International Studies

This course explores human rights as embedded in specific historical circumstances, and looks at their codification in international law as the product of heated political debates. The first part of the course examines the topic from a historical perspective. Students trace the genealogy of the concept paying particular attention to its continuity or discontinuity with respect to the notion of natural law, and focus on the birth of the “human rights regime.” The second part of the course involves the examination of specific case studies. In the third and final part of the course students look at critical readings of human rights as possibly an instrument for “Western hegemony,” or as inadequate in other ways.

This course deals with concepts, theories, and practices of global governance. Its central focus is on the understanding and analysis of discourses and policies created by international organizations such as the United Nations, the World Bank, or the International Monetary Foundation (IMF) in interaction with different state and non-state actors. the course covers how international legal regimes take form, operate, and influence actors at various institutional levels. Through case studies, the course analyzes practices of global governance specifically oriented towards solving societal, political, economic, and environmental challenges that require global collective action. Specifically, it explores how power relations and inequalities affect the practice of global governance. This course presents students with knowledge of global mechanisms (institutions, discourses, policies) created to address and manage the rising societal, political, economic, and environmental challenges of a global nature, with a particular focus on the Sustainable Development Goals formulated by the UN.

The course teaches students about the function of intelligence in the 20th and 21st centuries, and promotes reflection on the nature of scholarly work. The connection between scholars and the spies is not just a fanciful one dreamed up by novelists. During the world wars and the Cold War, academics swelled the ranks of Anglo-American intelligence organizations. Early pioneers of intelligence theory and practice, were also distinguished scholars. By learning about the problems of gathering evidence, interpretation, analysis, presentation and distribution of intelligence, students also learn to be better War Studies students. 

This course focuses on environmental issues and sustainable development. The course covers three themes: the historical roots of and current discourses on sustainable development; the theories of managing common pool resources and their implications for sustainable development; and connections to specific environmental challenges. The course introduces students to the multidimensional aspects of sustainable development and their link to environmental challenges on global, national, and local levels. A special focus is put on the sustainable management of common pool resources. In addition, specific environmental challenges are used to illustrate the complexity of the issues and their implications for sustainability.

This course introduces Soviet and post-Soviet politics and external policies, with a special emphasis on domestic developments in Russia and Ukraine, and the impact on Moscow's foreign behavior. The key paradigm is the close interaction between internal and external factors. The course addresses the building and unbuilding of an empire: from the Tsarist empire to the USSR; the fall of the USSR to the consolidation of new independent republics in Europe; Gorbachev and Yeltsin's reforms to Putin's authoritarianism; and partnership to confrontation with Western countries. Topics also include Russia's wars: Chechnya, Georgia, Syria, and Ukraine; the major issues of democracy versus autocracy; Russian post-Soviet identity; European security; economic challenges; Russia-West relations; and the future of Ukraine and Russia.