International Studies

This course examines some fundamental questions about the nature of war and conflicts in international politics. It covers the following topics: whether war is part of human nature or a social invention; if democracies are less prone to fight than authoritarian regimes; whether war is an unavoidable consequence of anarchy, and if so, the role of human agency; what factors contribute to conflict among nations and how these factors have changed over time; if the nuclear shadow is back in our contemporary international security; has the window of humanitarian operations been closed; and whether we can speak of “new wars” in the 21st century. The course uses an interdisciplinary perspective, incorporating insights from political science, anthropology, psychology, and history to better understand our current international environment.

This course educates students on the history, process, and sources of American foreign policy. The course is divided into four sections. The first section focuses on the field of foreign policy analysis as a subfield in International Relations. An overview of the various analytical perspectives on U.S. foreign policy is covered. This first section also considers the importance of examining American foreign policy in today's world. Section two concentrates on the history of U.S. foreign policy, covering such events as the Founding of the United States, World War I, the inter-war years, World War II, the making of a Superpower, the Cold War, the Post-Cold War world, September 11th, and ending with recent world events, such as the Iraq War and the Global War on Terror. Part three examines the politics and the policy-making process of American foreign policy. Topics for discussion in this section include the institutions involved in the policy-making process, such as the President, various bureaucracies like the State Department, the Department of Defense, and the CIA, plus Congress and the Courts. This section also considers the role the American public plays in the process of making U.S. foreign policy. The final part of this course studies the instruments used to implement American Foreign Policy. This section includes a discussion of America's use of open or diplomatic instruments, secret instruments, economic instruments, and also its military instruments. This final section ends with a task that discusses the future of American Foreign Policy. Prerequisites for this course include an introductory international relations or political science course and at least one intermediate-level social science course.

This course starts with an overview of mainstream and critical international relations theory which is then applied to real-world events. Students first think about how war and peace, order and disorder, prosperity and poverty are conceptualized in international relations. Using approaches from realism to post-colonial theory, the course discusses the role of the state in the formation of global politics in order to understand how globalization has in turn affected the role of states in global politics, particularly against the backdrop of populist nationalism and ever-growing global challenges. 

This course discusses a classical issue for international relations and political theory: the ethics of war. It exemplifies the role of norms in warfare and discusses the major dilemmas that face armies, politicians, and civilians throughout history, with a specific focus on contemporary challenges. Its focus is mainly interdisciplinary as it brings together moral and political philosophy, international law, and international relations. By analyzing case studies, it addresses the legitimacy of resorting to war, discusses the coherence of certain rationales and principles justifying the use of force both legally and morally, and explores future challenges of the field (cyberwar, artificial intelligence). Ultimately, the course provides the concepts and references students can deploy to build their own argument on justice and war.

This course explores the field of study on the European Union's (EU) foreign policy with a focus on the relations with the People's Republic of China (PRC). Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the EU and the PRC in 1975, this set of bilateral relations has undergone different stages of interactions. This course concentrates on the time period beginning from 2013. The first part of the course introduces fundamental knowledge about EU foreign policy: an overview of the field of study in the literature and main actors and the coherence issue in EU foreign policy. The second part provides a brief historical overview of EU foreign policy towards the PRC before 2013. The third part examines EU foreign policy towards the PRC in the post-2013 timeframe through different dimensions: economic and trade, foreign and security, values and norms, and the EU facing United States-PRC strategic competition.

The course introduces some of the theories and concepts that form the basics of strategic studies as a distinct subfield of international relations. The course is an introduction to the key ideas and themes of strategic studies, which deal with the preparation and use of military power to serve the ends of politics but also what are the means to avoid the use of force. The course is not directly interested in ethical and normative problems linked to the use of force. To adopt Robert Cox's terminology, the lecture is much more problem-solving than critical. That is why it does not really address notions like just wars, democratic peace, or gender and feminism. The course guides students through a wide-ranging survey of theoretical and practical aspects of strategic studies. It includes sections on the uses of strategic theory, instruments of war - land, sea, and air power, cyber - and their evolution, nuclear strategy, small wars and counter-insurgency, peace operations, victory, or defense planning. The course tries to strike a balance between theoretical works and empirical material to link the study of strategy with the realities of modern politics, and ultimately practice the skills that are critical to success in public service as well as the private sector—deep intellectual knowledge of the core issues of our time; analytical thinking and effective writing skills. Students are also expected to engage the readings fully and actively participate in seminar discussions and debates.

This course offers a dynamic and comprehensive introduction to the systems and politics of global health in low and middle-income countries. Students examine critical challenges, including pandemics, ageing populations, pharmaceutical innovation, and the climate crisis, alongside the key determinants of health and their consequences for development. Students explore policies designed to improve health and development, the barriers to their implementation, and practical strategies to overcome these obstacles. Topics include global health governance, universal health coverage, health system strengthening, and the politics of disease burdens. The course also considers the impacts of migration, conflict, and climate change on health.

This course is designed to introduce students to the wide range of opportunities and threats that have opened up with the advent of the information age. Students will come to understand holistically how cybersecurity connects to a wide range of issue areas in international relations (military, political, economic, etc.), and how the digitization of information leads to new vulnerabilities that traditional IR has never faced before. This will give students a head start when they inevitably have to deal with cyber-related issues throughout their careers.