Class Schedule
Fall 2026, Session 1 | August 24, 2026 - October 14, 2026
| Instructor | Units | Term Typically Offered |
|---|---|---|
| Daniel Arnon | 3 | Fall, Spring |
Designed as an introductory course to the field of international security, this course has three main aims: first, to provide an overview of the major theories, concepts, and debates in international security. Second, to lay the foundations for elective ISS classes. Third, to introduce current and future security challenges faced by the U.S. and its allies. The course will tackle questions such as: what is "security" and how should we study and measure it? How have security problems changed over time? What are the causes of war and peace? When should states employ force? And what are the prospects for national and international security in the 21st century.
| Instructor | Units | Term Typically Offered |
|---|---|---|
| Robert Wells | 3 | Fall |
Analysis of the Cold War; Congressional-Executive clashes over foreign policy control; approaches to policy analysis. Graduate-level requirements include additional assignment/paper.
| Instructor | Units | Term Typically Offered |
|---|---|---|
| Paul Schuler | 3 | Fall |
This course considers the national interests, issues and conflicts, relations, and influence of domestic politics in interstate relations in East Asia.
| Instructor | Units | Term Typically Offered |
|---|---|---|
| Frank Gonzalez | 3 | Fall |
Ultimately, all political phenomena, including issues related to international security, boil down to interactions between humans - usually, groups of humans. As such, people's lay theories and beliefs about how humans think and make decisions in groups significantly affect how they approach political issues, including those related to international security. Research on group psychology offers a means of informing, critically evaluating, and improving these lay theories and beliefs. Decades of research have been done in the fields of social and political psychology on how groups of people interact with one another, why interactions between and within groups often become hostile or counter-productive, and how interactions between and within groups can be adjusted in ways that encourage cooperation and peace. In this course, we will seek to understand, broadly: why do groups sometimes conflict and sometimes cooperate with one another? We will start by broadly reviewing what psychologists have discovered regarding inter- and intra-group behavior. Students will then learn about what small-scale laboratory research has told us about when and why conflict versus cooperation might result from group interactions. Next, we will spend considerable time examining how this research has been applied to understanding a range of international security issues, including war and peace, ethnic conflict, terrorism, genocide, international trade, foreign aid, immigration, and refugees. Assignments will require students to critically evaluate their own as well as others' understandings of how group psychology influences contemporary international security issues and come up with concrete, novel ways in which group psychology might inform efforts to handle international security issues now and in the future.
| Instructor | Units | Term Typically Offered |
|---|---|---|
| Jeff Kucik | 3 | n/a |
The course will examine connections between politics and economics beyond the single nation state, with an emphasis on policy implications in the 21st century. Students will be introduced to; free market (AKA liberal, neoclassical); institutionalist (AKA pluralist, multi-centric organizational); and historical materialist (AKA Marxist, structuralist). Each perspective will be presented by specifying its particular thought 'model', underlying assumptions, and application to real-world issues. The course will compare and contrast these perspectives with respect to core global political economy (GPE) issues such as trade, finance, transnational corporations, development and environmental sustainability.
Fall 2026, Session 2 | October 15, 2026 - December 9, 2026
| Instructor | Units | Term Typically Offered |
|---|---|---|
| Kirssa Cline Ryckman | 3 | Spring |
This course addresses the political causes and consequences of the use of terrorist violence as well as the variety of methods employed by the state in response to this violence. Graduate-level requirements include reading three additional documents and critically reviewing them as instructed.
| Instructor | Units | Term Typically Offered |
|---|---|---|
| Pat Willerton | 3 | Fall |
Russian foreign policy and the political processes by which that policy is developed and implemented. Passing attention is given to the Soviet past which structures post-1991 Russian behavior. Our approach is social scientific as we attempt to identify tendencies in Russian foreign policy behavior and to explain goals and strategies. Attention is given to policies, the decision-making process, and the political elite who craft policy. Elements of continuity and change in Russian foreign and security policy (Soviet and post-Soviet) are highlighted.
| Instructor | Units | Term Typically Offered |
|---|---|---|
| Paulette Kurzer | 3 | Fall |
This course offers an introduction to the defense and security policies of the European Union. It contains a unit on the institutions and policies of the European Union. We will take a closer look at the impact of immigration on European society, the interaction between domestic and European institutions, the debates on economic reforms and market liberalization in different countries, and the relationship between the EU and the US.
| Instructor | Units | Term Typically Offered |
|---|---|---|
| Andrew Grogan | 3 | Fall |
Geospatial Intelligence (GEOINT) is a specialized field of practice within the broader domain of intelligence. The discipline encompasses all activities involved in the collection, use and dissemination of geographically referenced information (imagery, imagery intelligence and geospatial information) using technical capabilities that include remote sensing, GIS, data management, and data visualization. GEOINT processes and capabilities are designed to gain intelligence about the national security or an operational environment, visually depict this knowledge, combine the knowledge with other information sources, and present knowledge in a way that is appropriate to the decision-making environment. GEOINT supports key mission areas related to the national security of the U.S. including informing policymakers; supporting military, intelligence, and homeland security operations, and facilitating intelligence collaboration. While the GEOINT discipline is secretive in operations, this course presents publicly available unclassified information to describe its use, benefits and governance.
| Instructor | Units | Term Typically Offered |
|---|---|---|
| Michael Burgoyne | 3 | Fall |
Mexico and the United States have always shared a complex relationship. Mexico is the second largest U.S. trading partner with over $661 billion in trade in 2021; that amounts to over a million dollars crossing the border every minute. Conversely, organized crime in Mexico has claimed nearly 200,000 lives since 2006 and there are more than 93,000 people reported as disappeared. Drugs produced or trafficked through Mexico feed a devastating drug abuse crisis in the United States that led to the deaths of 91,799 people in 2020. Despite a change in U.S. administrations, the challenges of economic integration, irregular migration, and transnational organized crime continue to drive U.S. policy objectives. In Mexico, populist Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has struggled to implement his goals to take on corruption, reduce government excess, and solve Mexico's internal security crisis. Understanding the unique Mexican security situation and the Mexican perspective of security policy is critical for academics and policymakers navigating evolving bilateral security relations.
| Instructor | Units |
| Paulette Kurzer | 1 |
Capstone project, in which students develop a portfolio that overviews their academic work in the context of their professional goals. This should be taken as the final course of the ISS M.A. degree.
Spring 2027, Session 1 | January 13, 2027 - March 5, 2027
| Instructor | Units | Term Typically Offered |
|---|---|---|
| Daniel Arnon | 3 | Fall, Spring |
Designed as an introductory course to the field of international security, this course has three main aims: first, to provide an overview of the major theories, concepts, and debates in international security. Second, to lay the foundations for elective ISS classes. Third, to introduce current and future security challenges faced by the U.S. and its allies. The course will tackle questions such as: what is "security" and how should we study and measure it? How have security problems changed over time? What are the causes of war and peace? When should states employ force? And what are the prospects for national and international security in the 21st century.
| Instructor | Units | Term Typically Offered |
|---|---|---|
| Tolga Turker | 3 | Fall |
Political Islamism has been a focus of policy makers in the post- 9/11 era. However, before concrete strategies can be formulated to deal with this concern, the nature and dynamics of Islamist mobilization itself must be understood. To do that, this course will benefit from the knowledge generated through years of study in different parts of the world and in various disciplines in identifying: What is it? What causes it? What motivates an individual to join an Islamist group and possibly use violence? Under what conditions will these groups moderate, and when will they radicalize? Overall this course is designed as a resource for students of political science and international security studies as well as broad audiences in the social sciences seeking to understand the emergence, evolution, and possible futures of what commonly called political Islam.
| Instructor | Units | Term Typically Offered |
|---|---|---|
| Mikhail Beznosov | 3 | Spring |
The purpose of this course is to analyze critically the emergence of China and India as state powers in the global system and the implications of this evolution for the United States and Europe, including countries in and neighboring the European Union (EU).
| Instructor | Units | Term Typically Offered |
|---|---|---|
| Jeff Kucik | 3 | Summer |
This course focuses on the role international organizations (IOs) play in contemporary global politics. IOs have become an increasingly common feature of the political landscape. Institutions shape state behavior in areas such as trade, security, the environment, and human rights.
The course provides background on the historical development of major multilateral IOs. We pay special attention to how institutions are designed. We then assess each organization's performance record. Specific questions include:
Does UN peacekeeping promote post-war stability?
Is the ICC an effective tool for protecting human rights?
How do the IMF and World Bank approach global development?
To answer these questions, we consider internal policy reports, outside commentary, instructional videos, podcasts, and academic analyses.
| Instructor | Units | Term Typically Offered |
|---|---|---|
| Nick Thorne | 3 | Spring |
This class will examine the international arms trade from several perspectives and at different levels of analysis. The purpose of the course is to acquaint students with the literature, questions, and debates about the role that military equipment and technology plays in international relations.
Spring 2027, Session 2 | March 15, 2027 - May 5, 2027
| Instructor | Units | Term Typically Offered |
|---|---|---|
| Lisa Sanchez | 3 | Spring |
U.S. Immigration policy is vast and complex. Passed at the federal and state level and implemented at the local level, immigration policies have a myriad of consequences- intended and unintended. We will explore the various types of immigration policies, their goals, and consequences with an eye toward evaluating their efficacy. In particular, we will consider immigration policy from the perspective of border flows- who and what flow across our borders and the ability of the U.S. government to control those flows. We will also consider the historical and political context underpinning immigration policy today as well as explore the feasibility and need for reforms in the future. Together we will question the validity and necessity of national borders while weighing security, humanitarianism, geopolitical relations, terrorism, race, and capitalism, and freedom.
| Instructor | Units | Term Typically Offered |
|---|---|---|
| Jennifer Cyr | 3 | Spring |
Latin America is a region that faces multiple political, social, and economic challenges. Some of these are cross-cutting, including the very real problems of crime and violence. In Latin America, crime and violence are common occurrences. They have multiple sources and have wide ranging impact. We will consider the causes of crime and violence, as perpetrated by state and non-state actors, as well as violence toward particular groups. We will also examine how countries address crime and violence and the extent to which reform is possible.
| Instructor | Units | Term Typically Offered |
|---|---|---|
| Matias Bianchi | 3 | Spring |
The digital revolution is changing politics. From Barack Obama's use of the Internet to drive his presidential campaign, to the upheaval of the Arab Spring and the emergence of new social movements like #OccupyWallStreet, digital technology is challenging and changing established institutions on a number of fronts. This course introduces students to the history of the Internet and the emerging technologies that are defining the Digital Age. It places emphasis on the role of technology in politics and its implications for democracy and citizen rights. The course will cover a wide range of issues related to governance of the internet, privacy and security, the role of the media and open source development.
| Instructor | Units | Term Typically Offered |
|---|---|---|
| Gemma Smith | 3 | Fall |
Global climate change is widely considered the greatest threat confronting societies and governments today. Over the last decade a consensus has developed among natural and physical scientists over the likely causes of global climate change. Businesses, governments, and citizens have begun to respond by developing a variety of strategies, policies, and institutional arrangements designed to reduce human contributions to climate change and promote adaptation to the environmental impacts that are beginning to emerge. These "policy" responses are truly diverse in form and scale, from voluntary carbon markets and business certification programs, to command and control type regulations, to international treaties.
| Instructor | Units | Term Typically Offered |
|---|---|---|
| Paulette Kurzer | 1 | Fall, Spring, Summer |
Capstone project, in which students develop a portfolio that overviews their academic work in the context of their professional goals. This should be taken as the final course of the ISS M.A. degree.