International Studies

This course addresses politics in the Middle East and North Africa with a focus on relations between states. Questions that guide the course include: When do countries engage in costly conflict against each other? What is the relationship between domestic politics and international relations? Do transnational ideologies impact politics? If so, how? In line with these overarching questions, the course addresses topics such as international involvement in the region, the role of resources, authoritarianism and democratization, sectarianism and ethnicity, terrorism, and protests.

Why did some Middle Eastern countries experience uprisings and others did not? Why do we observe Iran and Saudi Arabic supporting some non-state actors but ignore others? Why have some actors changed their religious rhetoric? Does oil impact politics in Saudi Arabia? This seminar examines these questions and contemporary politics in the Middle East. Students familiarize themselves with major political science debates on issues relevant to the region, and develop understanding of concepts and theory that are useful for analyzing Middle East regional politics Themes addressed include: war and international involvement in the region; authoritarianism and the Arab Spring, religion and sect; and, energy resources. The course examines a number of events, including, but not limited to, the 2003 Iraq War, the Arab Spring and the Syrian Civil War, and the Iranian nuclear deal. This course is designed as a broad survey of Middle East politics; given the time constraints; it is not possible to cover every country and issue. 

This course focuses on theoretical and empirical explanations for political phenomena in the Middle East. As such, we pay close attention to how to theoretically and empirically address social and behavioral science research questions relevant to the Middle East.

This course provides an introduction to the EU and its policy on environmental protection and natural resources. After a brief recap of the basics of policy-making in the EU, students learn about the guiding principles and developments within the EU’s environmental policy. Subsequently, the course covers the major environmental challenges currently faced by the EU. The first part of the course discusses the functioning of the European Union to be able to better understand the factors influencing European environmental policy and politics. The course also looks at the European reaction to climate change and discusses the effectiveness of the main solutions to this global problem: the development of renewable sources of energy and the different ways of pricing carbon. The course devotes a special session to the EU’s role in climate negotiations. The second part of the course is devoted to different forms of pollution, such as air, noise, water, and soil pollution, as well as humanity’s impact on biodiversity loss. In this part of the course students discuss the main prerequisites for making the European transport sector more sustainable and European cities greener and smarter. The last session is devoted to discussing the challenges and the opportunities for the future of environmental policy.

This course is divided into two parts. The first half of the course offers a comparative modern history of East Asian countries, with a special focus on Hokkaido, Ryukyu-Okinawa, Taiwan, Korea and China, in the framework of Japanese “Nation-Empire” building. The course also explores categories of people, including trafficked children, peddlers, “abducted” women, the Ainu, Taiwan's indigenous people, Micronesians, and Okinawans. The second half of the course focuses on cultural studies (pop culture, movies, music manga, etc.), political economy (regional integration, ASEAN+3, TPP, RCEP, One Belt One Load), comparative politics (political regime, identity, nationalism, democracy), regional security (U.S.-Japan Alliance, U.S. military presence, military cooperation, South China and East China sea, bandwagoning or hedge). The course uses active learning in groups, making maximum use of the mixture of students from different regions and countries, and bringing out different perspectives, points of view, and opinions on various issues and topics.