International Studies

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. 

The course investigates a variety of topics including the concept of global environmental governance, the development of institutions and norms governing the protection of the environment. It places special focus on key principles of international environmental law, multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs), cooperation among States and the growing significance of non-State actors (subnational governments, nongovernmental organizations, business and corporations), and the diversity of regulatory approaches and related policy tools. The course includes guest lecturers who share their experience working in international institutions.

This interdisciplinary course provides a comprehensive introduction to energy security, touching upon economic markets, political strategy, and even technological developments. It introduces global trends in energy supply and demand, exchanges, and prices. It provides an overview of the diversity of measures taken to promote energy security, with a specific emphasis on the European Union and member states. Finally, the course considers scenarios for the future in the context of calls for an energy transition.

This course explores contemporary challenges in international relations such as polarization in contemporary democracies, peace and security, human rights, and geopolitical competition. It examines the impacts of these issues in various regions of the world. The exact topics and regions of focus vary by year depending on current events. This course is divided into four units and each unit is led by a different lecturer.

This course explores development and various aspects of development within the themes of migration and gender. The course also features two practitioners working in the field to advise on current field conditions and ongoing problems in the development world.

This course focuses on the intersection of technology, media, communication, and society. In light of its rapid growth and broad adoption, the internet has become both the medium and the target of military, political, social, and cultural conflicts. This course focuses on the technological, institutional, and political aspects of online conflict. Students will study this space by analyzing three interrelated dualities of internet design, regulation, and use. This class takes a broad look at cybersecurity as a core issue in an information society. Students develop analytical thinking about the role of technology design, regulation, and use in contemporary conflict.