International Studies

This course offers a comprehensive introduction to the politics, strategy, and international security implications of nuclear weapons. Beginning with the science and history behind the bomb's invention, the course explores how nuclear weapons have shaped global politics from Hiroshima to the contemporary era of multipolar nuclear rivalry. Through close engagement with foundational texts and contemporary policy debates, it examines the logic of deterrence, the strategic dilemmas of extended deterrence, and the evolving architecture of non-proliferation and arms control. The course applies these frameworks to key cases—such as NATO, Iran, Russia, China, and France—to assess the challenges of escalation, proliferation, and technological change in the emerging nuclear age. Emphasis is placed on bridging theory and practice, enabling students to critically assess how nuclear weapons continue to structure conflict, diplomacy, and international order in the 21st century.

This course introduces, discusses and works with the key concepts, wide-ranging debates and on-going processes in the realm of international security. It revisits classic security issues and explores newer ones – from terrorism and pandemics – to highlight continuities and discontinuities in international security. The course pays special attention to the proliferation of the types of actors, sectors, rationales and technologies now associated with security practices. It sees that these developments have consequences as they further cut across and reconfigure well-known divides between internal and external security concerns, between policing and military operations, and between public and private spheres to name a few. In order to address these questions, among others, the course is organized in two sections, with weekly debates as a common thread. The first section looks at both the diversity of international security institutions and theoretical foundations of security studies. The second section confronts new international security issues and related developments.

This course explores the formation of cultural identities and the challenges they face in the age of globalization through case studies from European, Latin American, and East Asian contexts.

The course begins with a theoretical review of the concepts of nationalism and communism – the predominant ideological concepts of twentieth-century Central Europe, i.e. Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary. This is followed by study of the origins, development, and present-day heritage of nationalism and communism in the region. The topics described and problematized include concrete manifestations of nationalism and communism in Central Europe, such as the creation of new nation states after World War I, the introduction of communist regimes after 1945 and the impact of these regimes on political, economic, social and cultural development. The course is concluded with a general discussion of the heritage and consequences of nationalism and communism in present-day Central Europe.