Courses

This course offers an introduction to the political systems of post-World War II Europe. Using a country-by-country approach, the course focuses specifically on Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, and East-Central Europe. It also contains a unit on the institutions and policies of 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. 

This course is intended to be a survey of the literature addressing international politics in sub-Saharan Africa. Beginning with pre-colonial contexts and working through to present challenges facing African states and the international community more broadly, we will learn about a variety of topics concerning African politics.

 The region of Central Asia has emerged from obscurity in recent decades to become a key front in the war against international terrorism and radical Islam. This course explores the political and cultural history of Central Asia, as well as religious and social issues that impact the region's governmental structures, foreign relations, and security. We will explore the impact of Russian conquest and Soviet domination of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan before moving on to an analysis of contemporary issues in government and politics in the region. Emphasis will be on the authoritarian regime variations, rise of Islamism, great power politics, economic and social development, and energy geopolitics.

Surveys Russian power capabilities, foreign policy, and engagement of the world system. Attention to the Soviet period, but focus on the post-1991 era. Relations with the U.S., Germany, and China are highlighted, as are relations with former Soviet Union countries.

Analysis of the Cold War; Congressional-Executive clashes over foreign policy control; approaches to policy analysis.

National interests, issues and conflicts, relations, and influence of domestic politics in interstate relations in East Asia. Graduate-level requirements include an additional research paper.

This course is designed to introduce you to the international politics of the Middle East and therefore, provides a general overview of some of the main issues of contemporary Middle Eastern politics. As a result, we will examine the interplay of numerous factors that help us to better understand and to critically analyze the politics of the Middle East. These factors include the impact of colonialism, nationalism and nation-state formation, regional crises, the Arab-Israeli conflict, political economy, and the influence of superpowers in the region.

Mexico and the United States have always shared a complex relationship. The current one is full of hope for expanding economic opportunity and plagued by fears driven by internal violence. Mexico is the third largest trading partner with the US with nearly 270 billion in trade in 2014; that amounts to a million dollars crossing the border every minute. Conversely, the fight against organized crime has claimed more than 60,000 lives since 2006 and there are nearly 25,000 people reported as disappeared. 2015 also marked a historic change in international engagement, with President Enrique Pena Nieto announcing a new peace keeping mission for the Mexican armed forces. Understanding the unique Mexican security situation and the Mexican perspective of security policy is critical for academics and policymakers that deal with this complex US-Mexican relationship. The course will include lecturers from the Mexican academic community and Mexican security forces.

The evolution of infectious diseases into a global security threat isn’t particularly novel but became official when the United Nations recognized HIV/AIDS as a security threat. As the world becomes more interconnected and humans encroach on natural habits, emerging infectious diseases, like COVID-19 and Ebola, have underscored the ability for diseases to severely impact critical infrastructure. Since the realization that infectious diseases pose unique threats to the stability of nation states, the notion of global health security was development as an approach to understanding and studying these unique vulnerabilities. Biodefense, biopreparedness, and biothreats are all increasingly used terminologies and studies that play into the security dynamics of infectious diseases. We will examine the concepts of global health security, as well as the spectrum of threats, which include natural, accidental, and intentional biological events.