About the Department
Summer & Fall 2011 Courses
Jump to: Summer 1 | Summer 2 | Fall 2011Summer 1
INS310 DY W T R 1:15P 3:45P MB 307 Piet, Remi
Arab Revolutions in the Middle East
After the fall of the Mubarak regime in Egypt that followed the collapse of the Ben Ali’s dictatorship in Tunisia and as American, Western European and Qatari planes are currently protecting the Arab revolution in Libya, the dream of freedom after forty years of authoritarian regimes needs to be protected. The war in Iraq has shown that military actions are only successful if they are accompanied by a political and institutional strategy to be implemented when planes and armies leave the way for civil servants and politicians to rebuild the countries’ institutions.
This course will offer an overview of the forces at play in the Mediterranean and Middle East and present the historical, cultural, political and economic context in which the democratization dynamics are expanding. It will analyze the role of new technologies and media as well as the domestic structures of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern societies.
This course will also address the evolution of the balance of power in the region and study the foreign policies and national interest of the main international actors (the EU, the United States, Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, Turkey...) Finally this course will outline the short and long term impacts on international economy, the evolving balance between Sunnis and Shiites influence as well as traditional and non-traditional security dilemmas experienced by countries in the region.
Using traditional IR theoretical lenses and various levels of analysis, this course will aim at providing the keys to understand this wave of revolutions and underline its impact on international balances
INS311 EY W T R 4:00P 6:30P MB 307 Piet, Remi (co-listed with ECS)
Geopolitics of Natural Resources
This course will provide a practical implementation of traditional International Relations theoretical lenses by analyzing the geopolitical context of natural resources supply in an international order characterized by finite energy resources, growing populations, decreasing biodiversity and global warming concerns.
In its first part, this course will offer a comprehensive overview of how "natural resources" are analyzed by the main literature in the field and recent publications by realist, liberal, constructivist, neo-marxist and feminist scholars. The course will then apply theories to today's most salient natural resources conflicts: water depletion and intra and international conflicts; control of agricultural lands and food crisis; mining resources and 'great powers' foreign relations; atmospheric pollution, global warming and carbon finance....
By using economic and political sciences lenses, this course will aim at shedding light on today's foreign policymaking and tomorrow's conflicts. It will use both literature analysis and active student participation, through debates, role playing and presentations to encourage undergraduates and graduate students in understanding the impact of natural resources scarcity and environmental degradation on international security.
INS394 EX W M W 4:00P 6:30P MB 306 Piet, Remi (co-listed with ECS)
Energy Policies of the U.S. and European Union
This course will analyze the energy paradigm and policymaking processes in the United States and the European Union by describing the current legislature in place or in development, their impact on both local and national economic development in the sector of energy as well as on international relations and foreign policies towards the Middle East and Latin America (in the case of the United States) and Russia and the Mediterranean countries (in the case of Europe).
Using the different traditional theoretical lenses (realist, liberal, constructivist and neo-marxist) and several levels of analysis (individual, national and global), this course will more specifically address the dynamics at work in the definition or lack of implementation of a caps and trade initiative, the incentives towards the development of renewable energies and energy efficiency markets and the interest of local and transnational actors.
This course will most particularly address carbon trading, mainstreaming of environmental concerns within national policies, the role and decision-making processes of actors at several levels (country, state, cities, individuals) and their impact on economy, politics, culture...
Implementing a participatory approach and an unbiased assessment of a variety of literature sources, this course will shed light on the technical, economic and political debates around a wide range of energy sources and their impact on the local, federal, transnational and foreign policymaking.
INS510 CY W T R 12:00P 2:30P MB 306 Restrepo, Elvira
Crime and Violence Reduction in the Americas
Not a new course.
INS532 AY W T R 9:30A 12:00P FB 126 Fontaine, Pierre
Internally Displaced Persons in Africa, Lat Amer, & Asia
Not a new course.
This course will explore the worldwide challenge of internal displacement with special reference to its manifestations in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. There are actually more internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the world than refugees. However, whereas there is a fairly well developed international regime for refugees, the one for the human rights of IDPs is still in gestation. The course will examine in an international and comparative perspective: the causes of internal displacement; its prevention; protection and assistance to IDPs; the status and implementation of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement; the AU Convention on Protection and Assistance to IDPs in Africa; the increasingly salient phenomenon of internal displacement due to natural disasters, with special reference to the tsunami in Indonesia and the earthquake in Haiti; the attempts to find solutions to the vexing problem of lack of coordination between the various humanitarian actors involved in the protection and assistance to IDPs, giving rise to the so-called “protection gap”; the connections between internal and international displacement, and how to end internal displacement.
INS521 AC W F 9:00A 11:30A MB 306 Spigelman, David
International Financial Crises & Contagion in World Economy
Not a new course.
INS550 DY W T R 1:15P 3:45P FB 126 Fontaine, Pierre
Societal Fragility, Resilience and Development in Haiti
A little more than two centuries ago, Haiti, then called Saint-Domingue, was the most prosperous jewel in the French colonial empire. On 1 January 1804, after a victorious slave rebellion and a long period of internecine and international warfare, it became the first country to achieve independence in the Caribbean and Latin America, second only to the US in the Western Hemisphere. Some of the leaders of its own War of Independence had earlier fought under the French in support of the American War of Independence, and the new country effectively contributed to the independence of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and even Cuba. Yet, it is still struggling with its own development. One way of understanding Haiti’s underdevelopment is to examine the factors that generate fragility or resilience in that country. This course will therefore analyze in the context of Haiti’s (under)development: the impact of violence, conflict, and other traumas; the interplay between identity, social justice, and citizenship, or rather the ‘citizenship deficit” signaled by some authors; the relationship between formal and informal institutions, including those of transitional justice, in promoting or weakening social cohesion; the place of youth and gender in the social order; the place of inter-subjective meanings in producing fragility or resilience; and as well the role of foreign occupation, peacekeeping, peace-building, and stabilization operations, international financial institutions, other international organizations, donor countries, and a multitude of uncoordinated and uncontrolled nongovernmental organizations.
INS551 DX W M W 1:15P 3:45P FB 126 Rodriguez, Marga
International Migration: Theory and Policy
The course engages students in exploring a range of theories and scholarly debates, cutting-edge empirical research and political and policy debates related to international migration. In the first module, the course covers major theoretical debates on the causes and consequences of international migration, theories of assimilation, alternative perspectives on incorporation, and how the transnational perspective has framed migration studies and has been advanced by research on migration. As they learn about theories, the students also learn about key concepts and specific methodologies employed in research on migration. In the second module, the course covers major political debates and migration policies and laws and how migration policies are designed. The course has been designed for advanced undergraduate and graduate students from various academic fields. Previous knowledge of the topic is not required. The course awards 3 credits. A six-credit option is open for students who submit a deeper research paper by the beginning of the following semester. At the end of the course the students will have substantial knowledge of current theoretical and policy debates on migration issues and they will be better prepared for their future research on this or other topics or to work as policymakers.
INS599 FX W M W 5:00P 7:30P MB 307 Rodriguez, Marga
International Migration and the Health Care System
This course introduces the links between immigration and the health care system. It is divided in two modules. The first module deals with immigrants as professionals in the medical field. The second covers immigrants as individuals in need of medical care. The course has been designed from the social sciences perspective for upper-division undergraduates and graduate students from various fields. It is also open to practitioners and other professionals and activists working in the areas of immigration and/or health. No previous background in the systems discussed is required. The course offers a detailed discussion of the basic concepts and perspectives employed. It awards three credits (a six-credit option is open for students who submit a research paper during the summer).
Summer 2
INS540 RY W T R 12:30P 3:00P FB 126 Rempe, Dennis
Dynamics of Political Violence: Rev, Insurgency, & Terrorism
This course examines and analyzes revolution, insurgency, and terrorism as methods for enacting violent social and political change in both domestic and international contexts. Students will gain deeper knowledge of the theoretical perspectives as well as organizational and operational dynamics underlying these forms of political violence. They will also gain a greater understanding of the associated dyads used to combat these modes of irregular conflict: counterinsurgency and counterterrorism. This course will survey these strategies of political violence in global perspective, utilizing a cross-disciplinary approach.
INS551 DX W M W 1:15P 3:45P FB 126 Rodriguez, Marga
International Migration: Theory and Policy
The course engages students in exploring a range of theories and scholarly debates, cutting-edge empirical research and political and policy debates related to international migration. In the first module, the course covers major theoretical debates on the causes and consequences of international migration, theories of assimilation, alternative perspectives on incorporation, and how the transnational perspective has framed migration studies and has been advanced by research on migration. As they learn about theories, the students also learn about key concepts and specific methodologies employed in research on migration. In the second module, the course covers major political debates and migration policies and laws and how migration policies are designed. The course has been designed for advanced undergraduate and graduate students from various academic fields. Previous knowledge of the topic is not required. The course awards 3 credits. A six-credit option is open for students who submit a deeper research paper by the beginning of the following semester. At the end of the course the students will have substantial knowledge of current theoretical and policy debates on migration issues and they will be better prepared for their future research on this or other topics or to work as policymakers.
INS599 FX W M W 5:00P 7:30P MB 307 Rodriguez, Marga
International Migration and the Health Care System
This course introduces the links between immigration and the health care system. It is divided in two modules. The first module deals with immigrants as professionals in the medical field. The second covers immigrants as individuals in need of medical care. The course has been designed from the social sciences perspective for upper-division undergraduates and graduate students from various fields. It is also open to practitioners and other professionals and activists working in the areas of immigration and/or health. No previous background in the systems discussed is required. The course offers a detailed discussion of the basic concepts and perspectives employed. It awards three credits (a six-credit option is open for students who submit a research paper during the summer).
Fall 2011
INS102 P T R 11:00A 12:15P XXX ARR Yaffe, Lilian
GLOBAL ECONOMICS
Not a new course.
INS210 O T R 9:30A 10:45A MB 306 Gibson, Shannon
Globalization and the Environment
The very term ‘globalization’ often triggers highly polarizing viewpoints and arguments within academia and mainstream media. For some it is a natural, and welcomed, evolution of the global market, allowing multinational corporations to function free of governmental restrictions and promising economic prosperity to even the most poverty-ridden countries. For others, it is a scourge on society and the height of corporate overreach, resulting in incessant environmental degradation, homogenization of world cultures and the subversion of equity, justice and democratic values. This course aims to analyze the relationship between globalization and the global environment, its synergies and its disconnects. The course will also consider a variety of alternatives to neoliberal globalization offered by academics, epistemic communities, social movement organizations and frontline communities aimed at preserving environmental integrity, enhancing democracy in resource management and attaining ecological sustainability.
INS310 Q T R 12:30P 1:45P MB 307 Gibson, Shannon
Global Environmental Politics
This course explores the political challenge of responding to the ‘global environmental problematique’ – that is obtaining ecological sustainability and equity in a world where there is no international government to mandate coordination of diverse, changing and often conflicting preferences and practices. In doing so, we will analyze international responses to issues such as climate change, ozone depletion, intellectual property rights, deforestation, whaling, fisheries management, production/consumption and sustainable development. We will also examine the role of various institutions (i.e., the World Bank, World Trade Organization, and United Nations) in managing these environmental threats. Students will critically engage these topics with concepts and methodologies emerging from the fast-growing literatures on international institutions, transnational activism, multi-level governance, green foreign policy, and ecological economics.
INS310 DY W T R 1:15P 3:45P MB 307 Piet, Remi
Arab Revolutions in the Middle East
After the fall of the Mubarak regime in Egypt that followed the collapse of the Ben Ali’s dictatorship in Tunisia and as American, Western European and Qatari planes are currently protecting the Arab revolution in Libya, the dream of freedom after forty years of authoritarian regimes needs to be protected. The war in Iraq has shown that military actions are only successful if they are accompanied by a political and institutional strategy to be implemented when planes and armies leave the way for civil servants and politicians to rebuild the countries’ institutions.
This course will offer an overview of the forces at play in the Mediterranean and Middle East and present the historical, cultural, political and economic context in which the democratization dynamics are expanding. It will analyze the role of new technologies and media as well as the domestic structures of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern societies.
This course will also address the evolution of the balance of power in the region and study the foreign policies and national interest of the main international actors (the EU, the United States, Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, Turkey...) Finally this course will outline the short and long term impacts on international economy, the evolving balance between Sunnis and Shiites influence as well as traditional and non-traditional security dilemmas experienced by countries in the region.
Using traditional IR theoretical lenses and various levels of analysis, this course will aim at providing the keys to understand this wave of revolutions and underline its impact on international balances
INS311 EY W T R 4:00P 6:30P MB 307 Piet, Remi (co-listed with ECS)
Geopolitics of Natural Resources
This course will provide a practical implementation of traditional International Relations theoretical lenses by analyzing the geopolitical context of natural resources supply in an international order characterized by finite energy resources, growing populations, decreasing biodiversity and global warming concerns.
In its first part, this course will offer a comprehensive overview of how "natural resources" are analyzed by the main literature in the field and recent publications by realist, liberal, constructivist, neo-marxist and feminist scholars. The course will then apply theories to today's most salient natural resources conflicts: water depletion and intra and international conflicts; control of agricultural lands and food crisis; mining resources and 'great powers' foreign relations; atmospheric pollution, global warming and carbon finance....
By using economic and political sciences lenses, this course will aim at shedding light on today's foreign policymaking and tomorrow's conflicts. It will use both literature analysis and active student participation, through debates, role playing and presentations to encourage undergraduates and graduate students in understanding the impact of natural resources scarcity and environmental degradation on international security.
INS394 EX W M W 4:00P 6:30P MB 306 Piet, Remi (co-listed with ECS)
Energy Policies of the U.S. and European Union
This course will analyze the energy paradigm and policymaking processes in the United States and the European Union by describing the current legislature in place or in development, their impact on both local and national economic development in the sector of energy as well as on international relations and foreign policies towards the Middle East and Latin America (in the case of the United States) and Russia and the Mediterranean countries (in the case of Europe).
Using the different traditional theoretical lenses (realist, liberal, constructivist and neo-marxist) and several levels of analysis (individual, national and global), this course will more specifically address the dynamics at work in the definition or lack of implementation of a caps and trade initiative, the incentives towards the development of renewable energies and energy efficiency markets and the interest of local and transnational actors.
This course will most particularly address carbon trading, mainstreaming of environmental concerns within national policies, the role and decision-making processes of actors at several levels (country, state, cities, individuals) and their impact on economy, politics, culture...
Implementing a participatory approach and an unbiased assessment of a variety of literature sources, this course will shed light on the technical, economic and political debates around a wide range of energy sources and their impact on the local, federal, transnational and foreign policymaking.
INS410 03 W R 9:00A 11:30A MM 125D Fontaine, Pierre
Race in a Global Perspective
This course examines the various ways in which globalization impacts on race, with a particular attention to the Afro-Atlantic world. This includes an analysis of the transnational impact of cultural, social, and political movements and of the ways in which the United Nations and international human rights and humanitarian NGOs, global think tanks (International Crisis Group), and global foundations (e.g. Ford Foundation), as well as bilateral aid programs perceive and influence the perception and evolution of race and racial movements, legislation, and policies in the world. A comparative analysis of Affirmative Action in the US and Brazil is also included.
INS503 1T W T 6:10P 8:40P FB 126 Kahn, Owen
International Human Rights
Not a new course.
INS510 1O W T 9:30A 12:00P FB 126 Restrepo, Elvira
Transitional Justice in Latin America, Africa & Europe
Not a new course.
INS510 5E W W 12:20P 2:40P XXX ARR Gibson, Shannon
International Relations Theory and Environmental Thought
This course will provide an in-depth analysis of International Relations theory by examining how it is related to and manifested in environmental thought. It will provide a refresher to IR Theory in general as well as introduce the ethical and philosophical tenets of several ecological theoretical perspectives, such as utilitarian, liberal, social, post-modern, anarchist, feminist, autonomist, Indigenous, and radical approaches to ecology. Finally, we will examine specific current environmental debates such as those around global climate change, alternative energy options, intellectual property rights in nature, ecological reparations and geo-engineering.
INS511 02 W T 12:30P 3:00P MM 125K Fontaine, Pierre
International Organizations & the Challenges of Development
This course explores the role and performance of international institutions of global and regional scope in the promotion of development. It can be seen as the logical complement or companion to INS 599-OY/LAS 503/BY/AAS 409-BY Multilateral Institutions and Development Assistance in Latin America, Asia, and Africa. While the latter focuses on multilateral financial institutions, this course examines other international institutions of both a general nature (such as the UN system and its Millennium Development Goals, plus the Organization of American States, the African Union, the Association of South-East Asian Nations, etc.) and those of a special, though not properly financial, orientation (e.g., the UN Economic and Social Council, the UN Development Program, the UN Conference on Trade and Development, the UN Industrial Development Organization, the International Labor Organization, the World Health Organization, and also the regional economic commissions of the UN). It analyzes their nature, functions, ideologies, policies, and programs, as well as their interaction among themselves, with individual states, and with the world system in identifying and responding to the challenges of development.
INS532 04 W R 12:30P 3:00P MM 125K Fontaine, Pierre
Human Rights of Afro Descendants in Lat America & the Carib
This course focuses on the increasing involvement of global and regional human rights bodies (e.g. the UN Human Rights Council, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, various Special Rapporteurs, Independent Experts, and Working Groups respectively on indigenous people, minority issues, racism and racial discrimination, and people of African descent, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN Development Program, and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights), global and regional financial institutions (e.g. the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank) in calling attention to the condition of indigenous and/or African-descended people. It examines the mandates of these respective organizations, the extent to which this issue of the human rights of Afro-descendants falls under their mandate, the nature of their involvement, and its impact.
INS540 1E W M 12:20P 2:40P FB 126 Larrain, Juan
International Terrorism
Not a new course.
INS551 DX W M W 1:15P 3:45P FB 126 Rodriguez, Marga
International Migration: Theory and Policy
The course engages students in exploring a range of theories and scholarly debates, cutting-edge empirical research and political and policy debates related to international migration. In the first module, the course covers major theoretical debates on the causes and consequences of international migration, theories of assimilation, alternative perspectives on incorporation, and how the transnational perspective has framed migration studies and has been advanced by research on migration. As they learn about theories, the students also learn about key concepts and specific methodologies employed in research on migration. In the second module, the course covers major political debates and migration policies and laws and how migration policies are designed. The course has been designed for advanced undergraduate and graduate students from various academic fields. Previous knowledge of the topic is not required. The course awards 3 credits. A six-credit option is open for students who submit a deeper research paper by the beginning of the following semester. At the end of the course the students will have substantial knowledge of current theoretical and policy debates on migration issues and they will be better prepared for their future research on this or other topics or to work as policymakers.
INS567 R W T R 2:00P 3:15P XXX ARR Larive, Maxime
Transatlantic Relations in the Post-Cold War Era
INS571 4H W W 3:35P 6:05P MB 307 Porcelain, Sherr
International Health and Development
Not a new course.
INS599 FX W M W 5:00P 7:30P MB 307 Rodriguez, Marga
International Migration and the Health Care System
This course introduces the links between immigration and the health care system. It is divided in two modules. The first module deals with immigrants as professionals in the medical field. The second covers immigrants as individuals in need of medical care. The course has been designed from the social sciences perspective for upper-division undergraduates and graduate students from various fields. It is also open to practitioners and other professionals and activists working in the areas of immigration and/or health. No previous background in the systems discussed is required. The course offers a detailed discussion of the basic concepts and perspectives employed. It awards three credits (a six-credit option is open for students who submit a research paper during the summer).
INS599 01 W T 9:00A 11:30A MM 125K Fontaine, Pierre
Institutions & Development in Latin America, Asia & Africa
Development assistance is one of the principal features of post-World War II international relations. The promotion of economic development is one of the proclaimed objectives enshrined in the UN Charter. The UN has evolved a considerable array of organs, institutions, funds, and programs related to development. At the periphery of the UN system were established the Bretton Woods institutions (the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund), of relevance to the development agenda. Outside the UN system, several regional and sub-regional institutions have been created, inside and outside general purpose regional organizations (e.g., the Inter-American Development Bank, the Caribbean Development Bank, the African Development Bank, and the Asian Development Bank). The resulting international regime of multilateral financial assistance to development constitutes the subject of this course. The focus is on the nature, structure, functions, ideologies, policies, and programs of these institutions, their interaction among themselves, with individual states, and with the world system, and their resulting impact on development in Latin America, Africa, and Asia.
