International Relations

• CAS IR 568: U.S.-Latin American Relations
  Meets with CAS HI 523 and CAS PO 565. Explores both sides of the U.S.-Latin American relationship, tracing its development over time and analyzing its current challenges. Each week focuses on a different theme--including imperialism, intervention, hemispheric security, trade, immigration, and drug trafficking--within a roughly chronological framework.
• CAS IR 573: Introduction to Public International Law
  The role of international law in efforts to solve current problems of world order. Emphasis on environmental protection and the regulation of ocean space and resources. The role of law in conflict and cooperation, and the quest for international security.
• CAS IR 577: Foreign Policy of the People's Republic of China
  Meets with CAS PO 576. Explores China's perception of its role in the world, its evolution from a regional to a world power, and its security and economic relationships within the international system. Relationships with the superpowers, Third World, and world economy, focusing on technology and capital transfers.
• CAS IR 579: Japan in International Politics
  Meets with CAS PO 552. International and domestic influences on Japan's international behavior in the past as a predictor of Japan's future role in international politics. Covers Japan's role in the Cold War, post-war Asia, and the management of the global economy. Examines viability of post-Cold War U.S.-Japan relationship.
• CAS IR 581: The Evolution of Strategic Intelligence
  Examines the uses of strategic intelligence by modern world leaders in shaping policy and the effects of intelligence on world events. Various uses of intelligence--collecting information analysis, counterintelligence, and secret operations--are explored with emphasis on the period from the Congress of Vienna to the end of the Cold War.
• CAS IR 582: Taiwan: Politics and Transformation
  (Meets with CAS PO 553.) Examines Taiwan's history, economic development, ethnic identity, democratization, and its controversial position in international politics as a key to understanding questions of political economy, democratic transition, and East Asian security.
• CAS IR 583: Strategies of Defense Planning
  Addresses principles and practices of U.S. defense planning. Investigates how the Department of Defense receives and develops strategic direction, builds military capability and executes operational missions. Examines the requirements, acquisition, and resource allocation process for new weapon systems. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Oral and/or Signed Communication, Writing- Intensive Course, Ethical Reasoning.
  BU Hub Learn More

  • Ethical Reasoning
  • Oral and/or Signed Communication
  • Writing-Intensive Course
• CAS IR 584: The United States and Sub-Saharan Africa
  Examines the current and future relationship between sub-Saharan Africa and the United States, moving beyond stereotypes and mythology. The course is organized thematically: Introduction and Contemporary History; Security and Conflict; Economics, Trade, and Development; Human Rights and Democracy.
• CAS IR 585: Problems and Issues in Post-Mao China
  Meets with CAS PO 549. An in-depth examination of politics in post-Mao China, this course focuses on several critical issues, uses various conceptual frameworks to try to understand why the reform process broke down, and examines prospects for the future.
• CAS IR 589: North Atlantic/European Security Issues
  Meets with CAS PO 582. Examination of the post Cold War security environment in the North Atlantic and greater European context. Exploration of threats to security, mechanisms in place and emerging (NATO, CSCE, CFE, WEU), and challenges posed by changes since fall 1989.
• CAS IR 590: Political Economy of Latin America
  (Meets with CAS PO 562.) Historical and contemporary issues in Latin American political economy. Uses case studies and cross-regional comparisons to assess competing explanations. Analyzes the current political and economic situation facing Latin America in its quest for economic growth and development.
• CAS IR 592: Economic Development and International Institutions
  Examines the role of international institutions in economic development. Analyzes how development- related international institutions makes rules and affect national policy choices. Applies those lessons to concrete policy challenges, including possibilities for institutional reform.
• CAS IR 593: Grassroots Finance in Africa and the Developing World
  Investigates how finance works at the grassroots level in developing economies, often outside of formal banking systems. Comparative and cross-cultural examination of how technology, regulation, and customs affect the opportunities and costs of lending, borrowing, and transferring money.
• CAS IR 594: Global Environmental Negotiation and Policy
  Provides an overview of key concepts, actors, concerns, and issues in global environmental policy and negotiations. Investigates the larger picture of the intertwined relationships among natural, political, economic, and social systems that shape environmental policy-making. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Ethical Reasoning, Social Inquiry II.
  BU Hub Learn More

  • Ethical Reasoning
  • Social Inquiry II
• CAS IR 596: Globalization and Contemporary Capitalism in Advanced Industrialized Nations
  Considers the impact of globalization on advanced industrialized nations. Explores global and regional governance of finance, trade, and multinationals. Examines changes in national economic practices in Europe, Asia, and the US, and their effects on jobs, inequality, welfare, and democracy.
• CAS IR 597: Development and Environment in Latin America
  (Meets with CAS GE 597.) Provides an empirically based understanding of the social and environmental aspects of economic development in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) for purposes of analyzing the numerous trade and development policies that nations in LAC are currently considering.
• CAS IR 599: Science, Politics, and Climate Change
  Applies a science and technology studies perspective to climate change science and policy. Examines the relationships between scientific and political systems at global, national, and local levels. Also offered as CAS GE 599.
• GRS IR 600: Topics in Global Policy
  Examines contemporary global issues, based on sustained investigation of case studies and practical application of general principles. May be repeated for credit if topics are different. Range of topics include development, public health, human security, governance, and ethics of public policy. Topics for Spring 2020. Section B1: Political Risk Analysis. Introduces students to the skills and methods of Political Risk Analysis. Students will learn how analysts operate under resource and time constraints to assess conditions, create scenarios, and assign probabilities for political changes that effect both public and private organizations. Section D1: Professional Speechwriting and Delivery. Develops students' skills in speechwriting and delivery for policy, government and political contexts. Students will study historical examples, write and deliver their own speeches, and critique their own speeches and those of fellow students. Covers structure, content, rhetoric and style.
• GRS IR 601: Fundamentals of 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. This course cannot be taken for credit in addition to the course with the same title that was previously numbered GRS IR 701.
• GRS IR 602: Quantitative Analysis for Global Affairs
  Introduces international affairs practitioners to statistical reasoning through hands-on practice using real social, political and policy data. Covers key principles and methods of multivariate statistics for public policy analysis. Addresses interactions between quantitative reasoning, international policy analysis, and decision-making. This course cannot be taken for credit in addition to the course entitled "Research Methods for International Relations Practitioners" that was previously numbered GRS IR 702.

Back to full list of Courses