International Studies

This course offers an in-depth overview of the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) from its theoretical as well as practical aspects. The course particularly focuses on the discussions around ENP as the main foreign policy tool with which the European Union (EU) manages its relations with its neighbors. It also draws attention to regional aspects of the policy in light of current developments in ENP partner states in the southern and eastern neighborhood. Second, the course examines how the EU functions as a foreign policy actor, especially the interplay between EU institutions and member states. This element of the course appeals to those who are more practice oriented; as part of the course visits EU institutions and other international organizations whose work directly relate to EU foreign policy. In addition, the course explores the relevance of the European Neighborhood Policy for International Relations (IR) by considering the way it has been studied. This aspect of the course is interesting for those who are concerned with the current theoretical and methodological debates in IR. Prerequisites for this course are an introductory International Relations course, an introductory globalization and politics course, and it is recommended to have taken a course on European integration.

The extensive independent study field research paper produced by the student is both the centerpiece of the intern's professional engagement and the culmination of the academic achievements of the semester. During the preparatory session, IFE teaches the methodological guidelines and principles to which students are expected to adhere in the development of their written research. Students work individually with a research advisor from their field. The first task is to identify a topic, following guidelines established by IFE for research topic choice. The subject must be tied in a useful and complementary way to the student-intern's responsibilities, as well as to the core concerns of the host organization. The research question should be designed to draw as much as possible on resources available to the intern via the internship (data, documents, interviews, observations, seminars and the like). Students begin to focus on this project after the first 2-3 weeks on the internship. Each internship agreement signed with an organization makes explicit mention of this program requirement, and this is the culminating element of their semester. Once the topic is identified, students meet individually, as regularly as they wish, with their IFE research advisor to generate a research question from the topic, develop an outline, identify sources and research methods, and discuss drafts submitted by the student. The research advisor also helps students prepare for the oral defense of their work which takes place a month before the end of the program and the due date of the paper. The purpose of this exercise is to help students evaluate their progress and diagnose the weak points in their outline and arguments. Rather than an extraneous burden added to the intern's other duties, the field research project grows out of the internship through a useful and rewarding synergy of internship and research. The Field Study and Internship model results in well-trained student-interns fully engaged in mission-driven internships in their field, while exploring a critical problem guided by an experienced research advisor.

The course focuses on the analysis of international cooperation between cities, countries, and regions. It looks at development, economic factors, social movements, political situations and power relations, and how they factor into cooperation.

This course offers a study of society, geopolitics, and culture in the Middle East and Africa in order to understand aspects of economic and business organization in those regions.

This course focuses on the development of constitutionalism in Korea as the nexus between law and politics. The course begins with a brief historical survey to acquire knowledge of the path by which the modern Korean constitutional system reached its current form. It then looks at a few selected cases decided by the Korean Constitutional Court, which are commonly seen as having some "political" dimension. Through these decisions, we learn not only how the constitution has been interpreted by the Court but also the political environment in which those cases arose and how the Court chose to act in such a context. In order to place the Korean constitutional system in a comparative context, we sometimes draw on literature from other countries that have dealt with similar issues. Through this course, students acquire a working knowledge of the constitutional history of modern Korea, an appreciation for the political context surrounding the constitutional development of Korea, as well as a critical perspective with which to understand and assess the role of constitutional adjudication in the political life of the Korean state.

This course provides an overview of the Sunni-Shia relationships since the death of the Prophet Muhammad when the question of succession was raised, until today. The question of succession gave birth to two different –and sometimes rivaling– conceptions of the prophetic message as well as political power: the Caliphate supported by the Sunnis-to-be, and the Imamate, supported by Ali's family and followers, later called Shia Muslims. The Sunni-Shia relationships impact the geopolitics of the Middle East but are also shaped by the regional geopolitics. The purpose of this seminar is to take a critical approach in order to understand that the Sunni-Shia divisions also take place in particular political and regional contexts, and to go beyond a strictly confessional reading of geopolitical issues in the Middle East.

In recent decades, examining borders has advanced to a central international topic. The great academic interest was fueled by processes of globalization that, while permitting some borders to become more permeable, also contributed to new hardening of borders, for example at the outer borders of Europe or between the USA and Mexico. While border studies initially focused on the exploration of interstate borders, symbolic boundaries have now come into focus. Borders are no longer understood merely as state borders, but also as forms of discursive practice and visual production of meaning, generating and forming experience. This lecture aims to explore the historical interaction between territorial and other symbolic boundary configurations, both gendered and racialized, in the history of Europe from antiquity to the present day.