mental health conditions will be explored based on multidisciplinary approaches and multi-sectoral partnerships resulting in multi-sectoral policy.

IAFF 3190 Congress and National Security Enterprise

This course provides students with a comprehensive understanding of the national security enterprise focusing on the interaction of the executive and legislative branches in the realm of U.S. military policy and budget. Students will gain a theoretical and practical understanding of the roles of the branches of government in national security policy making. Through case studies, the course will show how various stakeholders participate in the US domestic defense policy, budget, and the joint/ interagency processes; understand the congressional processes and oversight responsibilities to US national security policy; and recognize the individual equities and interests of the key national security stakeholders that can potentially be synchronized to further the national security enterprise.

IAFF 3190 Global Telecommunications and Internet Law and Policy

This seminar will cover the rapid global evolution of communications and information services and initiatives by national governments and international organizations to create new legal and policy frameworks. Topics are expected to include trends around the world in internet access and governance, privacy and data protection, human rights, control of communications and data, emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, online content, cybersecurity, digital trade, and industry competition. Students will gain an understanding of current law and policy debates, the complex ways policy is shaped, the perspectives of multiple stakeholders, and tools for addressing similar questions going forward. Students will be expected to read a variety of sources and produce two papers and an oral presentation. Active participation of students in the discussion-based classes is also expected.

IAFF 3190 Strategic Management and Qualitative Methods in International Affairs

This course introduces students to basic tools of strategic management and qualitative methods in international affairs. The course also provides an introduction to Africa and its political and socio-economic issues. With applications to real policies and programs in Africa, students will learn the basics of strategic thinking, management, and analysis using specific tools, including, for example, SWOT analysis, stakeholder analysis, and theories of change. They will also learn to select and apply the appropriate qualitative methods for gathering and prioritizing information to inform these analyses. The course will situate strategic management within human relations, competing interests, and motivation and commitment. The course helps to answer the question: Now that you’ve learned about issues and contexts in international affairs, what are the first (and second) things you need to do if you want to take action about them?

IAFF 3190 Populist Authoritarianism

This course is designed for students interested in International Affairs, Political Science, and other fields who want to learn about the dual, and sometimes overlapping, phenomena of populism and authoritarianism. Populist political leaders seek or exercise power based on broad mass support from followers who they promise to rescue from threats and enemies who oppress or exploit them. Populist authoritarians draw on populist discourse. These latter, more authoritarian leaders use their claims to broad mass support to legitimize actions that undermine the rule of law, threaten the independence of state institutions, and consolidate their power. This course will discuss various forms of populism from a world-historical perspective to understand what explains the rise of these forces, the consequences for civic culture and democracy, alternative strategic policy responses to mitigate the risks of prominent populist leaders and parties, and the implications for international politics.

IAFF 3190 Introduction to Intelligence

The course will focus on the role of intelligence, and particularly the US Intelligence Community (IC), in the formation and execution of national security policy. Drawing on both historical successes and failures and contemporary developments, students will gain an understanding of the organization and responsibilities of intelligence agencies, their capabilities and limitations, and the tension between secret organizations and liberal democracies. The class will explore changes in US intelligence since 9/11, the rise of private-sector intelligence organizations, and the future intelligence landscape. This course will help students be informed consumers of intelligence-related news and scholarship. The course will also be relevant to students interested in intelligence careers.

IAFF 3190 Holocaust Memory

The sources, construction, development, nature, uses and misuses of the memory, or public consciousness, of the Holocaust. How do different publics in different countries, cultures and societies know, or think they know, about the Holocaust from diaries, memoirs, testimonies, fiction, documentaries, television, commercial films, memorials, museums, the Internet, educational programs and the statements of world leaders—some of them historically accurate and some of them highly distorted, often for political and national reasons. The challenge of representing the Holocaust with fidelity and memorializing its victims with dignity and authenticity. The impact of Holocaust memory on contemporary responses to other genocides and crimes against humanity. The increasing efforts to use, misuse, abuse, minimize, deny or attack the Holocaust for political, diplomatic, strategic, ideological, antisemitic, anti-Zionist, or other purposes, including the growing efforts to create false or distorted narratives of the Holocaust in Europe in the service of nationalist ends. The effectiveness—or lack of effectiveness--of Holocaust memory in teaching the Holocaust’s contemporary “lessons,” especially the vow of “Never again!” The roles of Holocaust memory, and of Holocaust denial or minimization, in international affairs, including in the Middle East in general and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in particular. The psychological, national and diplomatic role of Holocaust memory in Israeli consciousness and behavior. The effects on Holocaust memory of the passage of time since the event. This course uses a cross-disciplinary approach, drawing on the fields of politics, society, ethics, literature, history, cinema, individual testimony, group psychology, social psychology, individual psychology and international affairs.

IAFF 3190 Arctic Affairs

In recent years, ongoing climate change and renewed strategic interests have brought the Arctic region to the forefront of many countries' foreign policy agendas. This comprehensive course covers a broad range of political, socioeconomic, and environmental issues linked to the Arctic region. It is divided into two main sections: one discussing circumpolar issues and institutions, the second looking in greater detail at the national policies of Arctic Council member states (Canada, Finland, Greenland (Kingdom of Denmark), Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and the United States) and non-Arctic states and entities such as China and the European Union. The course will include guest lectures by U.S. government officials, Indigenous scholars, diplomats, and experts on Arctic issues, giving you a unique opportunity to discuss contemporary public policy and governance problems and position the changing Arctic on the chessboard of international affairs.

IAFF 3190 Global Environmental Justice

In this class, you will explore how communities around the world are responding to

unequal environmental burdens, and how these local-scale justice issues fit into broader global trends such as climate change. We will engage with key environmental justice issues surrounding waste, pollution, water, mining, and energy in regions ranging from Latin America to the Arctic and from Sub-Saharan Africa to South and East Asia. Students will also have the opportunity to delve deeply into an environmental justice issue of interest to them in a location of their choice.

IAFF 3190 ESIA Dean's Scholars Publication Workshop

This is the (optional) final course in the Dean’s Scholars Program sequence. The course will focus on preparing each participant in the program to present their Dean’s Scholars thesis and get it published. As part of the course, students will identify at least one conference (in addition to the Dean’s Scholars Symposium) where they will present their research and at least one outlet to target for publication. Students will learn about the publication process and how to prepare for scholarly presentations. Each student will also receive feedback throughout the semester to refine their work in preparation for presenting their research and submitting it for publication. Students will submit their papers to their chosen journals by the end of the semester.

IAFF 3192 Dean's Scholars Workshop

This is the second course in the Dean’s Scholars sequence. The goal of this course is to support students in refining their projects in preparation for their research. Thus, we will revisit many of the methods we explored in the IAFF 2101 course and practice using these methods. Each student working with human subjects will complete their IRB forms and prepare all of the tools (interview questions, etc.) they will use to collect their data. Students who will not work with human subjects will spend time organizing and preparing their data for analysis. Scholars will also meet regularly with their faculty advisors and share what they are learning from these conversations. We will have multiple guest speakers who will give advice on professional development as well as the nitty gritty processes of conducting research. We will also prepare for fellowship applications and work on abstracts for future conference presentations. Finally, you will go into the summer with a detailed plan for your research and a head start on your fellowship applications.

IAFF 3501 International Development Theory, Policy, and Practice

This course will critically examine the history, theories, policies, and practices of development from an anthropological perspective. The course will analyze some of the fundamental assumptions that have informed the emergence of development, and its practices, including how the recipients of development are constituted, how development “problems” are constructed, and how different development paradigms have influenced the role of the state (either increasing it or reducing it) in implementing development. The first part of the course will review the history of development since the end of World War II to current times, critically examining the various theories and paradigms that shaped development practices and targets. The second part will be more focused in specific cases which will highlight the most important issues and features of development interventions, such as global health, the environment and climate change, war and post-conflict, democracy and human rights, or gender. The aim of this course is not to mobilize students “for” or “against” any form of development, nor is it to prepare students to do development work. Rather, the main goal of this course is to critically engage with the multiplicity of effects generated by development as policy and practice.

IAFF 4191W Research Seminar: Security Policy & Qualitative Analysis

This WID course offers you the opportunity to enhance your research, analytic, leadership, and writing skills by investigating an important contemporary or historical security policy change that is of special interest to you. Potential topics may range from traditional to non-traditional security concerns, and cover choices of war or peace, dilemmas of development or human rights, problems of gender or human security, or concerns of intelligence or conflict resolution, among others. Class discussions will employ historical case studies and breaking news events to address and resolve key dilemmas in research design, research planning, and research implementation, and causal framing, process tracing, and path dependence methodologies will be highlighted throughout. Class papers will focus on establishing the best explanation of your preferred security policy change and include policy-actor interviews as well as a practical and actionable policy recommendation for a current national or international leader.

Fall 2022

IAFF 1001 First-Year Experience

First-Year Experience assists students in developing their personal, academic, and career goals.

Registration is restricted to ESIA students only.

IAFF 1005 Introduction to International Affairs

including the causes of inter-state war, the dynamics of arms racing and arms control, the challenges of crisis management, and current inter-state flashpoints. The final section of the course examines wide-ranging challenges, including globalization and the global economy, global poverty, climate change and environmental threats, human rights and gender equality, transnational actors, information technology and cyber-security, as well as efforts to promote international cooperation and action through international organizations.

Registration is restricted to ESIA students only.

IAFF 2190 Program Design in International Affairs

Designing a program and measuring its success form the foundation of all work performed in the international development and diplomacy arenas. This course aims to provide students with the skills needed to design, implement, and evaluate an international affairs program. Drawing from the Department of State and US Agency for International Development (USAID) requests for proposals (RFP), students will learn how to research the context of the program's proposed environment, create a theory of change and a logic model to describe their program, as well as how to link their program to the Strategic Plan of the relevant agency. Students will also formulate a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) plan outlining measures and data collection tools to assess their program's performance. The final deliverable will be a proposal in response to the RFP, with comments provided by the professor.

IAFF 2190W Politics and Culture in the Middle East

This course introduces students to major political and cultural events and trends in this diverse and complex region. Thematic readings and case studies of regional states will focus on historical developments of the recent past to contextualize many present realities; examine sociological trends, with emphasis on identity, kinship, faith, and communal development; and explore colonial legacies, nationalism, modernization, and political change. This class operates as a seminar and places considerable attention on the careful reading and creative interpretation of texts. Attendance is mandatory, and active participation in discussions means critical thinking and not simply textual summaries. This is an intense course with a heavy reading load, but for students truly interested in the region, the topics will be more than stimulating – and the outcome of the course rewarding.

IAFF 2190W North Africa & The World

This WID course provides area familiarization on North Africa (Al-Maghreb) with a focus on those issues that are most relevant to an understanding and analyzing a sub-region that has a potential to greatly impact U.S. national security interests. The approach will emphasize the importance and cultural--political, economic, and social--dynamics of the countries in this subregion-- Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco, and Egypt—thematically and comparatively. Hence the heavy focus on comparative analysis. The course is also divided into four blocks. Each is arranged under separate topics and includes issues revolving around the region’s interaction with the outside world, its society and culture, areas of conflict and reconciliation, religion, gender, geo-strategic considerations, US Africa Command (U.S. policy and strategy), the Pan-Sahel CT Initiative, and many more. Most importantly, the course will focus on the current political ferment especially after the popular spring uprisings of 2011 and the current uncertainties as a result of persistent domestic, regional and international tensions. In short, it will assess the nature and character as well as the challenges of nation-building following the revolutionary upheavals in modern North Africa today.

IAFF 2190W U.S.-Asia Critical Issues

This course assesses the relevant background, status and outlook of U.S. relations with and policy toward Asia. It treats such pertinent contemporary Asian issues as the Korean peninsula, the rise of China, Japan’s future, Taiwan, territorial disputes along the rim of eastern and southeastern Asia, crises and conflicts in South Asia, terrorism, economic globalization, energy security, climate change, and regional multilateralism. The issues are assessed with a focus on U.S. relations with large Asian powers—China, Japan, India and Russia.

IAFF 2094 Europe in Transition

This course provides students with an understanding of European domestic and foreign affairs in the current context of strategic power competition. The course offers analysis of key European actors and issues: Russian warfare in Europe, Brexit, France and Germany as European powers, the rise of national populism, threats to European democracy, climate change and energy security, issues of migration and identity, increasing divisions between Western and Eastern Europe, China, and the political effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. What is the European Union’s and NATO’s role in an increasingly competitive and globalized environment? How did the Trump Administration impact Transatlantic relations and what can we expect for the West under the Biden Administration? In Europe today, what are the major issues of conflict and contention? Within the European Union, what are the competing visions? Students will leave the course possessing a broad comprehension of Europe’s most important domestic and foreign affairs.

IAFF 3181 Gender, Conflict, and Security

This course provides an introduction to understanding the gendered dimensions of security and conflict. The course will introduce students to how gender theory and perspectives may be applied to understanding issues of security and the dynamics of armed conflict and peacebuilding. The course will provide a grounding in selected thematic issues relevant to the study of gender, security, and conflict such as gendered frames for understanding militarism and combatancy, gender-based violence related to conflict and security, humanitarian response, and gendered approaches to understanding the aftermath of conflict, such as peacekeeping, peacemaking, and economic outcomes. The course is designed to combine theoretical and practice-based approaches to issues of gender, security, and conflict, drawing from interdisciplinary theoretical and policy resources, as well as case studies from differing situations of armed conflict globally. This course is a critical thinking course; you will be expected to build critical thinking and writing skills throughout the semester. Class meetings will be discussion-based rather than lecture-based.

IAFF 3180 Global Electricity Markets

This course teaches students about the structure and operation of the power grid and electricity markets. The class will discuss electric grid models, infrastructure, costs, operation, and environmental aspects of power technologies. Students will learn about electric energy, capacity, ancillary markets and how electricity is priced. The role of electric transmission and the challenges of integrating renewables and carbon pricing into the grid will also be covered. Retail electric utility regulation will also be covered along with buying and selling renewable power. Students will be able to explore their country or regional interests through a course paper.

IAFF 3180 Global Energy Security

IAFF 3182 Contemporary Uses of Military Power

IAFF 3183 Globalization and Sustainable Development

IAFF 3186 US - China Relations

This course focuses on the areas of convergence and the areas of divergence between the governments and peoples of China and the United States. It assesses the historical roots of issues of cooperation and contention between the two nations, examines the contemporary strengths and weaknesses of issues of cooperation and contention and their broader significance in determining overall Sino-American relations, and discerns likely prospects for China-U.S. relations and their international implications.

IAFF 3186 Indo-Pacific Security Challenges

To quote one scholar, the Indo-Pacific is not an intellectual confection made in Washington and foisted on an unreceptive Asia. This course examines the contemporary challenges affecting the Indo-Pacific region and proceeds geographically—from Northeast Asia (China, Japan, and the Koreas) to Southeast Asia/Oceania and then west to the South Asian subcontinent (India and Pakistan). Students concentrate on relevant political, economic, military, and non-traditional issues that influence current events and relations among the Indo-Pacific states. Writing assignments include utilization of common diplomatic communications tools—for example, a “scene-setter memo” identifying key issues/discussion points for a visit by a senior official to an Indo-Pacific country and an urgent diplomatic demarche prepared for delivery to host country officials to resolve a pressing bilateral irritant. Readings include an assigned text and multiple journal articles of recent vintage. Guest lecturers will assist students in critically assessing the roles of key regional players and understanding some of the region’s most persistent territorial disputes.

IAFF 3186 Women in Asia

IAFF 3186 Economic Development of East Asia

This course will use analytical and empirical tools from economics to address a range of questions about developing East Asia – China and the emerging economies of Southeast Asia. How does their development record -- in terms of income growth, equity, and sustainability – compare to that of developing countries elsewhere? What has underpinned their success in raising living standards and improving a range of development outcomes? What are the main challenges they now confront in sustaining their success, including in the face of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic? What should their priorities be for policy and institutional reform to address these development challenges?

IAFF 3186 International Relations of South Asia

This course will introduce you to the region of South Asia and its importance in international affairs, as a distinctive and dynamic region that is still deeply divided and facing multiple internal and external conflicts.

IAFF 3186 Christianity and Islam in East Asia

This course is a general introduction to the historical development and contemporary state of Christianity and Islam in China, Korea and Japan. It discusses how the East Asian experiences with these two religions have contributed to new understandings of secularism and modernity, ethnicity and nation-state, and the complex relationship between religion and global politics. No prerequisite. All readings will be in English.

IAFF 3187 Security in the Americas

This course will explore the rapidly changing, often confusing panorama of contemporary defense, civil-military relations, and citizen security in Latin America and the Caribbean. Students will consider frames that have guided security policies from the late Cold War to the present, with most emphasis on recent years. These include great-power competition, counter-terrorism, counter-drug and counter-organized crime policies, “ungoverned spaces,” and emerging concerns about climate, migration, and corruption. Students will consider these frames amid the present backdrop of expanding authoritarian populism, rising social protest, politicization and blurring of military and police roles, and a decline in U.S. engagement. The course will explore security models and experiences, from “Plan Colombia” and ”mano dura” strategies to those coming from civil society and the Inter-American human rights system, some of which take an expansive view of the “security sector” and its reform.

IAFF 3187 Feminist Movements in Latin America

This course examines feminist movements in Latin America, focusing on topics that provide an intellectual narrative to the construction of gender in Latin America. Organized within an intersectional and interdisciplinary framework, we will built upon an introduction to gender analysis, and use it to discuss topics such as the political participation of women; feminicide/femicide; reproductive rights; ethics of care and domestic labor; and queer rights.

IAFF 3187 Mexico Since Independence

The purpose of this course is to survey the economic, social, political and cultural development of Mexico in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including problems of economic development, poverty and inequality; different forms of social movements, rebellion and revolution; race, gender and ethnicity; U.S.-Mexico relations; and literary and intellectual movements.

IAFF 3188 American Policy in the Middle East

IAFF 3189 Security Challenges in Africa

This course introduces students to Africa's current and emerging security threats; architecture of international security as practiced by a diverse range of actors on the continent; and the policy implications thereof. It will enable students to understand, analyze, and effectively communicate the key security issues and dilemmas facing African countries and sharpen their abilities to transform academic research into the policy and practitioner realm. The course and discussions focus on the political, economic, social and environmental contexts in which threats arise, and the local, regional and international factors that fuel them. In doing so, the course examines the roles external actors, including the United States, play in these challenges, and what regional cooperation looks like in the face of issues including: climate change, maritime conflict, the threat of violent extremism, and other transnational and criminal threats. The course connects theories of international security to empirical realities using policy analysis, mixed-methods data, case studies, and ethnographies of current conflicts. It will be of use to anyone preparing for a career in or with an interest in evolving peace, security, and stability on the continent.

IAFF 3190 Refugee and Migrant Crisis

An unprecedented number of people -- 65 million -- are displaced in the world today. How did this happen and what can be done about it? The course will first examine the refugee regime in historical perspective. Where exactly do most migrants and refugees come from? Who bears the burden of protecting them? When have levels of displacement spiked in the past? And how have states and international organizations responded to past crises? After situating today's refugee and migrant crisis in historical context, the course will focus on the response to refugees and migrants from key actors like the UN, NGOs, and state governments. What are their mandates and how do they assist people on the move? Are their tools and approaches fit to purpose for the displacement crises today? Under what conditions do these institutions succeed, and what challenges do they face along the way? What are their greatest unintended effects? This section of the class will focus on organizational theory and the role of institutions in the refugee and migrant crisis.

IAFF 3190 Holocaust Memory

The sources, construction, development, nature, uses and misuses of the memory, or public consciousness, of the Holocaust. How different publics in different countries, cultures and societies know, or think they know, about the Holocaust from diaries, memoirs, testimonies, fiction, documentaries, television, commercial films, memorials, museums, the Internet, educational programs and the statements of world leaders—some of them historically accurate and some of them highly distorted. The challenge of representing the Holocaust with fidelity and memorializing its victims with dignity and authenticity. The impact of Holocaust memory on contemporary responses to other genocides and to crimes against humanity. The effectiveness—or lack of effectiveness--of Holocaust memory in teaching the Holocaust’s contemporary “lessons,” especially “Never again!”

IAFF 3190 Law and Diplomacy

This course develops an understanding of the sources of law that comprise American diplomacy and foreign policy, scope and limitations, how diplomacy relates to other instruments of national power, and the legal parameters under which diplomats operate. It also explains the interaction of international law within the US domestic legal framework. The focus of this course begins with the legal authority under which US foreign policy goals are achieved within a domestic legal framework. The second third of the course discusses the practitioner’s viewpoint and examines the intersection of law, diplomacy, and policy in the enactment of national and foreign policy objectives. The last third of the course will discuss the role and function of international organizations, the application of international treaties within US’ legal regimes, and the future of American diplomacy in a multiplex world.

IAFF 3190 Space Policy

This course is an examination of the origins, evolution, current status, and future prospects of U.S. space policies and programs. It will cover the U.S. government’s civilian, military, and national security space programs and the space activities of the U.S. private sector, and the interactions among these four sectors of U.S. space activity. This examination will be cast in the context of the space activities of other countries, and of international cooperation and competition in space. The goal of the course is to give the student an exposure to the policy debates and decisions that have shaped U.S. efforts in space to date, and to the policy issues that must be addressed in order to determine the future goals, content, pace, and organization of U.S. space activities, both public and private.

IAFF 3190 Climate Change and Social Change

While the earth's natural systems are being transformed by climate change, movements for social change in the areas of equity, justice, and environmental relations are expanding across the globe. This course prepares students to understand and engage with crucial issues at the intersection of these two trends through analysis of current events and literature from both the physical and social sciences. Students will apply what they learn in class to carry out a research project on a social issue related to climate change of their choice.

IAFF 3190W Democracy, Human Rights, and the Arab Spring

The “Arab Spring”— a moment of hope and inspiration for millions across the Arab world and beyond—has failed. Or has it? True, the last vestige of hope is fading in Tunisia, the first Arab state to turn to democracy, as it is plunged once again into autocratic rule. It's easy to conclude that the political protest movements that swept the Middle East beginning in 2011 were an ephemeral moment in time. But chords have been struck that continue to reverberate today. We consider the rise, downfall, resurgence, and future of movements for freedom and representative government, the basic demands of the Arab Spring, with a special focus on the US policy response and lessons for those who might deal with these issues in a future foreign affairs career.

The course emphasizes the various types of writing required in an international affairs career, including an op-ed format, State Department-style after-action and information memoranda, and a final research paper. Collaborative writing techniques and oral feedback will be incorporated into written work, just as it is government. Oral presentations and persuasive argumentation will be a key component as student groups’ findings are subject to critique in class discussions.

IAFF 3190W Masculinities in International Affairs

IAFF 3191W Populism and Regime Change in Latin America

Populism continues to be a recurring phenomenon throughout Latin America. Globalization, neo-liberalism and democratization, while improving conditions in many countries, have been less successful in others or failed to meet rising expectations for progress. That has left an opening for populism to emerge. The course is divided into five clusters. First, we establish a theoretical framework for thinking about classical and contemporary examples of populism. Second, we analyze the paradigmatic cases of Latin American populism in the twentieth century (Perón and Vargas in Argentina and Brazil, respectively 1930-1960). Third, we examine “neo-populism” in the 1990s and Leftwing rentier populism in the 21st century. Fourth, we examine examples of populism going global in advanced industrial states, including the United States. Fifth, we conclude by examining the legacies, futures, and institutionalization puzzles that surround populism in Latin America.

IAFF 3193W ESIA Dean's Scholars Seminar

IAFF 3196 - Internship Professional Development Seminar

Departmental approval is required to register. To register for this course, email Elizabeth Boesen at [email protected].

IAFF 3210W Migration, Gender, and International Development

Particularly during the last two decades, research has come to address how relations of gendered and other aspects of disparity can affect decisions of whether to migrate, which household members do so, migration flow patterns, and migrant experiences. Studies also examine how these relations engage with development: it is known that migration occurs in response to socioeconomic opportunity as well as to hardship, crisis, or need yet it remains in debate whether and which migrants might benefit.

Students in this course will learn to effectively synthesize and discuss questions about scholarship on migration, international development, and gender and other aspects of inequality. Students will critically examine and effectively communicate published research on migration, development, and gender and the policies and programs that operate in response.

IAFF 3501 International Development Theory, Policy, and Practice

IAFF 3513 Human Rights and Ethics

IAFF 4191W Research Seminar: International Conflict and Contentious Politics

Summer 2022

IAFF 3172 Conflict and Conflict Resolution

IAFF 3187 Racial & Ethnic Politics in Latin America

This course explores the changing and complex interactions between racial and ethnic politics and hegemonic power in Latin America. It begins with a historic background and it asks questions such as: what are the strengths, weaknesses, and strategies of afro-descendent and ethnic social movements? Why do they succeed or fail? Why are they strong or weak in different countries? Why do we have successful indigenous political parties in Bolivia and Ecuador but not in Peru and Guatemala, nor successful black movements in Colombia and Brazil?

By examining questions such as these, located at the intersection of ethnic and racial movements and social and political power, the course aims not only at explaining the nature of the link but also at addressing the question of what type of activism and legal-institutional changes are more likely to advance the cause of diversity and inclusion in Latin America.

IAFF 3188 Sharia and State in Egypt

The course would consider the interaction of the structures of a modern state with the Islamic legal heritage: How does a complex state with an array of bureaucratic and legal structures to cover education, resource allocation, criminal law, family life, etc--but also a state that proclaims Islam the official religion and the principles of the Islamic sharia as the main source of legislation--handle religion? The course would examine the questions raised comparatively and then focus specifically on the Egyptian experience. Parts would be conducted in conjunction with a similar class at AUC through teleconferencing and zoom. Joint parts would involve small group interaction, including a week-long simulation at the end in which students from the two institutions form teams to draft suggested reforms to Egypt's family law, the area where the most contentious debates about religion and state focus.

Spring 2022

1001 First Year Experience

First-Year Experience assists students in developing their personal, academic, and career goals. Restricted to students in the Elliott School.

Restricted to students in the Elliott School.

1005 Introduction to International Affairs

This course introduces students to prominent analytical frameworks that help to explain important issues in international politics. The course is divided into three sections: international order, security challenges, and political economy.

Restricted to students in the Elliott School.

2040 Career Management & Strategy for IA

The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the basic concepts of career development and the job search, including self-assessment, career decision-making, career exploration, and the employability skills to pursue, obtain and succeed in jobs and careers of their choice.

Restricted to ESIA sophomores, juniors, and seniors only. 1.0 Credit. Pass/No Pass. Elective credit only.

2040 Global Insights

Restricted to those that are in the Global Bachelor's Program. Department approval required to register.

2040 Global Inquiries

Restricted to those that are in the Global Bachelor's Program. Department approval required to register.

2090 Latin America: Problems & Promise

This course introduces students to Latin America, a region of the world that has served as a virtual laboratory of capitalism and democracy over the last century. This course is designed to introduce undergraduates to the diverse, rich, and complex history, politics, economy, culture, and society of Latin America. However, emphasis will be placed on political and economic issues, given their fundamental importance to regional trends over the last several decades. Notably, students will complement readings with other learning tools, such as media and film, which will help them better understand the region.

Approved for: Comp. Political, Economic & Social Systems (EFCA); Int’l Politics (EFCH); Latin America (ERCD); Latin America: Regional Foundation (ERFB)

2091 East Asia Past & Present

East Asia has undergone dramatic changes since the end of World War II: political independence for a number of the states, rapid economic development for some countries, and social and political transformation. This course will examine these transformations in both national and regional contexts, with a focus on China, Japan, Korea, and selected countries of Southeast Asia.

Approved for: Comp. Political, Economic & Social Systems (EFCA); Int’l Politics (EFCH); Asia (ERCB); Asia Regional Foundation (ERFC)

2093 Africa Problems & Prospects

Approved for: Comp. Political, Economic & Social Systems (EFCA); Int’l Politics (EFCH); Africa Regional Foundation (ERFA); Africa (ERCA)

2094 Europe in Transition

Approved for: Comp. Political, Economic & Social Systems (EFCA); Int’l Politics (EFCH); Europe & Eurasia Regional Foundation (ERFD); Europe & Eurasia (ERCC)

2095 The Middle East in International Affairs

Approved for: Conflict Resolution (EFCB); Security Policy (EFCI); Middle East (ERCE); Middle East Regional Foundations (ERFE)

2101 International Affairs Research Methods

Approved for: Research Methods (ESRM)

2101 IA Research Methods- Qualitative

This course is designed to introduce to students qualitative research methods. Students will learn about the nature and application of qualitative research. It includes a thorough discussion of qualitative research design and the role of concepts and theory in guiding research design. The course will train students in conceptualization, formulation of problem statements and research questions, data collection, and data analysis. The class begins with research problems, questions and designs followed by introduction to four types of qualitative research: ethnography, grounded theory, case study, phenomenology. The course will be a merge of theories and practice including lectures, group discussion, presentations, and research exercises. Students will be assigned a pilot research study as a part of the course requirement to be a means of practicing the concepts and research skills they learn throughout the course.

Approved for: Research Methods (ESRM)

2190W Arab Politics

Approved for: Comp. Political, Economic & Social Systems (EFCA); Conflict Resolution (EFCB); Int’l Development (EFCE); Int’l Politics (EFCH); Middle East (ERCE); Middle East Regional Foundation (ERFE); Security Policy (EFCI)

2190W Turkey and Its Neighbors

This course focuses on modern Turkey and its current relationship to the Caucasus, Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, the European Union, and Central Asia. It will cover Turkish domestic and foreign policy with a particular focus on Turkey’s rapidly changing relations with the Middle East, Europe and the United States. It reinforces ideas and concepts that impact on Turkey's domestic, regional, and international dynamics. The course will also make a special effort to analyze the driving factors behind Turkey’s new interest in the Middle East. In what represents a remarkable departure from its policy of non-involvement, Turkey is once again becoming an important regional player in the Middle East. The first part of the course will broadly cover Turkey’s domestic dynamic and The second part of the course will mainly focus on Turkey’s changing external environment.

Approved for: Comp. Political, Economic & Social Systems (EFCA); Conflict Resolution (EFCB); Int’l Development (EFCE); Int’l Politics (EFCH); Middle East (ERCE); Security Policy (EFCI)

2190W Terrorism & Counterterrorism Policy

The course will provide an introduction to the topic of terrorism as a major question for US foreign policy. The class will examine the evolution of modern terrorism as a threat to the United States, and the nature of U.S. policy responses to it. After evaluating the events leading to the 9/11 attacks and the US government response, the focus of the class will be on a series of discrete policy problems in the world of counterterrorism response, including: Countering the narrative of violent extremism; problems of effective organization in the intelligence community; the use of drones; countering terrorist finance; countering terrorism travel; the protection of privacy and civil liberties; dealing with past abuses relating to rendition, detentions and interrogations; the future of Afghanistan post-withdrawal of US and allied forces; and the threat from ISIS. There will be a heavy emphasis on writing.

Approved for: Conflict Resolution (EFCB); Int’l Politics (EFCH); Security Policy (EFCI)

2444 International Law

This course will cover the fundamental underpinnings of international law, with a focus on Public International Law, and address specialized topics ranging from environmental law to the law of war. At the end of the course, students should be conversant with the international legal order and have a strong understanding of the law’s applicability to international issues. Among the many purposes of the course, the following are the most prominent: (i) to introduce students to international law and the role that it plays in international affairs; and (ii) to develop and strengthen students' analytical and communication skills through discussion and writing.

Equivalent to PSC 2444.

Approved for: Conflict Resolution (EFCB); Int’l Politics (EFCH); Int’l/Comparative Politics Adv. Fund. (ESIP); Security Policy (EFCI)

3172 Conflict and Conflict Resolution

Approved for: Conflict Resolution (EFCB); Int’l Politics (EFCH); Security Policy (EFCI)

3179 Space in International Affairs

Approved for: Int’l Politics (EFCH); Security Policy (EFCI)

3180 Space Power in Global Affairs

This course will address international space policy issues facing the United States and places them in the larger context of technological advances and a changing international strategic environment. The course will briefly examine the technical, historical and policy foundations for U.S. and international space programs and activities. It will then address current issues facing U.S. space programs as a result of globalization (more state actors in space) and democratization (more non-government actors in space). The course will also address strategic choices facing other nations in space activities, including cooperation and competition among U.S., European, Chinese, and Russian space capabilities, and developing indigenous space programs. Conflicts over dual-use technologies, such as space launch, remote sensing, satellite navigation, and communications, will be examined for their impacts on a wide range of national interests.

Approved for: Int’l Politics (EFCH); Security Policy (EFCI)

3180 Air Power and International Politics

Approved for: Int’l Politics (EFCH); Security Policy (EFCI)

3180 Globalization and National Security

This course examines the phenomenon of globalization, its drivers, and its implications on U.S. national security in the 21st century. Globalization has revolutionized and accelerated the way goods, services, information, and ideas are sourced, produced, delivered, and circulated worldwide. This course analyzes the different socio-economic drivers of globalization and concludes with an evaluation of national and international strategies to address the national security challenges posed by globalization.

Approved for: Conflict Resolution (EFCB); Int’l Development (EFCE); Int’l Economics (EFCF); Int’l Environmental Studies (EFCG); Int’l Politics (EFCH); Security Policy (EFCI)

3180 Global Energy Markets

Approved for: Int’l Development (EFCE); Int’l Economics (EFCF); Int’l Environmental Studies (EFCG); Int’l Politics (EFCH); Security Policy (EFCI)

IAFF 3180 Gender, Conflict & Security

Approved for: Conflict Resolution (EFCB); Contemp. Cultures & Societies (EFCC); Int’l Development (EFCE); Int’l Economics (EFCF); Security Policy (EFCI)

3180W Security Policy & Qualitative Analysis

This course will develop and enhance your research, analytical, and writing skills by covering the essential steps of research design, research planning, and research implementation. Students will pick an issue in international politics and/or security policy and will have an opportunity to write an original paper that can contribute to contemporary foreign and security policy debates. Focusing on the use of qualitative data and analysis, the course will encompass the systematic use of causal framing, process tracing, and path dependence methodologies in policy investigation and assessment.

Approved for: Conflict Resolution (EFCB); Int’l Politics (EFCH); Int’l & Comp. Politics Advanced Fundamental (ESIP); Security Policy (EFCI); Research Methods (ESRM)

3181 Israeli-Palestinian Peacebuilding

Approved for: Conflict Resolution (EFCB); Int’l Politics (EFCH); Middle East (ERCE); Security Policy (EFCI)

3182 China’s Rise and Implications

Approved for: Asia (ERCB); Comp. Political, Economic & Social Systems (EFCA); Int’l Development (EFCE); Int’l Politics (EFCH); Security Policy (EFCI)

3183 Human Trafficking

This class will introduce students to the complex global phenomenon of human trafficking. In this class, we will discuss trafficking in human beings in its historical, legal, economic, political and social contexts, identifying the scope of the global problem, different forms of human trafficking, regional trends and practices. We will discuss the complexity of human trafficking in order to understand root causes in a globalized world as well as the relationship between supply and demand in diverse forms of trafficking. We will examine the roles of government, specifically federal law enforcement, the international community, civil society, the media and individual actors in addressing the problem and will conclude with strategies that have proven effective in different parts of the world.

Approved for: Conflict Resolution (EFCB); Contemp. Cultures & Societies (EFCC); Global Public Health (EFCD); Int’l Development (EFCE); Int’l Politics (EFCH); Security Policy (EFCI)

3183 Int’l Energy & Environmental Regulations

This course will focus on the development and implementation of energy and environmental regulations and deregulation and how they affect international affairs. This course will discuss regulations and deregulation of petroleum, natural gas, liquefied natural gas, coal, nuclear power and electricity of various countries and regions. Students will learn about how the European Union and member states, Canada, Mexico, South America, Asia and North America regulate the extraction of energy fuels, processing and refining and transmission of fuels to customers. The course will compare the various approaches used to regulate electricity generation, storage, transmission and distribution in various countries and regions. The course will also discuss the growing conflicts between energy and environmental regulations that are used to protect air, water, coastal resources, cultural and socioeconomic resources and discuss the capacity of government institutions to adequately regulate energy infrastructure and protect the environment. The course is aimed at students interested in an overall understanding of global energy regulation and can be aimed at student pursuing regional studies. Students can pursue regional interests through projects. Contemporary examples will be used extensively in this class.

Approved for: Int’l Development (EFCE); Int’l Economics (EFCF); Int’l Environ. Studies (EFCG); Int’l Politics (EFCH)

3184 Rising Market Powers & 21st Century Globalization

Restricted to juniors and seniors.

Prerequisites: ECON 1011 & ECON 1012, or PSC 2439.

Approved for: Int’l Politics (EFCH); Comp. Political, Economic & Social Systems (EFCA); Int’l Development (EFCE); Int’l Economics (EFCF);

3185 EU and Russia

Russia’s annexation of Crimea, its role in the Donbas conflict, and its involvement in Syria have tested the European Union’s ability to act as a coherent and effective security actor. If it is true that Putin’s Russia threatens the Western-led liberal order, the Kremlin in so doing fundamentally endangers the European project, just as the latter also finds itself unsettled by the prospect of Brexit. In Ukraine and Syria, the underpinnings of the EU’s strategic outlook have been challenged; indeed, some argue that basic flaws in the EU’s foreign policy triggered the two crises in the first place. “Civilian power Europe”, the EU’s hesitant Security and Defense Policy, and its “Neighborhood Policy” (specifically the “Eastern Partnership”) now confront the specter of a “multipolar Europe”; of so-called hybrid threats; and of deliberate attempts to weaken democratic compacts. In addition, Donald Trump’s election puts in doubt Europe’s ability to act as part of a cohesive “West” (including by way of NATO) in a supposed “post-American world”. Lastly, recent elections such as in France and Germany suggest that the current features of the EU’s response to the Russian challenge might soon be revised. In the end, the EU’s Russia policy is a litmus test of tectonic changes that will fundamentally redefine the nature of global power, the landscape of threats, and the values that underpin international security in the 21st century.

Approved for: Europe & Eurasia Regional Foundation (ERFD); Europe & Eurasia (ERCC); Int’l Politics (EFCH); Security Policy (EFCI)

3185 Ukraine & Georgia between Russia & the West

The current Russo‐Ukrainian crisis has regional and global ramifications, as did the 2008 Russo‐Georgian War. The course examines these conflicts and places them in the wider context of Russian‐Western relations, relations between Russia and its neighbors, and the relations between the West and Ukraine and Georgia. The policies of the relevant parties are analyzed against the backdrop of processes and issues such as NATO and EU enlargement, the “post‐Soviet” countries’ aspirations to define their national identities and roles in a wider European security order, Russia’s changing foreign policy, energy security, and domestic politics. The course combines a historical perspective with application of International Relations theory on issues such as national security decision making.

Cross-listed with graduate course. Restricted to juniors & seniors.

Approved for: Europe & Eurasia (ERCC); Int’l Politics (EFCH); Security Policy (EFCI)

3186 Asian Order & Community Building

Asia, perhaps the world’s most dynamic region, is currently in a state of flux and high uncertainty. This course analyzes major aspects of international relations of Asia, by specifically focusing on both the evolution and the current state of regional order and patterns of intra-regional interaction in terms of both cooperation and competition. After reviewing key concepts and critical historical developments, the course first focuses on major regional actors, such as China, Japan, ASEAN, and India, and assesses their respective policy preferences and approaches toward regional order, governance and community-building. It then examines existing regional institutions and coordination networks, both formal and informal, in various issue areas, including trade and finance, human rights, environment, and popular culture production. One unique feature of this course is that students will have a rare opportunity to interact with prominent guest lecturers who will share their expertise and experience regarding concrete regional actors and contemporary policy issues. In addition to developing the knowledge and analytical tools for discerning the current state of regional order, students will undertake focused research to write a major paper on their chosen subject pertaining to some aspect of emerging order and community-building in Asia.

Approved for: Asia (ERCB); Regional Foundations: Asia (ERFC); Comp. Political, Economic & Social Systems (EFCA); Int’l Politics (EFCH); Security Policy (EFCI)

3186 North Korean Policymaking & Foreign Relations

This course examines critical issues facing policymakers in and around North Korea and has two purposes. The first is to provide students with the factual and conceptual knowledge of North Korea, its ordinary people and leaders, their ideological beliefs, political and cultural attitudes, policy issues and ideas, policymaking institutions and processes so that students can analyze the North Korea’s relations with the United States, China, Japan, and Russia; evaluatePyongyang’s nuclear strategy and diplomacy; assess how it copes with international sanctions and humanitarian challenges; critique the North's strategy of unification, its policy towards the South, inter-Korean relations, and prospects for Korean reunification; and produce the plausible scenarios of alternative futures on the Korean peninsula. The second purpose is to introduce main DPRK and North Korea-related open sources available online in the public domain for policy relevant research and analysis.

Approved for: Economic & Social Systems (EFCA); Int’l Politics (EFCH); Security Policy (EFCI); Asia (ERCB)

3186 North Korean Society & Culture

This course examines critical issues facing policymakers in and around North Korea and has two purposes. The first is to provide students with the factual and conceptual knowledge of North Korea, its ordinary people and leaders, their ideological beliefs, political and cultural attitudes, policy issues and ideas, policymaking institutions and processes so that students can analyze the North Korea’s relations with the United States, China, Japan, and Russia; evaluate Pyongyang’s nuclear strategy and diplomacy; assess how it copes with international sanctions and humanitarian challenges; critique the North's strategy of unification, its policy towards the South, inter-Korean relations, and prospects for Korean reunification; and produce the plausible scenarios of alternative futures on the Korean peninsula. The second purpose is to introduce main DPRK and North Korea-related open sources available online in the public domain for policy relevant research and analysis.

Approved for: Asia (ERCB); Comp. Political, Economic & Social Systems (EFCA); Contemp. Cultures & Societies (EFCC); Contemp. Cultures & Societies (EFCC); Comp. Political, Economic & Social Systems (EFCA)

3186 South Asia Politics Through Literature & Film

This course will explore South Asia’s breathtaking political, social and economic variation through literature and film. Students will harness insights from the realm of art to enhance their understanding of the legacies of colonialism, the political logic of communal strife, the nature of civil war and the causes of gender bias. Students will learn to develop arguments to explain variation by comparing, contrasting and synthesizing competing social scientific perspectives and to support their arguments with details from textual and visual materials. Through this exploration, students will develop a working familiarity with South Asian politics and society as well as a deeper appreciation for the unique ability of literature and film to illuminate the region’s enduring challenges.

Approved for: Approved for: Regional Foundations: Asia (ERFC); Asia (ERCB) (Group A & B); Conflict Resolution (EFCB); Int’l Politics (EFCH); Int’l Development (EFCE); Contemp. Cultures & Societies (EFCC); Comp. Political, Economic & Social Systems (EFCA)

3186 War Memory & Reconciliation in East Asia

Seventy-six years after Japan’s defeat in World War II, virulent disagreement over the memory and meaning of the war continues to dominate East Asian international relations. Why is it that memory of the war remains so contentious and how come efforts to achieve reconciliation between Japan and its neighbors have mostly failed? This class will answer these questions by exploring how memory of World War II has continuously evolved in postwar East Asia and shaped the identities and politics of the region’s nations.

Approved for: Approved for: Regional Foundations: Asia (ERFC); Asia (ERCB) (Group A); Conflict Resolution (EFCB); Int’l Politics (EFCH); Comp. Political, Economic & Social Systems (EFCA)

3187 Latin American Migration

The aim of this course is to understand the push and pull factor that have contributed to human mobility (migration) that has transformed the Americas. The class is divided in two parts: Latin American immigration and Latin America migration to the United States. We will be interested in studying the migration shifts that have occurred in Latin America and the theories that help explain them. The themes that will be addressed are the history of migration within Latin America and to North America, the impact of this migration on both sending and receiving countries, and the various policy strategies and issues concerning migration. In order to capture the social and cultural consequences of modern mass migration, films and novels will be used to supplement the themes of the course.

Approved for: Comp. Political, Economic & Social Systems (EFCA); Contemp. Cultures & Societies (EFCC); Int’l Development (EFCE); Int’l Economics (EFCF); Int’l Politics (EFCH); Latin America (ERCD)

3187 Contemporary Issues of US - Mexico Relations

This course examines the current drivers of the US-Mexico relationship, and uses concrete issues and recent junctures of the relationship to explore and understand both the policy and decision-making processes as well as the outcomes. It will provide students with a holistic understanding of the multifaceted agenda that makes this relationship so unique for US foreign and domestic policy. The course will also place the US-Mexico relationship in a larger geostrategic context -North American, hemispheric and global. This is not a "history of US-Mexico relations" course, though some readings on key defining moments will be required for context. The course will entail issue-driven policy simulation exercises in the latter portion of the semester in order to ensure that students understand both the issues but also the praxis and actual decision-making processes of this vastly complex relationship.

Cross-listed with graduate course. Restricted to juniors & seniors.

Approved for: Int’l Politics (EFCH); Latin America (ERCD)

3187 Latin America Geopolitics & Geoeconomy

This course will analyze the geopolitics and geoeconomics in Latin America. At the intersection of both lies geopolitics as an instrument to promote economic goals and geoeconomics as a tool to advance geopolitical goals. Both seek to alter the balance of power and influence of the countries in the international arena. How has this interaction evolved as domestic politics underwent turmoil and the international arena drastic changes? What are the implications for the future? The course will consist of lectures, student presentations, talks by guest speakers, and research work. By the end of the semester, students will have a solid grasp of facts, concepts, and trends and develop critical analytical skills.

Cross-listed with graduate course.

Approved for: Latin America (ERCD) Int’l Development (EFCE); Int’l Economics (EFCF); Int’l Politics (EFCH); Comp. Political, Economic & Social Systems (EFCA); Latin America: Regional Foundation (ERFB)

3187 Argentina in Global Context

Approved for: Latin America (ERCD); Comp. Political, Economic & Social Systems (EFCA)

3187 Race in Brazil

The categories of race and ethnicity in Brazil are complex and best understood through a perspective that highlights the relationship between identity formation and historical process. Colonialism, Slavery, and Authoritarianism are major events in Brazilian history that suppressed freedom, furthered racial inequality, and constructed race and racism. This course is organized around a timeline that aims to focus on the development of racialized and gendered identities to have a better understanding of race in Brazil today. Central themes this course addresses are the Brazilian frontier, the plantation, urban growth, and democracy.

Approved for: Latin America (ERCD), Comp. Political, Economic & Social Systems (EFCA); Contemp. Cultures & Societies (EFCC)

3187 HR Systems: Interamerican, UN & EU

This course will examine the origins, structure and functions of the United Nations human rights system and the main regional human rights systems (the Inter-American and the European systems). It will focus on their work in protecting and promoting human rights and their respective procedures, effectiveness, and challenges. Special attention will be given to the legal instruments and to analyzing how human rights standards and diplomatic practices have evolved and have been institutionalized in international relations. The course will also focus on the political conditions under which these systems developed and how they have led to a reinterpretation of the principles of sovereignty and non-intervention.

The objective of the course is to enable students to understand human rights systems and their different procedures and remedies. Students should be able to identify the legal instruments for each system and to analyze their application and their effectiveness in protecting human rights.

Registration is restricted to juniors and seniors only.

Approved for: Latin America (ERCD); Int’l Politics (EFCH)

3187 Economic & Social Development of Latin America

This course takes a historical and comparative view to the economic and social evolution of Latin America and the Caribbean, and discusses the main interpretations about that evolution, in the context of global developments and in comparison to other developing regions. The course will briefly discuss the colonial roots and independence, the period of growth in the second half of the 19th century, and the difficult decades of the first half of the 20th century marked by two world wars and the Great Depression. The main focus however, will be on the post WWII period, going through the period of import substitution and the Alliance for Progress, the shocks of the 1970s, the 1980s debt crisis, the more market-oriented and democratic period that started in the 1990s, and the new and uncertain phase that opened after the financial crisis of 2009. The course will also look at different public policies related to productive, macroeconomic, social, and institutional aspects.

Cross-listed with graduate course. Restricted to juniors & seniors.

Approved for: Int’l Development (EFCE); Latin America (ERCD): Latin America: Regional Foundation (ERFB)

3188 Arabic Literature: Arabia to America

This course will introduce Arabic literature beginning in the sixth century and continuing into the modern era. We will read selections in translation from representative works of Arabic literature from many different genres including classical love, praise, boast and lampoon poetry. We will also read selections from Arabic stories and anecdotes, advice literature, the modern Arabic novel and modern poetry. In addition we will explore the Qur’an and its influence on the Arabic literary tradition. We will treat Arabic literature not as a static text frozen in time, but as part of a living tradition, with an emphasis on its performance, reception and cultural impact. Students will study Arabic literature in its relationship to other world literatures, and will be encouraged to explore parallels between it and other works of literature.

Approved for: Humanities (ESHC); Middle East (ERCE) (This course is cross-listed with ARAB 3105, therefore students can use this course towards Group A or Group B)

3188 The Middle East Since WWII

This intensive reading seminar surveys the key political, economic, social, and cultural transformations of the Middle East from 1945 to the present day. Geographically, we will focus on Algeria, Iran, and the central successor states of the Ottoman Empire (Egypt, Israel/Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia). Thematically, we will pay particular attention to post-WWII geopolitics and the Cold War, including the role of U.S. power and American intervention; decolonization, Nasserism, and pan-Arabism; the Palestinian-Israeli conflict; the origins and spread of political Islam and Islamic social movements; neoliberalism and the political economy of oil; civil war and sectarian conflict; and youth rebellion. The readings each week have been curated to offer both a broad chronological overview of the major changes that took place at a particular time and place and examples of how ordinary people experienced and contributed to those changes on the ground.

Approved for: Int’l Politics (EFCH); Middle East (ERCE); Middle East: Regional Foundation (ERFE); Security Policy (EFCI)

3188 National Security Lab: Middle East

This heart of this course is a semester-length simulation of the national security decision-making process, in which students role play members of the US National Security Council. During the course, students will respond to an ever-shifting crisis in the Middle East that will test substantive knowledge, analytical capacity, negotiating skills, and written and oral communication abilities. They will navigate a challenging political/military landscape, interagency battles, occasionally runic intelligence updates, duplicitous allies, and a sometimes mercurial president. Students will learn in detail about the functions and responsibilities of the officials they embody, current real-world regional dynamics of the Middle East, and how national security decisionmaking and the interagency process work. They will apply what they learn in simulations of NSC, Principals, Deputies, and Policy Coordinating Committee meetings. These activities will be supported by readings, lectures, and guest speakers. Intended for future foreign policy practitioners, and those who just want to know more about how the sausage is made.

Approved for: Security Policy (EFCI); Int’l Politics (EFCH); Middle East (ERCE) (approved for Group A)

3189 Africa & the World

The aim of this course is to help students understand Sub-Saharan Africa and interrogate the "Africa Rising" narrative. The course will question the narrative and examine the assumptions that have informed positive and negative outlooks on the continent. It will also look at interstate relations in Africa and the place of Africa in World affairs.

Approved for: Africa Regional Foundation (ERFA); Africa (ERCA); Int’l Development (EFCE); Int’l Politics (EFCH)

3189 West African Film & Culture

This multidisciplinary course combines a study of film and literature. Students will explore the thematic tendencies of cinema in West Africa. Gender discourse, tradition, class, social and political change, and the constant quest for emancipation will serve as the theoretical perspective to analyze the films. In the course students will review and analyze a wide range of cinematic content displaying cultural, political and economic issues. In literature, using the same theoretical approach, the course will cover the colonial era, the years of independence and post-independence. At the end of the course, students will have acquired an understanding of African cinema and culture through the lenses of general theories in film studies and literary criticism.

Approved for: Africa (ERCA); Humanities (ESHC), Comp. Political, Economic & Social Systems (EFCA); Int’l Politics (EFCH); Int’l Development (EFCE); Contemp. Cultures & Societies (EFCC)

3189 Hip Hop & Social Change in Africa

This course examines the development of hip hop culture throughout Africa, focusing on the rise of hip hop in Africa and the role of hip hop culture as a method of social commentary. The course will also look at case studies of hip hop communities throughout Africa, showing the diversity among hip hop communities in Africa.

Approved for: Africa (ERCA) (Approved for Group A or B); Contemp. Cultures & Societies (EFCC); Humanities (ESHC)

3189 Ethnic and Religion Conflict in Africa

The course will introduce students to the systematic study of ethnic and religious violence, to the key concepts in conflict studies, and to major episodes of ethnic and religious violence in Africa. The course places an emphasis on post-Cold War conflicts –frequently referred to as ‘new wars’–though it includes an examination of historical context and long-term trends. The course addresses the basic question of whether the nature of war has changed and it sheds light on why this question is both central and controversial to scholars of violent conflict. The course will also introduce students to the data used to examine ethnic conflict through an overview of data collection, research design, and surveys. Empirical data will allow students to actively engage with quantitative reasoning as they conduct their own analysis.

Approved for: Africa (ERCA); Africa: Regional Foundation (ERFA); Conflict Resolution (EFCB); Contemp. Cultures & Societies (EFCC); Int’l Politics (EFCH)

3189 Africa Declassified

This course examines how Cold War rivalries shaped US intelligence analysis on sub-Saharan Africa from the 1950s to the 1990s. The course will focus on specific African countries to understand how analysts explained political, economic, and security developments during an era of geopolitical competition. The course reviews declassified intelligence assessments, as well as journalistic reports and diplomatic memoirs to evaluate how intelligence and analytic tradecraft informed US decisionmaking on sub-Saharan Africa. Through these case studies, students will learn about the opportunities, challenges, and pitfalls for intelligence professionals and foreign policy practitioners.

Approved for: Africa (ERCA) (Group A); Africa: Regional Foundation (ERFA); Conflict Resolution (EFCB); Contemp. Cultures & Societies (EFCC); Int’l Politics (EFCH); Security Policy (EFCI)

3190 Wartime Governance Challenges in Afghanistan

The course will provide an Afghan perspective on critical issues facing Afghanistan’s post-9/11 political order. Against the backdrop of Afghanistan’s historical and indigenous social change efforts, internal political divisions, and active insurgency, students will be exposed to the country’s post-2001 trajectory of ambitious, internationally sponsored reconstruction and state-building. Students will assess and understand the challenges of wartime governance.

Approved for: Comp. Political, Economic & Social Systems (EFCA); Conflict Resolution (EFCB); Int’l Development (EFCE); Int’l Politics (EFCH); Security Policy (EFCI)

3190 Strategic Management & Qualitative Analysis

This course introduces students to basic tools of strategic management and planning in the context of international affairs. With applications from policies and programs based primarily in Africa, students will learn the basics of strategic thinking and analysis and begin to develop related instincts through the application of specific tools and approaches, including, for example, SWOT analysis, stakeholder analysis, force field analysis, and appreciative inquiry.

Strategic management tools are only as impactful as they are living, and tools live through people. The course will situate strategic management within human relations, competing interests, and motivation and commitment. Ultimately, the course asks and provides guiding frameworks for answering the question, “how does change happen?”

Registration is restricted to juniors and seniors.

Approved for: Africa (ERCA); Conflict Resolution (EFCB); Int’l Development (EFCE); Int’l Politics (EFCH); Int’l Economics (EFCF); Comp. Political, Economic & Social Systems (EFCA); Global Public Health (EFCD); Int’l Environmental Studies (EFCG); Research Methods (ESRM)

3190 Humanitarian Assistance & Int’l Development Law

The course will provide an overview of international development and humanitarian assistance activities and the policies, authorities, and institutions that shape them.

Approved for: Conflict Resolution (EFCB); Int’l Development (EFCE); Int’l Politics (EFCH)

3190 International Business & Modern Slavery

This class will explore the global scourge of modern slavery and the role and responsibility of international business for prevention in their business operations. Once almost exclusively tackled by governments, international organizations and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), corporations are taking an increasingly active role in combating human trafficking and unfair labor practices. Increased government regulation around the world has moved this issue onto the agendas of corporate boardrooms. Throughout the course, we will examine root causes of modern slavery and the impact of globalization. We will understand the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and their impact on corporate behavior. We will explore international NGO advocacy groups’ efforts to improve human rights performance by corporations and assess the evolving role of government regulations to encourage and enforce corporate accountability for modern slavery in supply chains.

Approved for: Int’l Development (EFCE); Int’l Economics (EFCF); Int’l Politics (EFCH)

3190 Issues of Contemporary Diplomacy & National Security

This course is a historically-oriented class which evaluates the current administration's national security grand strategy, primarily as expressed in official strategy documents, speeches, and Congressional testimony. The course also assesses significant regional (i.e. Europe, the Pacific, and Mideast) and topical themes (i.e. nuclear weapons). It broadly compares and contrasts contemporary U.S. approaches with the perspective of other recent administrations, and with competing scholarly observations about the U.S. role in the world which have been advanced over the last 70 years. The course is designed to equip students with lasting skills to interpret defense and foreign policies of past, present, and future U.S. administrations.

3190 Oil: Industry, Economy, Society

This course take a multidisciplinary approach (primarily political economy and management) to oil and its effects on business, nation-states and the world economy. The first half of the course adopts a top-down viewpoint, examining the global oil environment. The second half is more bottom-up, using cases to grapple with industry issues. In addition to the specific objectives below, the course uses oil as a vehicle for applying and deepening understanding of intentional-business concepts. As by far the largest global industry, oil reflects and influences broader sociopolitical issues and developments, facilitating its pedagogic use. The course is conducted in a mixture of seminar and lecture formats, and active participation is expected.

Cross-listed with graduate course. Restricted to juniors & seniors.

Approved for: Comp. Political, Economic & Social Systems (EFCA); Int’l Economics (EFCF)

3190 Holocaust Memory

Approved for: Comp. Political, Economic & Social Systems (EFCA); Conflict Resolution (EFCB); Contemp. Cultures & Societies (EFCC); Int’l Politics (EFCH); Europe & Eurasia (ERCC); Security Policy (EFCI)

3190 Environmental Rights & Justice

This course examines the place of environmental concerns in rights debates, both in theory and practice. It does so by situating environmental concerns within the relationship of rights and justice. First, we will examine the actualization of rights via law and, by extension, justice. What counts as justice? Who renders this? What forms does justice take? What counts as just? After this overview of justice, we will turn to the specifics of environmental concerns. Do people have environmental rights? If so, what are these? Can environmental rights claims be achieved without also providing people with certain resource rights? For example, do people have a right to potable water, clean air, affordable energy, and safe food sources? More broadly, can such rights claims be reconciled with public policies which emphasize efficiency, privatization of public goods, and market competition? To provide context to our discussions, we will examine specific environmental realities in a range of countries.

Approved for: Int’l Environmental Studies (EFCG)

3190 Transforming Global International Internet Law

This seminar on the transformation in global communications and information law and policy will cover the rapid evolution of communications and information services and initiatives by national governments and international organizations to create new legal and policy frameworks. Topics are expected to include trends around the world in privacy and data protection, human rights, control of communications and data, internet governance, online content, approaches to cybersecurity, emerging technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence, and digital trade. The course will provide students an understanding of the current law and policy debates in these areas, the complex ways policy is shaped, the perspectives of multiple stakeholders, and the tools for addressing similar law and policy questions going forward. The seminar will be cross-disciplinary, highly interactive in approach, and relevant to various tracks. Taught by a practitioner with more than 25 years of experience in international law and policy, this course will provide students a blend of substantive and practice expertise.

Approved for: Int’l Politics (EFCH); Security Policy (EFCI)

3190 Populist Authoritarianism

Approved for: Int’l/Comparative Politics Adv. Fund. (ESIP); Int’l Politics (EFCH); Comp. Political, Economic & Social Systems (EFCA)

3190 ESIA Dean's Scholars Publication Workshop

Instructor signature required to register. This course is restricted to students in the ESIA Dean's Scholars Program. Register for this course through the ESIA Academic Programs & Student Services office.

3192 ESIA Dean's Scholars Workshop

3195 Internship

Departmental approval required to register. Register for this course in the ESIA Student Services office.

3195 Internship

Departmental approval required to register. To register for this course, email the instructor.

3198 Independent Study & Research

Departmental approval required to register. Register for this course in the ESIA Student Services office.

4191W Research Seminar: Peacebuilding & Development

International peacebuilding and development involve multiple initiatives with diverse goals aimed at creating peaceful, resilient, and sustainable societies. Though trillions of dollars have been devoted to these processes, it is questionable how effective these interventions have been in achieving their aims. Students in the course will learn qualitative approaches and methods for studying such interventions at multiple societal levels. They will design and execute individual research projects practicing the methods we learn to contribute to the scholarship in conflict resolution and development. Through executing their projects, students will not only strengthen their research skills, but also their knowledge of many critical issues facing peacebuilding and development.

Approved for: Research Methods (ESRM); Conflict Resolution (EFCB); Int’l Development (EFCE)

4191W Research Seminar: Security Policy & Qualitative Analysis

Approved for: Conflict Resolution (EFCB); Int’l Politics (EFCH); Int’l & Comp. Politics Advanced Fundamental (ESIP); Security Policy (EFCI); Research Methods (ESRM)

4199 Senior Thesis

Departmental approval is required to register.