Courses

• GRS IR 610: The Political Economy of National Security
  (Meets with CAS PO 557.) A seminar considering the relationship between economics and national security. The principal theme is the way economic factors fundamentally influence the national security of states, and the way those factors shape and constrain the strategies chosen to pursue that security.
• GRS IR 701: Introduction to International Relations
  Offers a rigorous introduction to the basic concepts of international relations, including analytical approaches, state system and non-state actors, international legal principles, diplomatic practice, and international ethics. Emphasizes history, case study, and practical application.
• GRS IR 702: Research Methods for International Relations Practitioners
  Provides tools for designing and implementing rigorous research and policy papers. Reviews formulation of research questions and choice of research methods. Introduces methodologies including case study, archival research, and basic quantitative analysis.
• GRS IR 703: International Security
  Introduces core concepts of international security, including deterrence, balance of power theory, alliance politics, arms races, asymmetric warfare, and non-traditional security concerns such as terrorism. Topics are considered from both a theoretical basis and in historical and contemporary context.
• GRS IR 704: Global Economic and Development Policy
  Intermediate level survey of the contemporary politics, economics and policy questions in the international economy: theories of international political economy and international economics; politics of international economic institutions; analyses of industrial development, foreign investment, global and regional trade, and poverty alleviation.
• GRS IR 707: Political Reform in the Middle East
  Seminar analyzes and rethinks Middle East politics. Authoritarian governments rule most of the Middle East, but internal and external pressures for change are mounting. Given the tenuousness of the status quo, political reform will be hard to avoid.
• GRS IR 709: Eu in 21st C
  
• GRS IR 711: Civil Society and The State
  The relationship between civil society and democracy is a subject of major debate however, and many scholars contest the notion that the existence of civil society is a sufficient condition for democracy. At best there seems to be a necessary relationship between civil society and democracy, but even this claim is challenged, especially when it is applied to the developing world.
• GRS IR 722: U.S. Foreign Policy since the End of the Cold War
  This graduate seminar exmines the formulation and conduct of U.S. foreign policy since 1989. It identifies the objectives and essential elements of American grand strategy and evaluates the extent to which U.S. policy is realistic, effective and democratic.
• GRS IR 723: Seminar: The Political Economy of Advanced Industrialized Societies
  Meets with CAS PO 528. Surveys forces contributing to national differences in social and economic policy; identifies current challenges to state sovereignty, such as globalization and immigration; and examines how nations from different welfare state regimes are coping with these threats to the nation state.
• GRS IR 726: Continental Western European Governments
  Meets with CAS PO 661. Seminar on the political development, contemporary institutions, and political economy of several Western European countries. Examines competing explanations of differing outcomes in these areas, as well as aspects of the process of European integration and its impact on domestic politics.
• GRS IR 737: Analyzing Foreign Policy in a Multipolar World
  Investigates and applies major IR theories of state behavior and foreign policy. Case studies focus on the rising powers of India and China, while also drawing on experiences of the U.S., Brazil, South Africa, and other states.
• GRS IR 757: Transnational Shi'ism
  Begins with the original split in Islam that generated Twelver Shi'ism, discusses key features of the religion such as Muharram rituals and the existence of a quasi-clergy, and ends with a discussion of individual Shi'ite countries and relations between them.
• GRS IR 758: Comparative Political Economy of China and India
  (Meets with GRS PO 785.) Compares China and India's economic reform, focusing on their reform policies and government-business relationships. Examines their political development (or lack thereof) during their economic reform. Discusses China and India's rise and implications for the global system.
• GRS IR 759: International Institutions for Finance, Development, and Trade
  Intensive examination of the roles the IMF, World Bank, and WTO play in the postwar international economic order-- addressing less the decision-making within these institutions and more the issues in which they are involved, including their policies and programs.
• GRS IR 764: Seminar on China in the Contemporary World
  (Meets with GRS PO 764.) Examines the various dimensions of China's rise-- economic, military, and in reputation-- and its implications for Asia and the world. Special attention to the links between domestic and foreign policy and to the dynamic of Sino-U.S. relations.
• GRS IR 766: Contemporary Issues in Latin America
  Meets with GRS PO 768. Review and analysis of contemporary developments in Latin America from major print and on-line news sources and journals. Focuses on breaking issues and develops capacity for critical analysis. Required for LASMA students.
• GRS IR 767: Latin American Comparative Politics
  Review of comparative politics literature, combined with country case studies, to assess to what degree Latin America is "the graveyard of development theories." Particular attention on recent patterns of redemocratization and economic liberalization and their multiple challenges.
• GRS IR 778: Problems of Strategic Intelligence
  Explores major aspects of strategic intelligence; interrelationship of intelligence and other aspects of foreign policy; performance of U.S. intelligence community; and intelligence as a tool in the formulation of foreign policy.
• GRS IR 780: CIA's National Clandestine Service
  The National Clandestine Service spends 5% of the US Intelligence budget but receives 95% of public and private scrutiny. Examines the unique legal mandate and culture of the clandestine service: espionage, covert operations, counterintelligence, and special operations.

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