International Studies

Human security is a new approach to security, which sheds light on non-traditional threats, and allows us to explore ways to safeguard people’s vital freedoms from fear and wants. This course will begin by considering what human security means, and how useful the concept is in understanding the contemporary security challenges, and how it intersects with various issue areas on the global security agenda. A specific emphasis will be given the themes of protection and empowerment of vulnerable people caught up in violent conflict and natural disaster. The course will conclude by examining the relevance of the human security approach to theories and practices of peacebuilding and natural disaster management. 

A new approach to security, human security has become more prominent in the global arena during the post-Cold War era.  This course begins by considering what human security means; how useful the concept is in understanding the contemporary security challenges, and how it intersects with various issue areas on the global security agenda. Specific emphasis will be given on the themes of protection and empowerment of vulnerable people caught up in violent conflict. The course concludes by examining the relevance of the human security approach to theories and practices of peacebuilding. 

This course provides an introduction to the basic principles and areas of application of public international law. The course consists of weekly lectures and interactive seminars designed to provide a solid understanding of the most important rules and principles of international law. Additionally, the course covers the place of international law within the international (legal) system. The course covers the most important topics in international law such as sources, subjects, jurisdiction and immunities, peaceful dispute settlement, collective security and the use of force, law of the sea, and environmental law by reviewing the basic rules and general principles and critically analyzing their application to contemporary problems in international relations.

Using ethnography from Asia, Africa, USA, Latin America, and Europe, you will examine globalization from the perspective of global elites, the middle classes, and the poor. By engaging with real-world scenarios students unpack the effect of globalization on social and cultural identities, family life, social mobility, and political movements. 

This course covers the history, theories, institutions, and policies of economic development. It begins by considering development from classical Western perspectives (liberalism, neoliberalism, and the Washington Consensus), burgeoning Eastern perspectives (the “East Asian model,” the Beijing Consensus), as well as various heterodox traditions (postcolonialism, Marxism). The course then explores the doers of development in today's global economy and international system: the Bretton Woods and multilateral institutions, the private sector and private philanthropists, as well as individual countries such as the United States and China. Finally, the course dives deep into the particular problems and policies that define global development in low-income countries today: how they meet their domestic energy needs and attain a clean energy transition; how they meet their domestic food needs and maximize their agricultural export revenues; how they build the infrastructure they require for their rapidly growing populations and economies; and how they attract or create good jobs and high wages to ensure stable and equitable growth.

The aim of this course is to provide basic knowledge about current racialized formations of gender, citizenship, and migration. Social, economic, political as well as cultural dimensions of citizenship and migration are addressed. The course engages with key theoretical debates in the field, in particular postcolonial and feminist conceptual investigations of citizenship, (non)belonging, and migration.

This course introduces flows, networks, and diasporas as lenses from which to study international migration. The course mainly focuses on international migration from a global south perspective, but has a truly global scope that is particularly explored in analyses of the migration-development nexus. Likewise, the course discusses if and how climate change can be seen as a driver for migration and the role of migration in forming sustainable adaptation. The course focuses on one theme each week divided into two parts; first, conceptual presentations and discussions and second, critical readings of particular analyses/case studies. The exact content of the course may be influenced by students’ particular interests.